As girls’ wrestling grows across the county and the nation, Jericho High School has expanded its program and made strides in the sport.
Juniors Jimin Hur and Mo Chen both qualified for the first state championships after competing in the county championship on Feb. 2.
“We’re seeing the growth,” said John Mankowich, the Nassau County boys’ wrestling coordinator and Jericho curriculum associate for health, physical education and athletics. Mankowich has with the Jericho district for the last 15 years, he said.
Jericho brought four athletes to the girls’ county championships, and juniors Hur and Chen were both finalists. Hur competed at 131 pounds and Chen competed at 114, Mankowich said.
The students did not win in the finals, but both of them will be competing at the state championships. Chen automatically qualified for states, and Hur, initially an alternate for states, was selected for the championships.
Mankowich said this is the first season that the girls’ success has been showcased because prior to competing in the girls’ championships, they would wrestle against the boys at the county championships. Having their own competition allows the girls to showcase their skill set, he said.
As the sport continues to grow at the county, state and national level, Mankowich said the Jericho athletic department has begun promoting the sport to its female athletes.
Mankowich said the boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams are combined but kept “as separate as possible” to provide personalized workouts to each athlete.
He said an assistant coach was brought onto the team two years ago to focus on the girls’ training and tournaments. He said the assistant coach has been “excellent” for the program and has allowed the girls to bring their own coach to competitions.
In the past, he said all athletes in the program completed the same workouts and practiced against each other. As the girls’ program has grown, the female athletes can now practice with each other and complete separate workouts from the boys, Mankowich said.
Currently, the girls’ team has five high schoolers and four middle schoolers. Mankowich said there may be a separate girls’ program once more female athletes are enrolled on the team.
“The hope is that we’ll continue to grow it, as it’s growing across Nassau County, to the point where they can have their own separate team,” he said.
Mankowich said the female athletes in the wrestling program have a great relationship with each other.
“They have a great bond,” Mankowich said.
He said that the team’s tight-knit relationship will help draw more female athletes to the team.
“I think we’re going to see more and more girls get involved,” he said.
Mankowich said is proud of the work his athletes have done and looks forward to the team’s expansion in the future.
“Wrestling is not an easy sport, but they take on the challenge, and they’re doing a great job,” he said.
Mankowich said it’s becoming more common for girls to compete in wrestling. He said the program at Uniondale now has 30 female athletes on its team and won the county championship.
“You can just see that growth that’s taking place,” he said.
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