Menlo-Atherton girls take five titles, repeat as PAL wrestling champs

M-A won five titles at the Peninsula Athletic League’s girls’ wrestling championships at South City High School Friday, earning the Bears their second straight PAL tournament team title.

For the second year in a row, M-A came out ahead of Half Moon Bay. The Cougars won three individual titles. Where the Bears excelled, however, was in their depth as in addition to the five championships, two other M-A wrestlers finished second and one finished third.

Gwen Tomkins (103) and Kiely Tabaldo (113) lived up to their No. 1 seeds as each earned the PAL title. It’s the second PAL title in a row for Tabaldo, who won the 2020 103-pound championship and is the top-ranked wrestler in the Central Coast Section at 106, according to CCSrank.com.

Kayla Melchar won the 126-pound title for the Bears, while Alexia Bensoussan, ranked No. 1 in CCS at 133, beat teammate Sylvia Hellin in the finals for her second straight PAL title.

Zoe Zehdner won the 160-pound title to round out the championships for M-A. She was denied the 139-pound title at the 2020 PAL championships.

Alex Lujan, who was seeded No. 1 at 172, was upset in the final by Woodside’s Brynn Adasiewicz.

Woodside had a strong showing at the upper weights. In addition to Adasiewicz’s win at 172, Alison Richter was victorious at 191. Celeste Ayala was third at 237 for the Wildcats.

Mikeala Sandino was Half Moon Bay’s first champion, taking the 106-pound class. She was followed by Taylor Micallef’s title at 137. It is the first PAL crown of Micallef’s career. She was beaten by Bensoussan in the 123-pound final in 2020.

Jazmin Zilla captured the Cougars’ third title, winning at 143.

In all, six different teams had an individual champion. In addition to M-A, Half Moon Bay and Woodside, Mills’ Annalese Leung repeated as PAL champion, winning the 118-pound title in 2022 to go along with 2020 113-pound title. Carlmont’s Jayden Kollman topped the 123-pound bracket; Shannon Cleary won at 152 for Oceana and in the biggest match of redemption, El Camino’s Micaela Mullan won the 235-pound title after being upset in the 2020 championship match.