PREP GIRLS WRESTLING: Area state qualifiers help as coaches find girls wrestling to be 'spreading like wildfire'

Jan. 11—Ahead of the girls wrestling state competition in Kokomo Friday, hosted by Indiana High School Girls Wrestling (IHSGW), the Goshen News area will be well-represented with four athletes hoping to come back with a championship.

Among the field are Goshen senior Maria Rescalvo and three sophomores in Naima Ghaffar from NorthWood and Kenidi Nine and Alex Garcia from Wawasee. Both Ghaffar and Garcia are returning, with Ghaffar placing sixth and Garcia finishing eighth in their respective weight classes at the state competition in their first seasons.

With four representatives from the area, it's just a small look at where the sport has climbed, and continues to do so, as what the IHSAA calls an "emerging sport," continues to seek full sanction status and become the 23rd sport to claim such label.

For what it may look like when the IHSAA officially includes the sport full-time, Wawasee gives a good visualization at what needs to be put in to get the desired results.

TIME, EFFORT AND ENERGY GIVING WARRIORS A SENSE OF PRIDE

Wawasee's wrestling coaching staff this year is on the young side in terms of years at the helm.

Boys head coach Jamie Salazar is in his first year as the lead coach, and the leader of the girls group is Miguel Rodriguez, in his second year coaching the girls. Both have a long history with the Warriors wrestling program though, and it shows by the communication and desire to keep Wawasee wrestling as a desired spot for grapplers in the surrounding area.

Part of that, is getting ahead of the booming wave of interest in the girl's program.

"It's the largest growing sport in the nation right now," Salazar said. "It's definitely something we're priding ourselves on building, and I've worked closely with Miguel. Obviously last summer we talked about the needs and the wants and what the vision was for the program."

Rodriguez joined Salazar Tuesday to talk about the emergence of the sport itself and the girls program, which saw its numbers double from last year into this season. Experienced wrestlers and first-timers, of which Salazar referenced was around a "40-60" split ratio, make up the team.

All, it seems, have completely bought in and are encouraging others to do so.

"The girls, a lot of them are scared to try it, but once the girls start talking about it, it's spreading like wildfire for us," Rodriguez said about the group taking a sense of pride with the sport.

Girls wrestling in Indiana continues to see an uptick in involvement. After the number of wrestlers in 2021 doubled going into the 2022 season, 2023 has seen those numbers continue to climb with over 1,000 wrestlers taking part at this years sectionals.

To become an officially sanctioned sport, which comes with its own IHSAA sponsored tournament, at least half of all IHSAA sanctioned schools need to field a team. With the explosion of the sport continuing, it's only a matter of time before the association makes the call.

MARKETING MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Another area in which the Warriors are leading the way is with how Salazar and Rodriguez have sold the team to athletes and fans.

The two did research on singlets most comfortable for girls, then worked through Adidas to get the girls team its own line of warmups and singlets for competitions. Of course, with it not being an official school sport, out-of-pocket costs cover a large portion of it. Fundraising certainly helps.

"I got them their own look," Salazar said. "They have girls wrestling warmups, girls wrestling singlets and every time they walk in the building, all eyes are on them. It's important. If you're going to build a program, you have to build an image and you have to catch that eye. It's all about marketing and that's kind of my forte."

"When we go to compete at other places, all the other girl wrestlers are coming up like 'Oh, I love your warmups', 'I love your singlets,'" Rodriguez said.

The look was on full display when Wawasee claimed the program's first dual match win at John Glenn on Dec. 20. Rodriguez helped field the roster and beat the Falcons with the use of eight pins and five forfeits. The emotions before and afterwards were in contrast of each other.

"They went in there like 'Oh my gosh, they have more girls than us.' They were timid," Rodriguez said. "But I told them, 'You guys have practiced hard; you've worked hard for this. Just go over there and take care of business.' It was very exciting. They are excited about next year and to do it again."

Adding that the ultimate goal is to eventually compete with the Penns and the Hobarts of the sport, two schools which have strong and experienced programs, Wawasee is among the areas schools who'll be ready when the sport becomes fully sponsored.

NORTHWOOD, GOSHEN ALSO FEEDING SUCCESS OF THE SPORT

With much smaller groups at NorthWood and Goshen, both fellow NLC schools are finding success in their own sense, still building the bricks of a program soon to take shape.

"It's in pockets," Goshen head coach Jim Pickard said. "Hopefully we can get kids on because next year it's going to be a full-sanctioned sport and we just need to get more girls out on it."

The RedHawks have just four girls wrestling this year, three of whom are related. Three made it to the semi-state round before Rescalvo became Goshen's first-ever girls state qualifier this past week.

"It's my last year and it made me happy to make it," Rescalvo said, who wrestles in the 105-lbs weight class and often competes against the boys in practice and meets in which Pickard said she "does better against the boys than the girls."

"I think it helped me talk to people more and just be more comfortable with my body and the way that I see myself," she added. "[It also makes me] feel stronger. When I win against the boys its makes me feel stronger."

The lone senior in the area's state qualifiers, Rescalvo gives credit to her relatives also part of the Goshen team. Not planning to join any sports at Goshen, she was encouraged to pick up wrestling and has reaped the rewards of choosing to do so.

Ghaffar is helped coached by her father Faruq and has seen tremendous upside even after her vastly successful freshman year.

"We've had other girls wrestle, and they've kind of been in and out of the room since the last 10 years, but she's been a little different breed," NorthWood head coach Dennis Lewis said. "She's come in and been the real deal. She wants to be a wrestler. This is her thing."

The sophomore says she's been wrestling since fourth grade.

"I just wanted something to do and my brothers already did it, so I asked my parents if they'd let me," Ghaffar said, who wrestles in the 120-lbs weight class. "At first they wouldn't let me but they saw more girls so they let me."

Ever since, she's taken the next step and has Lewis calling her the "frontrunner" for Friday's state bouts.

"I feel like for me personally, wrestling guys helped me with wrestling girls because guys are more competition most times and stronger," Ghaffar said, who also has wrestled in several girl tournaments this year.

Lewis also sees the sport taking shape across the state, but is hoping to see that final domino fall for the IHSAA to officially recognize it as a fully sanctioned sport.

There will be changes when it does. The sport is clearly on the rise, and the next boom of involvement is sure to come.

To follow Rescalvo, Ghaffar, Nine and Garcia, a livestream is setup on FloWrestling.org but requires purchase to watch. Free updates can be found on Trackwrestling.org. Click on 'Events' in the lower header and then on the 'Search Events' button. There, search "IHSGW State Finals" to find updates during Friday's event.

Reach Matt Lucas at 574-533-2151, ext. 240325, or at matt.lucas@goshennews.com.