In the first ever PIAA State Girls Wrestling Championships from March 7- 9, Dallastown was represented by two athletes, Avery Baldwin (155 lb.) and McKenna Hoffman (130 lb.).

The two traveled to the Giant Center in Hershey for the state tournament to punctuate the girls wrestling team’s first official season. The team finished 3-3 (2-1 in league competition) during the regular season, as well as placing highly in multiple tournaments.

Both girls would lose their first round matches as well as their consolation matches. The pomp and circumstance of the event however, was not something that either girl had ever experienced, wrestling in the over 10,000 seat arena.

“The experience was very exciting. I remember walking into the arena and looking down at the mats and thinking, ‘Wow! That’s cool’, but until you’re down on the mats you have no clue how cool it really is,” Baldwin said. 

The girls, both freshmen, were very positive with the whole experience and hope to build on this year’s experience for the future.

“I definitely learned that if you hide from failure, you’ll never find success,” Baldwin said. 

Girls Wrestling Head Coach Dave Gable agrees.

“We are very proud of Avery and Kenna as they pave the way for not only themselves, but also future Dallastown girl wrestlers.  They represented our team and school very well,” Gable said.