by Jamie Harris
This past Saturday, February 11, three Berkeley Springs Lady Indians wrestlers ventured to Parkersburg for the W.Va. Women High School State Championships. The high school girls division was a combined all three classifications A/ AA/AAA and featured numerous female wrestlers across the state.
Berkeley Springs senior Kaydence Tranter came into the event as the #2 seed in the 152 lb. weight class. Tranter earned a bye into the championship semifinals and would face East Hardy’ s Gabby Miller with a change to advance to the finals. A week earlier Tranter had pinned Miller in the PVC semifinals. This time around the East Hardy wrestler did not wait around to give Tranter a chance to work. Using a headlock takedown Miller pinned Tranter in the first period at the 1:01 mark to send her to the consolation round.
In the consolation semifinals, Tranter faced Rebecca Napier (Spring Valley). Tranter did not waste this opportunity and worked throughout the period to earn a pin over Napier to make it to the third and fourth place match.
In the consolation finals match Tranter faced Tayla Grove (Spring Valley) and lost by pin. With the loss Tranter finished her first high school wrestling season at Berkeley Springs High School in fourth place in the state of West Virginia.
Wrestling for Berkeley Springs in the 120 lb. weight class were sophomore Delilah Rhoten and junior Lilly Morgan. In Rhoten’s first match she faced #1 seed Justice Anthony (Parkersburg South) and lost by pin in 18 seconds. Justice would later win the state title. In the consolation quarterfinals Rhoten faced Lillijana Richards (Gilmer County) and lost by fall in the second period.
Morgan took on #3 seed Calleigh Morgan (Bridgeport) in an exciting match. C. Morgan jumped out to a de- cent lead after the first two rounds. Morgan battled back and tied the score at 11-11 with only seconds left. How- ever, C. Morgan hit a reversal near the end of the match to take the 13-11 win. In the consolation round Morgan faced Jayden Powers (Doddridge County) and lost by pin in the first period.
Berkeley Springs finished in 31st place out of 40 teams. East Hardy took the overall team championship unseating three time defending state champion Musselman.
