During last year’s Summer Olympics history was made when Helen Maroulis became the first United States woman to ever win a gold medal in wrestling.

Since the monumental event occurred, the popularity of the sport has risen.

“There’s been a huge uptick in numbers of girls participating,” Wyoming Seminary coach Scott Green said. “But now that they see Helen and see what is possible, I think participation is going to go through the roof.”

Since his days of coaching a club in New York, Green always worked with female wrestlers and has had a passion for increasing female interest in the sport.

In fact, according to the National Federations of High School Associations, participation in girls wrestling has increased by nearly 50 percent from 2009-10 in a survey taken during the 2014-15 season.

And after Maroulis’ upset win over Japan’s Saori Yoshida, who was unbeaten in four Olympic appearances and a 13-time world champion, momentum increased for Green’s plans.

Last week, everything came together and Green and Wyoming Seminary announced that the school will start a girls wrestling program in the fall, becoming the first high school girls program in the northeastern U.S.

Green said there’s been an outpouring of support about the new program, including an enormous amount from field hockey coach and athletic director Karen Klassner, and president Kevin Rea.

“Scott has been working for around three years on trying to convince the administration to start a pilot program for girls wrestling. Scott wants the sport of wrestling to continue to grow,” Klassner said via email. “He strongly believes girls wrestling could be one of the keys to growing the sport of wrestling.

He feels we are in a position to offer females an opportunity to compete with other females and to eventually vie for tournament or individual championships.”

“I think the Sem community embraces the things like this kinda being on the cutting edge,” Green added. “Everyone has been very supportive from the start.”

The program will start in the fall and will wrestle mostly in freestyle events traveling around the country like the boys program currently does, and some girls might even show up next season with the boys. Green, who will not coach the girls, but will help find the right man or woman to do so, also has hopes of hosting an all-female tournament in Kingston at some point in the future.

The Sem boys team has had enormous success over the last decade winning 10 straight Pennsylvania Independent School tournaments, a Prep National title in 2014 and has crowned more than a dozen individual national champions over during that span.

It’s expected to take some time for the girls program to reach those standards, but Green sees the team being as competitive as the boys team. Growing pains are expected, but the girls will participate in Junior National Cadet tournaments or even overseas. Green also has plans for an all-girls youth club team similar to the X-Calibur program, or an all-female division of that club, which has benefited so many youngsters from the area.

To increase interest even more among girls in the area, Green is also looking into hosting events such as a girls night for beginners or a clinic hosted by some female stars from around the country.

“We’re excited to have girls come in and parallel the success the boys program has had but we’re also optimistic that we will have a large group of girls joining in and starting a club,” Green said. “With that part of responsibility to continue to marshall a new wave of a new sport, we’re excited and pretty confident that it’s going to take off.”

There has already been an increase in girls participation around Luzerne County, most notable from Nanticoke. Last year, Krystal Daniele graduated from the Trojans program after becoming the first female in District 2 history to ever medal at districts. This year, Megan Kocher will graduate from the team. Kocher made history in 2015 becoming the first female to ever win a contested match at districts.

Waiting in the wings is Kaitlyn Pegarella, a seventh-grader at Nanticoke who has shown an interest in the Blue Knights’ new program.

“I think it’s great. It’s growing everywhere and there’s no better school than Sem to bring it t to our area,” Trojans varsity coach Harold Shotwell said. “It kinda gives them a level playing field. I know that some girls, not all of them, feel a little disadvantage going against boys all the time and this helps level that out.”

Pegarella was also one one a few females to wrestle in the Wyoming Valley Conference Junior High Tournament over the weekend.

Kaitlyn Bucci, an eighth-grader from Pittston Area, took fifth in the 95-pound weight class and ended this season with a winning record of 14-13.

Pegarella, also at the tournament, didn’t grab a medal in a loaded weight class with 10 wrestlers, but she won one of her matches via fall.

An eighth-grade girl from Tunkhannock, Brittnie Cahoon also won a match by fall in Saturday’s tournament. But like Pegarella, she was also in a class with 11 participants and didn’t medal.

“You see there’s a need for (female wrestling) and we thought it was a good thing to establish it at Sem,” Green said. “I think there’s going to be a trickle-down effect for any girl in the area whether they are a Sem student or not. It’s going to raise the competition of girls wrestling in the area.”

The girls will share the Great Hall facility with the boys team. There will be times when just the girls will workout and times when just the boys will be present. Like Olympic training centers, there will also be mixed workouts.

Sem’s girls team will be open to all females anywhere in the country, but you must be enrolled in the school. For information on joining the program, fill out an interest form on the school website and then schedule a visit to the campus.

The sport of wrestling is growing among girls in the region and Wyoming Seminary has decided to take it to the next level by announcing the formation of an all-girls team in the fall.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_wrestlers03.jpg.optimal.jpgThe sport of wrestling is growing among girls in the region and Wyoming Seminary has decided to take it to the next level by announcing the formation of an all-girls team in the fall. Times Leader file photo

By Dave Rosengrant

For Times Leader

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