Four athletes from the Dallastown girls wrestling team competed in the PIAA State Championship at the Hershey Giant Center, March 5-7.
Juniors Avery Baldwin (142 lbs.), Kenna Hoffman (136 lbs.), Amelia Smith (155 lbs.), and Noe Knott (235 lbs.) each placed in the top four at the District III tournament to qualify for states.
At states, the team placed 10th overall in one of the largest and most challenging divisions with 68 girls’ wrestling teams.
Individually, Knott and Smith finished sixth, and Baldwin placed eighth.
Girls wrestling has been a sanctioned sport in the PIAA for less than five years, and the junior girls were not really friends prior to joining wrestling.
As a matter of fact, three of the four didn’t know the rules before seventh grade. Yet they have quickly risen to be able to compete at state level.
“Within a few short years they have elevated themselves to being able to compete with wrestlers at the highest level in the state,” head coach Dave Gable said.
The athletes have compiled an impressive list of accomplishments in a short time.
This year, Knott became Dallastown’s first female District III champion.
Next year, Baldwin and Hoffman are poised to become the first 100-match winners in Dallastown girls wrestling history, with Baldwin currently at 93 wins and Hoffman at 89.
The team was also back-to-back undefeated YAIAA league Champions, and placed in the top five at the PIAA Dual Meet Tournament.
“Avery and Kenna are part of an elite group of five girls or boys who have qualified for the state meet three times. No one has ever qualified four times…and they have a year to go,” Gable said.
They spent hours preparing for states during the regular season and the off-season.
Gable wanted to make their weaknesses stronger and their strengths even better.
“We tried to create a schedule during the season that would challenge them and expose them to the girls that they would likely see at the state tournament. It was also important for them to believe in the process and have the expectation that a state medal was possible and probable,” Gable said.
According to the girls, the process worked.
”We had drilled in practice what we were going to do in the matches,” Smith said.
The four girls were very optimistic when they arrived at the Giant Center.
Some were hoping to bring home a medal this year.
“I was thinking that I belong there, so I have to prove I do,” Baldwin said.
Others were hoping to improve on past performances.
”When I got to the Giant Center, I was so excited to do better than I did before, maybe. I was just thinking this is my year, and I’m going to have fun and make some history,” Knott said.
The girls are already looking ahead to next year’s regular season and state championship. According to their coach, their leadership and work ethic has set the bar for the program.
“The girls have really bonded through the sport. None of them were friends prior to joining the team and now they share a common bond involving many challenges and successes. They are all great role models and have paved the way for future state medalists at Dallastown,” Gable said.
