Girl power: Musselman wrestling wins state, opens door to more WV all-girls teams
INWOOD, W.Va. (BVM) — When the final wrestling matchups concluded at Parkersburg South High School in February, the results were a little different than is typical during a West Virginia high school state wrestling tournament. It wasn’t different because of how the participants won or any debate over who won, but rather who participated in the first place.
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, for the first time in its history, approved an unofficial state girls wrestling tournament to gauge interest and numbers in the sport and all the wrestlers on this day were vying for the first girls wrestling state championship.
As the dust settled, the Musselman High School girls team was victorious, achieving its first championship in the process. The season was a culmination of all the program had built to that point and the build had only begun a few months earlier.
The story of the girls couldn’t be told without a little help from the boys.
As the Musselman boys wrestling team attended a camp in Missouri last summer, a usual trip for the team, the coaches became aware of a Midwestern wrestling phenomenon: girls wrestling. The camp had gotten so big in its female participation that it had to create an entire section exclusively for the girls. This showed the team that girls wrestling was not only happening, but thriving.
That fall, assistant coach Anthony Emana came to head coach Dennis Burlingame with a
desire to create a girls team.
“Coach Emana really wanted to get this up and running. He asked and going off what I saw this past summer was an easy all in answer from me,” Burlingame said.
Emana hit the recruiting trail and didn’t just show girls wanted to wrestle, but that they did with gusto.
By the end of his efforts, Emana had encouraged 16 girls to join the team and the school created its first all-female team. This was significant on the state level as well as it established the only all-female team in West Virginia. The first practice was a memorable one for Burlingame.
“One of my favorite moments was that first practice to see just what we had here. I don’t think anyone knew what to expect and was such a sense of accomplishment when it wrapped up,” Burlingame said.
With a full roster of girls ready to participate, the next step was getting the group ready for competition. The group, which was composed of a majority of sophomores, did not have any experience on the mat coming into the season, but that did not deter the coaching staff.
“I really asked a lot out of my coaches as early on we were going with multiple practices to try to get basics down,” Burlingame said. “Most nights we were there until 8:30. I was actually very surprised at how hard they worked. You could literally see at the end of a practice that they were so proud they just did that workout. It gives a real sense of what an amazing opportunity we had provided.”
Through practices, exhibitions and three all-girls tournaments in Virginia, the girls learned and progressed throughout the season. Their attitude was one of wanting to prove they belonged and they did so by holding each member of the team up.
“The attitude was that of wanting to fit in and not to be held to a lower standard. They wanted to do it all, they were real go getters. They were also so supportive of each other,” Burlingame said.
At the state tournament, Musselman was the most represented group of the 19 schools participating in the event, with 14 members of their team participating.
The trip was, of course, a fruitful one for the Applemen. The team scored 160 points, nearly 100 points higher than the second-place finisher East Hardy. According to Emana, each participant won at least one matchup. That wasn’t all for Musselman, however, as the team finished with two state champions: Jaionna Curry, who won in the 161-pound weight class, and Stevie Bunting, who won in the 185-pound weight class capping off a perfect season for her. The team also had two second place finishes, four third place finishes and a pair of fourth place finishes to round out the tournament.
“We were proud of the girls of course, but completely overwhelmed by the community support that has come since that day,” Burlingame said. “(We’re) disappointed that freestyle season looks to be over as our numbers of girls participating was even better than original girls out this year, but others want to be a part of this.”
Musselman was also recognized nationally. The Applemen received an honorable mention in USA Wrestling’s first-ever National Girls High School team rankings.
Although the program already has one championship under its belt, the group wants to build the program into the future. This is not just for school pride, but for state acceptance of the growing sport. Burlingame said he is excited to see how Virginia had set up their girls division matches and tournaments and that he is even more excited hearing from teams in West Virginia who want to do a similar set up to what they did this past season. Overall, girls wrestling seems like it will be a growing sport to watch throughout the state.
“The future is bright. Several schools have reached out to pick our brain on how we did
this. In our own school, we have had several new girls talk to us about next year,” Burlingame said.
