The girls wrestling team traveled to Lane Tech College Prep High School on Friday, December 5, to capture the first win of their season.
The team traveled via a bus at the end of the school day and completed weigh-ins shortly after arriving at the meet. Based on the results of weigh-ins, 10 girls competed in scored matches, while four other wrestlers received the opportunity to compete in exhibition matches.
The team has grown in the past three years from a group of 12 to 30, allowing typically for a full roster of wrestlers. Many of the upperclassmen have been together since their freshman and sophomore years and created the team together. The seniors have taken on the leadership roles as a guide for the new underclassmen.
The girls began warm ups led by senior Lilly Lara. The warm ups include stretching and drill level wrestling. They focus on what they call their “bread and butter,” which include their best and most commonly used moves. Some of these include single legs, Russian ties, headlocks, and double legs.
The meet began with the 100 pound wrestler, Claire Stokes. She wrestled into the third period and took her first high school season win against Lane Tech with a half Nelson pinning combo.
The weight classes increase by five pounds up to 145 pounds where it then becomes 155, 170, 190, and 235. The matches at the meet ran from 100 pounds to 235 pounds in weight order.
As matches continued, senior Stella Harris stepped on to the mat and took a typical win via a pin in the second period. She utilized a wide variety of moves including a double leg takedown, a butcher, and a half Nelson. According to assistant coach Joanna Stemen, upperclassmen wins are quite common during meets.
“The varsity girls did what they always do,” Stemen says.
Amid the matches, Lane Tech faced some difficulties with the mat and its tape.
“They ended up having to re-tape the mats, but it was all okay because they ended up fixing it,” senior Sarah Parker says.
Wrestling continued and many, including seniors Izzy Locasio, Sam Fontaine, and Sarah Parker got the pin in their weight classes.
Parker wrestles at both the 170 and 190 weight class, wrestling up when needed for competition. This meet she was able to wrestle her normal weight class and used a single leg takedown and finished the match in the first period.
“I wrestled 170, which really got me into the flow of how the rest of the season is going to go, because I was able to go for a regular shot,” Parker says. “I did really well in my match, and I’m pretty proud of it.”
The meet ended with a 41-36 victory for Marist. The win continued to show the strengths of the varsity level girls, but also revealed some power from the new freshman, one in particular captured the crowd’s attention.
“Claire Stokes,” Parker says. “Oh, I’m so proud of Claire. She won her match and she went all six minutes. She’s been working her butt off in practice.”
Teammate and spectator Gillian Madden had similar feelings about the team’s performance.
“I think they did pretty well,” Madden says. “This meet shows that we’re ready. We want to be here and we’re gonna wrestle well.”
The competitiveness of each girl has increased significantly since the creation of the team. They went from one sectional qualifier during their first year to three state qualifiers last season. The team development has been rapid, especially with this being their third Illinois High School Association (IHSA) sanctioned season. They recently received their own workout space inside the Larry Tucker Sportsplex.
This meet started off a season of throw downs and challenging work for the girls and revealed just how dedicated they are to the sport.
“I think the girls did what they set out to do. They beat Lane Tech. It was a good night,” Stemen says.
