{"id":27006,"date":"2024-04-13T18:45:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T01:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/?p=27006"},"modified":"2024-04-21T17:53:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T00:53:11","slug":"meteoric-growth-of-womens-wrestling-affords-new-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/27006\/uncategorized\/meteoric-growth-of-womens-wrestling-affords-new-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Meteoric growth of women\u2019s wrestling affords new opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"photowrap\">\n\t<div class='sfiphotowrap sfiphotowrap modal-photo' data-photo-ids='27074,27076,27071' data-story-id='27006'>\n\t\t<div id='storypageslideshow' style=''>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshowwrap\" data-ratio=\"1.4713896457766\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Angelina-Jiang-e1713058850215.png\" class=\"slideshow-photo\" alt=\"Angelina+Jiang\" data-width=\"1080\" data-height=\"734\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<a class='modal-photo' href="#slideshow">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='slideshow-enlarge'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fa fa-clone slideshow-icon\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class='slideshow-title'>Gallery<span class='v-divider'> &bull; <\/span>3 Photos<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"captionboxmittop\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"photocredit\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/staff_name\/photo-courtesy-of-angelina-jiang\/\">Photo courtesy of Angelina Jiang<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"photocaption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJunior Angelina Jiang is declared the winner by the referee in the California Interscholastic Federation tournament at Bakersfield.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"photobottom\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"newssourcephotos\" data-photoids=\"27074,27076,27071\"><\/div>\n\n<p>This year, Louisiana joined the 45 states that certify girls wrestling at the high school level. Of these states, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania hosted their first state-sanctioned girls wrestling tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>In the broader scope of women\u2019s wrestling, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced plans to add the sport as the 91st NCAA championship sport in winter 2026, with the vote set for next January. These recent developments mark the progress of girls wrestling as the fastest-growing high school sport in the country, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.<\/p>\n<div class='pullquote sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 sno-animate'>\n        <div class=\"quotebar\">\n\t    <div class='largequote'>&ldquo;<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n        <div class=\"quotebody\">\n                        <p class='pullquotetext'>It\u2019s honestly a lot easier to compete with girls after drilling with these heavier, stronger guys. It just toughens you up.<\/p>\n                    <p class='quotespeaker'>&mdash; Junior Angelina Jiang<\/p>\n                <div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 {\n    display: flex;\n    float: left;\n    margin: 30px 30px 30px 0;\n    width: 50%;\n    border-color: #888888;\n    border-top-width: 5px;\n    border-right-width: 5px;\n    border-bottom-width: 5px;\n    border-left-width: 5px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 p.pullquotetext,\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 p.quotespeaker {\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 .pullquotepic {\n    width: 100%;\n    margin-left: 0px;\n}\n.sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 p.pullquotetext {\n    font-size: 22px;\n    line-height: 1.4em;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 .quotebar {\n    background: #dddddd;\n    flex: 0 0 90px;\n    margin-top: -15px;\n    margin-left: -15px;\n    padding-left: 15px;\n    padding-top: 15px;\n    margin-right: 15px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 .largequote {\n\tcolor: #888888;\n}\n.sno-story-body-content .sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 p.pullquotetext, .sno-slideshow-segment .sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 p.pullquotetext {\n    text-indent: 0px;\n    padding-top: 0px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 .quotebody {\n    width: unset;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034ec163 .quotebody {\n    max-width: calc(100% - 105px);\n\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<p>Despite the uptick, wrestling remains a coeducational sport at Gunn due to a matter of numbers, according to head coach Jorge Barajas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinancially, we would have to figure out the number to grant another coach for a girls team and recruit more female wrestlers,\u201d he said. \u201cBut (a girls wrestling team is) definitely the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aspects of the coed practices, in which both genders drill against each other and compete with their respective gender brackets, have been ideal for junior Angelina Jiang.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, (the routine is) mostly drill with the guys during practice and then go out and compete with girls,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly a lot easier to compete with girls after drilling with these heavier, stronger guys. It just toughens you up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wrestler sophomore Aurora Woodley embraces the opportunity to grapple with her teammates\u2019 different styles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing coed is being able to wrestle with a bunch of different people, which is more important than just wrestling with people who are stronger than you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>This season, the number of female wrestlers on the team has doubled. Alongside the returning members \u2014 senior Isabella Lee, Jiang and Woodley \u2014 the team welcomed five freshman girls: Mei Elgierari, Thea Kissiov, Avni Lochan, Zara Vivekanand and Mina Van Roy.<\/p>\n<p>While these girls are the minority in the male- dominated team, this imbalance is the very thing that creates camaraderie, according to Elgierari.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring the SCVAL (Santa Clara Valley Athletic League) sectionals tournament, (the girls) each went to one another\u2019s matches when we could, and although some of us didn\u2019t qualify, we still stayed together and supported one another,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really helped, especially for those who weren\u2019t done and were really nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emerging players may shy away from the sport because they don\u2019t know what the wrestling experience is like for girls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWrestling is super intense, but people don\u2019t understand that it\u2019s not something that you should fear while being a female because the team is supportive of you,\u201d Woodley said.