The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association has vacated the 2026 state championship of Ella Poalillo, the top girls' wrestler in the nation at the 152-pound weight class.
The NJSIAA confirmed to NJ.com by email last week that a girls' wrestler had her title vacated this year, but did not mention High Point Regional High School's Poalillo by name. The state association did not provide an exact reason why the title was stripped.
Poalillo's father, Joe, said the family was notified in the spring that the title, Ella's third, had been taken away over what he called an “eligibility issue.”
He added that while the family attempted to resolve the issue, they were unsuccessful.
"It wasn't [her] fault. It's more of something we could have prevented," her father, Joe Poalillo, told NJ.com, as reported by Yahoo Sports.
"The decision is the decision. It was something we were going to try and fight but there was no way to fight it. We've moved on."
The NJSIAA confirmed that the championship was revoked because of a rules violation but didn't identify the specific rule or provide additional rules. The association's website now has an asterisk next to the 152-pound championship with a note stating, "State title revoked due to a violation of NJSIAA rules."
High Point Regional High School superintendent Scott Ripley told NJ.com that the school was "aware," but added that it "would not be appropriate for us to comment further."
According to Joe Palillo, Ellia has since withdrawn from High Point Regional High School and is now being homeschooled while training in Arizona. She plans to continue training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado before going on to wrestle in college at Iowa State. He also said that she had already planned not to return for another high school season before the ruling was handed down, Yahoo Sports reported.
