Anne Arundel County girls wrestling is growing fast

Lexi Vosburg had a plan to grow girls wrestling at Chesapeake.

She posted fliers around the school and invited girls to an offseason workout.

Three showed up.But then, they began to talk.I think they saw more people were doing it, Vosburg said.

They didnt want to be the only ones.Thirty-two girls competed at last years Anne Arundel County girls wrestling tournament.

This year, it more than doubled to 82.

Its the nations fastest growing girls high school sport 28.5% last year according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Fourteen of 16 Anne Arundel public schools feature at least one girls wrestler this season.

Four teams Arundel, Crofton, Chesapeake and Meade had double digits.

Chesapeake, Meade and Northeast hired girls team coaches.Joe Chaves watched his daughter Jada make history as Arundels first female state champion in 2022, and win again in 2024.

Of course he took on Arundels first girls program, while his wife, Desiree, coaches Northeast.Theyre like sponges.

They listen.

Theyre insightful, he said.

Theres not a lot of goofing around because when they come to practice, theyre focused.

After practice, theyre asking technical questions.

Its awesome.

Its actually a big change from coaching some of the boys.The more experienced girls at different schools all saw their numbers blow up for exactly the same reason.

Once other girls could see someone like them experience success, they felt comfortable to try.

Chesapeake junior Emily Strevig joined because a friend asked.

She wanted to throw people, which wasnt allowed in her old sport, basketball.Four years ago, Lexy Pabon was Crofton wrestlings only girl.

Now, the two-time state champion is happy to leave a legacy behind.Its as amazing as it is comforting to know theres still girls wholl try out for a sport and have success at the level of the boys, she said.Pabon wrestles boys during the regular season and girls in the postseason.

But her choice to wrestle coed is quickly getting rare in the county.Meade senior Viviana Abalama went undefeated (22-0) up until the girls county championship final on Feb.

22, when she was unexpectedly pinned.Wrestling only boys sometimes can get your confidence low because they can be stronger than you, she said.

But wrestling girls, Im stronger, or were at a similar strength.Croftons Nora Kelly reacts after beating Chesapeakes Amber Walker in the girls 130-pound final during the Anne Arundel County wrestling championships at Chesapeake High School on Saturday.

(John Gillis/Freelance)Finding equityGirls have trickled into the sport for years now, but since the numbers began to swell over the last few seasons, Anne Arundel held its first girls county championship in 2024 but not without hiccups.Vosburg said she shared her frustration with other girls that their finals occurred side-by-side with the boys third-place matches.

Then, the boys final was staged in the center under a spotlight.

There was no team title for the girls then, either.We felt like we were off to the side, Vosburg said.

We feel like were receiving more equal treatment this year.

We have our own gear, too.Vosburg, a lacrosse faceoff specialist in the spring, designed her teams warmup shirts off the kind shed find in lacrosse: Carolina blue, with We may be the first, but we are not the last scrawled in hot pink on the back.We know itll keep growing, she said.This years county championship girls finals were held simultaneously with the coed finals at Chesapeake.

Half of the girls who took the top step on the podium were rookies, even defeating seasoned champions for gold.Dayanara Rico has wrestled for Arundel for two years.

She was one of the teams main recruiters.Eleven of 15 Wildcats competed in this years girls county championship.

Two first-year wrestlers, Olivia Cambio and Laylah Jefferson, were crowned champions.

The screams that accompanied them easily drowned out the boys side.It feels so tight-knit, Rico said.

They create such a positive atmosphere.

I think thats been my favorite part.Arundels Isabella Coe defeats Croftons Autumn Read in the 135 pound girls match.

The Arundel Wildcats defeated the visiting Crofton Cardinals in high school wrestling.

(Paul W.

Gillespie/Staff)Arundel, which claimed the county title, has quickly become a force.On Jan.

11, the Wildcats finished fourth of 58 schools at the Whos No.

1? tournament.