<\/p>\n<p>At the collegiate level, women\u2019s wrestling is still something of a niche sport, as only four NCAA Division I institutions have varsity women\u2019s wrestling teams: South Carolina\u2019s Presbyterian College, Connecticut\u2019s Sacred Heart University, and Missouri\u2019s University of Iowa and Lindenwood University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now, there are only four colleges that have DI women\u2019s wrestling, and a lot of colleges only have clubs or they don\u2019t have women\u2019s wrestling at all,\u201d Jiang said. \u201cSo it\u2019s really hard to get a scholarship. I know a lot of really good wrestlers, some who got into Stanford, (and) couldn\u2019t wrestle anymore because there wasn\u2019t a women\u2019s wrestling team up until now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This limited opportunity does not deter Jiang from further pursuing the sport. Rather, fellow female wrestlers \u2014 such as 18-year-old Audrey Jimenez, who became the first girl to win an Arizona state high school wrestling title while competing against boys on Feb. 18 \u2014 have become role models for Jiang.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been a couple of times where I\u2019ve considered challenging one of the boys for a varsity spot for duels, because at duels, in all technicalities, a girl (is allowed to) challenge and wrestle guys, like in a lot of other states like Arizona,\u201d Jiang said. \u201cIt\u2019s not allowed the other way, just because of physiological differences. It brings up the whole thing of women in men\u2019s sports and how women can bring themselves up to the challenge if they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Barajas recalls how 2014 Gunn alumna female world-level wrestler Cadence Lee, known for pinning down boys during her high school wrestling career, paved the way for girls in the absence of sanctioned girls\u2019 wrestling. Because of women like Lee, along with women\u2019s wrestling advocate Lori Ayres, who co- founded the organization D1 Women\u2019s Wrestling and helped start the Stanford University women\u2019s wrestling club, Barajas\u2019 wrestling perspective has experienced a full-circle moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m able to see where (wrestling) was to where it is now,\u201d he said. \u201cI think (local female forefront wrestlers) help our community of wrestlers. We have a good support system for girls\u2019 wrestling just down the road at Stanford, where Lori Ayres is that voice (saying) that girls wrestling is something that needs to be going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Barajas, coaching Jiang and Lee at the Feb. 22-24 California Interscholastic Federation State Wrestling Championships came against an important cultural backdrop: larger girls wrestling tournaments in the future. Girls state tournaments are now held at the same level as the boys\u2019 and have full brackets. According to Barajas, brackets were around 20 girls, but now they reach 32-40 girls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf (this growth) continues, I could see the girls, within next year, at a 64-person bracket as well,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just that fast-growing.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class='pullquote sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 sno-animate'>\n        <div class=\"quotebar\">\n\t    <div class='largequote'>&ldquo;<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n        <div class=\"quotebody\">\n                        <p class='pullquotetext'>I think it\u2019s so important that wrestling teaches women how to deal with pain and loss and how to fight for yourself in the real world.<\/p>\n                    <p class='quotespeaker'>&mdash; Sophomore Aurora Woodley<\/p>\n                <div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 {\n    display: flex;\n    float: right;\n    margin: 30px 0 30px 30px;\n    width: 50%;\n    border-color: #888888;\n    border-top-width: 5px;\n    border-right-width: 5px;\n    border-bottom-width: 5px;\n    border-left-width: 5px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 p.pullquotetext,\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 p.quotespeaker {\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 .pullquotepic {\n    width: 100%;\n    margin-left: 0px;\n}\n.sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 p.pullquotetext {\n    font-size: 22px;\n    line-height: 1.4em;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 .quotebar {\n    background: #dddddd;\n    flex: 0 0 90px;\n    margin-top: -15px;\n    margin-left: -15px;\n    padding-left: 15px;\n    padding-top: 15px;\n    margin-right: 15px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 .largequote {\n\tcolor: #888888;\n}\n.sno-story-body-content .sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 p.pullquotetext, .sno-slideshow-segment .sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 p.pullquotetext {\n    text-indent: 0px;\n    padding-top: 0px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 .quotebody {\n    width: unset;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-66499034eca08 .quotebody {\n    max-width: calc(100% - 105px);\n\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<p>Woodley has found that wrestling entails more than mere physical prowess, requiring intellectual and mental strength.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s so important that wrestling teaches women how to deal with pain and loss and how to fight for yourself in the real world,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned to just have the fearlessness to stand up for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year, Louisiana joined the 45 states that certify girls wrestling at the high school level. Of these states, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania hosted their first state-sanctioned girls wrestling tournaments. In the broader scope of women\u2019s wrestling, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced plans to add the sport as the 91st NCAA championship sport&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":27071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,1],"tags":[604493777,604493778,604493563,604493779,604492286,16262],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27006"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27006"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27223,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27006\/revisions\/27223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunnoracle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}