Delaware Valley’s Sherer is a fighter on and off the mat for female wrestling
MILFORD, Pa. (BVM) — Two-time Pennsylvania girls wrestling state champion and Fargo All-American Lily Sherer has a lot more on her hands than the boys and girls she wrestles. The Delaware Valley High School (DVHS) senior is also an active advocate for expanding female wrestling programs. Sherer, who is signed to wrestle on scholarship with the women’s DII team at Lock Haven University, is in her last season at DVHS and is practicing with the boys varsity team. However, she has opted out of competing for reasons that are not related to the pandemic.
“Competing with boys isn’t my favorite thing,” Sherer said. “I’m wrestling boys who are closer to 150 pounds, I’m tiny in comparison, I’m also only 5-foot-3. My technique could be better than theirs, but I won’t get the best results, my record is zero and it gets discouraging.”
Since there are no other varsity-level females to wrestle against at DVHS, Sherer is preparing herself for the girls state tournament in March by training independently. Considering that high school girls wrestling is not sanctioned in Pennsylvania, Sherer can walk onto the state mat without qualifying or even competing during the regular season.
But for Sherer, there has been a lot more on her mind than preparing for state, nationals and her future collegiate career. She is a part of the growing statewide initiative to recruit more females to join their school’s wrestling teams. At the start of her senior season, she recruited four girls to junior varsity after asking for help from the head coach.
“The best part is, I’m not going into the locker room alone anymore,” Sherer said. “I go into the locker room now and I have a team to talk to about how practice went like the boys do.”
At 17, she is also a part of a nationwide push to start more female wrestling programs in the U.S. She started a podcast titled Girl Power and she discusses topics such as the experiences females face in wrestling today. Sherer also helps to coordinate events that bring attention to the main cause; she is a part of a task force pushing for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) to sanction high school girls wrestling.
“We started this back in March 2020 and over the summer we hosted a virtual night,” Sherer said. “We had world champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock talk about her experience in women’s wrestling and we had Team USA silver Olympic medalist Sara McMann come on and she ran a workout to get interest in the sport.”
In order to get high school girls wrestling sanctioned in Pennsylvania, a total of 100 schools need to sponsor a team. The state still needs 91 more schools to start a program before the PIAA can create an official girls state wrestling championship.
With a long way to go at the high school level, Sherer is excited to join the Lock Haven women for her first experience competing on a female team. So excited in fact, she was in contact, verbally committed and signed within the same two-week period last November.
“I know Pennsylvania girls wrestling is not that strong and so I want to grow a program,” Sherer said. “I called Coach Perry myself, after receiving the offer almost immediately everyone told me not to jump the gun, but I did and have no regrets.”
getting super psyched about this upcoming fall! can’t wait to make some noise at LHU!🦅 #theRISE @LHUwWREST @rippinronUSA pic.twitter.com/XueD4GKhas
— Lily Sherer (@ShererLily) February 9, 2021
Even as a high-level competitor, Sherer said her attitude is what makes her stand out within the sport. She said that although winning is fun, “being a role model for kids across the state and growing the sport across the country” is what matters the most to her.
The NCAA recently recognized women’s wrestling as an emerging sport at the collegiate level. Currently, the only DI programs are at Presbyterian College and Sacred Heart University.
With limited options, Sherer said competing at the DII level is best for her. Her top-ranked abilities have shown through since freshman season, especially after she won her first state title when she wrestled down the reigning national champion, Gabrielle Malinowski.
“I’m so glad I didn’t end up shaking pom poms or hitting balls with a bat,” Sherer said. “There is nothing better I could have asked for and I’m living it up right now.”
Sherer is looking towards a Fargo national title this summer before attending Lock Haven, where she plans to study exercise science. Eventually, she wants to coach young children at a time when there are more opportunities for girls in wrestling.
