Knoch’s Braylee Ireland took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland fell to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland fell to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland fell to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland comes off the mat smiling even after falling to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland comes off the mat smiling even after falling to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, right, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, right, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, top, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, left, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, right, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, front, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, left, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, left, hugs coach Logan Downes after defeating Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland fell to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland fell to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland fell to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland comes off the mat smiling even after falling to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland comes off the mat smiling even after falling to Palisades' Savannah Witt by pin in a 118-pound semifinal bout on Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, right, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, right, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, top, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, left, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, right, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, front, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, left, defeated Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
-
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, left, hugs coach Logan Downes after defeating Honesdale’s Saige Olver by an 8-1 decision in a 118-pound quarterfinal match Day 2 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Friday, March 7, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Braylee Ireland was seconds away from concluding her first trip to the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships with a win.
Twenty seconds away, with a 6-1 lead.
But with 18 seconds left in the match, Delone Catholic’s Faith Gladfelter caught Ireland in a takedown. With 12 seconds left, Gladfelter finished the pin and the sudden, shocking comeback win.
A sixth-place medal is the Knoch junior’s first at the state level. It felt so far from the fifth she nearly had.
“I felt good in the middle of the match,” the 118-pounder said over the phone after collecting her medal Saturday at Hershey’s GIANT Center. “I almost just froze (during the takedown). I just think I didn’t process what was happening, and then it was over.”
Related Article: PIAA wrestling: Knoch’s Ireland ‘super stoked’ with medal guaranteed; Butler’s Sloboda in running for bronze
Related Article: PIAA wrestling championships: Butler junior, Pitt commit Santino Sloboda ‘proved’ resilience to win bronze
Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, center, took sixth place in the 118-pound class on Day 3 of the PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at GIANT Center, Hershey. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob McGraw
Ireland said she needed about an hour after the match to process what had happened, and the disappointment. Knoch girls head coach Logan Downes said he told her after she walked off the mat not to let the loss define her season.
“It’s gonna sting for her a little bit,” he said.
Ireland entered the state championships an honorable mention in pa-wrestling’s rankings. She out-performed those expectations and made a surprise appearance in Friday’s semifinals. She nearly caught her opponent there, heavy favorite and eventual state champion Savannah Witt of Palisades, in a takedown and came away from the loss almost giddy at the thought of still having a guaranteed medal.
Saturday was a tougher day.
Ireland (27-9) was pinned by Williamsport’s Lillian Rumsey in the last round of consolations to set up her fifth-place bout. Then the medal round ended in heartbreak.
Though, by the time she received her medal hours later, Ireland was finding the positives.
“It’s awesome,” she said, adding later: “I think this season I’ve definitely jumped some levels. I’ve proven to myself I’m more talented than I think I was.”
Related Article: PIAA wrestling: Knoch’s Braylee Ireland, Butler’s Santino Sloboda advance to quarterfinals after Day 1 wins
Related Article: Every Butler County high school wrestler with 100 career wins
This was the Knoch girls program’s first official season. Ireland can lay claim to the first state medal, regional championship and WPIAL title in the Knights’ debut. (Teammate Miranda LaJevic won two medals in 2023 and 2024, including bronze last year, when she and Ireland wrestled as part of the boys team during the regular season.)
“It’s still a sixth-place medal in the toughest state in the country,” Downes said.
She and Downes said this is an experience to learn from. Ireland said she needs to work harder and wrestle free, Downes said medaling at states is now the bar, and he’ll work with her to improve next year.
“It’s a start of something great,” Downes said. “It’s something to where it’s like, man, the challenge is to make it better. That’s the goal; the bar is set really high already.”
