Quakertown had a pair of gold medalists in Ashley Stank & Caroline Hattala and captured the team state title.
Living the dream.
That’s what it’s got to feel like to Caroline Hattala and Ashley Stank. The two Quakertown seniors both finished at the top of the podium at the PIAA 3A Girls’ Wrestling Championships. For both, it is their second gold medal in as many years.
And if it seems as though things couldn’t get any better, they actually did as the Panthers won the team title. This despite
taking just four wrestlers to the state tournament, but all four were medal winners, including freshman Mya Pallone (5th place) and Mackenzie Gappa (7th place).
“We had high expectations because we did very well last year,” Quakertown coach Eric Rosencranz, who team finished fourth last year. “But I wasn’t quite sure if we had enough to win the whole thing.
“Obviously, we had our two champs repeat, but it was really our two freshmen that made it out too. They really put us over the top with wrestling back and getting fifth and seventh. The (two freshmen) grew up wrestling. They wrestled with boys until they got to middle school and got to wrestle just girls.
“They’re just grinders. They really don’t let anything get in their way. The always leave a chance open to win a match, so that was definitely evident last weekend.
For Hattela and Strank, it’s quite a contrast to their freshman year when wrestling was not yet sanctioned by the PIAA. Hattela – in a preview of things to come – won her weight class in the unsanctioned state tournament. Strank, meanwhile, finished fifth.
“I don’t know what the best case scenario would have been,” Hattela said. “I think I fell in love with the sport right away, whether it was going to be sanctioned or not. There had been obviously girls before me who’ve been doing it for years, who hadn’t seen these opportunities.
“So the fact that I’ve kind of been able to walk through all the hard work that they put in and be able to put in my own kind and kind of leave that on the mat – my hats off to them. It has been a really awesome experience and then to be able to have these awesome interactions and really, really meaningful interaction with younger girls who are coming up and falling in love with the sport that I feel in love with is a really, really cool experience.”
Strank got her first glimpe of wrestling prior to her freshman year at Souderton’s introductory classes for new girls.
“I started my freshman year with my high school team,” Strank said. “I did gymnastics since I was two pretty much up to last year.
“My brother wrestled, and it looked fun to me. I wanted to try it out of spite because I was told I wasn’t allowed to because Quakertown didn’t have a girls team.”
When Quakertown started a wrestling team, Strank was there. After a fifth place finish freshman year, she lost in the blood round in regionals as a sophomore but rebounded to win gold as a junior and senior.
“Wrestling is definitely rough,” Strank said. “It a lot of mental stuff. I don’t know if I’d say I enjoy it, but it definitely makes me feel accomplished.
“Gymnastics definitely did help. It gives you a lot of body control. “
Was there pressure to repeat?
“There definitely was pressure this year, but I try not to focus on that and just focus on wrestling good and doing my moves, but there definitely was more pressure than last year.”
Strank responded to that pressure with a gold medal performance – and a pin in the gold medal match.
“It was incredible,” she said. “I had no idea that my team was that close to winning. They told me when I got off the mat. It was crazy. If I pinned my girl, we secured the title.
“Our team is small compared to a lot of the other teams, and we only had four girls. The freshmen really contributed. I am so proud of them.”
While Strank – golden at ___ – is still considering her college options, Catella is committed to continue her wrestling career at Lehigh University.
“On my own personal level, I am very blessed to be able to put in a lot of work and have a lot of people supporting me,” Catella said. “Every resource I possibly could have from the wrestling room to my nutritionist and my trainers. They’re always there to push me.
“The weekend was in God’s hands, but I know that there had been a lot of work put in to help me get to that point. So those kind of results, I had faith it would work out that way, but obviously you never know. It was obviously a great cap to my season in that way, but then we knew pretty early on the second day that we had a real cahcne to do something really cool with that team title.
“Our coaches always say to focus on the individual aspect first and then the team points will come. From me and Ash to our two young ones, we all kind of did our part, so it’s beautiful, and it’s such a blessing to be able to see this all kind of come together.”
The team returned to Quakertown to a hero’s welcome. They were met at the turnpike by the fire company and police.
“Basically, inconveniencing everyone else to give us a really, really awesome experience back to the Trolley Barn,” Catella said. It was like abig family moment, and that’s just what Quakertown is.
“It makes it very easy to go out and do what you love when you know there are so many people supporting you.”
Team standings
1 Quakertown-G 76.00
2Mt. Lebanon-G 68.00
3 Chestnut Ridge-G 56.00
4 Canon-McMillan-G 55.00
5 Neshaminy-G 43.50
6 Northwestern-G 43.00
7 Pine-Richland-G 39.00
8 Montgomery-G 38.50
9 Owen J. Roberts-G 34.00
10 Parkland-G 33.00
10 Dallastown-G 33.00
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