IAC GIRLS WRESTLING: MERRILL WINS TITLE, FOUR TEAMMATES ARE RUNNERS-UP AT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS (5 PHOTOS) (January 24, 2026)

Tioga County Sports Report
WATKINS GLEN — Eighth-grader Hadley Merrill won a title, and four of her Newark Valley teammates were runners-up here Saturday at the IAC Girls Wrestling Championships.

Juniors Abigail Escalante and Malerie Gregrow, and sophomores Billeigh Dawson and Isabella King were runners-up for the Cardinals.

With weight classes combined in some instances due to the small number of competitors, there were no team championship.

Merrill was 3-0 — all technical falls — on her way to IAC gold in the 100-pound weight class.

Merrill forged a 10-0 technical fall over Schuyler's Kaycee Lyles, then blanked SVEC's Elizabeth Kunte, 12-0, in her first two matches.

She finished off her title run with a 10-0 win over teammate Tressa Middendorf.

Escalante was 2-1 to place second in the 120-pound pool.

Escalante pinned Tioga's Vida Rossi in 2:19, and teammate Kailyn Harvey in 1:31 in her first two matches, but lost via technical fall to SVEC's Tayah Beach in her final bout.

Gregrow was 2-1 to place second in the 138-pound weight class.

Gregrow pinned teammate Emily LaPorte in 5:29, then decker SVEC's Abigail Russell in 46 seconds, before falling to Tioga's Cora Szymanski in 1:59.

King was 2-1 to place second in the 152-pound weight class.

King pinned Edison's Sydney Gibbs in 1:40, and Edison's Eden Bethel in 29 seconds, before losing a 10-0 technical fall to Tioga standout Amelia Toomey.

Dawson was 1-1 to finish second in the 126-pound pool.

Dawson pinned Marathon's Adalyn VanDee in 33 seconds, then lost via fall to Tioga's Sophia Haney in 2:18.

Emily LaPorte was 1-2 to finish third in the 138-pound pool. Her lone win was a pin of SVEC's Abigail Russell in 2:18.

Harvey was 1-2 to finish third at 120 pounds. After losing to Beach and Escalante, Havey scored a 52-second fall against Rossi.

Tressa Middendorf was 0-3 to finish fourth at 100 pounds, while Nora McCann was 0-3 to finish fourth at 114 pounds, and Ashleen Callahan was 0-2 to finish third at 235 pounds.

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PHOTOS BY CORA SZYMANSKI and CRISTINA ROSSI.

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