Girls state wrestling: Lafayette tops two unbeatens to clinch team title repeat

Trailing Boyle County by 5.5 points in the team standings early during the KHSAA Girls Wrestling State Championship finals on Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena, defending champion Lafayette seemed positioned to jump in front.

The Generals had two wrestlers left to compete in the finals while Boyle County was done for the evening. Lafayette needed either one win via fall (six points) or two wins by any means (at least 3 points) to repeat.

The problem: Lafayette’s Amy Velasco and Elene Niyogoshima had not beaten their respective opponents, both from Harrison County, the entire season.

The response: So?

Velasco and Niyogoshima each earned maximum team point wins — Velasco by fall to clinch Lafayette’s team title defense and repeat as 145-pound state champion and Niyogoshima by injury default.

Generals head coach William Green leapt from the corner of the mat after Velasco, a junior, pinned Harrison County freshman Jenny White — who was 31-0 this season before that bout, including a 6-4 win over Velasco in the Region 3 championships on Feb. 14.

Green wasn’t keeping up with the team standings; his enthusiasm was for Velasco.

“We’d been beaten by her three or four times, and we kept trying to get to it,” Green said. “We knew what the key was, but we weren’t applying it the way we needed to. I told her, ‘This is it. This is the time you’ve got to beat her.’”

Velasco took control late, going up 6-1 in the third and final period on a near-fall. She secured the pin with just two seconds remaining in the match.

“I wrestled this girl at region this year, and it was a close match, so I felt like it was possible to beat her. She’s been beating me this whole season, but ... “ Velasco paused to let out a big sigh of relief, “I finally beat her.”

Velasco’s win pushed the Generals ahead of Boyle County, 114-113.5. The Rebels had taken the team lead by 0.5 points a few matches earlier thanks to a win by Lyla Smith in the 120-pound finals.

While Niyogoshima’s victory no longer mattered for the team standings, it was an opportunity for her to get an individual title in the 235-pound division after getting pinned by Madison Central’s Eryah Reese in the same state finals last year.

Reese, a junior, competed at 185 pounds this season where she lost by fall in its finals to Trigg County senior Makenna Hendricks.

In the last finals match of the day, Niyogoshima defeated Harrison County’s Layla Davis via default after Davis injured her right ankle while trying to escape from Niyogoshima’s takedown attempt just seconds into the second round and could not continue. Davis, also a senior, was 31-0 going into the match.

“That’s not the way I want to win but it feels good to be on top,” said Niyogoshima, who lost 5-2 to Davis at this year’s Region 3 championships. “I worked hard to get here, and it ended a way it shouldn’t have ended, but I know the work I put in and the work that my coaches have put into me.”

The Generals planned to celebrate as they do after most competitions: by stuffing their faces full of pizza at Gattitown. Velasco’s partial to buffalo chicken slices; Niyogoshima likes pepperoni and sausage with a bit of ranch dressing.

Boyle County sophomore got midseason confidence boost

Boyle County’s Smith was the Rebels lone finalist but her win by major decision against McCreary Central’s Allissa Chinas-Rodriguez, whom she also defeated in the Region 4 finals in the 120 finals briefly gave the Rebels an edge in the team score. It was the sophomore’s first state title.

“I was feeling pretty confident about today, honestly,” Smith said. “I competed against most of the girls that had previously beat me and I knew what I needed to improve on.” Her semifinals win over Lafayette senior Aaliyah Davis, an 8-1 decision, catapulted her confidence. Davis was the last Kentucky wrestler to defeat her, via a 4-1 decision on Jan. 17 during a meet in Louisville. “I just needed to be more offensive and smarter with my head position,” said Smith, who won the 114 division title last year. “ … It feels amazing.”

Another unbeaten run for Henry Clay’s Appolon

Henry Clay senior Sianni Appolon completed her two-year stranglehold on the 165-pound weight class with a 16-0 technical fall earned eight seconds into the second period against Daviess County rival Kali Nichols.

Appolon, who’s still weighing her college decision, finished 24-0 on the season and improved to 57-0 over the last two campaigns. She’d never taken to the mat before her sophomore school year, the first in which the KHSAA sanctioned a girls tournament independent of the boys/co-ed competition.

“There’s so much stuff that’s been put into place just so I can be here,” said Appolon, who finished fifth in the first girls state championships in 2024. “My family has sacrificed a lot for me to be able to wrestle and work hard at something I love.

Henry Clay head coach Andy Critchfield, who’s guided the Blue Devils’ wrestling program for two decades, said Appolon wasn’t on his radar at all until the school started soliciting interest ahead of the newly sanctioned event.

Had a girls tournament not materialized, Appolon’s natural talent for the mat might never have been honed.

“She’s so dominant and tough that she practices with guys every day within our room to give her competition,” Critchfield said. “ … Her ability to pick up moves and execute them live on the mat is a great skill. Having someone that successful early on in the first few girls wrestling, we’re hoping it can be a great example to other students at Henry Clay and around Lexington.”

