After several years of girls joining the Becton wrestling team, the school now has the largest number of girls on the mat it has ever seen! Girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in NJ, and Becton stands out with ten girls on the team this year!
Newly named co-captain of the Wrestling team, Kailey “the Kraken” Mount, trained relentlessly the entire off-season in preparation for this current season, and she does not disappoint with the second highest average of wins on the BRHS wrestling team! In addition, she also serves as a mentor for the incoming girls, and helps them become acclimated to the sport. Mount revealed, “Personally I love coaching wrestling and watching my teammates improve– knowing I was once in their shoes. Wrestling is an encouraging and expressive space for many people, including myself.”
At the Garfield Holiday Tournament earlier this season, the Lady Wildcats ran the show. It was the first tournament of the season and several of the girls captured their first wins. Even Mount had many factors working against her, and she still managed to reign victorious in second place.
The team is gradually getting into the routine of having matches and waking up incredibly early for tournaments on Sundays. Their most recent events are the Elizabeth Lady Minuteman Classic and the BCWCA Invitational. At both tournaments, stand out wrestler Mount placed within the top 10 spots. Mount is usually in a very wide-ranging bracket filled with girls of all experience levels; however, she faces all her opponents with class, dignity, and craft! The other girl wrestlers have also had the opportunity to experience several tournament styles, and improve every time they hit the mat as well.
Sophomore Ylanie Taveras stated, “I love our workouts. I enjoy being active and even though they’re definitely difficult, they’ve played a huge role in our team-building.”
It may be intimidating to be one of the few girls on the mat especially when the rest of the team is mainly male athletes; however, the sense of camaraderie in the sport of wrestling is uplifting. Senior Kalie Ramirez divulged,
“The community is amazing. Win or lose, the two opponents hug each other when their match is over!” Mount added, “Even after the match, the respect received is rewarding. My opponents become great friends that I am happy to see from time-to-time at wrestling tournaments. The girl community watches and supports one another. We all know that this sport is growing and we all have that common goal to keep it growing.”
The end of the season is approaching rapidly, and although most of the team are novices, Kailey Mount has the potential to wrestle in Atlantic City this February with a 12-6 record. The team is looking forward to compete in their official county and regional tournaments as well.
One thing is for sure, and that is that the goal is for Becton is to remain known for their exceptional and growing, women’s wrestling program.
