Journal & Topics Media Group

Maine East Rings In Girls Wrestling


Ari Montesinos (right) of Maine East wraps up her Larkin opponent during meet, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017, at Maine East High School in Park Ridge. (Tom Wessell/Journal photo)

Maine East wrestling coach Emiliano Hernandez has been around the sport for a long time and will be retiring after the 2018-19 season.

One thing he never really realized, until lately, was the continued growth in girls wrestling in Illinois, despite usually keeping 1-2 girls on his team each year. Hernandez is used to coaching girls in softball, but wrestling is a whole other animal.

“The big thing is there is no girls wrestling in Illinois,” Hernandez said. “There are girls on the wrestling team, but no all-girls wrestling teams. Unfortunately for our girls, and all the girls across the state competing in IHSA, they have to train and compete against boys. That is hard on them.”

Most of the girls compete year-round with the boys and some can hang for awhile, but in the later rounds, the boys’ strength usually takes over, according to Hernandez. Some girls, like Lizeth Torres, can hold their own pretty well. Torres graduated last year after serving as a captain on the varsity team. Hernandez hired her to be the girls head coach this year — a first in program history.

“The IWCOA (Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association) sponsored a girls wrestling state tournament last year for the first time,” Hernandez said. “Our girls finally had a chance to compete against other girls in sectionals and state. Girls wrestling is sanctioned in some states, but not Illinois.”

Maine East has six girls competing on the team, and Hernandez asked around, including the IHSA, about hosting a girls wrestling dual or something along those lines. The IHSA approved and Hernandez reached out across the area. He found Elgin Larkin had 11 girls wrestlers, Evanston four and Lake View two.

Maine East hosted its inaugural girls wrestling exhibition Saturday in the school fieldhouse with about 20 matches taking place.

“The atmosphere here was just amazing,” Hernandez said. “Parents on all sides were excited to finally see their daughters compete against other girls at a high level. There was some really good wrestling. It wasn’t any of this freshman-like-learning how to wrestle stuff. These girls were pretty skilled. They all competed hard. It was a lot of fun for all. Dads were out there taking pictures with their daughters. We had people from the balcony, who were watching swim invite, come down and say, ‘Dude, this is incredible.’”

Hernandez hopes to organize more events in the future.

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