Takedown Report

Women’s Wrestling News (2021) – # 20 {High School Level}

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Exciting stories of advancements in providing opportunities for girls in scholastic level wrestling. More than half the states have sanctioned high school wrestling competition. Keep wrestling on! Contact us at the Editor’s office at martinkfleming@gmail.com Blog # 2973 (8/31/21)
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1 } – {N. Y.} – Liverpool senior wants to turn success on mat into opportunities for girls wrestling
Two years ago, as a sophomore on Liverpool’s wrestling team, Damiana Racciatti stood in the center of the wrestling mat and the referee raised her arm in the air. Racciatti had won her first high school wrestling match. But the win wasn’t everything she had imagined. Racciatti hadn’t actually wrestled anyone. She did everything needed to prepare, training hard enough and cutting weight to earn a varsity spot. But her opponent forfeited the match before she could prove that she was capable. But the boy on the other team didn’t want to wrestle a girl. Racciatti attempted to make the best of her win-by-default and joked that it was the fastest pin of the day. Behind the smile, behind the win, was a little bit of loss. Coach Steve LoFaso doesn’t recall any forfeits, even though they’re written in the records. Racciatti remembers every single one. The details of her opponent are fuzzy, but the feeling of standing alone and celebrating a win she didn’t get to earn sticks with her. … rest of story at https://www.syracuse.com/highschoolsports/2021/04/liverpool-senior-wants-to-turn-success-on-mat-into-opportunities-for-girls-wrestling.html?outputType=amp&mc_cid=db281dc0f1&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

2 } – HS WRESTLERS RAISE THE BAR AT OTT
Don’t Sleep On Girl’s HS Wrestling
Two weeks ago now, we witnessed something very special happen with the women’s freestyle (WFS) competition at Olympic Team Trials (OTT). Not one, or two, but THREE high school wrestlers qualified for OTT to battle against the best of the best U.S. senior women’s wrestling has to offer. Not only that, but two of those wrestlers went all the way to the OTT final and competed against those OTT finalists! Those three high schoolers are Kennedy Blades, Sage Mortimer, and Kylie Welker. If you don’t already know their names, remember them now! These girls all went to compete at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier the weekend before OTT. … rest of story at https://www.wreaperwrestling.com/hs-wrestlers-raise-the-bar-at-ott/?mc_cid=22fcb0de91&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

And Girls wrestling gets its own state championships next year
Five of seven OPRF wrestlers earn all-state recognition at June 21 meet
Girls wrestling is a sport that has seen a significant increase in participation over the last few years in Illinois, so much that the Illinois High School Association has approved a state series that begins next year. It’s the culmination of hard work by the steering committee of the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA), of which Oak Park and River Forest High School girls wrestling coach Fred Arkin is a co-chairman. “We’ve been working for several years to convince the IHSA to recognize girls wrestling as a sport,” said Arkin. “There were about 350 girls participating four or five years ago. Next year, we expect to be close to 2,000.”
Arkin is amazed at not only how fast girls wrestling in Illinois has grown in recent years, but also the competitiveness being shown. “The skill level of the girls has come way up,” he said. “Some of them are incredibly accomplished.” This year’s high school wrestling season this year was one of an unusual nature. It was abbreviated and moved to the spring due to COVID-19. Arkin said as a result, OPRF’s numbers were down. There were just 10 girls on the roster, compared to 16 last season. … rest of the story at https://www.oakpark.com/2021/06/28/girls-wrestling-gets-its-own-state-championships-next-year/?mc_cid=16b19c4117&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

3 } – Cy Ranch state champion Jayden Bazemore driven to prove doubters wrong
Cypress Ranch High junior wrestler Jayden Bazemore describes the experience as truly surreal. Her win was not expected, Bazemore said, as she was the underdog compared to her opponent who had won the year before and was ranked 10th in the nation. Bazemore (19-0) earned her first championship and remained unbeaten by taking down Plano West’s Devin Patton (Dec 8-3) in the 128-pound final at the UIL Girls Wrestling State Tournament, April 23-24, at Berry Center in Cypress. “It was insane, I couldn’t believe that it happened,” Bazemore said. “I was confident in myself. …Winning just made it a lot better for me knowing that I proved everyone wrong.” Bazemore placed fourth overall in the 119-pound weight class a year ago as a Lady Cavalier. … rest of story at https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/cyfair/sports/article/Cy-Ranch-state-champion-Jayden-Bazemore-driven-to-16142790.php?mc_cid=6d9f324080&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

