By Daniela Palatchi
Winter sports season has started– and it’s up and running like never before. Yesterday was the first home meet for the Woodward Girls Wrestling team. They started their season on the third week of October, and they’ve been treading along since. On Wednesday, November 20th, the girls hosted Alexander High School, Putnam County High School and Carrollton High School for a typical weeknight scrimmage. The girls ended the night 19 wins and 12 losses.
This year, there are 17 girls on the team with 10 returners. The team practices five days a week, with tournaments almost every Saturday. Efa Oju ‘25 is the team’s only senior this year, striving for a medal-winning season in the midst of juggling classes and college tomfoolery.
“I can’t complain about how much food’s on my plate if I expected to eat, you know what I mean?” Efa said.
Arms Akimbo: Efa surrounded by her posse of new recruits. “If every single girl leaves this season a little bit better than they were when they started, mentally [or] physically, I think that’s a win,” Efa said. Photo courtesy Daniela Palatchi.
Laurel Wiggins ‘28 is in her third season wrestling this year and is taking the competition by storm. Laurel has always been an athlete, but her mentality as a wrestler is like no other. Wrestling is all about playing the long game, and the endurance she has cultivated in wrestling has carried over into all aspects of her life.
“I’m more persistent [with] things…if I screw up the first time, then I keep trying,” Laurel said. “I’m a lot less tempted to give up now.”
Pre-Match Rituals: “I get out there on the mat, I take a deep breath, I do my slap down, and then I just go out there and get it,” Laurel said. “And if I win, I win. If I don’t, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll keep trying and I’ll get better.” Photo courtesy Daniela Palatchi.
This season, the Savages welcomed two new coaches: Coach Chris Lewis and Coach Shawn Stratton. Lewis and Stratton have shown dedication to the team while also learning the ropes along the way. Coach Lewis was a wrestler at Yale way back when, and is now venturing back into the sport in a coaching role for the girls.
“I think that there’s different mentalities that boys and girls come to the sport with before they begin,” Coach Lewis said. “And then the longer either boys or girls practice, the more those mentalities converge into a wrestling mentality.”
Family of Fighters: Coach Stratton and his daughter, Anniston Stratton ‘30, wrapping up the meet. “My daughter is wearing all pink, and she hates the color pink,” Coach Stratton said. “So she must really love [wrestling].” Photo courtesy Daniela Palatchi.
In the past, the boys team held their afternoon practices in the Johnny O. Stallings Wrestling Loft and the girls held their practices on the mats in Champions Gym. This year, both teams are in the Loft: head boys Coach Chris Hardin commented on this big–but beneficial– change to the wrestling program as a whole.
“We’re embracing that we’re one Circle W team in the practices, and everybody’s pushing each other, supporting everybody,” Coach Hardin said. “So it’s been actually…kind of a breath of fresh air. Actually, I enjoy being with all the coaches.”
Where is Underwood? The wrestling coaches concentrate on the match at hand, but Coach Underwood is nowhere to be found. You saw him under where? Photo courtesy Daniela Palatchi.
It’s almost impossible to describe the feeling of being in the action of a match to someone who has never wrestled before. Lillian Stokes ‘26 can barely tell you what it’s like– but she remembers the best part.
“It’s like, adrenaline,” Lillian said. “I hardly remember my matches, because I’m like, so rushed up on adrenaline. I’m so ready to [wrestle]. But I love being on the mat-especially at the end, when you get your hand raised-it’s pretty fun.”
As soon as Sophia Sangha ‘24 stepped off the plane from New York, she came straight to Champions Gym to support the Savages at the Wednesday Quad Meet. Sophia is a graduate of the Woodward Wrestling program and is now in her first year at Union College. She commented on the drawing nature of the sport.
“If you want to experience something that…you’re just insanely invested [in],” Sophia said. “And you don’t have to know about wrestling…you don’t need to know anything. Just come watch, because the atmosphere, the level of dedication from the wrestlers, the intensity, it’s there, and you can feel it just as a bystander.”
How to support your fellow wrestlers? Give them words of encouragement, buy them Chick-Fil-A for after weigh-ins and most importantly, come out to watch them and cheer them on at their meets. Coach Luke Underwood provided even more reasoning as to why everyone should come out and support the wrestlers at their meets– it comes with a fashion show.
“I think people should come out just to see the different outfits that Coach Pete Fritts is gonna wear throughout the season,” Coach Underwood said. “That man will put on more pink than should be humanly possible.”
