LIBERTY –  More than 10 schools were represented at the varsity wrestling tournament on Tuesday night in Liberty. Schools from Dutchess, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster counties were in attendance. The host school, Liberty competed two athletes, Monticello, three and Fallsburg competed one athlete.

In recent years high school girls wrestling has been on the rise and is said to be the fastest growing high school sport in the country. 

In fact, Minisink Valley formed the first varsity wrestling team along with six other schools in Section IX. They [Minisink] were very well represented, and along with Port Jervis were two of the largest squads in attendance with almost 50 wrestlers between the two squads. 

Isabella Wagner of Liberty won her match over her opponent, Valley Central 8-0 and finished 1-1 at this tournament. Wagner said this is her first year competing. Cheyenne Graham, a fellow Liberty Redhawk, showed grit and fierceness in her match against Chester losing in a very close matchup. 

Coach Brian Vaughn of Liberty was pleased that his school was able to host this tournament. He said of his team, “The girls are making good progress in this first season of girls freestyle wrestling. There’s definitely a lot to still learn and adjustments that need to be made, but I think a lot of teams are in that boat too. It was great getting to host all of the girls teams and getting everyone some matches. With a few weeks left of the season, Isabella and Cheyenne are looking to improve their records (8-13, 5-2 respectively) and get themselves on the podium at Sections. 

Gianna Baron of Monticello won both of her matches taking control and setting the pace early on. She told the Democrat  “wrestling is a lot of fun.” She hopes to see more girls participate  in such a male driven sport.  Alexis Boone of Monticello brought home a commanding 14-2 victory over Sara Melendez of Minisink Valley and  along with Baron, went 2-0 that evening. Adrianna Maldonado was 1-1 to finish up the night. Patrick Owens, head coach for the Monticello team, said of his athletes “The ladies are doing great. The last few weeks they have really ramped up their understanding of the sport.”

Many of the athletes that competed on Tuesday are looking forward to upcoming post season qualifiers. The state championship is scheduled to take place February 28-March 1 but qualifiers are set to begin in just a few weeks on Valentine’s Day.