MORGANTOWN – Winter sports are underway, with swimming, wrestling, and basketball all kicking off over the last few weeks.
WRESTLING
University High opened its 2025 season with the annual trip to NYC and the Norm Maisel Amityville Wrestling Tournament, named in honor of UHS head coach Ken Maisel’s father.
UHS finished first overall at the meet, nearly 300 points ahead of second place. Nine Hawks finished as individual champions as freshman Jacob Hensley (138), sophomore Nico Maisel (144), senior Jason Walker (150), junior Max Vitale (157), junior Charlie Robb (165), junior Max Fortier (175), senior Emerson Murphy (190), senior Ryder Hastings (215), and senior Ethan Koloski (285) all captured titles.
Nico Maisel took home first place after defeating a nationally ranked opponent in the finals and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
The #1-ranked Hawks travel to #7 Wheeling Park on Wednesday, December 10, and then to the Max Horz duals tournament in Berkeley Springs on Friday and Saturday, where the number 1 team in Maryland – South Carroll will also be, and it will be “an excellent test,” according to Maisel.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
All four area-coverage schools have tipped off the season for girls’ basketball, with a combined 8-0 record to start, as each team (Morgantown, University, Clay-Battelle, and Preston) won its opening pair of contests last week.
Morgantown High opened the season with two decisive wins over Spring Mills (65-26) and Grafton (54-40). Freshman Maddie Ancell scored a team-high 20 points in her debut for MHS. The Mohigans will travel to Baker’s Ridge on Wednesday night for the first matchup of the season with University High.
The Hawks convincingly won their two opening games last weekend, beating Fairmont Senior 64-36 and Bridgeport 62-28. Senior Bri Fox led UHS with 23 points against the Polar Bears and 15 in the second game against Bridgeport. First-year UHS head coach Samuel Lusk earned his first-career victory with the win over Fairmont Senior.
Preston High got its second consecutive victory to begin 2025 with a 41-40 win over McGuffey (Pa.) on Monday. That followed a convincing 63-40 victory over South Allegheny (Pa.) on Saturday. The Knights welcome Buckhannon-Upshur.
Finally, Clay-Battelle began 2-0 with a pair of close victories over Magnolia (53-49) and Bridgeport (Oh.) (33-32). The Cee-Bees are 2-0 to open the regular season for the first time since 2022.
