Addyson Munro was the only representative from Liberty at the PIAA wrestling championships and that meant something to her. A medal from Hershey meant even more for the Liberty senior, who came away from the Giant Center Saturday evening with a fourth place finish.

After a long three days of competition, Munro (235) was proud of how her senior season played out, despite losing in the consolation finals to Esther Reed of Big Spring by fall in 1:23.

“I’m upset that I lost [to Reed] because I thought I had a chance, but I’m happy that I got that far,” said Munro. “I never expected that I was going to get fourth. I didn’t even think I was going to place this year, but I guess my hard work paid off.”

This was Munro’s second season of wrestling, but the competition in Hershey this year for the girls was clearly tougher than it was a year ago. The sport is seeing a steady rise and that means more talented girls are entering the fray.

Munro was cognizant of the direction girls wrestling is heading, which made her run toward the top half of the podium a little more special.

“I never expected to be into wrestling, but coming out here, being in the third place bout and finishing ahead girls that have given me trouble in the past is just insane,” said Munro. “I definitely felt more pressure being the only Liberty wrestler out of the boys and girls teams, but my teammates were out here and really supported me and my coaches have been great all year long.”

Freedom’s Ivan Bonilla (152) and Dan Schiffert (HWT) both came home empty-handed from the tournament.

Bonilla lost his first two bouts to end his run early, falling to Blue Mountain’s Owen Woll 4-2 in the consolation round to end his journey on day one.

Schiffert lost his opening bout of the tournament to Armstrong’s Philup Rearick 4-2, but battled back to win three straight in the consolation bracket before his run came one win shy of guaranteeing himself a medal with a loss to Kaleb Britting of Conrad Weiser by fall in 3:43.

Bonilla, a senior, won’t get another shot at a trip to Hershey, but Schiffert made a jump his junior year to become a district champion and a regional finalist and will certainly look for a return trip to Hershey next year.

Munro, on the other hand, closed out her Liberty career over the weekend with a senior trip to the Giant Center that gave her so much more.

“I feel like a lot of the girls really stepped it up this year and to come away with a medal makes me feel proud,” said Munro. “I think our team has a really good chance of moving forward in the future. I know we have a lot of seniors leaving, but we’re all going to come back and help coach and make the girls better because girls wrestling is one of the most bad ass sports.”