Girls wrestling program heads to the mat
On Oct. 19, Milton Area School Board voted to make Girls Wresting a high school sport. However, the process of beginning a team is not that simple.
Athletic Director Mr. Rod Harris said that Girls Wrestling is the fastest growing sports in America right now, a point that he said athletic directors across the state agree upon.
According to Mr. Harris, in order to adopt a new sport into the school, the board and administration have to approve it.
Milton became the 18th school in the state to recognize Girls Wrestling as an official sport, said Mr. Harris. “We wanted to do our part in being a school to recognize Girls Wrestling as a sport,” he added.
Of the 17 other districts to recognize it as a sport, Central Mountain is the closest, said Mr. Harris.
“Once there are 100 schools in the state of Pennsylvania, then it will go to Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA). PIAA will then take it into consideration, and then it will go up to a vote (by PIAA) to be adopted into an actual sport,” said Mr. Harris.
Girls Wrestling is the first sport to be added since 2019, when the school added swimming to its winter sports, he said.
Swimming is already a PIAA sanctioned sport, said Mr. Harris. “We just needed to approve it (swimming) at Milton,” he added.
Freshman Abigail Moser said that she has wrestled for six years after finding her love for it after watching in elementary school. She said she has wrestled in many Girls Wrestling tournaments.
There are currently wrestling tournaments for girls, but they are not governed or sanctioned by PIAA, said Mr. Harris. Before Milton recognized Girls Wrestling as a sport, girls could not wear Milton jerseys to tournaments, he added.
Since Milton now recognizes it as a sport, “we can now go to those tournaments and wear a Milton Jersey or singlet,” said Mr. Harris.
Mr. Harris said that he will not add coaches to the staff until Girls Wrestling is an official sport within the school. Everything will currently stay the same and girls will continue participating on the boys’ team, he added.
“Currently I am still on the boys wrestling team because PIAA hasn’t sanctioned Girls Wrestling. I chose to stay on the junior high team for my sixth year of wrestling,” said Abigail. She added that she will continue to practice and wrestle with the team this season.
According to Mr. Harris, once Girls Wrestling is an official sport verified by the PIAA, they will continue on the same as they would if they were still on the boys’ team. Milton wants girls to wrestle other girls, he added.
He does not expect Girls Wrestling to begin for a few more years, said Mr. Harris. However, there are students who are interested in the sport, he added.
According to Mr. Harris, at winter sports sign ups on Nov. 5 a couple of girls signed up for wrestling.
Abigail said that a Girls Wrestling team is something she has hoped for since she started wrestling in seventh grade. “It would motivate other girls to try something people always thought they weren’t meant to do,” she added.
