The Parkland High School girls wrestling team started its 2024 schedule the way it left off in 2023, winning a pair of league matches to start the new year.

The Trojans won two Eastern Pennsylvania Conference dual matches last week and neither was that close. They defeated Northampton 60-15 last Wednesday and followed that up the next night with a 61-12 victory over Freedom. Two days later, Parkland headed to Cumberland Valley High School for a dual meet tournament. The Trojans won one match against J.P. McCaskey 41-27, but fell to Cumberland Valley 54-22 in the second match and then to Gettysburg 46-18 in the third-place match.

Against the Kids, Lily Snook opened the match with a pin at 100 pounds and Ella Hesener followed that up with a pin at 106 for a quick 12-0 lead to get things going.

After the Kids earned a 6-5 decision in the next bout, Parkland won the next eight bouts to take the match. There were six pins as Sylvyn Parham, Saige Rittenhouse, Abigail Taylor, Lizkarla Grullon Vasquez, Damaris Lubin and Kelsey Gelb all put their opponent on her back and got to hear the referee slap the mat. Emerson Slaughenhoupt and Breanna Hann both won via forfeits.

It was a similar outcome in the match with the Patriots as Shannon Fratus earned a 15-4 major decision at 190 pounds to begin the match. Freedom got a forfeit at 235 to take a 6-4 lead, but the Trojans won six in a row and then four of the last five.

Snook, Hesener, Parham and Rittenhouse accounted for four straight pins and then Danica Butch and Taylor had a decision and pin, respectively. Freedom recorded a pin at 136, but Hann, Grullon Vasquez and Gelb all had pins, while Lubin won via forfeit at 148.

In the victory over J.P. McCaskey, Snook and Hesener recorded back-to-back pins to begin the match, while Parham notched a 12-3 major decision. Rittenhouse tallied a 6-0 decision and then Butch and Taylor added pins as the Trojans took a 31-0 lead and didn’t look back. Gelb picked up a pin at 155 and Fratus earned a 1-0 decision to round out the wins for Parkland.

Parkland’s next dual meet will be a conference match against Easton at Lehigh University’s historic Grace Hall Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.