HERSHEY — Having one state gold medal in her collection already, there was only so much Marlee Solomon could do to top her previous achievements.
But moving up a weight class, going undefeated and grabbing another state championship did just that.
Solomon, a junior from Canon-McMillan, won the PIAA girls wrestling 118-pound championship Saturday evening at Giant Center. She posted a 16-1 technical fall over Olivia Kearns of Shippensburg in the finals.
She was one of three WPIAL gold medalists and one of six to participate in the championship round.
Mt. Lebanon freshman 112-pounder Isla Silva and Moon junior 130-pounder Haley Smarsh also won gold.
Pine-Richland sophomore 124-pounder Aariona Strader, Kiski Area senior 142-pounder Ava Golding and Southmoreland senior 235-pounder Zoey Murphy took silver.
Golding’s gold medal match never quite got on track. Her opponent, Jenny Gautreau of Owen J Roberts, scored a takedown 30 seconds in and had control from there for a 6-2 victory.
Gautreau added another takedown in the middle of the second period. Golding started the third period on top but was unable to move Gautreau for near-fall points. Golding’s two points were awarded from stall penalties against Gautreau in the final 45 seconds.
Golding finished the season 34-2 and her career at 104-10. In addition to the silver from Saturday, she has third- and sixth-place medals from the state meet.
Murphy had a tough task in front of her in the gold medal match. Her opponent, Brenda Banks, took her third consecutive state title by pinning Murphy at the 4:43 mark of the bout.
Murphy held Banks to a scoreless draw through one period, but Banks had an escape in the second and never let Murphy get loose in the third.
Now with two PIAA silver medals, Murphy finished her career with a 76-21 record. She was 26-3 this winter.
Solomon, meanwhile, said she was able to savor the experience of winning PIAA gold more the second time around.
“I was just focused on enjoying my time and being the best at what I do,” Solomon said of the weekend in Hershey. “I would love to say that’s why I’m successful, but I wasn’t focusing on that earlier. I was pressuring myself to be successful all the time, but then I wondered if it was really worth it if I wasn’t having fun.”
If only everyone could be as successful as Solmon while having fun.
The score was already 10-1 after one period with two takedowns and three near-fall points. Solomon turned a quick reversal to start the second period and set up the clinching near-fall points.
Solomon was 38-0 this year and now has a career record of 119-3.
Mt. Lebanon’s Silva became the first wrestler from a WPIAL school other than Canon-McMillan to win a girls title at the PIAA meet. As a freshman, Silva claimed the gold medal at 112 with a 6-1 victory over Daylee Watson of Conneaut Area. Silva had takedowns in the first and second periods to score her points.
“I just wanted to shoot and be aggressive,” Silva said. “Towards the end, I just wanted to keep shooting. I got a stall warning, so I wanted to keep shooting and grab the leg.”
Silva finished her season with a 32-3 record. Her gold medal helped Mt. Lebanon finish second in the team standings with 68 points.
“It says a lot,” Silva said of the team finish. “More girls are going to be coming up, and it’s going to make us better.”
Quakertown won the team title with 76 points.
Meanwhile, Smarsh had to wait the longest amongst all the wrestlers, boys or girls, to get a gold medal. The Moon junior had said after winning in Thursday’s first round that the long wait between PIAA matches was more “nerve-wracking” than the matches themselves. So of course, she was the last wrestler on the mat for the 130-pound final, and the last gold medalist to receive her hardware.
Smarsh led throughout the championship match, defeating Bishop Shanahan’s Shannon Logue, 17-6. A takedown and near-fall points put her up 7-0 after one period. Logue made things interesting in the second period with a pair of takedowns that pulled her within 8-6, but Smarsh reestablished control with an escape, takedown and two near-fall points before the second ended.
“She got ahold of me. I’m not going to lie,” Smarsh said. “But I was confident in my ability to come out on top.”
Smarsh, the silver medalist from 2024, was 41-3 this season and is 97-13 in her career.
“It’s all been work toward the top of the podium,” Smarsh said.
Strader led for much of her 124 gold-medal match but was pinned by Garnet Valley’s Neve O’Byrne at the 4:21 mark. Strader had the defending state champion in a bad spot with a 6-2 lead midway through the second period.
Strader, a sophomore, finished this season with a 33-3 record and is 61-14 for her career.
Third-place bouts
There was one all-WPIAL contest for a bronze medal. Paige Jox of Mt. Lebanon pinned Giada Campanella of Pine-Richland in 3:42 at 148 after forging an 8-0 lead.
Montour’s Kristen Walzer took the bronze medal at 100. She took the third-place match 12-9 over Malaina Comfort of Williamsport. Walzer had an 11-3 lead and had to hold in the final seconds.
At 106, Blythe Letters of Shaler also finished third. She won the third-place bout 6-2 over Grace Nesbitt of Neshaminy.
Camilla Hathaway was the last WPIAL bronze medalist at 155. She pinned Olivya Kroope of Emmaus in 2:42. Hathaway had built a 13-0 lead and likely would have had a tech fall even without the pin.
At 136, Maggie Alfera of Laurel placed fourth. She beat Ella Teufert of Octorara 4-2 in the early round but lost the bronze medal match when she was pinned by Sarah Pearson of Downingtown West in 4:35.
Jenna Chapman from Albert Gallatin placed fourth at 235. She won by pinfall in 3:51 against Noelani Knott of Dallastown early but lost by pinfall in 1:29 against Evelyn Sheer of Hazleton in the medal match.
Fifth-place bouts
There was one WPIAL matchup amongst the fifth-place bouts. Anna Duncan of South Park pinned Yunuen Ayala of Canon-McMillan in 2:52. Duncan was down 3-0 but turned a quick reversal into a pin.
At 130, Saphia Davis of Plum finished fifth after posting a 9-3 win over Faith Gladfelter of Delone Catholic. Davis had lost to Julie Ortiz of Maiana Bracetti by a pin in 2:32 earlier in the day.
Upper St. Clair’s Grace Nasman was fifth in 142. After a high-scoring final period, she beat Avery Earnest of Hughsville, 17-12.
In 190, Liliana Giulianelli of Peters Township beat Morgan Reichard of Central Columbia with a pin in 2:25 to take the fifth-place medal.
Kaila Keesecker of Derry placed sixth at 118 after losing two matches Saturday. She fell to Samiyah Rahming of Northeast, 14-7, and to Lillian Rumsey of Williamsport, 7-5.
Seventh-place bouts
Alyssa Tresco of Kiski Area won an all-WPIAL match for seventh-place against Audrey Calgaro of Canon-McMillan with a pin in 2:46 at 170.
Burgettstown’s Raya Sentipal placed seventh after defeating Kyleigh Ficks of Milton 4-0.
At 136, Abigail Dolanch of Avella posted a major decision over Raylyn Schwoyer of Owen J. Roberts 11-3.
Malia Ramos of Canon-McMillan was an eighth-place finisher in 106 after dropping her match via pinfall in 32 seconds against Taylor Keckler of Gettysburg.
Upper St. Clair’s Sydney Laboon lost her final contest of the year after being pinned by Hanna Rathbun of Athens in 1:55 at 130.
Karsyn Champion of Norwin lost her 155-pound seventh-place match against Makayla Taylor of Clearfield, 6-3 in overtime.