Union Pines wrestlers recently competed in the first tournament of the season in the first official year of North Carolina High School Athletic Association-sanctioned girls wrestling.
The team only entered four wrestlers in the tournament, the Jim Key Invitational at Green Hope High School, but came away with two champions and a fourth-place team finish.
The two tournament champions were Gabriella Bumgardner at 120 pounds and Lily Blair at 126 pounds. Gabriella wrestled on the boy’s team at Union Pines High School all of last year, and Lily had a full season of state-sanctioned high school girls wrestling in Tennessee. Also competing Saturday were Allana Bloniasz and Abigail Pursley, both much newer to the sport but working hard and learning their way on the mat.
Feature photo: Lily Blair, second from left, and Gabriella Bumgardner, second from right.
Contributed/Courtesy photo.
