Mohawk, Bellevue add girls wrestling teams this season

Officially launching a program is not easy by any standard.The timing for Mohawk and Bellevue to do just that was this season. Though it had been discussed and planned for several years, the Warriors felt the time was right to make the jump into varsity for girls wrestling.Now, the Warriors join Northern 10 Athletic Conference schools Upper Sandusky, Carey and Seneca East in offering girls wrestling."With the steady growth of girls wrestling across the state and increasing interest from our students, the timing finally felt right to move forward and launch the program this season," Mohawk wrestling coach Brad Rice said.The girls wrestling team this season has four girls: Riley Beard, Eva Johnson, Brooklyn Frisch and Rayanne Holman.In high school, the numbers don't lie -- girls wrestling is creeping slowly towards the top 10 of high school girls sports, according to The National Federation of State High School Associations, girls wrestling nationally topped out at 74,000 participants for the first time in history, and that is a 15% jump from the previous school year. It also reported that 1,000 schools across the U.S. now have a girls wrestling program.For Mohawk, it went the varsity route to give its female athletes the best opportunity to understand the sport."With the area schools around us having varsity opportunities for their programs, we wanted to give our athletes the same level of recognition, competition and support as other varsity sports from the start," Rice said.The current administration, including athletic director Amy Kozel, has helped get the program up and running. The girls wrestling team has seven meets they are competing in this season.Their debut meet was Jan. 10 at Arcadia High School. "Adding girls wrestling allows more students to be able to compete, grow and represent their school," Rice said. "The three components that wrestling teaches is what is important for Mohawk to offer to our female wrestlers that want that opportunity."The first step to a successful program: learning the fundamentals, and that has been one of the toughestchallenges in the inaugural program. Many of the athletes are new to the sport, and it's not a sport that one can jump into and hope for instant success."Learning the sport while competing at the varsity level is demanding," Rice said. "We want them to have an understanding of the sport, the dedication of the sport and the demand of it. It's physically and mentally demanding. We as coaches want to make sure that our girls are prepared to compete at the highest level and have the best chance at success when we do compete."The second step to a successful wrestling program: building experience and the wrestlers having the grit to stick to the sport.Rice has been impressed so far with how hard working his group is, and the improvement that he has seen since the girls first stepped on to the mat."It's been impressive, participation numbers have increased," Rice said. "Skill development has progressed quickly, and the confidence that our girls have shown continues to increase each week and with each practice."Whether a program is new and starting out or has been around for a year or two, one thing is certain: the support within the communities know no boundaries. The wrestling communities surrounding Sycamore have been no exception to this."There is a huge support in the local area among girls wrestling programs," Rice said. "There is a huge support among the coaches as well to get the sport the proper recognition and to help it grow."For Bellevue, it isn't the first time it's had female wrestlers, but it's the first time that a group of girls and a group of coaches have been serious about getting it off the ground."We told them if this was something they were serious about, it had to be a priority," Bellevue athletic director Cody Cramer said. "During the offseason, we had girls that wanted to get this off the ground, and we made sure that they knew it was up to them to take advantage of this opportunity."The Lady Red has five wrestlers this season: seniors Lillian Begley and Jersey Mayes, juniors Eleanor Blumensaadt and Jessalyn Ungerer and freshman Gwenyth Williams."We wanted to give them the opportunity to wrestle as a team, not as individuals," Cramer said. "We wanted them to have the chance to go wrestle in the girls OHSAA tournament."At the helm of the girls wrestling program is Dan Zenowich who helps coach the boys team and has for the last 11 years."Transitioning over to coaching girls has been different," Zenowich said. "The energy is different. I noticed that my girls support each other more than the boys ever did, but for me, it's just another tournament."One of the first tests for the newly minted program: The Clyde Lady Flier Invitational that was held on Dec. 14.Mayes took third in the 110-pound weight class. Bellevue's team placed 24th out of 38 teams with 23 points. It initially brought four to the invitational.Mayes was the lone placer at that meet, but wrestling isn't new to her as she was an OAC champion before joining in high school wrestling. She brings experience to the team, which is something that was needed as the other girls navigated to learn and understand the sport.She was also involved in the inaugural girls soccer team this past fall, so being part of two inaugural programs as a senior is something that she will take with her, and represents the intent, integrity, and purpose that Bellevue stands for. "I wanted to get this program up and running," said Mayes of the girls wrestling program. "I want it to be a big thing in Bellevue. For soccer, I was the captain, so the role was already there for me, and I knew I had to be there for practice, for tournaments, to push them and help them be the best and be accountable for themselves."While the Lady Red have been to other invitationals since, Mayes made program history by coming in runner-up in the 105-pound class, just behind Avery Gaskalla from Clyde at the Vantage Fremont Lady Giants Invitational that was held on Jan. 17 at Fremont Ross. The Lady Red placed 23rd out of 30 teams with 32 points. "I have seen the improvement in my team throughout the season," said Zenowich at the invitational. "Our girls soccer team and now our Lady Red wrestlers have worked very hard to get to this point," Cramer said. "We couldn't be more proud of their commitment. I give our coaches a lot of credit for all their effort and time that they have put into both girls soccer and wrestling because they are having to do things for the very first time as a team."Athletic programs though wouldn't be successful without one key component: community support. "Our parents have been great to work with throughout this exciting transition," Cramer said. "You can see how much it means to them that their daughters have this opportunity and have success while doing it."