PIAA Wrestling: Panthers’ Banks captures 4th state championship
Panther Valley's Brenda Banks has her hand raised in victory after winning the girls' 235-pound title at the PIAA Wrestling Championships on March 7, 2026, at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
Pin in finals caps golden career
HERSHEY — Brenda Banks stood tall, clapped her hands and thrust her right arm into the air.
She held up four fingers.
As in four state championships.
Panther Valley’s senior star 235-pounder completed an undefeated run through the PIAA Wrestling Championships, pinning Southmoreland’s Zoey Murphy in 4:43 to clinch her fourth state title. The first came before girls’ wrestling officially became a sanctioned varsity sport, and she won the last three under the PIAA banner.
“I’m thinking about my mom (Glynnis). She’s been there for me this entire time,” Banks said. “My sister, who started wrestling not too long ago. She’s been there, too. Just my community, my friends, everyone who’s been following me since my first year, and it just means everything to me to give this to them.”
With the win, Banks wrapped up a 37-0 season and raised her career record to 110-2. To cap things off, Banks was voted the PIAA Girls’ Outstanding Wrestler of the state tournament.
“There are so few people who are that naturally gifted and also put in that hard work,” Panther Valley coach Kris Nalesnik said. “I’ve met some very gifted wrestlers who did not work hard enough to achieve what she has. I’ve met people who worked very hard but didn’t have that kind of talent. She is that rare, rare mix of both that you see once in a generation.
“Honestly, I don’t think she felt a bit of pressure. I felt the pressure,” Nalesnik added. “She felt nothing. She was loose. She was having fun. She was singing back here (waiting for her match). That’s what she does. She’s one of the most loose people I’ve ever met in my life, and I don’t understand it because I’m here with my heart beating out of my chest. She’s just groovin’.”
Banks cruised into the finals with a 10-0 major decision in the round of 16 and pins of 1:36 and 45 seconds in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. That set up a rematch of last year’s final against Southmoreland senior Zoey Murphy (26-3).
Murphy employed a slow-down style, just blocking and defending all of Banks’ attacks in the early going. Murphy didn’t shoot or try to take Banks down, but the first period ended scoreless. Banks didn’t take any reckless shots, either, just waiting for her opportunity to strike.
Banks won the toss for the second period and chose bottom. She escaped in nine seconds, but Murphy once again blocked and stalled through the end of the period.
Trailing 1-0, Murphy chose bottom for the third period, hoping to escape or reverse to tie or take the lead. Banks had other ideas. She broke Murphy flat several times before locking in one of her favorite finishing moves — “The Butcher.” In that move, Banks takes her opponent’s arm at the elbow and pulls it across the foe’s face or chin. Circling around front with heavy pressure, physics takes over and the opponent goes to her back.
Once turned, Banks cinched in tight around Murphy’s head and torso, recording the fall in 4:43.
“I wasn’t too worried,” Banks said. “I find myself getting a little bit calmer as the match goes on. As I’m able to work toward what I know, what I want, if some things aren’t working, I think I’ve excelled in keeping a level head and understanding that the time will come.
“She was strong on bottom,” Banks added. “It wasn’t as much difficult keeping her down as it was finding something to do to get the pinning combination, and once again, ‘The Butcher’ did it for me. It’s always there.”
Banks is more than a champion wrestler. She’s an adored champion person, giving ample time and attention to media interviews, fans’ requests for autographs and photos and becoming friends with fellow wrestlers.
The love goes both ways as Banks received a huge ovation from the thousands in the Giant Center crowd as she was introduced prior to the final.
“I try to be a very positive and kind person with everyone that I meet,” Banks said. “You never know what people are going through, what people have gone through. So I try to bring light to anyone that I meet.”
Now that her high school career has come to an end, Banks will turn her attention to finalizing her college and college wrestling plans. Right now, she’s keeping her choices under wraps, not even telling her coach which way she’s leaning.
One thing is for sure, though. There is only one Brenda Banks. Her legacy will endure forever as a pioneer of her sport, a first-ballot lock for the “Mount Rushmore” of high school girls’ wrestling in Pennsylvania.
“Not just the school, but the state, the country, just girls’ wrestling in general,” Nalesnik said. “It’s grown so much over the past couple of years. To have her be one of those inaugural state champs from that first year, then to do it again in Year 2 and do it again in Year 3. There’s no way to describe how much this should mean to every little girl that wants to wrestle coming up. I know my daughter is going into the seventh grade next year, and she’s going to be starting wrestling. That may have never happened if Brenda didn’t do what she did this year. I have no idea. It’s just unbelievable to see.”
Panther Valley’s Brenda Banks enters the Giant Center floor during the Parade of Champions prior to the finals of the PIAA Wrestling Championships on March 7, 2026. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
