Last week, Pennsylvania dominated girls wrestling competitions across the country. We met with National Champions from our area as girls wrestling continues to grow in Pennsylvania. Last week, girls at the Junior level competed across multiple age groups in National Duals and with six girls trophies up for grabs, Pennsylvania took home five of them.
Jordyn Fouse, a Bishop McCort Wrestler saying: “We put our foot in the door and I think people are scared of us now.”
Last week, USA Wrestling hosted its National Duals – where each state competes to be Champions in their age group. The Junior and 14U Duals were in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the 16U Duals just outside of Indianapolis.
Jordyn Fouse made the All-Tournament Team at the Junior level and she says the group of girls that went have bonded closely – as they’ve all been apart of the push to make girls wrestling an official PIAA sport. Fouse saying: “To get to come together and win a National Championship altogether as a sanctioned state. It just felt a little different.”
On the 16U Team that won both Greco-Roman and Freestyle National Titles – Violette Lasure says last week is another mark in Pennsylvania’s continued dominance of wrestling. Violette Lasure of Chestnut Ridge saying: “It shows that we’re where we need to be in Pennsylvania and that we have some of the best wrestling in Pennsylvania.”
Lasure’s sister Juliet Alt says winning gold last week was a unique experience as she had the opportunity to compete closely with her sister. Juliet Alt of Chestnut Ridge adding: “She’s two weight classes below me, so she would wrestle and then another girl would wrestle and then I would. So I would still have adrenaline pumping from her match. So it was fun to wrestle with her on the same team and be able to bring home the gold from both sides of Greco and Freestyle.”
Even at the 14U level, Pennsylvania’s performance at higher levels leaves an impact on the younger wrestlers – who also won Greco and Freestyle titles. McKenzie Astorino, another Chestnut Ridge Wrestler saying: “It feels good to wrestle on the best team in the country and all the team support made me wanna wrestle better.”