Bellport beat Bay Shore, 35-22, in the first sanctioned Long Island girls wrestling dual meet.
This is the first year that girls wrestling is a New York State Public High School Athletic Association sanctioned varsity championship sport. The state girls’ wrestling invitational held in Syracuse the last two years, as well as any girls’ wrestling events held on Long Island, were unofficial tournaments.
At the end of this season, the first official state tournament will be held on Feb. 27 at MVP Arena in Albany — the same week and location of the boy’s wrestling state tournament. The girls will also compete in a county tournament to qualify for the state championship. The girls will wrestle freestyle, as opposed to boys wrestling’s folkstyle.