4 } – De Soto senior wrestler Jaycee Foeller breaks barriers making history on the mat
“I think when I watch her walk onto that mat for her country, in the Olympics; that’s when it’s gonna hit me”
DE SOTO, Mo. — De Soto High School senior Jaycee Foeller has been cheerleading for as long as she can remember. Her two younger brothers have been wrestling for as long as they can remember.  As the only female sibling, Jaycee’s father J. Foeller said Jaycee learned how to carry her own over the years. “I’ve known several times they’ve been throwing each other in the middle of the living room floor,” J. Foeller said. “I was wondering how the TV didn’t fall off the wall.” But wrestling her brothers turned into something much more in the eighth grade when she went for a casual ride along to her brothers’ wrestling practice.
“I went to go with my mom to pick up my brothers,” Jaycee Foeller said. “And one of the coaches there was like, ‘Hey, why aren’t you wrestling?’ And I was like, ‘Cause I’m a cheerleader.’ You know, just being sassy. Andy I kind of wanted to at first, but my parents. Well, not my parents, but my dad was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know about that.’”  Because at the time, there was no sanctioned girls’ wrestling team. “And I didn’t want her wrestling boys,” J. Foeller said. “You can understand that from a dad’s perspective. When I told her she couldn’t, I finally thought. We’re down at practice one day, let her on the mat, go get her tail kicked, and then it’ll be done. And that didn’t happen.”
… rest of story at https://www.ksdk.com/article/sports/high-school/de-soto-wrestler-jaycee-foeller-history/63-2c3af071-89f0-48fa-9bb0-be36e434833f?mc_cid=ce60503c93&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

5 } – BLADES AND ELOR MAKE SECOND WORLD TEAM OF THE WEEKEND, CADET WORLD TEAM DECIDED
IRVING, Texas – The USA has its Cadet World Team in women’s freestyle as 10 young ladies emerged victorious on Saturday night at the 2021 Women’s Nationals in Irving, Texas.
Two athletes, Korina Blades and Amit Elor, made their second teams of the weekend today after securing spots on the 2021 Junior World Team yesterday. Blades, a 2019 U15 World champion, competed at 61 kg scorched the field, winning all but one of her matches by either technical fall or pin. In the finals, Blades racked up a 12-0 win and a 14-4 tech fall over Marissa Jimenez of Idaho. Wrestling at 69 kg, 2019 Cadet World bronze medalist Amit Elor didn’t surrender a single point the entire day with only one match making it out of the first period. In the finals, she spent a total of 45 seconds on the mat, pinning Maggie Graham in 21 seconds and 24 seconds, respectively. Advancing to her second finals series in two days, 2018 U15 Pan Am champion Lillian Freitas topped the podium in the Cadet division … rest of story at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2021/May/08/Cadet-World-Team-finals?mc_cid=6292a9adee&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

6 } – Princeton’s Chloe Ayres, Manalapan’s Jess Johnson are NJ.com’s Co-Girls Wrestlers of the Year
It is traditionally NJ.com policy to pick a single Player of the Year in every sport.
Even when deciding between John Poznanski and Dean Peterson, Devin Leary and Jonathan Taylor, Jess Hughes and Kelsey Oh our writers come to a consensus, no matter how difficult it might be to break a deadlock. But an exceptional season with exceptional circumstances calls for an exception on NJ.com’s Girls Wrestler of the Year. The honor goes to Princeton High School’s Chloe Ayres and Manalapan’s Jess Johnson – two trailblazers who capped their high school careers as the first three-time state champions in New Jersey girls wrestling after it became an official sport in 2018-2019. In a COVID-19 shortened season, girls had less than a month to make their mark this season – which started on March 16 and ended April 10. But Ayres and Johnson have certainly made their marks in their careers, helping become the stars the next generation of girls wrestling will look to as idols. “She’s definitely been a pioneer,” said Princeton coach Jess Monzo of Ayres. “She was the first to win a third state title. … rest of story at https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2021/05/princetons-chloe-ayres-manalapans-jess-johnson-are-njcoms-co-girls-wrestlers-of-the-year.html?mc_cid=cc121404a4&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

