MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The total has reached 101 teams and counting.
Girls high school wrestling surpassed the 100-school mark, which means it can become a sanctioned sport by the PIAA.
"I see how well it's growing and how many more girls are getting involved and actually wanting to try it, because that was something I was worried about, wondering if girls will want to do it, but it's definitely spiking," said South Western wrestler and 2022 My House Pennsylvania Girls' State Champ Natalie Handy.
As each school announced its intentions, Pennsylvania girls wrestling sent out the 'mat signal' on social media.
"I think it can rival the guys," recalled J.P. McCaskey coach Kevin Franklin. "I really believe it in my heart of hearts. I was part of a local club here, the Lancaster Alliance of Wrestling, six seasons ago we started, and after the first year, I remember talking to our director, cause I was helping coach, I told Will, 'This thing is ready to blow up. I think it's going to be huge.'"
But to get to 100, it all starts with one. McCaskey was the first school to offer an all-girls wrestling program in 2020.
"Somebody had to make that first move," said Franklin. "I think that's where Mr. (Jon) Mitchell, our athletic director was like, 'If we can just get one school to buy in, we'll move forward and get more involved.'"
"I started off doing jiu-jitsu, and suddenly I was in the car and they were driving up to McCaskey and were like, 'Okay, go and get a girls wrestling flyer.' I was just looking at them like, 'What?' And then I got thrown onto the mats my first day, it was horrible, I could not walk the next day. But then I grew to love the sport," said J.P. McCaskey wrestler Kaleia Timko.
These foremothers of Pennsylvania girls' wrestling are glad that future classes won't have to go through some of the growing pains that they did.
"They're really relieved because they got away without having to wrestle any boys this year," said Handy. "Next year they're not going to have to wrestle a boy or deal with the stress or anxiety that comes with it."
"As a girl on the junior high guys' team, I would have to wrestle off with some of the guys, which meant that I would always lose and I would never get to wrestle," recalled Timko. "They would just drag the girls that did not have matches and they would drag us everywhere and wouldn't get to wrestle at all."
Of the 101 teams, almost a quarter of them are from District III, and it's a safe bet that when a state title is eventually on the line, a local team will be in contention.
"For the school season, that PIAA medal, that's just the thing. That's what everyone kind of hangs their hat on," said Franklin.