Two weeks later, they competed in their first all-girls dual tournament and routed Harford Tech.

However, on Feb.

7, Chesapeake beat Arundel the first girls-only dual in county history.

As soon as Meade weighed in, they returned to watch Arundel and Chesapeake, each with a hot dog in hand.

It doesnt count after weigh-in, freshman Navaeh Diaz (135) joked.She grew up boxing but her entire paternal line wrestled.

Diaz never thought shed win a match.

She pinned her first opponent.

Now, after all shes done, she cant be surprised.The drills that we do is like nothing Ive ever done before, she said.

Theyre more hardcore.

Youll leave sweating, tired and sore.Most girls coaches reported that few girls quit after learning how difficult the workouts were.

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17-23)High School Sports | Finishing strong: Dantzler and Smith basketball families savor each momentThe risksDiaz loved fast food and sugar, but realized pretty quickly how much it was slowing her down on the mat.

She cut it out.Cutting weight is hard sometimes.

Youre used to eating all this food, she said.

But its not hard.

We try to wrestle our walking weight.The female weight classes have similar gaps to the coed in the lower weights an average of 5 pounds versus 6.5.

In the upper weights, coed needs to fluctuate 10 to 60 pounds to shift a weight class.

The girls largest jump is between 190 and 235.Male wrestlers, even new ones, have better odds of learning how to cut weight properly from the veterans in the room.

Most girls now are newcomers, surrounded by other newcomers.Women already deal with enough body dysmorphia, said McDaniel womens wrestling coach John Lowe, who started Winters Mills girls program in 2019.The Eating Disorder Center reported, as of 2025, 6 to 8% of American teenagers deal with an eating disorder, but girls are twice as likely to develop one as boys.

Its not hard to understand why weight and appearance has been a burden women have been socialized to care about for ages.Dangerous, quick weight-cutting methods have always been a darker side of wrestling.

As a wrestler, Lowe was addicted to cutting weight, to the point it cost him entry to his final tournament of his career.

Hes stood staunchly against the practice ever since.

Shortcuts, he said, come back to bite you.Without enough calories in their bodies, wrestlers are more prone to injury and failure, Lowe said.There will be weight classes that are easier every year, and you want to find that one, thats fine.

But you can do it at your own peril, Lowe said.

If you dont have the energy you used to or brain fog because you dont have enough food in you, it can be a harsh wake-up call to do things the right way.Meade girls coach Shane McCalister is already following that code for his program.

Safety is key, he said.

The Mustangs welcomed 17 girls to tryouts and lost one to injury.If you wrestle 130 and you weigh 130.5, youre not going to be able to wrestle, Lowe added.

But the message I want to send is thats just a consequence issue.

Its not your value as a person.Its important that coaches implement safe practices now, he stated especially as the college path begins to open up.Meades Simone Littleford, left, and Severna Parks Alexandra Adams clash in the girls 145-pound final at the Anne Arundel County wrestling championships.

(John Gillis/Freelance)Path to the futureOn Jan.

17, the NCAA approved womens wrestling as its 91st championship sport, with its first tournament to be held in 2026.Whats exciting now is girls today can look a few years into the future, Chaves said, and visualize themselves wrestling at the next level.Several Arundel seniors are in conversations with college coaches at different levels, and it anchors them to what theyre working on during their season.

Abalama committed to Marymount, while her teammate, 110-pound county champion Alanis Sophia Molino, is bound for McDaniel.

Both are Division III programs.There are about 150 college womens wrestling programs in America, across NCAA, NAIA and NCJAA.

Only four are Division I.What you want to look for is a place that fits you, Lowe advises, thats going to be able to throw financial aid at you.To McCalister, the solution is obvious.

Colleges need refocus funds to expand to keep up with the growing numbers.Anybody who doesnt make a program now is behind the eight ball, the Meade coach said.Have a sports tip? Email [email protected] or DM @capgazsports on Instagram..

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