by Jamie Harris
All across the nation high school girls have been making a move on the wrestling mats and last season Berkeley Springs High School had their first female wrestler as Lilly Morgan joined the team. Morgan would work hard all season and make a trip to the 2022 WV Girl’s State Wrestling Championships where she earned her first ever win by a pin.
Fast forward to the 2022- 2023 season and Morgan is back but this time she is not alone. Joining the wrestling team this season is sophomore Delilah Rhoten, senior Kaydence Tranter and freshman Charity Brown. One of the goals of the Berkeley Springs wrestling program’ s coaching staff was to get the girls more matches this sea- son. So, on Saturday morning, December 10, Morgan, Rhoten and Tranter along with Berkeley Springs head coach Derek Hovermale and assistant Ryan Diehl headed to Culpeper, Virginia for the All Girls Invitational.
With close to 150 girls from all over the state of Virginia and West Virginia the event was definitely going to be a challenge for the young Berkeley Springs grapplers. However, the large field did not dent the goals each girl had.
In the opening rounds both Morgan and Rhoten earned byes in their respective weight classes. First year sen- ior wrestler Kaydence Tranter wasted no time earning her first varsity win and it came by a pin over Ella Pickup (Woodbridge) in 43 seconds. Tranter would lose her next round match and drop to the consolation round.
Morgan and Rhoten lost their second round matches as well and dropped down to the consolations rounds as well. However, that is when the trio started to catch some fire as Rhoten picked up her first win by pin over Rita Heang (Falls Church) in 38 seconds. In the consolation quarterfinals Rhoten picked up her second straight pin over Lilian Indelicato (Spotsylvania High School) in 1:28. In the consolation semi- finals Rhoten lost by fall to finish her first varsity contest with a 2-2 record.
Morgan won by fall over Jennifer Compton (Culpeper County) in 53 seconds in the consolation second round. In the consolation quarterfinals Morgan pinned Emily Con- stanza (JR Tucker) in 1:52. In the consolation semifinals Morgan lost by fall to finish the day 2-2.
Tranter picked up her second pin of the day in the consolation round as she downed Maya Escobar (Thomas Jefferson in 56 seconds. Tranter would then lose by fall in the third round of consolations to finish 2-2 in her first varsity tournament.
All Girls Invitational results for Berkeley Springs are below:
High School 127A
Delilah Rhoten’s place is unknown and has scored 6.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 – Delilah Rhoten (Berkeley Springs) received a bye
Quarterfinal – Emily Csontos (Culpeper County) won by fall over Delilah Rhoten
(Berkeley Springs) (Fall 0:34)
Cons. Round 2 – Delilah Rhoten (Berkeley Springs) won by fall over Rita Heang (Falls Church) (Fall 0:38)
Cons. Round 3 – Delilah Rhoten (Berkeley Springs) won by fall over Lilian Indelicato (Spotsylvania High School) (Fall 1:28)
Cons. Semi – Zoe Rodriguez (Westfield) won by fall over Delilah Rhoten (Berkeley Springs) (Fall 1:00)
High School 127B
Lily Morgan’s place is un- known and has scored 6.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 – Lily Morgan (Berkley Springs) received a bye
Quarterfinal – Elise Bejtlich (Thomas Jefferson) won by fall over Lily Morgan (Berkeley Springs) (Fall 3:39)
Cons. Round 2 – Lily Mor- gan (Berkeley Springs) won by fall over Jennifer Compton (Culpeper County) (Fall 0:53)
Cons. Round 3 – Lily Mor- gan (Berkeley Springs) won by fall over Emily Constanza (JR Tucker) (Fall 1:52)
Cons. Semi – Alexis Ice (Staunton River) won by fall over Lily Morgan (Berkeley Springs) (Fall 0:36)
High School 156
Kaydence Tranter’s place is unknown and has scored 7.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 – Kaydence Tranter (Berkeley Springs) won by fall over
Ella Pickup (Woodbridge) (Fall 0:43)
Quarterfinal – Giovanna Delgado (Mountain View) won by fall over Kaydence Tranter (Berkeley Springs) (Fall 0:31)
Cons. Round 2 – Kaydence Tranter (Berkeley Springs) won by fall over Maya Escobar (Thomas Jefferson) (Fall 0:56)
Cons. Round 3 – Allison Csontos (Culpeper County) won by fall over Kaydence Tranter (Berkeley Springs) (Fall 1:27)
