Among the district’s newest sports is the girls wrestling team, which was formed in 2022 after five years of planning. The season started on Nov. 17 with 13 girls on the team, according to Coach Chip Rearick.
Milton School Board Member Mr. Eric Moser was instrumental in starting the girls team “Mr. Moser helped establish the girls’ wrestling program by being a part of Girls’ Sanctioned wrestling before the PIAA approved the sport. Then he got it approved by the school board,” said Milton Athletic Director Mr. Rod Harris.
Coach Rearick said that the only reason the district waited to start a girls’ team is because three years ago, PIAA finally divided the sport into both genders. So, now girls will only wrestle girls, and boys will only wrestle boys.
According to Coach Rearick, the biggest challenge he faced in starting a girls’ team was “getting girls out for wrestling and getting girls to trust the team.”
“Finally being seen as a girls’ team is awesome, and it’s a fasting growing sport,” he added. “I like to see that a bunch of colleges are adding girls’ wrestling.”
“The atmosphere of the team is great! They are all so eager to learn and they’re fast learners,” Coach Rearick said, and added that he’s looking forward to watching this team grow and compete. He said he hopes more girls come out for wrestling.
Before Coach Rearick was hired for the girls’ wrestling coach position, he said he coached high school baseball and seventh grade basketball, but he was a wrestler in the past.
According to Coach Rearick, there is no difference between boys’ and girls’ wrestling other than gender. He added that, it is easier for girls to go to States than guys because girls wrestling just became a sport a couple years ago, so all the girls are around the same skill level.
Coach Rearick added that girls and boys will have the same number of matches, but the girls won’t wrestle all the same schools as the boys’ team will.
According to Senior Adelyn Bush, girls’ wrestling has changed a lot over time. “I remember when I first started, and we just wrestled boys. On the occasion there was a girl, we got to wrestle a girl,” she added.
Adelyn said that she likes the fact that wrestling is an individual sport but also a team sport. “It’s me on the mat, I’m the one wrestling, but all the support and fans are amazing,” she explained.
Adelyn gave some advice to give upcoming girls wrestlers: “Don’t give up just because you aren’t seeing the results you want. It will come if you put in the hard work.”
