South Salem High School’s Leila Fajer, ’26, is announced as winner after her wrestling match. Photo taken by Addison Gibson
Women’s wrestling has existed in schools for years, but it recently has gained popularity. This season has been the first that there was a real lineup for women’s wrestling. In the previous season, there were only three players in the lineup. This season, there were 23 girls on the team. As the season officially comes to an end, players and coaches are reflecting back on their time spent on the team this year.
Even though it was so tiring because it had many technical difficulties, my favorite memory of the season was our first tournament that lasted 16 hours and we got on the school bus at 11PM. We had lots of firsts that day and even though I lost both my matches, I learned a lot. More importantly I feel like the team bonded so well and even though we were tired out of our minds, we went to Denny’s and bonded even more while shoving our faces with food!
Presious Pelayo, ‘24, said.
The Rise of Women’s Wrestling
The season ran from December 2 through January 26, with CVC district tournaments falling on February 9 and 10. Throughout the season, the team went head-to-head against teams across the district. The team achieved wins against Sprague High School, West Salem High School, McKay High School, Bend High School, North Eugene High School and Century High School. Coach Boyd commends Diana Burnell, Eilis Decrozic, Luna Krout and Ivy Sterling as standout wrestlers.
I see the South Salem Saxons, women’s wrestling program growing. Women’s wrestling participation has exploded in the state of Oregon.
Joseph-Daniel Boyd, women’s wrestling head coach, said.
The Nuances of the Rising Sport
The team has had to work to recruit others and build the program further. Boyd expresses difficulties the sport has faced regarding being an all women’s team as opposed to the more common men’s teams. There have been tournaments in which men’s teams are presented with awards, whereas women’s teams are not recognized. They have also had difficulty with space for the teams, having to find ways to split it between men’s and women’s. Despite this, the team continues to grow and develop further.
The biggest challenge was my own mind and body. I hadn’t done a sport since 7th grade volleyball and I was never a sports person that liked to exercise. Believing in myself and that I could be pushed even more mentally and physically was really hard but with the right people around you and a positive mindset anything is possible.
Pelayo said.
The wrestling program welcomes players of all skill levels, as there is a singular team for the school. Tournaments are long but opportunity for player bonding is prevalent as well. With a smaller team, players have felt as though they have chances to become closer individually. Players also partner together, uplifting each other and persevering through hardships. Athletes have pushed themselves to be better players no matter the difficulties faced.
“A really cool moment this year is when we had our senior night Home dual against West Salem, and first year wrestler senior Precious Pelayo pinned her opponent sending our home crowd into a frenzy.” Boyd said.
Many have learned and much has grown, but overall the team has high optimism for the future. With growing range and interest in Women’s sports, there’s a positive outlook for the program to get larger as time goes on.
