OHSWCA to sponsor girls wrestling tournament
Tournament a step toward being a sport
By Brian Dzenis
The Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association is making the first push toward making girls wrestling a big-time sport in Ohio.
The OHSWCA is sponsoring a girls state wrestling tournament on Feb. 22-23 at Hilliard Davidson High School in Columbus with the support of the OHSAA. The tournament is a step toward girls wrestling becoming an “emerging sport” within the OHSAA and eventually, an OHSAA-sanctioned sport.
According to OHSWCA president Dean Conley, there are about 10,000 female high school wrestlers in the U.S. Fourteen states sponsor girls wrestling and Michigan hosted its first girls state tournament in February.
“Ohio is behind and we’re proud of Ohio. We feel like it’s a leader in wrestling and other sports,” said Conley, who is the former head coach of Canfield’s wrestling team. “We want to bring girls wrestling to the forefront and be a leader there in three to five years.”
Around 240 girls wrestled for boys teams this past season in the state, Conley said. Some have dotted Mahoning Valley rosters over the years, such as Sarah Guerrier at Austintown Fitch (2007-2011), Hubbard’s Shirley Flynn (2011-2015) and Columbiana’s Nicole McMaster (2014-2018).
This past year at the state tournament, Miami East’s Olivia Shore was the first female wrestler to win a championship bracket bout in the tournament.
Conley said the criteria for the OHSAA to add a sport varies. He had no time table for how long it will take for girls wrestling to become as sanctioned sport, but the OHSWCA is committed to seeing the project through.
“We’re going to work at this as long as it takes to make it work. [It doesn’t matter] if it’s two years, five years or 10 years. We made a commitment as an organization as did the groups that collaborated with us,” Conley said. “We’re committed to making this work no matter what it takes. To be honest, this is a huge undertaking and it could be a huge financial loss for our organization.
“Everyone is willing to step up because they see the benefits of it and they see the other states crushing it.”