2020 Eastern States Classic Recap: 7th Grader Griffith Wins, Macaluso Sisters Dominate

2020 Eastern States Classic champions (L to R): 195 Joanna Jones, 170 Kai Poux, 152 Damiana Racciatti, 132 Schyler Caringi, 126 Mia Macaluso, 120 Sofia Macaluso, 113 Ally Fitzgerald, 106 Caitlyn Walker, and 99 Zoe Griffith.

AWW Staff

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY – For the first time in its almost 20-year history, premiere high school tournament the Eastern States Classic hosted a girls’ division. Held at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake last Saturday, nine champions were crowned in a day full of upsets, close matches, and outstanding performances by top northeast female high school wrestlers. In all, there were 70 entries representing a total of 37 schools.

“I would like to thank the Staff at Eastern States Classic for accommodating the Inaugural Girl's Division yesterday,” said USA-NY Women’s Director, Heath Macaluso. “The tournament went great… I look forward to this event doubling in size next year due to this great exposure.”

At 99 pounds, 7th grade #3 seed Zoe Griffith of Gouverneur, NY shocked the field with a fall over #1 seed, senior Lina Diamond of Long Beach, NY to win the title. The match was a back and forth battle, with Griffith leading 10-7 at the 4:48 mark when she secured the fall. Diamond ended up taking 3rd, falling to #2 seed Alyssa Reed 15-11 in the Round Robin format. Griffith ended up 4-0 with 4 pins on the day.

At 106, 2017 Cadet Pan-Am Champion Caitlyn Walker of Wyoming Sem ran through the competition, getting an 18-3 tech fall over runner-up, Isabella Garcia of Horace Greeley in New York, in the 1st place match.

113 featured a finals battle between 2018 Cadet Fargo champ Ally Fitzgerald of Lynbrook and 7x All-American Riley Dalrymple of Copenhagen. This was a rematch of the finals last spring at the inaugural girls division at NHSCA Nationals in Virginia, and the 6th time they’ve met on the mat, with Fitzgerald holding the series lead 4-1 in matches heading into this bout. This time, it was Fitzgerald again with an 11-2 win as she turned Dalrymple’s shots into her offense with counter throws. The intense match featured injury time for both athletes.

This weight class was not without controversy, as Fitzgerald was disqualified in a previous round for a flagrant elbow to the face of her opponent Hannah Simoes of Yonkers, NY. Tournament officials let Fitzgerald continue in the tournament and she wrestled her way to the title. “She was simply overpowering,” Lynbrook coach Rich Renz told the Long Island paper, Newsday. “Her only loss came after she was disqualified for elbowing her opponent. That came after she’d had her fingers twisted, which is illegal, more than once. I’m happy the loss didn’t derail her shot at the title and she refocused and came out aggressively in the final.”

3x national champion Sofia Macaluso of Minisink Valley looked the part en route to her ESC title, getting a bye in the first round followed by two first-period pins, first in the semis over #4 seed Nathaly Pichardo, then in the finals over Avon-Geneseo’s Esther Levendusky. In a rematch of last year’s finals at PSAL Girls Folkstyle States, #2 seed Levendusky downed #3 seed Gianna Amendola 12-2 in the semis. Levendusky won last year 6-4, though Amendola pinned Levendusky at the USA-NY Freestyle States, the Fargo qualifier, in May. Fun fact: Levendusky wrestled Macaluso in her first-ever wrestling match as a 9-year-old in 2013. Macaluso pinned her then too.

At 126, it was another Macaluso, as “Mia Mac” of Minisink Valley dominated her way to the 126-pound title, getting a bye and two first-period pins like her sister. The senior faced Staten Island freshman Alessandra Elliott in the finals, a rising star in New York. Elliot had first-period pins in the quarters and semis before losing to Macaluso, the 2019 Cadet Pan-Am Champion.

132 featured two of the biggest upsets of the tournament, as #4 seed Jade Eldridge of Newark knocked off #1 seed Naomi Henry of Brooklyn-based Wingate 8-6. Henry was a 2018 Fargo finalist in the Cadet division. On the other side of the bracket, Coxsackie-Athens wrestler Schyler Caringi, the #3 seed, beat 5x All-American Grace Pauls of Minisink Valley by 3rd period fall. Pauls is currently ranked #6 in the country. Caringi then went on to defeat Eldridge 12-3 in the finals to win the title, a rematch of two weeks ago when Caringi faced Eldridge and beat her 2-1 in Newark, NY.

