January 06, 2025
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Lockport wrestlers take team title at Oswego East’s Aaron Dudley Memorial Girls Invite

Woodstock, Oswego, Oswego East round out top five in 24-team field

By Chris Walker
Veronica Skibicki of Lockport, right, tries to take down Eva Hermansson of Woodstock in the 110-weight class championship match on Saturday Jan. 4, 2025, where Veronica took a 4-3 decision during the Aaron Dundley invite held at Oswego East High School.

Veronica Skibicki of Lockport, right, tries to take down Eva Hermansson of Woodstock in the 110-weight class championship match on Saturday Jan. 4, 2025, where Veronica took a 4-3 decision during the Aaron Dundley invite held at Oswego East High School. (David Toney for Shaw Local News /David Toney)

OSWEGO – Sophie Kelner went through it.

The Lockport junior has put in a lot of time and effort in her past two years of high school wrestling and is now seeing it really pay off for the Porters.

Kelner had a familiar foe in the 190-pound final as she had to defeat teammate Myra Vicencio by major decision in Saturday’s Aaron Dudley Memorial Girls Invite at Oswego East.

“My freshman year I was not very good, I had a very bad, losing record and I was always wrestling up to 235 because a lot of teams didn’t have 190 so I was getting beat by these girls who were a lot bigger and stronger than me,” Kelner said.

“It was a pushback for me at first. I was like, ‘This is real tough,’ and it was different than anything I’d done before and I did a lot of sports in middle school. So then sophomore year I came back and realized how much better I’d gotten over a span of a few months and now it’s junior year and I see myself winning tournaments and I see I really can do something with this if I put in the work.”

Putting away the competition were her fellow Porters as Averi Colella (105), Veronica Skibicki (110), Claudia Heeney (135) and Rebekah Ramirez (235) also won titles to lead Lockport to the tournament team title.

“All these girls that won a medal today definitely deserved it,” Ramirez said, “We’ve got a really hard-working room and I think everyone went out there and gave it their best.”

The Porters finished with a score of 208. East Aurora was the runner-up with 173.5 and followed by Woodstock’s 164, Oswego’s 127.5 and Oswego East’s 112.5 to round out the top five teams among the 24-team field.

“Honestly, it’s an amazing team we got here and I think it could really be something someday, Heeney said. “I mean we’re growing it right now, but in the future I think it could be really something bigger. It’s amazing. They put in the work in the room so I expect nothing less of them.”

Colella won her 100th match earlier this year.

“When I started as a sophomore I had no idea that I would have any success,” she said. “I found it on the student splash page and thought, ‘What if I join this?’”

Also getting to the award stand for the Porters were Bella Romando (115), who took fourth, and Kyleigh Green (130), who took fifth.

Woodstock didn’t have a champion but Eva Hermansson (110), Hannah Olsen (125) and Brianna Crown (155) finished second to lead seven Blue Streaks who placed. Ava Kok (140) was third, Allison Hills (235) took fourth, Aubree Hansen (115) and Kiara Manning (135) were fifth and Hunter Goucher (190) took sixth.

Makayla Hill of Oswego celebrates after pinning Lake Park’s wrestler Joscelin Ritthamel in the145-weight class championship match during the Aaron Dundley invite held at Oswego East High School.

Makayla Hill of Oswego celebrates after pinning Lake Park’s wrestler Joscelin Ritthamel in the145-weight class championship match during the Aaron Dundley invite held at Oswego East High School. (David Toney for Shaw Local News /David Toney)

Oswego’s Makayla Hill took down four of her opponents by fall on her way to winning the 145-pound title while her teammate Kiyah Chavez (155) pinned four straight opponents after opening with a bye. Chavez needed just 44 seconds to win her championship match.

“It went very well and most of my matches were short,” Chavez said. “Wrestling is hard and very tiring so I want to get it done as fast as I can. I think I cradled three of the four girls.”

Ameera Murphy (135) took third for the Panthers, who had eight placers overall. Aaliyah Roldan (120) took fourth, Savannah Martell-Quinones (100), Rikka Ludvigson (170) and Helena Torres (190) were fifth and Joslynn Sheet (140) took sixth.

Mia Nevarez (125) had a pair of tech falls and pins in her first four matches before she pinned Woodstock’s Hannah Olsen in 2:32 to give the Wolves their first of two titles on their home turf.

“Today I feel like I wrestled how I used to wrestle in IKWF,” she said. “I’ve always been a bit of a scrambler and not too good at taking shots. Today I at least tried some shots.”

Brianna Crown of Woodstock keeps her focus while taking on Kiyah Chavez of Oswego in the155-weight class during the championship match where Kiyah took the win with a pin over Brianna during the Aaron Dundley invite held at Oswego East High School.

Brianna Crown of Woodstock keeps her focus while taking on Kiyah Chavez of Oswego in the155-weight class during the championship match where Kiyah took the win with a pin over Brianna during the Aaron Dundley invite held at Oswego East High School. (David Toney for Shaw Local News /David Toney)

Quinn Janssens (140) wasted little time dominating her opponents. She needed less than 10 seconds to pin her first two challengers. She followed with a tech fall win in her quarterfinal and then finished her title off with two more pins.

“I kind of have to just go off of what I’m given or what she tries to do on me,” Janssens said. “I don’t really try to set up different moves. I kind of go with the flow.”

Jessica Stover (170) took second place for the Wolves.

Wheaton North’s Izzy Paz (100), Metea Valley’s Ashley Basmajian (115) and Janiya Moore (120), Neuqua Valley’s Zuzanna Wegiera (130) and Plainfield Central’s Alicia Tucker (170) also won titles.