Mar 14, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

If first impressions are any indication for girls wrestling, then buckle up for a new era in a sport that has been dominated by men.

The inaugural girls championships crowned 13 champions Saturday evening at the Giant Center in Hershey after three long days of wrestling.

The days may have been long, but the excitement on the faces of the young ladies that competed made up for it all.

The Class 2A and 3A boys brackets had 20 wrestlers in each, which allowed for one preliminary round, but the girls had one division with 16 in each weight class, and that cut down the time on the first day of action.

When wrestlers are allowed on the mats to warm up, there is usually no fanfare, but last week was different as history was being made.

The girls were introduced by the public address announcer to a round of applause each time they took the mat for their individual sessions Thursday and Friday.

Many of the wrestlers waved to the crowd as they ran laps around the floor of the Giant Center before starting to warm up by practicing their technique. The only difference from the boys was a lot of bobbing pony tails, which the ladies tuck underneath their headgear when they get ready for their matches.

When the bouts started, the wrestling wasn’t much different than the boys, nor were the reactions from the coaches and parents, as calls for stalling were asked, more likely demanded, for and shouts of “two” rang through the arena when a takedown was about to be completed.

Attendance figures were not released, but the excitement was in the arena as the boys and girls competed. The semifinals Friday night had to start 15 minutes late after the scheduled time of 7 because fans were waiting to get into the Giant Center. The placement matches for wrestlers battling for third through eighth place had a similar feel, as did the championship finals.

The girls were featured on the center mat for the finals, as the Class 2A and 3A boys were on the outside for the first time in the 86 years of the PIAA wrestling tournament.

Canon-McMillan boys wrestling is one of the top programs in the state, and the Big Macs’ history for championship success at the state tournament dates back to the inaugural event for boys when George Custer won the gold for Canonsburg at 95 pounds in 1938.

Val Solorio won the first girls state championship for Canon-McMillan, and the first overall, with a pin in the finals at 100 pounds. Solorio, a University of Iowa recruit, recorded falls in all four of her matches in the tournament. She won a state title last year in a non-PIAA event.

The Big Macs won the team title with 93 points. Natalie Rush (2nd at 190), Audrey Calgaro (3rd at 170), Yunuen Ayala (6th at 118) and Dynisty Williams (6th at 155) finished in the top eight.

Solorio also followed wrestling protocol with a celebratory leap into the arms of Big Macs coach Brian Krenzelak, who also coaches the boys.

While Krenzelak and many other coaches pull double duty, as the sport grows for girls, the numbers will be too much for one individual to handle. There were not many women coaching the girls, at least as head coaches, but keep in mind that when the current athletes that are now wrestling were growing up, seeing a girl wrestler was an anomaly.

Canon-McMillan wasn’t alone among Washington County schools who had a placewinner, as Fort Cherry’s Abigail Dolanch was sixth at 136 and Peters Township’s Grace O’Korn earned a sixth-place finish at 142.

The number of girls coaches will rise, as will the sport, and the Giant Center may not be big enough to host the state championships at the same time, but the girls should be able to compete in the same environment as the boys. Those decisions can be made by people who are on a higher pay grade than me.

Observer-Reporter staff writer Jonathan Guth can be reached at jguth@observer-reporter.com