For the first time in school history, members of the CHS girls’ wrestling squad have advanced to the NJSIAA girls’ wrestling state championships, currently being held in Atlantic City through Saturday. Over the three-day tournament, senior Rylee Evans and junior Emilly Da Silva will compete in a series of matches in their pursuit to be named a female state champion. 

Da Silva explained that in order to compete in states, she first had to place fourth, third, second, or first in the district competition. Following districts, she placed third in regions, the placement that secured her a spot in the state competition.

However, the road to that kind of accomplishment is not without its challenges. Da Silva described her previous struggles during matches. Despite these conflicts, she perseveres in order to succeed. 

“Overtime was a big challenge for me, and I overcame it by just wanting to go to states, so I just put my mind into winning, and I won,” Da Silva said.  

Senior Rylee Evans placed second in regions this year, after taking first in districts. 

“When I had won districts, I immediately started looking forward,” Evans said. “So once I got to figure out all of what’s going to happen at regions, I determined that I would probably end up going to states at that point.”

Although the girls compete individually, they support each other as a team. Da Silva said she is appreciative of the other girls on their squad as well as their coach for promoting her positive mindset and contributing to her ongoing success. Evans added that both girls worked hard this year and deserve to be going to states.

While wrestling is known to be a physically demanding sport, it also requires significant mental stamina.

“Preparing yourself to go against them–it’s a lot,” Evans said. “It gives you a lot of mental attributes that you didn’t think you would need once you join the sport.”

This is the first year at CHS that the girls have been classified and competed as a separate team from the boys. 

“It feels good to have our own space with just the girls and our own coach, and learning just different stuff because girls and boys wrestling are different, so it’s good to have that separate space from them,” Da Silva said.

In his first year as the girls’ head coach, physical education teacher Doug Lynch said he saw progress over the course of the season leading to this weekend’s matches.  

“The dedication that the girls put into the wrestling room, every practice, I saw everybody grow a little bit more every single day, and it showed every single match that we had,” Lynch said.

Evans said that as coach, Lynch helped grow the team significantly this year by recruiting more girls to join. The team has 25 members this year, more than doubling the amount of wrestlers who participated last season.

“It takes a lot of mental toughness to be able to be out there by yourself,” Lynch said. “So the amount of dedication and strength that these girls have shown not just physically, but mentally, has been amazing to say.”

Girls’ wrestling teams have grown increasingly abundant across the country, including in Cinnaminson’s own middle school, where girls now have the opportunity to participate before they reach the high school level.

“I hope that my success this year will push others to try to succeed more than I. There are some girls in the middle school right now… and I hope that it pushes them to want to also make their name up on the banner,” Evans said.

The statewide tournament began in Atlantic City this past Thursday, March 12th. It concludes on Saturday, when a winner will be declared for each weight class.