And Racine Unified high schools to offer girls wrestling in 2021-22
ACINE — Racine Unified School District board members voted to approve the district’s contract with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association with the addition of girls wrestling as a potential offering. While the agenda did not originally include the addition, board members motioned to add the item for approval, which passed unanimously during Monday evening’s meeting. WIAA approved an individual girls wrestling tournament last June, making it the 27th state to do so. The first girls tournament will occur at the close of the 2021-22 season. … rest of story at https://journaltimes.com/sports/high-school/racine-unified-high-schools-to-offer-girls-wrestling-in-2021-22/article_c381377e-c029-57ec-8208-5f5ffebd5377.html?mc_cid=4a8e8b94a2&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

7 } – Sisters Erica and Lisa Pastoriza win national girls wrestling titles at World Team trials
Erica Pastoriza couldn’t repeat her 2019 accolade as one of The Republic’sAll-Arizona girls wrestling team selections after this past season ended in March. After transferring from Glendale Raymond Kellis to Phoenix Sierra Linda last fall for her sophomore year, the Tolleson Unified School District canceled Sierra Linda’s winter season from the pandemic.  Instead, Pastoriza accomplished six national feats within the past two months. First, she won a national individual title in the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals Championships’ 16U division’s 94-pound weight class. Pastoriza also helped lead the Arizona Girls Wrestling club to a national team title at that event in March.
Third, Pastoriza won another individual title in the 2021 Women’s Nationals World Team Trials Cadet division’s 40 KG weight class on May 9 in Irving, Texas. Her victory earned her a roster spot on Team USA’s Cadet team, which will compete in the World Championships from July 19-25 in Budapest, Hungary. “I was a bummed a bit but I knew it allow me to travel more and prepare for (the World Team Trials) tournament,”  … rest of story at https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/high-school/2021/05/14/sierra-linda-sisters-win-national-wrestling-club-titles/5097228001/?mc_cid=89b2bf9d78&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

8 } – Moeller, Goshen state champion wrestlers help sister, 12, make Team USA 15U wrestling team
KENWOOD – A little more than 11 years ago, a young girl held on to a pair of brothers who had just won Ohio state high school wrestling titles at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Two other brothers and a sister joined the celebratory photo.  Chaz Gresham of Goshen and Joey Ward of Moeller would go on to win state titles again a year later with Chaz moving on to Ohio University and Joey to North Carolina where he was an All-American. Younger brothers Jacoby and Jordan also wrestled at Moeller and became state placers before moving onto the U.S. Air Force Academy and North Carolina, respectively.  Jordan has since transferred to Wyoming.  The young girl in the center of the photo is now the center attraction of the family.  Now 12 years old and after a stint with gymnastics, Camryn Gresham has decided to follow in her brothers’ footsteps. While those may be big wrestling shoes to fill, the pre-teen is marching through opponents like Sasquatch, despite competing at 33 kg which is slightly less than 73 pounds. … rest of story at https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/high-school/high-school-sports/2021/05/14/sister-former-ohio-di-state-wrestling-champs-compete-mexico/5049792001/?mc_cid=89b2bf9d78&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

9} – Santa Cruz star wrestler Greta Gustafson ready for next level
Star senior, a three-time CCS finalist and 2020 state placer, commits to Simon Fraser University in British Columbia
Santa Cruz High wrestler Greta Gustafson can count the number of high school matches she has remaining in her abbreviated senior season and high school career on one hand. But the Cardinals’ star will live to pin another day. She has committed to NCAA Division II Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. “I always thought it would just happen,” Gustafson said. “I’d tell people, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna wrestle in college.”But the more she thought about, especially last year, she started to make herself nervous. Options to compete locally were scarce and she wasn’t drawn to programs at Menlo College in Atherton or Simpson University in Redding. “Do I want to wrestle in college? Do I want to leave home?” she asked herself.
She said she was looking for reasons to scare herself, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and it scared her straight. “When COVID forced me to stop for months, I knew, ‘I do want to wrestle in college,’ ” she said. “If I didn’t, I’d regret it. I didn’t want any regrets.” … rest of story at https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/05/17/santa-cruz-star-wrestler-greta-gustafson-ready-for-next-level-high-school-wrestling/?mc_cid=a53f0e5e67&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

