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Members of the Franklin County High School and St. Andrew’s-Sewanee girls wrestling teams competed in the Region 2 individual tournament Friday at FCHS.

The top four finishers in each weight class earned berths to the state individual tournament with three members of the FCHS team and all four wrestlers from Sewanee meeting this qualifying mark. In addition to qualifying for the state tournament, Franklin County’s Alyssa Archer and Sewanee’s Verena Pate and Stella Wilson also finished first in their respective brackets.

Archer, a junior at Huntland who wrestles for the FCHS team, started her day in the 100-pound bracket by pinning Tullahoma’s Laken Potter in 3:27.

Archer and Bradley Central’s Mylee Goodwin then went the distance in the bracket’s championship match with Archer winning in a 12-1 major decision to take the regional title in her division.

She will be making her second trip to the state tournament after also qualifying for the event as a sophomore in 2022.

Pate, a senior who won the state title in the 132-pound division in 2022 as a junior, clinched a ticket back to the state tournament by pinning both of her opponents in the 126-pound bracket Friday.

Pate beat Bradley Central’s Brilynn Hobson in 1:03 to advance to the finals of the bracket and then triumphed over Stone Memorial’s Hannah Simoes in 2:52 in the regional championship match.

Wilson, a sophomore, swept all three of her matches in the 132-pound bracket to win the regional title and advance to the state tournament for the first time.

Wilson quickly disposed of Bradley Central’s Victoria Huffman in 33 seconds with a pin to open the bracket before picking up a victory over Cookeville’s Lillian Deschamp via a 4-1 decision to move on the 132-pound finals.

Wilson and Cleveland’s Kemoria Turner came close to wrestling a full three rounds before Wilson got the pinfall victory in 5:25 to end the day on top.

Sewanee junior Melanie Val, a reigning state champion in the 119-pound division, guaranteed her second straight trip to the state tournament with pinfall victories over Walker Valley’s Allie Goins and Franklin County’s Zulema Martinez in 1:16 and 2:56, respectively.

However, Val would fall just short of finishing first in her division for the regional bracket as she had to withdraw from the 114-pound finals due to an injury after two rounds, leaving her in second place for the event.

Despite the loss to Val midway through the 114-pound bracket, Martinez, a junior for FCHS, was able to finish fourth in the 114-pound bracket to earn her first berth to the state tournament.

Martinez started the day by pinning Rhea County’s Kristin Beltran in 56 seconds and then pinned Sale Creek’s Madison Bomar in 4:38 before going to the consolation bracket after losing to Val.

Martinez bounced back well in her next match as she beat Rhea County’s Beltran in a rematch in 2:22 to advance to the consolation finals. Martinez lost to Bradley Central Nataleigh Shane in 1:53 in the third-place match as she settled for finishing fourth on the day.

Junior Hadlee Hale rounded out the state-qualifying performances for Sewanee as she finished fourth in the 138-pound bracket.

Hale led off the tournament with a pinfall victory over Moore County’s Deshea Lentz in 1:07, but Baylor’s Paraskevi Christopolos then beat her in 1:54 to send her down to the consolation bracket.

Hale was able to rebound by pinning Coffee County’s Jianna Bare in 2:17 to advance to the consolation finals and clinch her first appearance in the state tournament. She then went the distance with Tullahoma’s Kaira Webb in the third-place match before losing in a 5-4 decision.

Franklin County sophomore Shelby Sells lost both of her matches for the day in the 185-pound division via pinfall, but she still moved on to the state tournament due to her division having only four wrestlers in the regional bracket.

Sells lost to Tullahoma’s Brittney Meneses in 38 seconds and Moore County’s Shilo Bryan in 1:43.

Jocelyn James, Julieta Alonzo and Sakura Call also competed in their respective divisions for FCHS with each getting swept out of their brackets with consecutive pinfall losses.

James lost to Chattanooga Central’s Skyla Fowler and Sale Creek’s Isabelle Kugler in 2:46 and 1:19, respectively, in the 107-pound division, Alonzo fell to Baylor’s Olive Smith in 1:34 and Sequatchie’s Mary Bickford in 53 seconds for the 120-pound bracket, and Call’s losses in the 132-pound division came against Ooltewah’s Seay Memphis in 2:29 and Moore County’s Lavenia Chase in 1:39.

The qualifying wrestlers for FCHS and Sewanee will compete in the girls wrestling state tournament starting Thursday at the Williamson County Ag Expo Park. The tournament is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.