By ROB WOLF
QO Wrestling Coach
Do you know what the fastest growing high school sport in the US is right now? That would be girls wrestling, and we have firsthand proof of that right here at QO.
Throughout the years at QO, every now and then we’d have one or two girls on our team. Girls have always practiced and competed against the boys. Just four years ago, Maryland sanctioned its first girls-only state tournament. We happened to have two girls on our team that year and one of them, Rebecca Soto, made it to the state finals.
When we didn’t have a 2020-21 season due to the global pandemic, I was concerned that the progress being made in girls wrestling would take a downturn. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We had a record number of girls come out for our team this season. We started with six and ended with four. Those four, however, had a great level of success this past season at the county, region, and state level.
Freshman Aubry Spadoni has been wrestling for the past 10 years, so she brings some experience along with her. She competed in the varsity lineup in several of our tournaments and dual matches and proved she could hang with most of the boys. When facing only girls, that was a different story. She won her weight class at the DCSSA Girls Tournament in Washington, DC in January by pinning all her opponents. She also pinned her way to championships at the Montgomery County 4A/3A West Region and the Maryland State girls’ tournaments as well. She is our first girl state champion and first state champion in the last 15 years. Her brother Harrison, a junior and one of our team captains, is a 3-time state place (4th , 4th, and 3rd ) and is on his way to becoming the winningest wrestler in Cougar history.
Our three other female wrestlers all just finished their first year in the sport, but it would be very hard to tell that if you weren’t told. Junior Maria Gonzalez won her weight class at Whitman’s Viking Quest Girls’ Tournament back in December. She went undefeated at the Montgomery County Girls’ tournament and took first place honors. She was a finalist in the 4A/3A region, capturing 2nd place. She won one of her three matches at the state tournament, losing to the eventual champion. Even though she was competing against wrestlers with much more experience, she displayed a high level of toughness, competitiveness, and natural wrestling abilities that are rare to be seen from first-year wrestlers.
Sophomore Esther Hernandez also took the first-place medal at the Whitman Viking Quest Girls’ Tournament. Esther made it to the finals of both the Montgomery County and 4A/3A tournaments and finished 2nd in both to Northwest’s Esther Clark, who was a state placer in 2023.
Sophomore Amirah Abegesah captured first place honors at the DCSSA and Whitman Viking Quest Girls’ tournaments and made it to the finals at both Counties and Regions. At the Montgomery County tournament she faced Alexandria Ray, a wrestler from Blake, who had just moved to Maryland from Oklahoma and was ranked 29 in the country. Amirah won that match 4-0 and then lost in the finals to Nebi Tsarni from Watkins Mill, who is ranked #1 in the country. The following week at the 4A/3A West Region tournament, Tsarni dropped down a weight class, opening the door for Amirah to a chance at first place. After winning her first two matches, Amirah faced Ray again in the championship final match and was even more dominant, earning an 8-2 decision and a Region championship. At the Maryland State tournament, Amirah went 3-2 and stood on the medal stand as the 5th place winner.
This year, there are now 45 states that have sanctioned girls wrestling. At the collegiate level, there are now over 60 programs with women’s wrestling. It has recently been designated as an emerging sport and is on its way to becoming a championship-level sport in the next two years. On the international level, USA’s women’s teams have been amongst the most successful in the world over the past decade. At the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, Helen Maroulis, who wrestled in high school for nearby Magruder, became the first American woman to win a gold medal. Although Maroulis earned a bronze in Seoul, Korea in the 2020 Olympics, she and her six teammates tallied one gold medal along with a silver and two bronzes.
If you are a girl, or know of one, who wants to be challenged physically and mentally and to be part of a great group of teammates, joining our team and becoming a Cougar wrestler may just what they are looking for. Contact me at robert_c_wolf@mcpsmd.org and I can let you know what opportunities are available to get started.
The Prowler 