Bay Shore's Sydney Fisher wins a girls wrestling Eastern States Classic title

CLIFTON PARK — The lights were bright. The pressure was on. Sydney Fisher seized the moment.

The Bay Shore junior was matched up with Valley Stream North senior Naomi Gonzalez in the 235-pound final of the girls wrestling Eastern States Classic. Gonzalez scored a takedown and turned Fisher on her back for a five-point lead late in the first period.

But as Fisher was turned over, she escaped Gonzalez’ grasp and got on the attack as Gonzalez tried to get to her feet.

“As soon as she got up, I just went for it,” Fisher said. “It was either that or nothing, so I just went for it.”

Fisher earned a takedown with 22 seconds left in the period and worked to secure the pin in 2:57 for the 235-pound title Sunday afternoon at Impact Athletic Center.

“I’ve never beaten her until today,” Fisher said. “We’ve been going at it since I was a freshman and she was a sophomore. The South Side tournament was really hard for me because up until then, I was undefeated this season.”

Gonzalez defeated Fisher, 12-2, by technical fall in the 235-pound final of the Carol Roseto Girls Freestyle Tournament at South Side in December.

“I definitely made the mistake of turning her the way I did,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve got a bad hip and it locked up, but you just have to get stronger for next time. … I love Sydney. I’ve wrestled her way too many times.”

Fisher pinned MacArthur’s Mia Flores in 1:12 in the semifinals. Flores, who was last year’s Eastern States 235-pound champion, defeated Ava Gregg (Shaker), 12-1, by technical fall to earn third place, meaning that the top three spots on the podium were occupied by Long Islanders.

“I feel like we don’t get as much recognition as a lot of other sections and other states, so it was nice for all of us to be up there,” Fisher said. “And we’re all cool with each other, so there are no hard feelings at all.”

“When I started wrestling varsity, I wrestled all guys,” Gonzalez said. “I was a 215-pound starter on our boys team. To see it go from all boys to having all three of us here and on the podium, I think it’s pretty crazy.”

More than 200 girls from five states took the mats on Sunday, marking the first time the girls portion of the prestigious tournament was held on its own day, separate from the two-day boys tournament. With the field doubling from last year, the competition only became more difficult.

Bethpage senior Gabrielle Severin was the only other Long Islander who reached the finals. She was pinned in the first period by Marie Sharp of Blair Academy (New Jersey) in the 120-pound final. Sharp is ranked third in the country at her weight by Sports Illustrated.

Severin scored a takedown 28 seconds into the match to take a 2-0 lead. At last weekend’s Dames of the Thrones tournament, Sharp defeated Severin, 10-0, by technical fall.

“I feel like I didn’t really go after anything last weekend and I let her get to me,” Severin said. “My goal this match was, win or lose, to get after it. Seeing that even from last weekend to this weekend that my hard work paid off and I was able to score on her and I was leading in the match, it just shows that the progress I’ve made is so strong.”

The third-seeded Severin pinned No. 2 Madelyn Little of Wyoming Seminary (Pennsylvania) in 2:40 in the semifinals. Severin missed most of last season with an elbow injury, but she returned for the county tournament and was the state runner-up at 114 pounds. She is a top contender for this year’s 120-pound state title.

“Not being able to wrestle last year was awful,” Severin said. “I haven’t wrestled in this tournament since I was a freshman. I was supposed to go last year, but I wasn’t able to. I think missing so much time last year lit a fire underneath me to want it even more and work even harder.”