Hanover Area freshman CJ Caines (second from left) finished in sixth place in the 114 pound division at the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships. He was one of two Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers to medal, along with Nanticoke Area’s Sierra Ripka who took fifth place in the Girls 170 pound division.
Courtesy of Hanover Area High School
Sierra Ripka and CJ Caines finished their journeys to the PIAA Wrestling Championships medal stand on Saturday, bringing home a pair of state medals for the Wyoming Valley Conference.
In total, 10 medals were won by District 2 wrestlers on Saturday, with the Lackawanna Conference winning eight medals ranging from third to eighth place.
Ripka, from Nanticoke Area, won a fifth-place medal in the 170 pound division of the Girls tournament while Hanover Area’s Caines took sixth place at 114 pounds in the Class 2A tournament.
It’s the second straight state medal for Ripka, who went down to Hershey last year for the inaugural Girls tournament and finished in fourth place.
This year, Ripka bounced back from an opening-round loss on Thursday with four wins in the consolation bracket on Friday and Saturday.
Her run in this year’s tournament culminated with a major decision victory in the fifth-place match over Strath Haven’s Lane Harrington to cap off a 4-2 weekend.
After a scoreless first period, Ripka scored a takedown and a nearfall in succession to open up a 6-0 lead, then controlled the mat from there on her way to an 11-3 victory over Harrington.
For Caines, it was a different path to get to Saturday’s fifth-place match; the freshman made his way into the semifinals on Friday night before falling to the state’s top-ranked 114-pound wrestler in Freddy Bachmann.
Saturday was Caines’ first consolation match, coming in the consolation semis. He lost a 7-2 decision to Conwell Egan’s Thomas Boyce to land in the fifth-place match, and lost a major decision to Bishop McCort’s Eli Herring to finish in sixth place.
Caines was the only WVC wrestler in either of the boys’ tournaments to medal, and one of just two District 2 wrestlers in total to medal in the Class 2A tournament alongside Mid Valley’s Samuel Almedina, who finished in fifth place at 160 pounds.
The Hanover Area standout finished his weekend 2-3, and finished his debut high school season as a District 2 champ, Northeast Regional runner-up and sixth-place state medalist.
The best finish for any District 2 wrestler was third place, with West Scranton’s Michael Turi winning bronze in the Class 3A 145-pound bracket and Delaware Valley’s Kate Prior taking third at 155 in the Girls tournament.
The Honesdale girls team had three medalists: Jaidyn Mikulak, taking seventh place at 235 pounds, and eighth-place finishes for Saige Olver (118) and Maddison Miller (142).
The final two District 2 medalists were both from Abington Heights, and both returning medalists from a year ago: Mason Whitney, taking eighth place at 127 pounds and Brian Heard, winning a fifth-place medal at 172 pounds.
Team championships were won by Faith Christian (Class 2A), Bethlehem Catholic (Class 3A) and Montgomery (Girls).
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