ATLANTIC CITY -- High Point freshman Ella Poalillo is fully aware of the proud tradition and history of success that's associated with the boys wrestling program at her school.
Now, she's looking forward to playing a huge role helping to shape the future of a relatively new girls program.
Poalillo joined the list of Wildcat wrestling greats in becoming the school's second female state champion and just the third overall in Sussex County with a thrilling 3-1 victory over Newton sophomore Eva Barry in their 138-pound final on Saturday in the sixth New Jersey Girls State Championships at Boardwalk Hall.
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| Poalillo and Barry on the podium in AC |
"It's just an honor and all of them at High Point, including Noelle, have just supported me so much," said Poalillo, who along with Barry, gave the HWS area a total of 15 girls state finalists since 2019.
"I'm just so thankful for her and my coaches, and Nick [Francavilla], who I train with and who won [three] state titles at High Point. I was just so thankful to be trained by a tradition of people."
The 'Cats are quickly becoming a statewide force in the female ranks as they lead the tri-county area in state medals with 14 since the sport became sanctioned in 2019. Sparta sophomore Paige Weiss, who finished fourth at 114 pounds this season, is the only other state champ from Sussex county having won a title at 100 pounds in 2023.
Phillipsburg's Jewel Gonzalez (2019-20) and Hunterdon Central's Stephanie Andrade (2019-20) are the only other female champs produced by the HWS area and the only two-time winners. Poalillo, Barry and Weiss were among nine HWS medalists, along with three-time placewinner Caitlin Hart of Vernon and two-time medal winner Olivia Raia of Warren Hills, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at 185 pounds.
Newton-Kittatinny's Liliana Zaku-Ramos, a 2023 finalist, was third at 126, North Hunterdon's Riley Conaty (eighth at 138) earned her first medal, while Vernon's Natalie Tucker (sixth at 132) and Lily Henderson (eighth at 107) round out the local contingent.
Gardner, who is recognized as one of the all-time great boys coaches, will concentrate on leading the High Point girls program full-time starting in 2024-25. There's a long way to go to match the boys' success, but the girls are off to a great start with two champs in three years.
"With Ella, she had a successful youth [wrestling] career, too. But before that, Noelle [was a former basketball player]," Gardner said. "Hopefully what you see is some kids get involved with wrestling a lot earlier and do a little more. We've never had a face of girls wrestling because it didn't really exist. So then Noelle kind of breaking that a little bit and hopefully we got a couple of kids because of that.
"But really you're not going to see that until the young kids come through and hopefully Ella will help with that process as well. She spent a lot of time this past season working with a group of younger girls at Sussex. When you're willing to give back to the community and the program, I think that says a lot about who she is."
The season-long mat rivalry between Poalillo and Barry, her school's second state finalist, was of epic proportions. And the sixth and final installment did not disappoint.
Poalillo, who went 4-2 vs. Barry (32-4), including a pin in the region finals, held a slim 1-0 lead after an early third-period escape, but two warnings for stalling knotted things up with just 14 seconds left on the clock. The state title bout seemed destined for overtime, but Poalillo spun behind Barry, who appeared to relax for a split-second, at the edge of the mat to secure the winning takedown right before the buzzer.
"I think she let go for a second and I felt the pressure come off, so I just used that as my opportunity to spin behind as quickly as you can," Poalillo said. "I went into the match, obviously trying to score my points, but I really didn't want to make any mistakes.
"Even though there was stalling and I was thinking about getting a point against me, you really don't want to take any bad shots or have any slipups happen because that's going to cost you a state title."
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| Poalillo may one day join the school's list of 100-match winners |
"We've been training partners for a long time so it's kind of hard to do the same stuff you'd normally do," said Poalillo, who deftly fought off Barry's tie-ups the entire bout and a pair of single-leg attempts late in the final period. "It's the same thing if someone watches your film leading up to big matches because they know what's coming and they know how to prevent you from maybe taking the shots you take or getting the ties you get to.
"It's just whoever wants it more."
Gardner is also no stranger to wrestling an opponent multiple times in a season. He shared the story with Poalillo about his championship run as a senior, when Gardner went 5-0 against Lenape Valley's Doug Vetter, including an 8-5 victory in the state final at Princeton University's Jadwin Gymnasium.
"Anytime you can get a win when you're back-and-forth, then the advantage has to shift a little bit, however it happens," Gardner said of that tiebreaking pin for Poalillo that put her ahead 3-2 in the series. "For us to win a match differently at the region tournament put us in a really good spot to be here.
"I've been there before so I was able to let her kind of understand that it's no different whether you're 2-2 or if we were down 2-3, or in my case having won four, you still get to the state finals and there's nerves. I thought she responded real well. She stuck to the game plan and was able to perform."
Francavilla (2009-11), who now runs the Ironhorse club in Sparta, and Brian Soldano (2020-22), now the starting 184-pounder for Rutgers, are the only High Point wrestlers to win three state titles. So a chance to make even more wrestling history is within Poalillo's sights.
"That's the goal," Poalillo said of becoming the school's first four-time champion. "That would be great. I'm really looking forward to wrestling these next three years at High Point."
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