NEW YORK STATE GIRLS WRESTLING: SVEC'S BEACH MAKES HISTORY WITH FIFTH-PLACE FINISH AT STATES (24 PHOTOS) (February 26, 2026)
NEWARK VALLEY'S MERRILL GOES 0-2 IN FIRST TRIP TO STATES
BY TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportALBANY — SVEC senior Tayah Beach made history Thursday, becoming the first two-time state place-finisher in Spencer-VanEtten school history with a fifth-place finish at the New York State Girls Wrestling Championships at the MVP Arena.
Beach finished fourth at States last year
"It's definitely not the where we wanted to be, we were hoping to be in the finals," said SVEC coach Robbie Swartout.
"But overall, it was still a great day," he noted. "Tayah is the first two-time state place-finisher ever at Spencer-VanEtten.
"It was a very historic and good day," added Swartout.
Beach, the second seed at 120 pound, started the day with a 91-second fall over Red Hook's Emma Palencia in the opening round.
Beach led her quarter-final match with Camden's Rylie Meagher 8-0 midway through the first period, thanks to a pair of four-point moves, but Meagher closed the gap to 8-5 with a four-point move of her own with four seconds remaining in the first period.
Beach scored a reversal three seconds later to make it 9-5 entering the second three-minute period.
Meagher tied the bout with a four-point move 30 seconds into the second period, but Beach answered with a four-point move three seconds later to take a 13-9 lead.
Meagher registered a reversal to close the gap to 13-10, then scored a pair of takedowns 16 seconds apart to take a 14-13 lead with 38 seconds remaining.
"It was tough match to drop, especially since we were winning," said Swartout.
"We were up pretty big, but I could see the shift happen in the match," he noted. "She's been sick the last week-and-a-half trying to fight it, trying to get rid of it. And, we're still fighting that a little bit.
"That's kind of the tough part of the match," said Swartout. "If we were fully healthy, I think we win that match 10 times out of 10.
"It was tough, but I think overall, she has a good attitude, and she was able to come back and win the first round of wrestlebacks," added Swartout. "It says a lot about her."
In her first consolation bracket match, Beach pinned Northern Adirondack's Lily Blazina in 54 seconds, then scored an 11-1 technical fall over Chenango Forks' third-seeded Emily Phelps in 2:35.
In the consolation semifinals, Beach dropped a 10-0 technical fall to Shenandehowa's Madalyn Hill on 3:56.
In the fifth-place, Beach earned a bit of redemption with a pin of Meagher.
Beach hit a four-point move with 14 seconds remaining in the first period to take a 6-0 lead on Meagher, then turned her for the fall at 2:57.
"It's not often you get a chance to do that," said Swartout.
Beach ends her senior with a 35-5 record.
NEWARK VALLEY'S MERRILL GOES 0-2Merrill, who was the 11th seed, lost to 6th-seeded Zoey Hernandez of Rocky Point, who went on to place fifth in the 94-pound weight class, via fall in 63 seconds.
In her first wrestleback match, Merrill trailed 14-5 when as pinned by Middletown's Shane Dharaleen in 2:26.
Merrill wraps up her 8th-grade season with a 21-10 record.
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PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
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