TOH invades the Kingdom
In a castle, there are knights to protect their kingdom against foreign attacks and invasions, but the Town of Huntington girls took them down along with everyone else at the first annual Lady Knights Classic wrestling tournament at Uniondale, claiming a score of 182.5 team points, but getting there was much more of a battle then being knighted in the arena.
Kaitlyn Costa (left) and Arly Moreira Portillo (right) holding the team trophy together.
After finding out the team won the tournament, some of the girls snapped a picture.
Top row (left to right): Coach Maria Canino, Arly Moreira Portillo, Yoselin Benitez Almendares, Mikee Tepley, Aylin Davila, Brittany Lopez and Kaitlyn Costa
Bottom row (left to right): Wynne Franciscovich and Bianca Awerman
What is TOH?
The Town of Huntington wrestling team, or simply just known as TOH is an all-girls combined team with participants from Harborfields, Huntington, Walt Whitman, Northport, Commack, and John Glenn High School. The team was created back in the 2022-2023 season in hopes of spreading the sport and creating more opportunities for girls in the field. On Long Island alone the number grew from 223 to 284 in the last year. Because of the contribution of teams in New York such as TOH, the sport managed to become not only fully sanctioned but also be an example for other states by changing the style to freestyle as opposed to folkstyle for more collegiate and national opportunities.
Back in 2022-2023 the FIRST EVER all girls wrestling team in Huntington was created.
The team poses outside, this time with Coach Angela Biancamano (second right) and wrestler Yeilin Sanchez (back row).
Overview
The Town of Hungiton girls started off the first tournament of the year on January 5th at Uniondale High School with some of the highest competition there. After the winter break wrestlers across the nation gained a two-pound allowance which resulted in major shifts in weight classes and highly anticipated matches. Out of the 15 entries made by the team, TOH had 10 placements with 8 of their wrestlers taking the podium and a shiny, proud medal back home.
Girls Individual Ranking as of 12/19/24 (Source: Long Island Wrestling Association)
Girls Individual Ranking as of 1/13/25 (Source: Long Island Wrestling Association)
According to Track Wrestling, these were the team scores after the tournament with TOH totaling 182.5 points.
The Lady Knights Classic differed in bracket styles consisting of both wrestle backs and round robins. As shown, the bracket with the most wrestlers was the 138 weight class with a whopping 17 girls while the smallest is tided with the 94 and 185 weight class consisting of only 4 girls.
Bianca Awerman, who reigns the 100 lbs weight class makes it once more into the finals, eventually winning by tech fall.
TOH managed to get 18 pins in total, taking second place with a total time of 32:38, only being slightly beaten by time by Bayshore. However, they did get first in the tech fall category with 9 of them and a combined time of 21:03. To top it all off, the girls gained a whopping 271 match points with a gap of 56 to Uniondale who came in second in the category.
Brittany Lopez, who made it to the finals, shaking her opponents hand.
When asked, TOH Coach and Harborfields representative Nicholas D'anna noted there was incredible effort put out by the girls. “Kids down in points kept fighting and came with a win…The effort has been there”, crediting the girls for their perseverance and determination. Reiterating that message, Coach Angela Biacamano, who represents the Whitman district said in a sportsYou post, “Amazing job by all the athletes who wrestled today, every single one of you contributed to the team's success!”.
Matches from wrestlers of all types of wrestlers on the team left the crowd shouting such as new TOH member Elyse Man, a Commack freshman left everyone in awe as she managed not only once but twice to turn her match right side up when she was dangerously close to losing, leading her right into the finals. Or seasoned wrestlers such as Harborfields own Mikee Tepley who continues his winning streak and first-place reign since the beginning of December with falls faster than Flash himself and point gaps larger than Max Verstappen during Red Bull's dominant seasons.
Elyse Man created some upsets as she made her way through to the finals.
Mikee Tepley once again makes his daily appearance into the finals. He later won by decision and kept his No. 1 ranking.
To sum it up, TOH has grown so much compared to their first-ever season. With it being the first sanctioned year with a whole new style, the girls have been able to take the challenges brought upon themselves and prove their dedication, passion, and discipline when it comes to being a gladiator in front of the emperors. The TOH girls aren’t for the faint of heart, and they sure proved it in the clearest way at the Ladies Knights classic.
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