To wrestle is to be stronger than your strongest excuse, our girls wrestling team has excelled in that mindset. From early morning training, to going onto the mat against our high school rivals–they have exceeded in the art of wrestling. 

Wrestling is a sport of grappling with an opponent and trying to throw or hold them down on the ground, while following a code of rules. For those who are unaware of the way matches and tournaments work, every tournament is put into a bracket for the opponents to verse one another. 

Dallin Denton, the head coach of girls wrestling, explains the bracket and how Fremont places. “Everytime a girl wins a match the team gets a certain amount of points for that win. It depends on the full amount of the tournament.” This means that even though a girl could win between first, second, third, etc. The points they win in that match will determine Fremont’s placement as well. 

Denton has been coaching wrestling for eight years, this year will be his first year being head coach of the team. He believes that the most important life skill you learn being a wrestler is learning how to overcome diversity. 

Denton explains his perspective, “Unlike a lot of other sports where you have multiple teammates competing with you at the exact same time, wrestling is just you and your opponent.” Meaning you have to figure out the wins for yourself versus relying on someone else to take the win or loss. He also says that, “Determination, resilience and being able to bounce back from a loss and notice that the loss doesn’t define you.” Is something the Head coach looks for in wrestlers. These characteristics really identify the definition of a, “Good Wrestler.” 

This year, there are a total of eighteen girls. A majority of the team happens  to be seniors with a few juniors and sophomores. Together, they grow as a team and as individuals  throughout the 4 month span of the season, and beyond. 

Evie Hancock, a Senior, expresses her love for wrestling, “I love it all, I love wrestling and obviously I love to win; although I also enjoy losing. It gives me a better mindset.” 

Hancock  believes the most important role to wrestling and wanting to be on the team would be having good sportsmanship; she states,“You have to shake the hands before you wrestle your opponent, and after. Then you will shake hands with the other team’s coaches.” This is a good example of sportsmanship shown on the team. It’s okay to acknowledge the success of the opponent.

Often, wrestlers will have a routine the day of the match to boost their energy, or the way they wrestle. 

Miley Kranendonk, a Senior, expresses that she loves the adrenaline rush before the match. An adrenaline rush is normal for anyone to experience before any type of competition. Miley deals with it well considering she has been wrestling since her Sophomore year. 

Evie Hancock, on the other hand, plans the whole day of what she is going to eat, what music she will listen to, and what motivation will inspire her for her match. 

Some of these small actions could be considered a “Good Luck Charm” or a routine created to establish a competitive  mindset. 

Lailah Davis, a Senior reflects, “I think that my mom’s words of encouragement and warming up with her before a match are definitely my good luck charms.” Having a good support system is what makes these matches worthwhile. 

This season, the team has done admirably  in their tournaments, in the Mountain Crest Tournament, they took 9th place out of 22 teams. In the Christmas Clash they took 18th out of 68 teams and at the Silver Wolf Invitational, they took 4th out of 17 teams. 

Overall, the team has done an outstanding job for the season. The season ended on February 15th. Open mats for anyone interested in girl’s wrestling will be held about two to three times a month after the season’s end. 

If you are interested in joining this courageous team, make sure to follow them on their instagram to stay on top of their matches and open mats. Their instagram is @fhsgirls_wrestling. Go Silverwolves!