Franklin girl is state wrestling champ

Kyra Bradley, 11, of Franklin is the first girl in her weight class to become a state champion.

Kyra, who wrestles for the Vernon Vikings PAL recreation team and Fightin Irish Wrestling Club, took first place in the 2024 New Jersey Scholastic State Championships at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton.

She wrestled in the girls novice 75-pound class.

Kyra has been wrestling since she was 5 years old. Her older brother, Thomas, and younger sister, Abigail, also wrestle for the Vernon Vikings and Fightin Irish Wrestling Club.

Abigail took fourth place in the girls novice 65-pound class.

Their father, Daniel, is their coach. He took four other girls with Kyra and Abigail to the state tournament.

All six placed in the top 8, including Melodie Guzik-Upchurch, another state champion who wrestled in the intermediate 132-pound weight class.

Karlly Hague took third place in the intermediate 75-pound class. Gwen Silipena placed fifth in the intermediate 138-pound class. Violet Henderson was seventh in the intermediate 117-pound class.

Bradley also coached Gabriel Perrotto-Wald, who placed eighth in the boys intermediate 152-pound class.

John “Jax” Meyer placed fifth in the intermediate 136-pound class, and Noah Whetzel competed in the bantam 60-pound class. Both are members of the Vernon Vikings PAL team.