Area girls fall short of regional tourney
Bethlehem wrestlers are shutout of the Girls’ Southeast Regional wrestling tournament this weekend in Quakertown.
For the first time since the inception of the sport, no wrestlers from Liberty, Freedom or Bethlehem Catholic will be making their bid for a shot at Hershey.
Freedom had the toughest pill to swallow after Sunday’s consolation finals, when Alexis Horvath (148) and Jedah Canty (130) both lost by falls in the bronze medal round to end their seasons.
Only the top-three wrestlers from each class advance to regionals.
Horvath fell to Easton’s Ellia Sales in 4:39 and Canty was pinned by Pocono Mountain East’s Kimora Gilbreath in 2:08.
“Both our girls wrestled super tough,” said head coach Jeremy Ortiz. “Unfortunately neither of them won their final match to advance to next weekend.”
On the bright side, both wrestlers will be back next season, as Horvath, who finished this season 17-7 is a junior and Canty, a sophomore, was 21-6.
Liberty finished 10th in the team standings, but went 0-5 in the consolation semifinal round, knocking all their remaining wrestlers out before the third-place matches.
Leila Matejcek (100), Eva Trujillo (124), Kendra Cressman (130), Kierha Castillo (136) and Lidia Whistleon (142) all saw their shot at regionals end in the consolation semifinals.
Ellie Rumbalski (190), who was a runner-up at the EPC championships, saw her tournament end prematurely after getting pinned in the quarterfinals and in her next consolation bout.
Pine Grove’s Rieleigh won by fall in 4:10 over Rumbalski in the quarters and Lehighton’s Kailey Evans ended her march with a fall in 2:32 in the wrestlebacks.








