That is until this year.

Entering her freshman year for the Eagles, Paddock was one of the top wrestlers in the state having placed fourth at 126 pounds in the NYSPHSAA Girls Wrestling Invitational as an eighth-grader.

This season the state held its inaugural girls wrestling state championship and so began Paddock’s quest to a new podium. With new heights to achieve, Paddock quickly lived up to her billing as one of the state’s best.

Beginning the year, Paddock dominated the North Tonawanda Ladyjack girls wrestling tournament with three pins and a pair of technical falls en route to her first championship of the year.

Chautauqua Lake's Noli Paddock finished the season with a 46-2 final record. Photo courtesy of Michelle Gilbert

Paddock then faced her first bit of adversity of the year at the fourth annual Linda C. Knuutila Memorial Tournament when she was upset by Sweet Home’s Sofia Guadagna in the semifinals as she was pinned for the only time. She bounced back with a pin and a technical fall to earn third place on the podium.

After losing to Guadagna, Paddock would not find herself on the losing side of a result for over two months.

On her warpath, Paddock won the Chautauqua Lake Invitational, Southern Tier Memorial Tournament, Lockport Invitational and the Burt Ernst Memorial Tournament.

At her home tournament, Paddock had two pins and three technical falls; at the Southern Tier Memorial she did not surrender a point to opponents with three technical falls and two pins; and at the Lockport Invitational she had another two pins and two technical falls.

That set the table for Paddock as the top seed in the Section VI state qualifier and not only did she live up to those expectations, but she exceeded them as the event’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Chautauqua Lake freshman Noli Paddock placed third at the inaugural NYSPHSAA girls wrestling tournament at 132 pounds. Photo courtesy of Michelle Gilbert

In her opening round, she earned a 10-0 technical fall over Gisela Ramos of Health Sciences and that was followed by a 0:59 pin against Sweet Home’s Kendra Carter and a 0:12 pin against Fredonia’s Susie Nebrich in the semifinals.

In order to claim the first ever Section VI girls title at 132 pounds, Paddock would have to get past the only girl to defeat her this season, Guadagna. In the final, Paddock finished her dominant run with a pin at 1:00 for the title against a very formidable opponent.

Section VI’s Most Outstanding Wrestler was headed to the first ever state championships as the No. 2 seed in the 132-pound bracket.

Paddock began states with a pin over Melania Turano of Section IX’s Bay Shore at 1:20 and then she secured a 13-1 technical fall over Josie Lamb of Section V’s Canandaigua for a spot in the semifinals. In the way of her and the finals was Section XI Huntington junior Taylor Aiello and that ended up being possibly the best match in the entire bracket, unfortunately for Paddock she ended up on the wrong side of the result for the second time this season.

In the first period, Aiello built herself an 8-4 lead and things only got tougher from there. Trailing 16-8 with 30 seconds to go, Paddock needed to score a lot and very quickly.

Paddock took control of the match and scored the final seven points in a 20-second span, but Aiello was able to hold off a pin and the final point for a 16-15 victory.

Headed into the consolation bracket, Paddock finished her freshman season with a 13-2 technical fall over Brielle Nels of Homer-III and a 11-1 technical fall over Jada Lee of Section IX’s Monroe Woodbury for third in the state.

Paddock finished her season with a 46-2 final record, six first-place finishes and a pair of third-place finishes, including at the inaugural girls state championships. For everything that Paddock accomplished this season she is the first ever OBSERVER/Post-Journal Girls Wrestler of the Year.