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Maloney tops Platt in first dual meet between girls teams in state

Members of the Platt High wrestling team cheer a pin during Sunday’s girls wrestling match in Meriden. Maloney beat Platt in the first-ever dual meet between girls teams in Connecticut. More match photos

MERIDEN, Feb. 2, 2025 – For some teams, the dual meet is simply taken for granted – another opportunity to compete.

No. 7 Killingly (31-2) has wrestled a state-leading 33 dual meets this season with Foran (28-4) and Trumbull (26-1) not far behind.

On Sunday, girls from Maloney and Platt got the opportunity to compete in their own dual meet. Their matches weren’t additional exhibitions after a boys match.

For the first time in Connecticut, two high school girls wrestling teams met on the mat with Maloney prevailing with a 45-33 victory over their cross-town rivals. The Spartans got seven pins, including the final four of the match, to secure the victory.

“It was incredible,” said Platt senior Daylianette Sanchez Cardona. “I have been wanting this since last year. We’ve been trying to set this up and it’s finally here. I’m so proud of all the girls here.”

Platt had nine girls ready to wrestle. Five competed twice to allow Maloney wrestlers a chance to compete. The Spartans have 12 girls in their program.

“Obviously, we don’t have a full lineup but you have to start somewhere,” said Sanchez Cardona, who won twice with a pair of pins. “I’m glad we started here.”

Maloney coach Angel DeJesus and Platt’s Hall of Fame coach Bryan McCarty arranged for this historic match.

“They’re competitive girls. They work hard in wrestling. They want some recognition. They want to show their skills and what they’ve learned,” McCarty said.

Platt’s Daylianette Sanchez Cardona controls Maloney’s Amarellis Arenas Sunday in Meriden.

“This right here sets Meriden on the mat in the girls division,” DeJesus said. “Hopefully, this can inspire more girls to out for other teams.”

The first girls-only State Open tournament, which was called the CIAC Girls Invitational, was in 2020. The first girls-only tournament in Connecticut was the Queen of the Mat at Foran in Wallingford in 2023.

“This is really cool, especially for Meriden,” Maloney’s Gabriella Parris-Dwyer said. “For Platt and Maloney to have this opportunity and for it to the first (dual meet), it is a great feeling. It really is.”

Wallingford’s Choate Rosemary Hall wrestled and lost a dual meet in Massachusetts against Phillips Andover Academy in January 2024, according to Choate head coach Ryan Roddy. A few days earlier, Lowell High wrestled a dual meet against a team of Boston city school All-Stars on January 19, 2024, according to a story in the Boston Globe.

There were plenty of pins in Sunday’s dual meet with pins in the first six matches, leaving the score tied at 18-18.

Maloney’s Marieli Cortes (152) outlasted Sophia Ramos, 14-7 to give the visiting Spartans a 21-18 advantage before Platt’s Miley Cobena (165) picked up another pin for a 24-21 lead for the Panthers.

At 185 pounds, Platt’s Kayli Morris faced Emenin Ogando, a boy on the Maloney squad, because there are few girls in Morris’ weight class and the idea was to wrestle, not pick up forfeits.

Ogando put Morris, a two-time State Open champion, to her back in the second period to pick up a 9-4 lead. But he penalized one point for an illegal hold to cut the lead to four, 9-5 after two periods.

Iin the third period, Morris got a reversal to cut the lead to two and got a two-point near fall in the final 10 seconds of regulation to tie the match at 9-9. She won the bout with a quick takedown in overtime to give Platt a 27-21 advantage.

“In a tournament, the attention (of the crowd) is dispersed,” said Morris, who won a New England championship last March. “But in a dual, it is just you (and your opponent) out there. It was really nerve wracking.”

Her near fall that tied her bout at 9-9 energized the crowd with the roar echoing off the gymnasium’s brick walls.

“I was terrified (entering OT),” she admitted. “I was just thinking I have to make things happen now.”

To give the Platt girls time to rest, there were several exhibition matches between boys on the Maloney and Platt squads.

When the girls matches resumed, Sanchez-Cardona picked up another pin at 106 pounds to extend the Platt lead to 33-21.

But Maloney won the final four matches by pin to secure a 45-33 decision.

“This was great,” Morris said. “I like that we’ve been able to kick it off. It’s a great way to bring more attention to the sport.”

Added DeJesus, “We already have a few things in mind for another girls (dual) meet.”

It’s just the beginning.

Maloney 45, Platt 33
At Meriden (Platt)
100: Daylianette Sanchez Cardona (P) pin Gennesis Cortes, 1:15
107: Gabriella Parris-Dwyer (M) pin Joangely De Jesus Lopez, 0:27
120: Liliana Diaz (P) pin Tiffany Schoonover 0:46
126: Mya DeJesus (M) pin Danicia Pappas, 0:32
132: Karina Mendez (M) pin Danerys Mosquea, 1:00
138: Joey Perry (P) pin Maria Vazquez, 3:55
152: Marieli Cortes (M) dec. Sophia Ramos, 14-7
165: Miley Cobena (P) pin Jaslene Vasquez, 2:35
185: Kayli Morris (P) dec. Emenin Ogando, 12-9, OT
106: Sanchez-Cardona (P) pin Amarellis Arenas, 3:13
126: Kaylynn Acevedo (M) pin Liliana Diaz, 4:38
132: Kaylee Hernandez (M) pin Mosquea, 3:43
138: Cassidy Torres (M) pin Perry, 1:00
165: Ruby Rios (M) pin Cobena, 0:45
Records: Maloney 1-0, Platt 0-1
NOTE: Five Platt wrestlers wrestled twice to give Maloney wrestlers an opportunity to compete in the meet.

Athletes from Platt and Maloney gather for a photo after Sunday’s historic match.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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