152 was the Damiana Racciatti show, as the junior from Liverpool got a fall in the semis and won a 9-1 major in the finals over New York’s Eliyah Constant of Pine Bush High School. Racciatti has been a multiple-time national team member for New York at Fargo.

At 170, the finals featured a battle of multiple-time All-Americans as #2 seed Brooklyn Tech’s Kai Poux defeated #1 seed McKenzie Samuels by fall. Samuels, from Harry S. Truman in NYC, was a double All-American at Fargo last summer, placing 8th in the 16U division and 5th in the older Junior division. She’s also currently ranked #9 at 164 in our AWW national rankings, while Poux is #24 at 152. Both Samuels and Poux had to get by a gritty #4 seed in the round robin, Persian Singh of North Rose-Wolcott, who lost to both of them by 2 points. Singh ended up 4th, falling to Jessica Kemgne of Inwood in the 3rd place match.

195 again featured a finals match between two All-Americans, with senior Joanna Jones pinning freshman Sujeydy Matos at the 1:43 mark. Jones is from Wingate in NYC, while Matos is from Harry S. Truman, the second finalist from the Bronx-based program.

PLACEMENTS

99 pounds
1. Zoe Griffith, 7th grade (Gouverneur, NY)
2. Alyssa Reed, 8th grade (Port Jervis HS, NY)
3. Lina Diamond, SR (Long Beach HS, NY)
4. Vivian Chen (Townsend Harris, Queens, NY)
5. Ava Capogna (Rocky Point ,NY)

106 pounds
1. Caitlyn Walker, SR (Wyoming Seminary, PA)
2. Isabella Garcia, SR (Horace Greeley HS)
3. Hinda Doucoure, SR (Taft, NY, NY)
4. Brooke Tarshis (PNBH, NY)
5. Emily Frost (Tamarac HS, Brunswick, NY)

113 pounds
1. Ally Fitzgerald, JR (Lynbrook HS, NY)
2. Riley Dalrymple, SR (Copenhagen CSD, Copenhagen)
3. Kylah Holka, JR (Niagara Falls HS)
4. Hannah Simoes (Yonkers, NYC)
5. Genesis Ceron (Grover Cleveland, Queen, NY)

120 pounds
1. Sofia Macaluso, SO (Minisink Valley, NY)
2. Esther Levendusky, JR (Avon-Geneseo)
3. Nathaly Pichardo, SO (Harry S Truman, Bronx, NY)
4. Gianna Amendola (Rocky point HS rocky point NY)
5. Gianna Codispoti (TOT, NYC)
6. Florence Yuen (Seward Park)
7. Emily Coello (TOT, NYC)

126 pounds
1. Mia Macaluso, SR (Minisink Valley, NY)
2. Alessandra Elliott, FR (Tottenville, NY)
3. Lara Schechter, JR (HACK)
4. Rachel Chai (Townsend Harris High School)
5. Yuyao Shi (Seward Park, NYC)
6. Destiny Walsh (Rondout Valley)
7. Ploy Tipmanee (HER)

132 pounds
1. Schyler Caringi, SO (Coxsackie-Athens, Coxsackie, NY)
2. Jade Eldridge, JR (Newark NY)
3. Grace Pauls, SR (Minisink Valley, NY)
4. Naomi Henry (Wingate E.C. Brooklyn, New York)
5. Gabrielle Baker (BYSH)
6. Lily Rabine (South Glens Falls NY)

152 pounds
1. Damiana Racciatti, JR (Liverpool)
2. Eliyah Constant, JR (PNBH)
3. Angel Zhang, JR (Seward Park)
4. Jazmine Taylor (Middletown High School)
5. Hailey DeGroff (Warsaw High School, Warsaw, NY)
6. Amelia Samuelson (PFRD)

170 pounds
1. Kai Poux, SR (Brooklyn Tech, NYC)
2. McKenzie Samuels, JR (Harry S Truman HS, Bronx, NY)
3. Jessica Kemgne, JR (Inwood Academy for Leadership, NYC)
4. Persian Singh (North Rose-Wolcott Central Schools, NY)
5. Paige Blas (Grover Cleveland, Queens, NY)

195 pounds
1. Joanna Jones, SR (Wingate E.C. Brooklyn, New York)
2. Sujeydy Matos, FR (Harry S Truman HS, Bronx, NY)
3. Jessica Ho, SR (John Bowne, Flushing, NY)