Most Outstanding Wrestler leaving America

The Orville Williams Outstanding Girls’ Wrestler Award, presented by the Kentucky National Guard, went to Taylor County sophomore Naiya Delos Santos.

Delos Santos, considered one of the top girls wrestlers in America, defeated Nelson County senior Madyson Votaw by major decision (11-2) in the 100 weight class, the first match contested in the finals. It was Delos Santos’ first state championship after finishing runner-up in the same division last year, and it’ll be her last: her family this summer is moving to Japan, where her father will be stationed for the army.

In the first period of her finals victory, Delos Santos landed a takedown that put Votaw on the mat for a couple of minutes. After her match, Delos Santos said it was probably “a little too much,” but it was the kind of takedown that’ll play well in the Eastern Hemisphere: Japanese youth competitions are contested under freestyle wrestling rules, like collegiate and international women’s competitions. Folkstyle, which is what American high school competitions use, puts less scoring emphasis on the intensity of maneuvers and doesn’t award points for pushing opponents outside of the ring.

Delos Santos spent part of her childhood in Guam, where her parents are from, and posed with a flag honoring the U.S. territory after receiving her first-place medal. She looks forward to spending two more years outside of the states before returning for college — in all likelihood a Division I powerhouse.

“This’ll be my first time (in Japan),” Delos Santos said. “I’m excited about the culture over there.”

2025 KHSAA Girls Wrestling State Championship results

At the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena. Complete results available at khsaa.org/sports-sport-activities/winter/wrestling/.

Orville Williams Outstanding Wrestler Award: Naiya Delos Santos, Taylor County.

TEAM STANDINGS

Top 10 plus Central Kentucky teams’ finishes.

1. Lafayette 120; 2. Boyle County 113.5; 3. Woodford County 64.5; 4. Madison Central 62; 5. Taylor County 61; 6. Harrison County 60.5; 7. John Hardin 59.5; 8. North Hardin 58; 9. Ohio County 49; 10. Union County 49; 14. Great Crossing 38; 15. Scott County 35; 20. Henry Clay 29.5; 33. Franklin County 22; t37. George Rogers Clark 20; t57. Mercer County 3; t57. Montgomery County 3; 65. Frederick Douglass 2; 66. Bryan Station 1; t67.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Top four finishers and top eight (medalists) from Central Kentuckians listed.

106—1. Naiya Delos Santos, Taylor County; 2. Madyson Votaw, Nelson County; 3. Brielle Richardson, Madison Central; 4. Kenleigh Estep, Martin County; 6. Teagan Hundley, Boyle County; 7. Bijou Brown, Woodford County.

107—1. Emma Moore, Walton-Verona; 2. Peyton Brinkman, Ryle; 3. Mia Green, North Hardin; 4. Mackenzie Medley, Lafayette; 5. Genevieve Cox, Woodford County.

114—1. Juliette Ruiz, Ballard; 2. Ava Castleman, Scott County; 3. Belle Hatfield, Ohio County; 4. Ana Tierney, Woodford County; 7. Danica Patrick, George Rogers Clark.

120—1. Lyla Smith, Boyle County; 2. Allissa Chinas-Rodriguez, McCreary Central; 3. Aaliyah Davis, Lafayette; 4. Jacey Lyddane, Woodford County; 7. Bailey Fletcher, George Rogers Clark.

126—1. Talynn Clark, Ohio County; 2. Brailey Jackson, Union County; 3. Sera Gutterman, Spencer County; 4. Aubrey White, Boyle County; 6. Sadie Parker, Great Crossing.

132—1. Tatum Millet, Oldham County; 2. Emily Schroader, Bullitt East; 3. Kayla Maslonka, Fort Campbell; 4. NaRae Compton, Madison Central; 5. Makyla Folwer, Boyle County.

138—1. Aaliyah Svec, Cooper; 2. Payton Perry, North Hardin; 3. Ash Patton, Seneca; 4. Alex Rhinesmith, John Hardin.

145—1. Amy Velasco, Lafayette; 2. Jenny White, Harrison County; 3. Chloe Gallahue, Boyle County; 4. Nayeli Solis, Great Crossing.

152—1. Emma Hood, Highlands; 2. Bralyn Maynard, Prestonsburg; 3. Cathlynn Smith, Franklin County; 4. Scout Brockman, Green County.

165—1. Sianni Appolon, Henry Clay; 2. Kali Nichols, Daviess County; 3. McKenzie Webb, Bell County; 4. Avah Miller, Christian County; 6. Bailey Boyd, Scott County.

185—1. Makenna Hendricks, Trigg County; 2. Eryah Reese, Madison Central; 3. Clarytza Castillejos Santos, Lafayette; 4. Porter Tagarook, Boyle County; 6. Ryleigh Maybrier.

235—1. Elene Niyogoshima, Lafayette; 2. Layla Davis, Harrison County; 3. Evelyn Estes, Henderson County; 4. Destiny Walters, Boyd County; 7. Mackenzie George, Great Crossing.