Parkland athletic teams are among the best in most sports in District 11 year in and year out.

With the first year of high school wrestling now three weeks into the postseason, the Trojan girls grapplers are making sure their program is also among the elite teams in the area.

Less than two weeks after taking the first East Penn Conference tournament title, the Trojans repeated that feat at the inaugural District 11 Girls Championships, taking first place as a team with 160 points, with Liberty (144) and Easton (123) filling out the top three.

Parkland crowned two individual district champs Sunday at Easton Middle School, while three other Trojans finished second in their weight class and another took third place. All top three finishers advance to Sunday’s regional tournament at Quakertown High School. Parkland will send six wrestlers the event.

“Our team wrestled amazing today,” said PHS junior Ella Hesener, who won the 100-pound title Sunday. “We secured the first girls title District 11 history.”

Hesener pinned all three of her district tournament opponents. She put Mya Jiminez (East Stroudsburg South) on her back in 2:37, then showed Bethlehem Catholic’s Remiah Rivera the lights in just :58.

Hesener, who was also an East Penn Conference individual champ, heard the referee slap the mat 3:16 into her title match against Nazareth’s Chelsea Dressler.

She said the key to winning was her mental approach to each match.

“I was in the right head space,” Hesener said. “I figured my stuff out. I wasn’t too nervous before a match and wasn’t too cocky before a match.”

Lily Snook also won districts with three pins. The freshman was a second-place finisher at the league tournament, but came out on top at districts while avenging her loss in the EPC title match.

Snook opened the tournament with pins of Easton’s Madeline Polachak (3:05) and Northampton’s Taylor Sipel (:59) to reach the 106-pound championship match against Pocono Mountain East’s Carlie Ciresa, who beat Snook by decision in the league title match on Feb. 6.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the district title match, Snook managed to tie Ciresa in the second period before getting the third-period pin at 4:24.

“I came out with the right mindset in every match and I did the best I could,” said Snook. “In the end, that won me the match, all of them. It’s the best revenge match. I lost 6-3 to her at EPCs. To say I pinned her at districts is so satisfying.

“After every match I reflect and see what I can improve on and I did exactly that after the EPC match.”

Three other Parkland wrestlers made it to the championship match of their weight class on Sunday.

Abigail Taylor (124) pinned three opponents before falling to Pen Argyl’s Madacyn Rivera in the title bout.

Kelsey Gelb pinned her first two opponents before Northampton’s Mylea Lambert beat her in the 155-pound final. Shannon Fratus also won by fall in her first two matches before losing a 3-1 decision to Liberty’s Gracie Haflich in the 170-pound championship match.

Sylvyn Parham (112) also qualified for regionals with a third-place finish.

After pinning her first two opponents, Parham met eventual champ and the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, East Stroudsburg North’s Andi Bibeau in the semifinals and was pinned in the second period. She bounced back by pinning Northampton’s Jaida Onyango in the consolation semifinals and winning a 4-0 decision over Pocono Mountain East’s Mia Lopez in the third-place match.

While girls wrestling is in just its first year as a PIAA sanctioned sport, many of the wrestlers have been competing for a few years and are happy to be able to don singlets with their school’s name.

“It’s amazing,” said Hesener, who has been wrestling for three years. “Just the amount the sport has grown and the heart coming into it is phenomenal. The teams are growing and the bonds on each team are growing. At Parkland we have a good bond with all of our girls and our coaches. You can see that within every other team here.”

Twenty-three teams had wrestlers competing at the girls championships and many had close to full line ups.

“It’s awesome to see how much the girls wrestling community grew,” said Snook, who has been wrestling for four years. “Even in just the last year, the amount of new girls coming into the sport is incredible. I don’t think anybody expected this sport to get so big.”

Wrestlers who advance through this weekend’s PIAA Southeast Regional will compete in Hershey for state titles March 7-9. There are eight wrestlers in each weight class at regionals, with the top four in each moving on to the state championships.

“Some tough competition is coming up,” said Hesener. “It just gets better and better from here on out. I’m just going to stick to what I know and wrestle my heart out.”

“I’m just doing this one match at a time,” said Snook “It’s always nice to see the seedings and what I’m predicted to place ... but anything can happen.”

The following are Parkland results from the District 11 Championships.

Ella Hesener (100)

Hesener pinned Mya Jiminez (East Stroudsburg So.) in 2:37

Hesener pinned Remiah Rivera (Bethlehem Catholic) in :58

Championship match: Hesener pinned Chelsea Dressler (Nazareth) in 3:16

Lily Snook (106)

Snook pinned Madeline Polachak (Easton) in 3:05

Snook pinned Taylor Sipel (Northampton) 2:52

Championship match: Snook pinned Carlie Ciresa (Pocono Mountain East) in 4:24

Sylvyn Parham (112)

Parham pinned Lillian Klotz (Lehighton) in :36

Parham pinned Mia Ariola (Pocono Mountain East) in 3:53

Andi Bibeau (East Stroudsburg No.) pinned Parham in 2:51

Parham pinned Jaida Onyango (Northampton) in 3:47

Third-place match: Parham dec. Mia Lopez (Pocono Mountain East), 4-0

Saige Rittenhouse (118)

Rittenhouse pinned Taige Roman (East Stroudsburg So.) in 5:39

Autumn Kanas (Pocono Mountain West) pinned Rittenhouse in 5:24

Emilie Capron (Nazareth) dec. Rittenhouse, 8-6

Abigail Taylor (124)

Taylor pinned Lea Schaible (Palmerton) in 1:15

Taylor pinned Kimora Gilbrath (Pocono Mountain East) in 5:53

Taylor pinned Grace Bucich (Palisades) in 5:40

Championship match: Madacyn Rivera (Pen Argyl) pinned Taylor in 3:29

Danica Butch (130)

Butch pinned Kayla Perez (Pocono Mountain West) in 2:43

Alyssa Laubach (Freedom) pinned Butch in 1:59

Sarah Luisi (Emmaus) pinned Butch in 4:42

Victoria Lasagna (136)

Aeriel Stallworth (Catasauqua) pinned Lasagna in :58

Jasmine Donella (Nazareth) dec. Lasagna, 4-2

Breanna Hann (142)

Hann pinned Jalissa Tirado (Freedom) in 1:00

Olivia Capra (Easton) pinned Hann in 2:58

Glory Joledo (Pocono Mountain West) by forfeit over Hann

Lizkarla

Grullon Vasquez (148)

Neysa Lynch (Pocono Mountain East) pinned Grullon Vasquez in 5:29

Ellia Sales (Easton) pinned Grullon Vasquez in 2:22

Kelsey Gelb (155)

Gelb pinned Joselin Flores (East Stroudsburg No.) in :34

Gelb pinned Summer Footit (Pocono Mountain West) in 1:12

Championship match: Mylea Lambert (Northampton) pinned Gelb in 1:35

Shannon Fratus (170)

Fratus pinned Lilliana Brader (Northampton) in :53

Fratus pinned Maura Case (Easton) in 5:06

Championship match: Gracie Haflich (Liberty) dec. Fratus, 3-1