North Point High School senior Saniya Wheeler, left, prepares for the opening stages of her Maryland girls 100-pound state championship match against Glen Burnie’s Pachince Gregory last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. In her final high school match, Wheeler departed with the state title courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Gregory.
Lackey High School junior Jariah Washington is beaming with joy while raising her arms in victory after she captured the Maryland girls state title in the 170-pound match with a 14-0 technical fall victory over Flowers’ junior Mabel Alafiatayo last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
North Point High School senior Saniya Wheeler, left, prepares for the opening stages of her Maryland girls 100-pound state championship match against Glen Burnie’s Pachince Gregory last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. In her final high school match, Wheeler departed with the state title courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Gregory.
TED BLACK/Southern Maryland News
Lackey High School junior Jariah Washington is beaming with joy while raising her arms in victory after she captured the Maryland girls state title in the 170-pound match with a 14-0 technical fall victory over Flowers’ junior Mabel Alafiatayo last Saturday afternoon at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
One year after they were humbled somewhat by leaving the Maryland State Wrestling Championships at the Show Place Arena in Prince George’s County without a single state title, a pair of Southern Maryland Athletic Conference female wrestlers enabled the conference to depart with two gold medals last weekend.
In the final girls’ match of the day, North Point High School senior Saniyah Wheeler edged Glen Burnie High School sophomore Pashince Gregory 1-0 for the state 100-pound title in a genuine defensive struggle, while earlier Lackey High School junior Jariah Washington handled Charles H. Flowers High School junior Mabel Alafiatayo 14-0 to garner the 170-pound title.
Wheeler, who was competing in her final high school athletic event of any kind, admitted that she was nervous at the outset of the match but gradually gained her confidence after taking a tepid 1-0 lead in the second round. She then maintained a defensive posture throughout the third period and refused to yield the tying point to her Glen Burnie foe.
“I felt pretty nervous before the match,” said Wheeler, who plans to enlist in the Army soon after graduating from North Point. “But when I got that first point in the match, I started to gain more confidence. I just had to do whatever I could to keep her from scoring. It really meant a lot to win this state title. This was going to be my last match ever, so I wanted to leave her with a title.”
While Wheeler and Gregory attained a grand sum of just one point in their lightweight finale, Washington assumed a dominant role over her Flowers High foe in the opening stages of the match. Washington led 7-0 at the end of the first period and then doubled that advantage in the third period to win that match by 14-0 technical fall.
“Jariah was dominant almost every match during the state tournament,” said Lackey coach Brandon Paulin, who is also the mayor of Indian Head. “She literally made no mistakes in any of her matches. In the final, she just took control right from the start and really never let up. I thought that was her best match of the tournament.”
Washington joins Savannah McBain as the only two Lackey female wrestlers to garner state titles, although McBain attained her medal in 2019 during the Maryland State Invitational and prior to the MPSSAA recognizing girls’ wrestling as its own separate tournament.
