A quiet start to the new week gives me the perfect opportunity to talk more in depth about what was a very busy Sunday. In recent years more and more female students have shown an interest in wrestling at the high school level, McCaskey is one of several schools in our area that has instituted a program exclusively for them. For athletic director Jon Mitchell it's a cause close to his heart, he was the boys wrestling coach at JPM before becoming AD in 2009. Back in February he had contacted me about my availability for March 6, on this day McCaskey was hosting the Pennsylvania Central Regional Tournament. PIAA Districts 3, 4 and 5 comprised the region, forty-five different schools were represented. Weigh-ins were at 9:30, the bouts started at 10:30 and for the next several hours over one hundred girls competed in close to two hundred matches in thirteen weight classes on three mats spread out across the gym floor. Once each bracket was down to its semifinals the third mat was removed and the stands on that side of the gym were opened up for added seating. For the championship matches the second mat was removed, the main mat was moved to the middle of the floor and my workday officially started. Jon had said he wouldn't need me until the championship round which he estimated might start around 2:00 or so, I arrived around noon to be on the safe side. As it turned out I was way early, the thirteen-bout championship round didn't start until 4:30 (but no complaints from me because it got me out of the house on what would have been a boring day otherwise). After the second match we presented medals to the top four finishers in the first weight class and continued that pattern until the last match ended, at that point awards were given to the last two classes at the same time. I have a very minimal (as in close to zero) knowledge of scholastic wrestling but I managed to bluff my way through it on the mic and make it sound like I knew what I was doing. The whole thing was done by 6:30 and it had to be considered a huge success. Girls Wrestling is not yet officially sanctioned by the PIAA but this was a good start towards realizing that goal. Take care, thanks for reading.
