In the last few years, the Monroe-Woodbury wrestling team experienced an evolution when it included the first girl ever to the make its varsity lineup and now it’s taken the next step to include a girls varsity team.
The head varsity coach Mr. Gartiser said “Girls should have equal opportunity to compete against other girls in the sport of wrestling if they want to. It was time to start pushing for that opportunity for girls. It is currently the fastest growing varsity sport in the USA.”
There are many questions when people find out about girls wrestling, like if they wrestle boys.
“The future of girls wrestling is girls competing against other girls so that is the approach we are taking,” said Coach Gartiser. “In doing so, it makes a lot of the girls looking to come out for the team feel a lot more comfortable knowing they will be practicing with other girls.”
There has been much success within girls wrestling already within Monroe-Woodbury. Gigi Sullivan, an 8th grader and currently on the boys varsity starting lineup, has had a lot of success. She was the first ever girl to become the boys youth state champion in New York State history and won twice. She is a multiple time girls national champion, and is a 2023 Pan American Gold Medalist. She also won the 2023 girls’ states in her division. Gigi is currently the #1 ranked wrestler at 101 lbs. in Section 9 amongst boys and is the 8th ranked girl in the United States at 100lbs. As of the writing this article, Sullivan is currently ranked 14th in the state amongst boys.
Her dad Kelly Sullivan said “Gigi has paved the way for many girls wrestlers at Monroe-Woodbury, in the upcoming season she is looking to become the first girl in New York State history Division 1 wrestling to qualify for the boys state tournament.”
Mr. Sullivan said that he never doubted his daughter’s skill.
“I was filled with excitement and was never nervous,” said Mr. Sullivan. “I was excited for her to wrestle with her brothers and friends, I always believed in her.”
Gigi said her success is due to the support of her dad and others.
“I became successful with the help of family and friends and inspiring coaches,” said Sullivan.
Sophomore Jada Lee, the first girl in Monroe-Woodbury to become a girls section champion last year, said “I believe all girls should try wrestling to prove everyone wrong.”
In addition to Sullivan and Lee, the girls team includes Avah Jean Baptiste, Kendall Almonte, Kaitlyn Aybar, Kim Carino Lopez, Kyla Piper, and Asanya Barham.
There are also some girls who are trying wrestling for the first time. Kaitlyn Aybar, a sophomore, explained why she decided to try: “I did wrestling because of my research and being told how wrestling has a different way of training than any other sport along with inspiration also caused me to wrestle.”
Continued participation and success in the sport of wrestling is important because it can inspire more girls in the future.
“The more options for kids to do and keep them busy is a positive thing in my mind,” said Coach Gartiser. “It also helps kids with opportunities getting into college and competing in college.”
