Earlier this season at Montgomery’s MATNESS at the MACC Tournament at Liberty Arena for girls wrestling, Montgomery senior Zoe Furman was asked if her goal was to get to states again and win gold.

Furman broke out a smile and said she absolutely wanted to take home a gold medal at states after she took silver last winter.

Consider Saturday the first step in getting to that goal.

Furman was one of two wrestlers to win gold on Saturday at the District 4 girls wrestling championships for Montgomery as the Red Raiders had seven qualify for the Central Regional tournament in Milton in two weeks.

“We discussed how awesome it is that the level of the girls the teams across District 4 went up significantly since last year. It’s really fun to see locally how competitive it really was of a district tournament,” Montgomery coach Jodi Furman said. “So our girls really had to continue to level up knowing that competition is stiff and they hung in there and they performed as well, better than expected.”

Furman was dominant on Saturday.

The Red Raider wasted very little time in her 136-pound final as she secured a pin over Central Columbia’s Saleah Shannon in just 48 seconds. In the championship semifinals, Furman pinned Milton’s Adelyn Bush in just 62 seconds.

“She is always our consistent team leader and she dominated that way through her bracket today. I think she again, with her having high expectations, she goes out and expects those higher results from herself,” coach Furman said. “She’s ready to get off the mat and be that leader we’re asking her to be.”

She noted as well that Furman is more than motivated to get to Hershey.

“Absolutely. Her work ethic is nothing short of having that goal on her mind every day and every time she goes out and competes,” coach Furman said.

Jenna Houseknecht claimed a gold medal on Saturday as well for the Red Raiders. Houseknecht, a bronze medalist from last season, won the title at 106 when she pinned Hughesville’s Julia Ritter in 3:00. In the championship semifinals, Houseknecht pinned Mifflinburg’s Autumn Dersham in 1:30.

“She’s becoming a really big leader in the room as well and has high expectations of herself,” coach Furman said. “She got that taste of third place last year and again, she is very high goals making that return and going as far as she can.”

Georgina Leet reached the championship finals at 155 pounds and finished as runner-up. Leet competed against Isabella Gottschall of Jersey Shore and was pinned in the first period in 68 seconds to take silver. Leet advanced to the final with a dominating 15-0, 3:38 tech fall performance against Mifflinburg’s Skyanne Little.

“She got a really good seed and understood that she needed a couple big wins just to be able to get to the final,” coach Furman said. “She was just looking at begging able to get back on the mat and stay healthy and have a good day to move onto the next tournament.”

Claiming silver was Adelyn Rine who fell to Athens standout Leah Nason by fall in 3:54.

Montgomery also saw Briella Walk and Brooke Knoebel. Walk took home a third-place title at 130 and Knoebel finished fourth at 100.

In the third-place final at 130, Walk secured a sudden victory 2-1 decision win against Aubrey Rebuck of Shikellamy in a hard-fought contest.

Knoebel fell into the consolations after losing in the championship semifinals to Williamsport’s Malaina Comfort. The two met up in January in which Comfort won by major decision and on Saturday, Comfort once again got the best of Knoebel, this time winning with a pin in 1:32.

Knoebel got pinned in the third period at 100 by Hughesville’s Isabella Olshefski.

Montgomery’s Addison Greger was a fourth-place finisher at 148. Greger was pinned by Mifflinburg’s Avery Edison in 2:52.