10 } – Editorial: Right move to offer girls wrestling post season
Last week, the Minnesota State High School League gave the official nod to adding a girls wrestling tournament to the Minnesota State High School State Wrestling Tournament, and it’s the right move. In recent years, girls wrestling has gained in popularity not only in Minnesota, but across the country. According to Team USA Wrestling’s website in May of 2020, the number of girls wrestling at the high school level rose from 804 in 1994 to a staggering 21,124 across the nation. In Minnesota, during the 2019-20 wrestling season there were 153 girls wrestling and 30 states have approved of having the sport for girls. “Girls continue to take up the challenge,” said Joan Fulp, co-chair of the USA Wrestling Girls High School Development Committee, who was quoted in the story. “They continue to wrestle in spite of the obstacles endured in finding their space on the mat. One by one they see the inspiration and character building traits once only enjoyed by boys and men. They want to drink from the same fountain.”
Through the regular season the girls will still largely face off against the boys, but now there is a clear goal set out for them that at the end of the year they will have their own state meet on the big stage. If there are going to be these kinds of numbers, and if girls continue to show interest in the sport, there is no reason why they can’t be accommodated. Granted, there will no doubt be those voices that will say girls do not belong in this male-dominated sport, but that is proving to be an archaic way of thinking. High school sports is about opportunity and it’s all we can ask for in ensuring that girls who are truly interested in and willing to work at wrestling get that chance on the mat. … rest of story at https://www.albertleatribune.com/2021/05/editorial-right-move-to-offer-girls-wrestling-post-season/?mc_cid=ce44cea415&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

11 } – New Moses Lake girls wrestling coach takes on the role late
By CASEY MCCARTHY
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School’s new girls wrestling head coach David Peralez jumped right into the fire, taking the position just before the season began. His first match was Wednesday night against Eastmont High School. Peralez graduated from MLHS in 2010 after wrestling all four years as a Chief, then earned his Bachelor of Arts from Eastern Washington University. Peralez has served in the past as an assistant with the high school program, in addition to working with the Moses Lake Wrestling Club. Peralez said the lack of lead time has certainly presented some challenges. “It’s tough to have to prepare for something when normally during a normal season you have time to go over the basics and the fundamentals before we have our first match,” Peralez said. “But I was pretty encouraged with how the wrestlers were able to absorb a lot in a short time period.” … rest of story at https://columbiabasinherald.com/news/2021/may/28/new-moses-lake-girls-wrestling-head-coach-reflects/?mc_cid=5196172c07&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

And WIAA Board of Control selects La Crosse Center for first girls wrestling state tournament
Story linked at https://madison.com/wsj/sports/high-school/wiaa-board-of-control-selects-la-crosse-center-for-first-girls-wrestling-state-tournament/article_504be91f-6d96-5c28-965e-1d845f16e594.html?mc_cid=4a470838b6&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

12 } – ‘Female wrestling is going to help save wrestling’: South Sioux program thrilled with NSAA decision to sanction girls wrestling
SOUTH SIOUX CITY — Last week, girls wrestling was officially made a sanctioned sport in the state of Nebraska. South Sioux City coach Evan Bohnet thinks that it might just help save the sport of wrestling.  On Wednesday morning, the Nebraska School Activities Association voted 8-0 to sanction the sport, upgrading it from the “emerging sport” designation that the Association decided on last year.  With the new designation, Nebraska’s female wrestlers will now compete alongside the boys at the state championships at the CHI Health Center in Omaha.  To Bohnet, Wednesday’s news was a big deal, but it won’t change much for his wrestlers inside the practice room.  “It’s awesome, and it obviously changes some things as far as recognition for the girls and who they compete under,” Bohnet said. “In terms of work and in terms of goals, it doesn’t change anything. Our goals are going to be the same. The girls never looked at it as ‘Oh, this isn’t sanctioned, so it’s less of a sport.”
Last season, the Cardinals won the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association girls championship, as the team beat out second-place Schuyler, 135.5 points to 129. It was a big step for the program, but sophomore Yohaly Quinones says that winning it next year would probably feel even sweeter. … rest of story at https://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/high-school/wrestling/female-wrestling-is-going-to-help-save-wrestling-south-sioux-program-thrilled-with-nsaa-decision/article_96eca7b0-3d18-5d42-9220-13565d2337b0.html?mc_cid=8610e5f1be&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

September 2, 2021 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized