Northeast Regionals (Girls Edition!)

At the Phil Portuese Northeast Regional in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, the girls had a chance to do something that is not always available to them, wrestle in real Greco Roman matches. That set up allowed Taina Fernandez to collect a third title over the weekend of May 9th through 10th.

Fernandez is rated No. 1 in the country by USA Wrestling at 135 pounds and won a 135-pound 16U Greco Roman gold in a best of three rotation with Virginia’s Layla Espinosa, pinning Espinosa in 24 seconds then rolling to an 8-0 technical fall in 47 seconds.

Fernandez’s Junior Freestyle championship was the only one Maryland collected in those brackets. The World Champ decked New York’s state champ Mia Collins 30 seconds into their 135-pound finals match. Pins were Fernandez’s preferred method of victory in two of her other wins, 2:23 over Abigail Mozden of Ohio in the semifinals, and 17 seconds in the quarters versus Pennsylvania’s Emmalee Sabo. Connecticut’s Callisto Banks was defeated by tech, 10-0, in 37 seconds.

Fernandez was a pinning machine in her run to the 16U 135-pound title, dropping New Jersey’s Mia Spadavecchia in 24 seconds, taking care of Pennsylvania’s Paris Johnson quicker with a 21 second conclusion, and going past a minute, 1:13, with New Hampshire’s Keira Lynch in the semis. Zoe Delgado was second at the Florida state tournament and did not get decked but met a quick resolution by a 10-0 tech in 38 seconds in the final.

Fernandez’s Archbishop Spalding teammate, Summer Mutschler, secured the 16U 105-pound crown with three pins and an 11-6 decision of New Jersey’s Emelly Diaz Santos, who was third at states, in the quarters. Mutschler, who is ranked 26th in the nation, stuck Bianca Awerman, a third-place finisher at New York states, in 1:39 in her gold medal match. It took 1:19 to dispose of New Jersey’s Gabriela Giacone in the semis and just 14 seconds to tank Kasandra Royce of New York in her opening bout.

Kesi Tsarni joined her brother, Salah, as a Northeast Regional Champion when she claimed the 140-pound gold with a 10-0 tech of New York state runner-up Delaney Dixon in 1:17. Tsarni is ranked 9th nationally at 135 pounds and gave out 10-0 results to Makayla Hinchey (SC) in 37 seconds and Virginia’s Lily Oh, :35.

A 16U Greco Gold was earned by Kelani Ramos in a round robin set of matches that saw her post pins over second place Julie Gatto of Virginia in 1:21 and third-place Isabella Martinez (PA) in 1:40. Gatto placed fourth in the Virginia state tournament. Ashley Diaz placed fourth in 16U Greco at 115 pounds.

Two other Maryland girls placed in the Junior Division and they squared off in the third-place match at 145 pounds with Jennifer Djobo rolling to a 10-0 tech in 40 seconds of Kayla Ward. Their bracket started with the quarters where both Djobo and Ward dropped their openers.

Djobo fell to the eventual runner-up, New Jersey’s Eva Berry, who was also a state runner-up, then pinned her two consolation opponents. Ward duplicated the consolation results of Djobo after losing to the champ from Pennsylvania, Zoey Haines. Haines is ranked third in the country at 140 pounds and won three consecutive state championships after finishing second as a freshman.

Two Marylanders made it to the blood round at 170 pounds in the Junior class before being eliminated, Daegan Bishop and Morgan Linton.

Two girls in the younger age groups claimed freestyle titles, Gabriell Gauthier (12U 94 pounds) and Grayson Richburg (14U 120). Gauthier blanked Delaware’s Hayley Everitt, 8-0, in the finals. A 10-0 tech in 1:24 was handed to Maryland’s Yaitza Selvas, who placed fourth in freestyle and third at 94-102 pounds in Greco Roman. Richburg won a best of three with South Carolina’s Nova Estrada, 2-1, winning the first match 16-11, dropping the second on criteria (14-14), and then sticking Estrada in 1:31 in the last bout.

Delainie Nguyen was a 10U Freestyle runner-up at 62 pounds and took fourth in Greco in the 57–62-pound grouping. Yael Wexler secured a Greco silver in 14U at 150-165 pounds and a bronze in Freestyle at 165-180. Elizabeth Oliva Benitez was a second-place finisher in Greco in 12U at 94-102 pounds and claimed a bronze at 102 pounds in Freestyle. Eva Diaz secured bronze in both disciplines in the 10U slate at 67 pounds. Gabriell Brady placed third in 12U Freestyle at 87 pounds.