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Saturday, January 13, 2024, TRIB-LIVE
Vie Filar got the Fox Chapel girls wrestling team in the win column for the first time in history.
Filar pinned Valley’s Amaya Hayden in 1 minute, 37 seconds during their 235-pound match Jan. 10 to give the Foxes a 36-33 win at home.
It was the first time the Fox Chapel girls wrestling team won a dual meet. Michael Frank, who coaches the boys team, was excited to watch what unfolded before Fox Chapel improved to 10-1 by beating Armstrong, 50-20.
“It was awesome,” Frank said. “There was so much excitement for the girls duals matches. It’s refreshing. There are a lot of new wrestlers for the girls. It makes it a little more interesting sometimes.”
Emma Srodes (112 pounds), Yoqi Zhou (130), Lily McLaughlin (136) and Andrea Wange (142) also won by pin for Fox Chapel. Elaine Huang won by forfeit for Fox Chapel. The Foxes’ are 1-3 this season.
As for the boys, Fox Chapel is 10-1 overall and 3-0 in section. The Foxes’ only loss came to Franklin Regional at the Hampton Dawg Duals on Dec. 9. Fox Chapel has picked up a pair of wins over perennial power Kiski Area, including a 30-26 victory to open section play Dec. 20.
“We push for bonus points in every bout,” Frank said. “Our goal is to secure the wins. Then we want to push for major decisions, tech falls and go for pins. The team enjoys getting extra points. We hope to create momentum and build from that momentum.”
Fox Chapel will be happy to have a handful of wrestlers already with double-digit wins entering the Allegheny County Championships, which Fox Chapel will host Jan. 19-20. Michael Worsen and Landon Funk are tied for the team lead with 14 wins.
Worsen is undefeated and has collected nine points at 121 pounds. Funk, who wrestles at 114 pounds, is 14-3.
Jack Viti and D’Angelo Hamilton also have 10 wins apiece.
“It’s interesting bouncing between duals and the county tournament, which is individual-based,” Frank said. “I’d love to see kids do well at the county tournament because of a lot kids like to reach their goals there. We host the tournament and it serves as a checkpoint for their season.
“I hope that we will have a lot of kids do well against quality competition from Allegheny County. Every person has to do their job, stay locked in every match and keep battling through to make sure you don’t have a letdown.”