Girls wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, and Tigard High School has seen that firsthand.
This is the third year girls wrestling has been deemed an official sport by the Oregon School Activities Association, and Tigard Girls Wrestling Head Coach Kaleb Reese continues to see the program expand.
“Compared to when we first started, we’ve grown about 300 percent,” he said. “We’ve doubled our numbers from last year, and that’s with losing six seniors.”
Reese thinks there are a lot of reasons the sport has attracted so much early interest, and part of that is getting over the initial barrier, where now it’s easier for potential athletes to see it up close since there’s a team.
He said girls on the team have been great at spreading word about the team and the sport to friends and classmates, and once they see it in person, they’re more likely to give it a try.
“We’ve got so many first-year, inexperienced wrestlers,” he said. “Some of them just start before winter break, right when the season starts, and they keep coming back. They’re tenacious, they’re fighters. They’re really competitive. It’s cool to see. We’ve got a good thing going here.”
One new wrestler, Reese said, who has really taken to the mat is freshman Kiki Kini.
“She’s got about five weeks of experience under her belt, and she’s already winning matches,” he said. “She’s just a fighter and puts herself in the right position a lot. That’s hard to teach to just have that natural instinct. She has it. It’s now about teaching her to stay out of the wrong positions that come with wrestling.”
But it’s not just new wrestlers having strong seasons for the Tigers. Reese said that even though the team lost six seniors to graduation from last year, he’s got a group of returning wrestlers who have stepped up to lead the program, such as sophomores Ella Eberhart and Raya Derricksan, and juniors Niara Wirchak, Saylor Thackery, Lilly Mota, and Hailey Garcia.
“Everybody who was here last year has grown quite a bit in their wrestling,” Reese said. “They’re on the right track, comparatively speaking, to how many years they have wrestling. Our goal is to develop them, keep them in the weight room, keep them dialed in, and teach them the process of becoming a champion through living the champion mindset.”
Last year, Tigard produced its first-ever girls state wrestling champ when then-senior Natalie Wilhoit won the 170-pound weight class in the state tournament. Valery Chun-Sajqui, also a senior, also qualified for the state tournament. She joined the coaching staff at Tigard this year, and Reese said it’s been great to have her on staff.
“To be able to get a former wrestler back in here with Val is very beneficial to see that continuity and see our community continue to build,” Reese said. “Val is doing a great job working with the girls.”
Another thing Reese feels that has helped the girls on the team is working with the boys team. While the two are separate teams, they do some joint practicing, which he said helps not only some of the newer girls to the sport, but also some of the boys also learning to wrestle.
“We’re all attuned to try to better our girls’ understanding of the complexities of the sport,” Reese said. “Our new inexperienced boys and girls together are all learning this together, and they’re all buying in at the same time, which is cool to see.”
Reese said it’s been fun to see the sport grow both locally and nationally. While women’s wrestling has been an Olympic sport since 2004, this is the first year there will be a women’s championship tournament in the NCAA. From what Reese has seen locally, he anticipates that growth will continue.
“Around the state, if you go south of the Portland metro area, quite a few teams have big numbers of girls and are continuing to grow,” he said. “We’re getting girls now who are so hardworking they’re going to practices outside of our room to help them get better with their wrestling. It’s really exciting to see where things are going.”
