2022 marks the first year there has been a girls wrestling team. The team may be small but they are mighty for persevering to make this team a reality.
The members of the Pleasant Valley girls’ wrestling team athletes who all share their own unique stories as to how they joined this new sanctioned sport.why do they participate in a sport that has for so long been deemed a boys sport.
Freshman Abigail Meyrer, isn’t new to wrestling. She has been wrestling since she was 4 or 5 years old. From the moment she started the sport she was in love.Meyrer is motivated by the goal to win a state title or even better a national title, she is excited to witness the growth of this new sport.
Her parents, Joshua and Tonya Meyrer, realized her love and supported her thorough out, “As parents, we noticed Abigail’s love for wrestling at a very young age. Once she started to really show her passion for the sport and her drive to succeed we have made sure Abigail has had the opportunity to have the best coaches, trainers and competition. It has been a long road for her to get to where she is today but we would not change anything and are very proud parents to see where all the hard work and dedication has gotten her to this point.”
Meyrer also plans to go to college for this sport even though she is a freshman, which is a big goal for her. She hopes to go to the University of Iowa. She has plans on how to make herself better, “Some set I’ll have to take are just keep improving with how my wrestling is and how I train and just step up all the work I do and really get my name out there more these next 4 years.”
Unlike Meyrer, sophomore Kyna Moffit took up wrestling fairly recently after watching her older sister. Now having wrestled for two and half years,she has been very successful with multiple national tournament appearances. She has had multiple first place wins and went 5 -2at the state tournament last year in her first ever season.
Moffit has a goal to place this year and her motivations are what is pushing her through, “The thing that motivates me the most is Improvement. I love the feeling of seeing myself grow and get better.”
Having previously participated in basketball, Junior Caitlin Reiter quickly realized the court was not where she was to be, and she took to the mats instead. Rieter found the sport of wrestling to be quite similar to Karate, which she had been participating in since the age of two.
Reiter has a lot of dreams for this program, “I’m most excited to have my own girls wrestling team, and winning State and getting my future goals is my motivation.” Reiter also plans to go college for wrestling and is currently looking at North Central as her first choice.
She hopes to win state as she already is a two time state placer; 5th place in Ohio’s state tournament at 116 lbs her freshman season and 3rd place her sophomore year at 115 lbs at state.
The team’s only senior, Greta Herbst was inspired while watching the boys team and to her, it looked like a good sport to join. Whenever the possibility of her pursuing the sport was brought up, many told her it would be really difficult and to not even try because they were sure she wouldn’t like it.
Despite those people who didn’t believe in her, Herbst participated in the off season and just couldn’t get enough of it. Even though this is her first year, it is satisfying to know that all the moves come easier to her now,“I knew very little about wrestling before I started working with PB coaches but getting better every single day is what keeps me coming back.
Proud of the progress she has made, Herbst is improving everyday with the help of the PV coaches. even getting her first pin on her second match on Nov. 15..
These are just a few of the team members on the girls wrestling team. They are hoping to expand and grow as a team. Each one of these athletes started in different places but are all equally in love with their sport. Their motivation and excitement for what is to come is uncanny.
These wrestlers are set to hit the mats next on Dec. 3 at Wapello. Each one of those athletes will be… Their motivation and excitement for what is to come pushes them everyday as they strive for excellence at the state meet on Feb. 2-3, 2023.
Jessica Raymond • Dec 1, 2022 at 11:07 am
Very well written organized article with lots of great information. Glad to see that sports have started to branch out here at pleasant valley high school. I heard a lot about the girls wresting team starting when they were getting ready for the program.
CJ Smith • Nov 30, 2022 at 2:44 pm
I like how you used alot of different girls on the team in your interviews because it shows how they all came from a different starting point. The interviewer choices also helped answer my internal questions of how adding the sanctioned sport to PV helps them get their name to college recruiters.