SALEM — As she braced for the ultimate spherical of her match Saturday, Amelyiah Martinez couldn’t assist however look on the small scoreboard nestled by the official’s desk. The sophomore was locked in a heated conflict, and knew full properly that her subsequent transfer might be the distinction in whether or not or not historical past was made.
As the group roared, nonetheless, she virtually felt at peace. The star athlete registered a clutch pin when the lights had been at their brightest, successful the ultimate 235-pound match to ship Lowell its first-ever All-State women wrestling championship in dramatic style at Salem High School.
“I feel very honored,” Martinez mentioned. “This is something that is really once in a lifetime. You can see me coming off the mat, I’m really stone-faced, then I just burst into tears because of how happy, how excited I am. When (the moment) came up, I felt so empowered by the girls around me. I know I can lean on any of the wrestlers if I need something in the match.”
As the marathon day wore on, the Red Raiders watched two athletes progress to the championship stage, with Martinez represented alongside junior Amada Moundele within the 165-pound class.
In a match that went the space, Moundele fell to Sharon’s Meghan Weibe in a 2-0 nail-biter, shaking up the varsity rankings. Suddenly, the Red Raiders had been trailing by a handful of factors.
Sharon, in the meantime, leaped right into a tie with Lowell for second place, every program with 46 factors. With each faculties having a participant within the final bout of the day, it was going to be as much as Martinez to tug by when it mattered most.
Ashland leaped to the forefront of the standings with 50 factors because of a implausible victory from Nora Quitt, a pin solely 10 seconds into the 138-pound match.
Lowell wanted its sophomore to win to complete as a co-champion, or a pin to win the title outright.
“I knew that it was down to me and Amada,” Martinez mentioned. “I couldn’t even watch her match, so all I saw was the closing. I went in there, and I knew what I had to do.”
With the match nearly deadlocked within the last interval, Martinez was in a position to pin Sharon’s Samantha Rabkin, and he or she might rejoice as a champion. When the mud settled, the Raiders completed in first with 52 factors.
“We were sitting there, and we kind of knew we needed a pin,” mentioned Lowell wrestling coach Nick Logan. “It kind of looked at the end like we might sneak out a win, but not a pin. So her getting that pin was awesome. I think that did it for us.”
Other spectacular performances included Ludlow’s Samantha Bertini, who registered a first-round pin of Josiah Quincy Upper’s Jailyn Edmonds within the 100-pound tilt. Wilmington standout Hannah Bryson accomplished a 14-0 victory over Kamila Vizcinesk of Arlington at 126.
Logan is pushed to proceed the momentum that he and his athletes have developed.
“We took fourth in this state tournament last year,” mentioned Logan. “Our pioneer, Amada Moundele, is a three-time placewinner now. She really paved the way for these girls, spread the word, and we were able to pretty much build a full girls group this year, which has been great.”
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