Allyssa Pirro is the captain of the Lutheran West girls wrestling team.
Lutheran West Athletics
Ressler, Longhorns excited for girls state tourney
Lutheran West wrestling: Coach Dave Ressler, team excited for girls state wrestling tournament
By Marissa McNees mmcnees@morningjournal.com @MarissaNM on Twitter
Marissa McNees
@MarissaNM on Twitter
The Ohio Wrestling Coaches Association announced June 25 it would sponsor a girls state wrestling tournament for the 2019-20 season, and while it's great news for the many female high school wrestlers who are looking for more balanced competition, most who've been around the sport long enough are saying "about time."
Considering Ohio is a hotbed for high school wrestling, it seems the state has fallen behind in terms of granting equal opportunities for the girls as well as the boys.
Finally, that's starting to change.
"Ohio's known for wrestling," Lutheran West coach Dave Ressler said. "We're a hotbed for wrestling and we don't want to be the last state to do it, we want to be on the front end promoting girls wrestling all across (the country)."
Ressler has been on the forefront of high school girls wrestling for years, and implemented the first-ever girls' team in Ohio last season with six members, including Allyssa Pirro, who won the 2019 OAC state championship at 142 pounds.
It's been his mission to create more opportunities for female wrestlers since his early years of coaching when he'd have one or two girls come out for the boys' team, and with 14 states currently sponsoring a girls' high school state wrestling championship, Ressler was always a bit confused as to why Ohio wasn't getting on board.
"It has been slow in Ohio and to a lot of us it seems like maybe the OHSAA didn't start soon enough investigating it," Ressler said. "There were girls wrestling in the early 2000s.
"I've had girls on my teams several times over the last 15 years. We had felt there was so much interest at the youth level, and state after state was adopting girls wrestling and we knew it was coming in Ohio, so we wanted to get out in front of that and help to promote it."
Because Ressler and the Lutheran West athletic department have worked tirelessly promoting the sport, he'd been in contact with the OHSWCA about a future girls' state tournament, so while the announcement wasn't so much a shock, it was certainly a relief.
Right away, the response from Pirro and her fellow female wrestlers was one of pure excitement.
"I got a call in May that this was in the works with the OHSWCA, so I knew the announcement was coming I just didn't know when, and I didn't know all the details," Ressler said. "But we were very excited when we got the news this week that it's official. My girls are excited. I've been texting and emailing them and they're excited about having their own (tournament)."
Wrestling is considered one of the fastest growing girls' high school sports in the U.S., and since 2001, the number of girls competing for their high school teams has grown from 3,405 to nearly 17,000 thanks in large part to the introduction of women to Olympic wrestling in 2004.
Despite that growth, it's tough for girls to compete fairly because once a wrestler gets past a certain weight class, the discrepancies between male and female wrestlers are simply too vast.
Take Pirro for example: She's an Ohio state champion and Fargo qualifier with Team Ohio, but finished sixth at the boys' sectional tournament last season.
"It's not fair when she's wrestling some boy who's dropping from 160 (pounds) to wrestle 138 and is all muscle," Ressler said. "She's got the technique but it's hard for her. It's really not a fair playing field. Watching that happen over the years and seeing the momentum grow in other states, that's why I wanted to jump on board and that's why I'm passionate about it.
"Why should we deny what the boys have benefited from for 50 years at Lutheran West, why should we deny that to the girls? Some of them aren't coming out just because they don't want to wrestle the boys, which I think is totally fair. They shouldn't have to. We want to give them an avenue to learn the same things and experience the same things the boys have: discipline, willpower and just confidence, everything that can help them later in life."
The announcement from the OHSWCA comes as Ressler also announced his program will host a girls-only division of its Ron Alexander Tournament on Jan. 18.
There will be five mats — four for the boys tournament and a fifth designated strictly for the girls.
According to Ressler, the tournament has already drawn lots of interest with teams signing up from as far away as Columbus.
"This announcement with the OHSWCA is great because it fits right in with what we want to do," he said.
"I think we have to have these opportunities for these girls."
Allyssa Pirro helps set wrestling precedent at Lutheran West | Opinion
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Lutheran West Wrestling