Sophomore wrestlers Avalyn Mosconi and Leah Soots felt the same excitement rushing through their bodies as their hands were raised high into the air throughout their final matches of the day. They had made it. They were headed to state.

This same feeling was a reality for eight girls on the SHS Girls Wrestling team. Although the state meet brought some losses to the girls, they placed third overall, and some hope to use this as a learning tool instead of being disappointed with their losses.

“All these losses it isn’t something you should be upset about,” Mosconi said. “It’s something you can learn from and be excited to learn from.”

Last year, Mosconi and three other girls were all the girl’s wrestling team had. With many intimidated by the idea of wrestling in front of many more experienced athletes, newcomers were hard to come by.

 But once Mosconi, head wrestling coach Albert Skinner and other wrestlers made it a priority to have a girls-only practice, many started to join. 

Seeing the team grow the amount it has this year shocks both Mosconi and Skinner. And not only were the two surprised with the number of wrestlers, but the quality of wrestlers and number of state qualifiers were also astounding.

 “It didn’t go as well as we wanted it to go, but I think we have to factor in that we got third in the state of Indiana out of 105 schools that have state qualifiers,” Skinner said. “I’d have to say that’s pretty freaking good.”

Throughout the season this is what many wrestlers aim to improve for. New wrestlers like Soots say that her love for success motivated her to do better. With Soots being a new wrestler who placed at state, she was very nervous going into the competition as it contained so many unknowns.

But with motivation from her coaches, she says she realized what she was capable of and even what she wants from next season too. 

“I just felt very proud of myself and proud of how I succeeded in a sport I love,” Soots said.  

Even experienced wrestlers like Mosconi still feel those same emotions. Mosconi thought of this season as a clean slate and set many goals for herself to lead her to success. And she did just that by placing second at state. Mosconi realized sometimes it’s not always about winning, but just improving.

“I feel like I’m getting better as a person, in wrestling and off the mat too,” Mosconi said. “And I felt very happy. I wanted to do as much as I could to make Southport happy too.”

But, with this season coming to an end and having more female wrestlers than ever, Skinner still hopes for improvement from the wrestlers he has now and hopes to see even more next year.

“We need to grow,” Skinner said. “If we have a full lineup we will be more competitive, and that’s the goal.”