The first female wrestling champions from Hillsborough in the Jim King/Orange Invitational provided a study in contrasts.
Thalia Paterno is a freshman at Cedar Ridge who has wrestled since her sixth grade year at Stanback Middle School.
Chloe Pankratz is a senior at Cedar Ridge who started wrestling last year mainly because one of her best friends was the Captain of the women’s team who successfully talked her into joining the squad.
In terms of experience, Pankratz and Paterno are different. In terms of success so far this season, they’re similar.
On Saturday, Paterno won her second individual championship at the JKO, which hosted a women’s tournament for the second time ever at Orange High School. In a four-competitor, round robin format, Paterno pinned all three of her opponents in less than one minute. She defeated Kailey Cabrera of Bartlett Yancey in 19 seconds, then finished off Angela Chen of Cary in 38 seconds. In the de facto championship match, Paterno pinned Sophia Gould of Millbrook in 33 seconds.
Paterno is 13-1 with nine pins in her freshman season. Her only loss came in the championship match of the season-opening Atkins Invitational in Winston-Salem.
“I think I was pretty good,” Paterno said. “My first match wasn’t great, but I think my other two were pretty good.”
Paterno started her career in middle school when her parents lobbied her to play a winter sport in middle school. She would have selected Ultimate frisbee, but Stanback didn’t have a team. So she chose wrestling.
She’s also on the Cedar Ridge women’s junior varsity cross country team.
“Wrestling is fun,” Paterno said. “I get to make friends and I get to stay in good shape.”
Shortly after Paterno became the first female wrestler from Hillsborough to win a JKO Championship, Pankratz became the second. She pinned all three of her opponents in the 132 pound tournament , none of the matches exceeding one minute. Pankratz, the top-seed, pinned Leilani Valai of Terry Sanford in 51 seconds. In the semifinals, she finished Anneliese Garcia-Rodriguez of Middle Creek in 36 seconds. In the championship match, Katie Lloyd of Seaforth scored an early takedown, but Paterno quickly reserved it and scored a pin in 59 seconds.
This season, she is 16-1. In each of her non-forfeit victories, she has pinned her opponents, 12 times overall.
Pankratz joined Cedar Ridge’s wrestling team last year at the urging of Zoey Moreno, who won the Red Wolf Invitational at 120 pounds last year. In one year’s time, Pankratz went from failing to place at the Red Wolf Invitational in 2023 to winning the championship last month at 132 pounds.
Though Moreno graduated in June and is now wrestles at Division III Greensboro College, Pankratz hasn’t forgotten her. She ties her hair up in pigtails for each of her matches, just as Moreno did, as a standing tribute.
“It takes maybe five minutes,” Pankratz said.
What started as a hobby has turned into a borderline obsession for Pankratz. After every match, she scours video to find strengths, weaknesses and what to work on for the future.
With four wrestlers, Cedar Ridge still finished 4th in the women’s team standings with 51 points. Millbrook, with 12 competitors, won the women’s team championship with 153.5 points. Cary, fielding nine wrestlers, came in second with 65 points.
Orange’s Ava Lytle finished runner-up at 126 pounds. Lytle pinned Rebecca Parker of East Chapel Hill in the semifinals. Ellyaunnie Jacuinde Ramirez of Western Harnett took the championship.
Orange’s Rose Brady finished second in the 235-pound division. Brady pinned Ava Briel of Millbrook in 5:00 in the opening match of the round robin tournament. Cary’s Ella Taylor won the championship with a pin over Brady in the final.