A few years back, three men gathered at 551 West in downtown Lancaster for a meal.
There was more to it than just filling their stomachs.
The meeting was the beginning of a grassroots effort that soon became known as Sanction PA. That group — McCaskey athletic director Jon Mitchell; Kevin Franklin, his current coach; and Penn Manor athletic director Pat Tocci — essentially brought on the birth of girls wrestling, not only here in Lancaster County but throughout Pennsylvania.
The idea of girls wrestling was not novel. Other states had teams and, at the time and in the past, wrestled on boys teams throughout the state. What was novel, at least for Pennsylvania, was that Mitchell decided to start a girls-only team at McCaskey. It got school board approval and he brought Franklin in to coach. That was in 2020 and it was the first program in the state to begin the movement.
From that humble beginning to what is now over 100 teams and more than 1,000 girls competing on the mats, as of Saturday, when the PIAA took over jurisdiction, girls have the same opportunity as the boys to compete for a PIAA medal.
“You don’t get to 100 without the first one, and that was the thinking,” Mitchell said. “When we approved, someone needed to step off the curve, and we have a long tradition of supporting girls wrestling at McCaskey, so we said, ‘let’s do this.’ It was kind of a leap of faith when Sanction Pa started, but to see it in three years is exciting. When the wrestling community gets behind something and works hard, this is what happens.”
PIAA acceptance
Dr. Robert Lombardi confirmed to LNP that the girls championships will be held in Hershey on the same weekend as the boys. That was something that Brook Zumas, who chaired Sanction Pa along with Mitchell, and all 100-plus teams were fighting and hoping for.
Lombardi is excited about the addition of the sport and wants to make sure similar to the last one added by the PIAA in 2012, competitive high school spirit, it is done right.
“It will be one class to start, and we are going to do this right so it stands the test of time,” Lombardi said. “With spirit, we started with one class and we evolved into two. I don’t see this being different because if you do it that way, people see success.
“If we do this wrong and listen to some people who have some crazy ideas, it will die under its weight. That is not what we want to happen. We want girls wrestling in the schools and not in clubs.”
As for what it will look like, that is still on the drawing board.
“We are just getting to the point where we want to figure out how many qualifiers, how many schools have weight classes covered, and how many kids they have ... so we have a lot of work to do,” Lombardi said. “Nothing is concrete and everything is to be determined. ... There are a whole lot of things that are going to take time.”
But Lombardi again stressed to LNP that the 2024 state wrestling championships will all take place on the same weekend.
“One thing we are 100% sure of is that it is going to be part of the wrestling championships as dated today,” Lombardi said. “We are not going to something where we are putting the girls on Monday or Tuesday or some of those cockamamie ideas of the following week. No, it is going to be incorporated into our championship postseason.”
State Sen. Scott Martin (R-Martic Township), a state champion wrestler at Lancaster Catholic who also wrestled at Millersville, along with Rep. Ann Flood (R-Northampton), were strong advocates for the equal treatment of the sport and pushed the PIAA hard to make sure the sport got approval.
“First and foremost, this was the one big missing piece of the puzzle in Pennsylvania,” Martin said. “The one big thing we didn’t have was sanctioned girls wrestling with all the other states that had done it. But for me, to see the opportunity for girls, especially having been someone that got to experience it, having that opportunity to walk on that arena floor, and all the opportunities it presents for them to advance in academic careers and college, it is something hard to put in words.
“I’ve already booked those days off my calendar. That is going to be a special week.”
Flood, who also participated in the sport, is a wrestling mom and has been passionate about wrestling.
“The decision is an amazing thing and is something I have wanted since a little girl,” Flood said. “When I wrestled in the youth program in the late 70s early 80s, my father was not keen on me wrestling boys. So I had to resign to being my brothers’ wrestling dummy or the high school manager. This sport has so much to offer girls, as well as boys: perseverance, discipline, hard work, and grit. It is something that it’s about time it happened and I will be at the Giant Center next year to watch.”
The Lancaster-Lebanon League
Currently, 13 schools sponsor girls wrestling programs in the L-L, and the sport is expected to be added to the realignment schedule in the fall.
Manheim Township athletic director Tim Hollenback is excited about the future. Last year, one of its athletes, Isabella Baccio, placed seventh in the unofficial state tournament.
“This means the world to our girls and obviously to us as a school,” Hollenback said. “They have worked their tails off, as hard as the boys the past couple of years. Just being at states this year and seeing the excitement for the sport, I’m fired up for wrestling fans in general. A lot of people haven’t got to see the sport of wrestling, and they are in for a treat.”
Lampeter-Strasburg had been talking about creating a team for a long time, considering there were girls on the boys team and also because Franklin, the McCaskey coach, is a teacher and longtime promoter of the sport.
“I certainly think having a female athletic director to push can help that cause, and I was gung-ho from the beginning,” L-S athletic director Branden Lippy said. “Honestly, we approved it thinking we would have some time to get it started, and then as soon as some schools started it, it ballooned. All of a sudden, I had to say to my superintendent that we are way ahead of schedule, can I get a head coach? It’s not going to be perfect, but we are going to give the girls an opportunity to compete.”
Lancaster Catholic was the last school in the L-L as of July 1 to recognize a girls program.
“This is an opportunity for us to have another sport for the ladies to participate in and we are ready to get started and put the process together,” athletic director Rich Hinnenkamp said. “We do have coaches in place. They will practice on their own and be their own team. So we think we are ready to go.
“Scheduling will be a whole different animal. The way the bylaws are written, it would be hard to have a league championship now, but I think we are good for the following year.”
Tocci, who wrestled in the state meet and had two of his boys excel in Hershey, says having Lancaster County be at the forefront of the movement is exceptional.
“I think it means a lot to all of us who have been involved in this,” Tocci said. “A lot of people thought we were crazy when we first came up with this concept. So many states were from the top down, but we started this from the bottom and built this from the bottom up. We followed the road map the PIAA was giving instead of fighting.
“Now our programs are stronger, our numbers are up, and with being able to wrestle for a PIAA medal, I think it is going to explode.”
As for McCaskey, there is one athlete who is beyond excited about the historic decision, Journey Rodriquez. In the last non-sanctioned event held this spring, she brought home gold.
“I am so excited because this is a big door opening for ladies, especially the younger generation coming up,” Rodriquez said. “I wrestled with the guys too and competed with them. It’s exciting that I am now going to be able to wrestle in the Giant Center.”
