The grappling girls

PHOTO: Wrestling team practicing

By Maya Delaney

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The girl’s wrestling team met in the South Gym at Davis High for the Fundraising Team Duals on Nov 18. The participants consisted solely of DHS students and was a place for the girls’ families to watch them compete against each other. Families were also able to buy team merchandise and food. The money would then be used to fund the rest of the girl’s winter season. 

So far, the annual event has funded new uniforms, a mat, and wall pads. In addition, each wrestling event costs an estimated amount of $400. The goal is to attend one every week to allow the team to advance to higher ranked matches. The league champion is then determined by the outcomes of the dual matches.

However, there has never been a Delta League Championship for wrestling because “other schools in our league don’t emphasize the girl’s team [so there are] not enough participants to have a championship,” senior Andrea Gonzalez said.

On the DHS team, there are 12 girls. According to Statista.com, the percentage of high school wrestlers who are female has been slowly increasing from 7.8% in the 2019 season to 12% in the 2022 season. Following the trend, there will continue to be more female participants in the sport in years to come.

Some girls on the team have been wrestling for a while now, including freshman Kai Wollrich.

“I started wrestling in second grade because my brother was on the middle school team,” Wollrich said. 

Sophomore Mia Perez had a similar answer as to why she joined.“I started wrestling when I was in fifth grade because my older brother did it and I had been doing jiu-jitsu for a couple years before and I thought it would be fun to try wrestling,” Perez said. “I love all the things I can take away from it and not only is wrestling amazing but it’s also such a great learning experience. It’s a pretty tough sport and I think anyone who sticks with it will grow to be a very hard working person.”