ORANGE — The Mahar Regional School girls wrestling team won the third annual Senators All-Girls Wrestling Tournament on Monday at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium.
It’s the first time in the history of the tournament that the host kept the championship hardware in Orange.
“This is our second first-place finish of the year,” Mahar coach John Speek said. “Once with the boys team and now with the girls team. It speaks to the overall quality of our program.”
The tournament itself had the largest turnout ever with over 50 wrestlers from 22 schools. Mahar came in first place with 69 points, followed by Chicopee Comp in second with 57 points.
“It went off really smoothly,” Speek said of the event. “This was the first year we were able to run full weight classes. We really felt good in the numbers of those weight classes. All but two of the weight classes went into a tournament style.”
With a strong number of wrestlers, there were no free passes to the finals of any weight class.
“Everybody who was in the finals were all strong wrestlers,” Speek said. “Nobody walked into the finals. Everybody had to fight to get in there. It’s a nice place to be for girls wrestling.”
Mahar’s Carolyn Gilmore once again made it to the finals, making quick work of her first two opponents in the 175-pound bracket.
She then faced Catherine McNulty of Whittier in the title-bout.
“I knew going in that (McNulty) really liked to throw,” Gilmore said. “She didn’t like to shoot but also she was good at sprawling. That kind of takes away most of the ways you can take someone down. I knew it was going to be a lot of standing.”
In a heated and even match, Gilmore beat McNulty by decision, 3-1. A reversal by Gilmore gave the senior the points needed to pull ahead and win.
“I settled into playing the long game with her,” Gilmore said. “It didn’t surprise me that it went as long as it did because we were so evenly matched. I had to take it slow and be smart.”
Gilmore remained undefeated in the tournament’s three-year history.
Brooke Mitchell took down the individual crown in the heavyweight division for the Senators.
In the 118-pound bracket, Ava Chiodo placed third for the Senators. Chiodo pinned Destiny Cruz of Chicopee Comp in the second period of the consolation match (3:04).
Anaray Yang grabbed third in the 127-pound bracket with a win by fall. Yang pinned (5:05) Gianna Pannese of Westford Academy to secure a spot on the podium.
Janiah Baez of Chicopee Comp plowed through the competition at 106-pounds. Baez became the first girl to win a state championship last season at the MIAA girls wrestling tournament.
“It’s always good competition,” Baez said of Monday’s tournament. “There’s always good wrestlers. To come out here and wrestle is going to make me better so I come out and do it.”
Sophia Whitman (127 pounds) and Anya Roberts (175) both fell in their first-round matches for the Senators on Monday.
