By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Two Alamance County wrestlers reached championship matches in the girls’ portion of the state tournament.
While the title round didn’t go well for the two girls, it was a valuable experience with a couple of runner-up finishes at First Horizon Coliseum.
Western Alamance’s Toriana Murphy at 120 pounds and Southeast Alamance’s Katie Lloyd at 126 pounds claimed second-place finishes in Class 5-A on Friday – or in one case, it was actually Saturday.
Murphy reached the state tournament in her final season and her extended stay at the event wasn’t only because she reached the title match.
The 126-pound division was designated as the last grouping in the finals. The tournament was so far off schedule that Murphy’s bout with Parkwood’s Veronika Wilson began at 12:07 a.m. Saturday.
It had been a challenging week for Murphy, whose great-grandfather, McCoy Evans, 82, of Haw River, died earlier in the week. She said that during one of their last conversations he told her how proud he was that she reached the state tournament.
“I really dedicated this to him,” Murphy said.
Murphy defeated North Lincoln’s Taylor McKenzie 3-1 in the first round. Murphy trailed Havelock’s Abby Garcia in the semifinals before notching a pin with 16 seconds remaining in the second period.
“The best part was winning that match after being behind,” she said.
Murphy fell behind again in the final, trailing Wilson after the first period. Wilson’s pin in 4:24 ended it.
Lloyd’s finals bout with Trinity Wiley of South Brunswick among the first batch of title matches. It didn’t go as Lloyd hoped as Wiley rang up an 11-1 victory.
But there was a degree of pride for Lloyd as she reached the state tournament after missing out by one spot a year ago.
“I came so close last year and I really wanted to get to states,” she said.
Lloyd said she embraced the environment in the coliseum and participating in the pre-finals Parade of Champions.
On Thursday, Lloyd defeated Oak Grove’s Bella Willson with a second-period pin and then in the semifinals she secured a third-period technical fall against Smoky Mountain’s Ariana Alvarez-Bruno.
“I got my nerves out my first match,” Lloyd said.
Southeast 114-pounder Layorah Jamison went 1-2, losing to Parkwood’s Peyton Painter, defeating Oxford Webb’s Elizabeth Huff and falling to Northside-Jacksonville’s Mackynzie Bilbrey.
At 145, Southeast’s Samari Acevedo lost to Enka’s Violet Darnell before a pin of Richlands’ Alivia Brown. Acevedo was eliminated by Croatan’s Alexis Tirado, who notched a second-period pin in the consolation semifinals.
In Class 6-A, Southern Alamance senior Gabby Canup placed fourth in the 152-pound division with a 2-2 record in her first time qualifying for states.
“I feel really good about it,” Canup said.
Canup lost to Morganton Freedom’s Andrea Cisneros in the opening round, advanced in the consolation bracket via a forfeit from Asheville’s Inga Drake and then defeated Charlotte Olympic’s Brianna Hernandez 11-5 in the consolation semifinals.
Fayetteville Sanford’s Ava Babich pinned Canup in 53 seconds in the third-place bout.
Canup, who was a Clover Garden student until transferring because of Southern’s wrestling program, said she would like her experience to be an inspiration to other girls.
“I hope I paved the way for more girls to wrestle,” she said.
