Blue Ridge girls wrestler Lily Jenkins isn’t sure exactly how to describe last season.
She felt more like a traveling cheerleader than anything else.
“It was weird,” said Jenkins. “Like, we would go to all of these matches with the boys, but we weren’t able to compete or wrestle ourselves. We’d be sitting in the stands and cheering them on and basically following them wherever they went. But that was it. It was a little uncomfortable.”
Jenkins was part of a group of four Lady Tigers who expressed interest in wrestling last season. A program hadn’t been sanctioned officially within the school yet, however. So, there was no team. In turn, no team matches.
Trey Thomas saw the group of girls sitting around at a match last year.
“I was working with one of the girls to train in practice one week, so I decided I’d come check out a match, too,” said Thomas. “So, imagine my surprise when I go, and the four girls are just sitting in the stands. I asked them, ‘Why aren’t you guys wrestling?
“They said, ‘Oh, we don’t.’”
Thomas decided to change that.
With the help of several people in the school, including Blue Ridge athletic director Austin Abercrombie, he was permitted to take the reins and kickstart a girls' wrestling team at the school.
Twenty-five girls showed up to the first tryouts.
“I used to live in North Carolina, and when I lived up there, I did a lot of karate, and things like that,” said Blue Ridge eighth-grade wrestler Kaidyn Nicholson. “So, I was already really good at ground work. But when I moved down here, I didn’t really have that anymore. So I was looking for a sport I could get into, but nothing stuck.
“But when I came here and wrestled, I enjoyed it so much. I knew how to use my weight and use pressure, and I’ve made so many good friends.”
For the first year of the program, Blue Ridge’s girls have had tremendous relative success. They’ve won several meets, won an early-season team tournament at Woodmont, and every single wrestler has now collected an individual win.
Thomas, a Marine, emphasizes conditioning and discipline for his girls as a huge reason for their rapid ascent. He also gives credit to his “co-coach,” assistant Alex Todd, for what he brings to the program.
“Alex knows as much, if not more than me, about wrestling,” said Thomas. “He’s the engine that drives this team.”
“What I’ve been impressed about the most is that at the start of the season, we told the girls that the intensity of this program was going to be more than they could imagine,” said Todd. “But they’ve absolutely stuck with it the whole way through. It goes to show just how tough these girls truly are.”
The Lady Tigers train hard, but they’re also very close as a group.
The girls recognize the uniqueness of being the first-ever sanctioned girls wrestling team at Blue Ridge.
“It’s so cool to be a part of this,” said senior Brianna McCrae. “I’ve wanted to wrestle since I was a freshman. Since it’s my senior year, and the program opened up, I decided to give it a try.”
“I had grown up my whole life watching my older brother, Will, wrestle,” said Jenkins. “So the fact that it’s a family thing, that motivated me to be a part of this. It’s been an amazing experience.”
A self-proclaimed “terrible loser,” Thomas certainly keeps track of his team’s record and performance. But he emphasizes that the foundation of the program is built on far more than what happens during a match.
“It’s not about the wins and losses. It’s about self-discipline, all the lessons you learn that you’re going to bring with you the rest of your life,” said Thomas. “You listen, you stay disciplined, you follow leadership? You’ll take that with you everywhere the rest of your life.
“It’s more than the mat. That’s what we want this program to be.”
Blue Ridge Girls Wrestling Roster
Briyaunah Thomas 130
Carson Barnette 125
Lily Jenkins 110
Kyleigh Agnew 155
Emma Grove 170
Jada Bates 155
Kimberly Espinal 105
Chamberlain Livingston 155
Mason Murphy 115
Michenzie Brooks 190
Lizbeth Ojeda 135
Kristian Shockley 135
Brianna McCrae 140
Middle School
Ari Huckles 170
Aleisa Holinger 114
Campbell Smith 158
Abigail Garrison 96
Kaidyn Nicholson 108
Arianna Davis 120
Heather Todd 145
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