At the end of the month, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association will crown girls wrestling champions for the first time.

In order to get to the MVP Arena in Albany on Feb. 27, the local Section VI wrestlers will have to qualify Friday at Sweet Home High School.

The champion of each weight class will automatically qualify, and second place at 94 pounds, 100, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165 and 185 will also earn a spot, while the section has the first alternate at 107.

Plenty of local athletes will have a good shot at making it to Albany earning high seeds in Friday’s qualifiers.

The No. 1 seeds are Falconer’s Anastazia Hale at 94, Lockport’s Gabriella Gelnett at 100, Emma Greene at 107, Niagara Wheatfield’s Gabriella Barone at 114, Lockport’s Jamiela-Khai Johnson at 120, Niagara Wheatfield’s Nevaeh Senik at 126, Chautauqua Lake’s Noli Paddock at 132, Niagara Wheatfield’s Emma Beckles at 138, Frontier’s Avery White at 145, Chautauqua Lake’s Lily Hyde at 152, Iroquois’ Michaela Thomas at 165, Fredonia’s Kim Bauer at 185 and Kenmore’s Aislyn O’Malley at 235.

Hale headlines the smallest weight class which only has three wrestlers, and the freshman comes into the tournament with victories at 94 pounds in the Burt Ernst Memorial Tournament and the Eden Invitational. In the Burt Ernst Memorial, Hale defeated Friday’s No. 2 seed in the final, Chautauqua Lake seventh-grader Kassidy Benedetto.

During the season, Benedetto has also won the Chautauqua Lake Invitational and Rich Morton/Salamanca Invitational, while taking second at the North Tonawanda LadyJack tournament and Lockport Invitational.

The No. 3 seed rounding out the weight class is Clarence’s Coco Munther.

At 132 pounds, Chautauqua Lake freshman Noli Paddock is the top seed with five tournament wins at that class this season. Paddock has won the North Tonawanda LadyJack, Chautauqua Lake Invite, Southern Tier Memorial tournament, Lockport Invite and Burt Ernst Memorial. Her only loss in a tournament this season came at the hands of Sweet Home’s Sofia Guadagna in the quarterfinals of the Linda C. Knuutila Memorial via pin at 4:18.

Guadagna finished that tournament with a win — adding to her first at the Alexander Lady Trojan Invite — and brought home the Outstanding Wrestling Award. Paddock went on to post wins over Guadagna in the final of the Chautauqua Lake and Lockport Invites.

Clarence’s Anika Mattoon is the No. 3 seed and Frontier’s Aspen Lafferty rounds it out as the No. 4 seed.

Chautauqua Lake’s Lilly Hyde is not only the top seed at 152 pounds, but is also ranked No. 3 regardless of weight class on Armdrag.com. Hyde has won the Rich Morton/Salamanca Invite, North Tonawanda LadyJack, Linda C. Knuutila Memorial, Chautauqua Lake Invite, Lockport Invite and Burt Ernst Memorial.

Right behind Hyde is Fredonia’s Avary LeGrano, who collected a win at the Eden Invite, Lockport’s Jyla Johnson is No. 3, Iroquois’ Chaela Brondou is No. 4, Gowanda’s Kiernan Quinn is No. 5 and Niagara Wheatfield’s Laila Ferguson is No. 6.

Fredonia’s Kim Bauer is right behind Hyde on the Armdrag Western New York rankings and is the person to beat at 185 pounds. Bauer has wins at that weight in the North Tonawanda LadyJack, Linda C. Knuutila Memorial, Chautauqua Lake Invite, Lockport Invite and Burt Ernst Memorial.

Her only loss came at the hands of Lockport’s Ava Bragg in the Eden Tournament.

Behind Bauer are Clarence’s Ryann Berner, Chautauqua Lake’s Meghan Pauley, Kenmore’s Mackenzie Vetter-Higgins, Sweet Home’s Angel Gonzalez and Wilson’s Briella Dirig.

While not the top seed, Dunkirk’s Demarielys Cruz is seeded to make the state tournament entering Friday’s competition as the No. 2 at 100 pounds.

Right behind Lockport’s Gabriella Gelnett, Cruz comes in with four second-place finishes and a win at the Gowanda Invite. After Cruz are a pair of Eagles with No. 3 Kortlyn Fairbank and No. 5 Tori Lombardo, while Orchard Park’s Lillian Sikora is No. 4.

Needing to out play their seeding for a spot in Albany are Fredonia’s Leah Waite No. 4 and Gowanda’s Raelyn Diebel No. 5 at 107; Chautauqua Lake’s Alice Scarpine No. 3 at 114; Fredonia’s Braelynn Wicks No. 4 at 126; Chautauqua Lake’s Zoey Kling No. 5 at 138; Fredonia’s McKella Hodkin No. 3, Dunkirk’s Kami McWillson No. 4 and Dunkirk’s Jianna Cave No. 6 at 145; Chautauqua Lake’s Chloe Hosier No. 4 at 165; Fredonia’s Bryleigh Wick No. 5 and Frewsburg’s Bailey Fuller No. 6 at 165; Chautauqua Lake’s No. 3 Meghan Pauley at 185; and Dunkirk’s Jaslieen Salgado No. 4 at 235.