Ruth Pollin-Galay accomplished something that hadn’t been done in 24 years for the Smith Vocational/Northampton wrestling team on Saturday. Even more significant than that, she became a pioneer for the Blue Devils wrestling program.
Pollin-Galay placed first in the 138-pound weight class at the MIAA Division 2 Girls State Championship meet at Whitman-Hanson Regional High. With the pin in the championship match, Pollin-Galay became the first-ever girls state champion at Northampton High School.
“It was probably the best moment of my life,” Pollin-Galay said. “I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s all I could think about for the past three months. I would just lay in bed and think about that moment. Then it came true. It was so euphoric.”
The excitement of the moment might have caused minor bodily damage to her coach, Josh Bialek. Pollin-Galay ran into his arms after the victory.
“I was so excited hugging him that I think I punched his face in the process,” Pollin-Galay said. “I was just happy. I was really emotional. My dad was crying after I won, then I couldn’t help but cry. It just felt good to be on top. It was my first gold. It was really momentous.”
The junior started wrestling as a sophomore. Her first season under Bialek had some stumbles, but the offseason work prepared Pollin-Galay for great things this year.
“It was great because she joined the team last year,” Bialek said. “Very inexperienced, obviously. At the tournament last year, she went 0-2. But she put in a lot of offseason work. Went to a couple camps. She fell in love with the sport. She worked really hard this year. She went into the tournament as a number two seed. Then she pinned her way through the tournament and won it. Made history.”
The performance in last year’s state tournament stayed with Pollin-Galay as she progressed into the offseason. With technical skills coming along, Pollin-Galay focused on power and the mental part of the sport.
“After that I kind of made it my mission to avenge those losses,” Pollin-Galay said. “I put a lot more time into it. Not just training, but also just thinking about it. I am always thinking about wrestling. Visualizing moves…I also started lifting in the offseason. I gained a lot of muscle weight.”
The last wrestler to win a state championship at Northampton was Dan Polacheck. The 215-pounder won the Division 3 championship that winter in 2002. Pollin-Galay trailed into the second period, 4-2, in the championship match. At the three minute, 12 second mark of the second frame, Pollin-Galay pinned Ania Konieczna of Sharon to secure the win.
Pollin-Galay’s interest in wrestling began after the 2024 Olympics when she watched Amit Elor of the United States compete in Paris. Her freshman year she swam for the Blue Devils. But things changed that summer watching Elor win gold for the United States. Elor was the youngest American ever to win gold at 20 years old.
“I just thought she was so incredible,” Pollin-Galay said. “I wondered if I could do that. My sophomore year I just said, ‘I am going to figure this out’.”
Pollin-Galay is now in the record books at Northampton. Forever etched as the first female wrestling state champion in the history of the Blue Devils.
“I hadn’t even thought about that part yet,” Pollin-Galay said. “Northampton hasn’t had a state championship in a long time. Wrestling has not been huge for Northampton. I hope this can inspire people to represent Northampton a little more. Have some more wrestlers. Hopefully more girls will want to sign up and try it out to build up the program. Josh is such a good coach, he deserves to have more than 10 wrestlers on the team.”
In the offseason, Pollin-Galay hopes to master freestyle wrestling in an effort to wrestle in college.
“Otherwise, continuing to work hard and improve to make the most out of my senior year,” Pollin-Galay said.