EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Lili Ujfalvi (Kecskemet-heteny, Hungary/Bolyai Janos Secondary School) had a memorable freshman season with the Gannon women's wrestling team in 2022-23.

On Saturday, she started her sophomore season with another impressive performance.
Ujfalvi won the 143-pound title at the East Stroudsburg Open to lead four Gannon place-winners in head coach Erin Vandiver's debut.

Annabelle Helm (Vancouver, Wash./Union) placed third at 170 pounds and teammate Jewel Gonzalez (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) was fourth in the same weight division. Meanwhile, GU's Chloe Kitagawa (Aliso Viejo, Calif./Aliso Niguel) placed fifth at 101 pounds.

Ujfalvi's performance stood out on Saturday. The native of Hungary was an All-American as a freshman when she placed fifth at 143 pounds to lead all Gannon wrestlers at the NCWWC Championships.

She was dominant in the East Stroudsburg Open, going 4-0 with three technical falls.

She opened with back-to-back 10-0 victories over Elmira's Tess Clabaugh and Sacred Heart's Jullia Mullane. Ujfalvi then turned in an 11-0 win over unattached wrestler Katie Brensinger.

That set up a finals showdown with Sacred Heart's Khadijah Sanusi. Ujfalvi took a 4-0 lead in the second period and held on for a 4-2 win.

Helm and Gonzalez both are returning All-Americans for Gannon – Gonzalez took seventh and Helm placed eighth in 2022-23.

Both Gannon wrestlers opened with two wins on Saturday.

Helm won an 11-0 technical fall over Sacred Heart's Selena Sifuentes Shaffer and shut out Western New England's Mikayla Maloy 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

She then had a very competitive semifinal bout against Cara Broadus of Sacred Heart before Broadus emerged with a 2-1 win.

Gonzalez also opened with back-to-back shutouts, winning 7-0 over Alex Alli of the Erie Sports Center and 6-0 over Apryl Coffman of New Jersey City University.

Love Daley of Sacred Heart ended the title hopes for Gonzalez with an 8-3 victory in the semifinals.

Helm and Gonzalez were set to face each other in the third-place match, but Gonzalez took an injury default as Helm accepted third place.

Kitagawa had a much different path to fifth place. After losing 6-4 to Sacred Heart's Aaliyah Payne-Parris in the first round, she won by forfeit and then beat Alvernia's Nevaeh Blevins 10-0 for fifth place.

Gannon placed fifth in the team standings with 15 points. Sacred Heart won with 58 points.
 
Team standings (22 teams):

1. Sacred Heart 58
2. King 46
3. Wyoming Seminary 26
4. East Stroudsburg 19
5. Gannon 15

 
Gannon wrestlers' records in the East Stroudsburg Open:
101: Chloe Kitagawa (Aliso Viejo, Calif./Aliso Niguel), 2-1, fifth place
116: Kat Pendergrass (Bracey, Va./South Granville (N.C.)), 2-2
116: Juliana Cubias (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Aliso Niguel), 1-2
123: Jayden Bazemore (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Ranch), 2-2
130: Zoe Gaetjens (Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore), 0-2
136: Katie Palmer (Marysville, Ohio/Marysville), 1-2
143: Lili Ujfalvi (Kecskemet-heteny, Hungary/Bolyai Janos Secondary School), 4-0, first place
143: Kallah Zacherl (Erie, Pa./), 2-2
170: Annabelle Helm (Vancouver, Wash./Union), 3-1, third place
170: Jewel Gonzalez (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg), 2-2, fourth place
191: Christina Chavez (Chandler, Ariz./Arizona College Preparatory), 1-2