Angel Smith will need an excused absence from school Friday.
The Plymouth freshman earned a berth in the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling State Finals that will take place Friday at historic Kokomo Gymnasium.
Competing at 125 pounds last Friday, Smith collected three consecutive first-period pinfalls to advance to the Penn Semistate championship match.
She then suffered her first loss of the season, a first-period pinfall defeat to West Lafayette senior Rose Kaplan.
Smith’s runner-up finish was enough to get her to the state championship meet Friday in Kokomo. The top four finishers from each of the four semistates will grapple for the state title in one of 14 weight classes.
Weigh-in is at 10 a.m. Friday with wrestling beginning at 11 a.m.
Smith will open the 125-pound bracket against Mooresville freshman Mattingly Hutchison, who placed fourth at the Mooresville Semistate. A win in that match would put Smith in the Round of 8 against either Warren Central junior Aminah Rusunuguko-Tayl, the fourth-place finisher at the Muncie Central Semistate, or Angola sophomore Nevaeh Wilson, the Rochester Semistate champion.
Plymouth sophomore Jaden Eskew fell one victory short of qualifying for the State Finals.
Wrestling at 105 pounds at the Penn Semistate, Eskew scored a 6-0 decision over Hammond Central’s Diana Hernandez in her opening-round match.
Eskew was pinned in her next match by Illiana Christian’s Gabriella Costello to bring an end to her season.
