The Coal Cracker brings out the best of the best across the board.

And Pleasant Valley’s Juliette Trout showed why she’s among the elite on Saturday.

Trout stood tall, winning the 106-pound title at the 2nd annual Coal Cracker girls tournament, which featured 36 teams and was held at Jim Thorpe Area High School for the first time after debuting at Lehighton last season.

Trout pinned Parkland’s Ella Hesener in 2:55 to win the title. Trout went 4-0 in the tournament, finishing all of her matches with pins. She pinned Parkland’s Lily Snook in 0:34 in the first round, topped PM West’s Kaylee Rist in 1:40 in the quarters and moved past Ashley Stank (Quakertown) in 0:24 to reach the finals.

Panther Valley’s Brenda Banks also advanced to the finals, falling to Aja’nai Jumper (Cumberland Valley) 2-1 in the 215-pound championship match. Banks pinned Emma Lukenich (Brandywine Heights) in 0:24 in the quarterfinals and topped Caroline Hattala (Quakertown) in 2:16 in the semis.

Other area placewinners included Palmerton’s Gretchen Schaible (131 pounds, third place), Northwestern Lehigh’s Katie Brensinger (144, fifth) and Josie Wehr (125, sixth) and Lehighton’s Maggie Pagotto (137, sixth).

Schaible pinned Easton’s Jamie Castillo in 2:23 in her 131-pound third-place match, while Brensinger topped Liberty’s Doniya Anwari in 0:36 to place fifth at 144 pounds.

J.C. Allis of Athens topped Wehr with a technical fall (18-3) for fifth-place at 125 pounds, while Cumberland Valley’s Mariana Bruscino pinned Pagotto (2:12) for fifth at 137 pounds.

Cumberland Valley won the team title with 175 points, ahead of Bishop McCort (130.5), while Easton (125), Parkland (112) and Gettysburg (107) rounded out the top five.

JV Tournament

A pair of area wrestlers claimed titles in the JV tournament on Saturday.

Pleasant Valley’s Eddie Lauritsen won the 123-pound championship, while Panther Valley’s Riyell Wann placed first at 173 pounds.

Lauritsen posted a 2-0 decision over Honesdale’s James Davis in the finals, while Wann recorded a 3-1 decision over Central Columbia’s Talon Piatt.

Lehighton’s Connor Dugan, Panther Valley’s Jah Bushati and Tamaqua’s CHase Zeigenfuss also advanced to the finals.

Dugan fell to Berwick’s Carmen Malt 5-2 in the 109-pound championship match, Bushati was pinned in 2:29 by Western Wayne’s Michael Smith at 135 pounds while Zeigenfuss fell to Central Dauphin’s Nathan Fletcher 4-2 at 132 pounds.

Bigger and better

With this year’s event pulling in 60 teams from across Pennsylvania and into Ohio and Delaware, the 12th annual Coal Cracker was a success beyond just the varsity boys tournament.

The JV event featured over 400 wrestlers – including those going 0-2 or 1-2 in the varsity tournament – and the expanded girls tournament, with 16 double elimination brackets, showed why the sport has continued its steady growth.

Saturday’s action in all three events is the culmination of countless hours of work by plenty of unsung heroes.

“It’s not me, it’s a whole bunch of people that I ask to help, it really is,” said tournament director Tim Robb. “The Tamaqua kids did a great job getting it ready in between. Everybody came together to setup. I have guys that have been working the tables that have done it for three or four years and they sit there the whole day, the same group of guys. Tim Swiezak and Mike Kelley (who run the Trackwrestling program) go back and forth (between schools).

“Kyle (Spotts, Lehighton Athletic Director) and the guys here give us so much, along with the school district. It’s everybody working together. Even though there’s bumps, these guys keep it rolling.”