Since the late 1980s, Solon High School has had a boys wrestling team. However, as of last year, four girls have joined the team. Junior Madison Leuchtag was the first girl to join the Solon wrestling team as a sophomore, even though there was no girls team.
“Since there were no girls, it wasn’t something that people really comprehended, so they [the coaches] originally told me no,” Leuchtag said. “Then I was like, ‘ok well now that you told me no, now I have to.’”
After a season of wrestling among the boys team, a new interest in girls wrestling at SHS accelerated. As a result, head coach Connor McMahon said he is pleased by the growth of the team this season.
“We put a lot of effort, Mady put a lot of effort, into trying to get more girls to go out for the team,” McMahon said. “I think it’s a result of her hard work and us as coaches trying to reach out and get more girls to give it a shot.”
This season, four girls have joined wrestling which makes an official girls team. While they attend their own competitions, both teams practice together.
“There’s a lot of similarities, but their bodies definitely move in a different way than boy wrestlers’ [bodies] do,” McMahon said. “And there’s different techniques that work better in girls wrestling that don’t work as well in guys wrestling and vice versa.”
McMahon also said the conjoined practices suffice, but there are certain aspects of girls wrestling that they haven’t been able to focus on with so many guys and so few girls.
“We would like to get more of a girls coach that can really focus on girls’ technique that works very specifically for girls wrestling,” McMahon said. “But right now, they just come to the boys’ practice, and we try to tailor some stuff to them.”
The girls joined the team for different reasons, but all agree that it is an extremely physical sport. Kayleigh Watkins, a freshman on the team, said that the physical involvement makes it more difficult than other sports.
“It’s the hardest sport I’ve ever done because it’s really physically demanding,” Watkins said. “It’s going to make you want to give up and you just have to push yourself to the brim.”
Along with the physical demands, Freshman Alina Keldibayev said there is a strict practice schedule.
“We practice every day —we went to practice on Christmas and New Year’s,” Keldibayev said. “And when the school is closed, we go to a different club.”
Despite the constant practice and difficult nature of the sport, all the girls love it for their own reasons. Junior Amina Peterson said that wrestling is one of the many sports she participates in, but that wrestling is the most difficult.
“I enjoy wrestling because it’s very active,” Peterson said. “I just love doing active things.”
The girls wrestling team made its premiere this season by practicing consistently and competing in girls tournaments. All four girls expressed their love for wrestling and their hopes for the future of the girls wrestling team.
“Our team, they’re amazing,” Leuchtag said. “Our girls are amazing. I’m so excited for them, they’ve done so well this season, and I hope that this team grows and we get more girls.”
Solon Wrestling Senior Night is Feb. 19 at Solon High School against Twinsburg High School.
