H-S Athlete of the week: Zoey Murphy, Southmoreland
Name: Zoey Murphy
School: Southmoreland
Class: Junior
Sport: Wrestling
Murphy’s week: The junior became the first girls WPIAL wrestling champion in program history last Saturday in winning the title in the 235-pound weight class with a fall in 42 seconds in the finals. Murphy entered the tournament as the top seed, and received a bye into the quarterfinals before recording pins in 1:13 and 12 seconds to advance to the finals.
Murphy was second in the WPIAL finals a year ago, as she suffered a setback to Plum’s Alaina Claassen.
“I was second last year, so I knew I had to move up one more spot,” said Murphy following her championship win on Saturday. “The next goal is to do well enough at the west regional to qualify for states.”
The PIAA West Regional Championships will be held March 1 at North Allegheny High School. The regional consists of teams from the Districts 7 (WPIAL), 8 (City League) and 10. The top four in each weight class will advance to the state tournament.
Looking to improve: Murphy qualified for the PIAA championships last season, but wasn’t able to reach the podium. She drew eventual state champion Brenda Banks in the quarterfinals and suffered a loss before another setback in the blood round ended her season.
“I had the eventual state champion in the quarterfinals, but I was able to win a match at states last season,” Murphy said. “I really want to get on the podium at states this year.”
Murphy won by fall in the first round of the state tournament last year.
No headlocks: The coaching staff at Southmoreland instructed Murphy to stay away from attempting headlocks, and what did she use to win her match in the finals … a headlock.
“They told me to never use headlocks, but I just saw an opening to use it and I did it,” Murphy said while laughing. “I understand they want me to stay away from using them because sometimes I tend to rush it, plus I need to work on using other techniques. I think they let up on me a little bit since I was able to win the match with it.”
Moving on up: Wrestling website pa-wrestling.com creates a poll for district and state rankings. The voters include a selection of coaches and followers of girls wrestling in each district and the state.
Murphy is ranked No. 1 at 235 in District 7 (WPIAL) and she is honorable mention in the state.
Compiled by Jonathan Guth