The Northampton girls wrestling team took part in the EPC girls championship on Saturday at Liberty High. After finishing ninth out of 10 teams in 2024, the K-Kids showed broad improvement as they finished eighth out of the 14 teams competing.

Nevertheless, head coach Joe Tocci was disappointed with the team’s performance. He explained, “As a team, we wrestled terrible all day. We lost matches we should have won. Lost when we were up big points and got pinned. It was just the kind of day we had.”

The team’s day ended on what was perhaps the most surprising result.

Mylea Lambert was reversed and pinned by Olivya Kroope of Emmaus in the second period of the final at 155 after the first three minutes of the match were scoreless. Lambert had pinned Kroope in their two meetings last season. The K-Kids’ senior may have a chance at revenge on Monday when Northampton wrestles a dual meet at Emmaus.

Jaida Onyango was Northampton’s other finalist. She was pinned in the 112 final by Pleasant Valley’s state-ranked sophomore Juliette Trout. Onyango bettered her 2024 performance in the tournament where she finished fourth.

Taylor Sipel was the Kids’ only other placewinner. She claimed fourth place at 118. She was up 7-0 after one period against Parkland’s Payton Ocasio in the third-place match, but got reversed and pinned in the second period.

Eliza Wendling, Camryn Birosik, and Dani Glaser all reached the consolation semifinals, but dropped their bouts, falling one match shy of reaching the top 4 and claiming a medal.

The squad has dual meets at Emmaus on Monday and then home for Easton on Tuesday for Senior Night. Next weekend, they have a tournament at Lebanon High School which will serve as their final tune up prior districts.

The district tournament is Sunday, Feb. 16 at Easton Middle School. There are no separate classifications for 2A and 3A, and wrestlers attending schools without a dedicated girls program will also be participating, resulting in a much deeper field.

EPC Girls Wrestling

Invitational

final team standings

(1) Parkland 154.0, (2) Easton 138.5, (3) Bethlehem Liberty 135.5, (4) Pocono Mountain West 128.0, (5) Pocono Mountain East 123.5, (6) Emmaus 102.0, (7) Nazareth 96.0, (8) NORTHAMPTON 81.5, (9) Bethlehem Freedom 77.0, (10) Pleasant Valley 74.5, (11) East Stroudsburg South 50.0, (12) Stroudsburg 23.0, (13) Allentown Allen 17.0, (14) Bethlehem Catholic 15.0