Takedown Report

Cassy Lopez, the first woman to receive a scholarship to wrestle at a Division I school

TDR Editor’s Notes; An impressive wrestler making another First in the growing sport of women’s wrestling. She will be competing just to the south of us in South Carolina. By next year there will be 40-50 collegiate women’s programs and almost a dozen state high school associations sponsoring girls’ wrestling or will be hosting a state tournament for girls in their state. At the same time some of the colleges are expanding or reviving teams for men.
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ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — Cassy Lopez never saw herself as a pioneer when she stepped onto the mat for her first wrestling match four years ago. If you want to be specific, Lopez actually didn’t see much of anything. Lopez’s vision was impeded half the time because her hair cap kept falling over her face. She eventually lost the high school match, but not before throwing down her male opponent to the ground in the final period. “The crowd was like, ‘Whoa,'” Lopez said. “It was a little wake-up call that girls can wrestle, too.” With newfound confidence — as well as a sewed hair cap — Lopez finished her varsity career at Mount Hebron High with a 45-29 record, pinning her male opponents 32 times. She then dominated the first Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association tournament for girls in February, pinning each of her first three opponents in 20 seconds or less before winning the championship with a pin at 1 minute, 13 seconds. Her successful career culminated in a historic takedown, when Lopez became the first woman to receive a scholarship to wrestle at a Division I school. Last month, Lopez signed a national letter of intent for the newly formed women’s wrestling program at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, which will start competing alongside 38 other schools in the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association in 2019. “As far as taking that big step forward, this is going to be huge for women’s wrestling,” said Mark Cody, the director of wrestling at Presbyterian. Lopez lives about 30 miles north of the hometown of Helen Maroulis, who became the first American woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Olympics in 2016. Like Maroulis, Lopez embraces the role of ambassador for one of the fastest-growing high school sports for girls. Nationally, there are 15,000 young women participating in high school wrestling, according to Cody. The number of state high school championships for girls wrestling increased to nine this year. Rest of the story at http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/23715364/meet-cassy-lopez-first-woman-receive-scholarship-wrestle-division-school?mc_cid=e5a88d9676&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

June 11, 2018 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized