PARKERSBURG — Two Buckhannon-Upshur High School wrestlers made history last week by becoming the first B-U girls to place at the West Virginia Girls State Wrestling Championships.
Maya Garcia and Abigail Radabaugh both finished as runners-up in their respective weight classes, while Bri Howes went 3-2 and finished in the Top 8.
“A big shout out to the girls who went and competed in the West Virginia Girls State Tournament this weekend for B-UHS,” said wrestling coach Jacob Orr. “Two of the three placed in Parkersburg. Maya and Abby both came home with some hardware, finishing second in the state and making history as B-U’s first girl state placers. Bri wrestled well and finished 2-2, falling just short of the podium.”
Despite fielding just three wrestlers, the B-U girls finished seventh as a team.
Here’s a wrap-up of the meet as compiled by coach Levi Bender:
114: Bri Howes, 3-2, Blood Round Top 8
Bri wrestled very well. In her first round, she quickly pinned her opponent from Cabell Midland which led her to Coleman of Oak Hill, who would go on to win the tournament. Within 20 seconds Bri had the eventual champion on her back with a double leg takedown and a half. She eventually lost that match though. She wrestled back and won two more matches but ran into Emory of University who was the No. 1 seed and who had lost to the No. 8 seed. Bri lost a close match to Emory, who would go on to place third. Not a bad run for a freshman.
126: Maya Garcia, Runner-Up
Maya had a bye into the semi-finals, where she faced No. 3 Meadows of Nicholas County. Off of her re-attack single Maya went straight to her half and made her way to the finals against No. 1 Riner ofSpring Valley. Riner proved to be too tough and Maya lost in the finals by fall. As a freshman, Maya made her way to the finals and won her spot on the wall.
235: Abigail Radabaugh, Runner-Up
Abby also had a bye to the semi-finals where she faced off against Amos of Paden City. Abby took down Amos and secured her spot on the wall with a fall by half nelson. In the finals, Abby eventually fell to Moore of Brooke.
Haley Woody also competed in the middle school division. Here’s Bender’s wrap-up:
MS 128: Haley Woody, 2-2, 4th place
Haley went into an eight-girl bracket and lost her first match but wrestled all the way back to fourth place, where she fell again to the same girl from Oak Glen. Haley wrestled well, winning her placement match by one point in an absolute barnburner that came down to the last second. Excited to have her next season on team BAHM.
