LANCASTER, Pa. — Girls' High School Wrestling is now an approved PIAA sport after Wednesday's vote.
What comes next for the young wrestlers set to take the mat hasn't exactly been finalized at every point, but one thing is for sure there is a lot of excitement to look forward to.
"Everything that like I've seen that my coaches have seen. It's just it's so worth it to finally be sanctioned," says McCaskey sophomore Kaleia Timko.
The vote hits home like the slap of the mat to record a fall, as girls high school wrestlers and their backers score bonus points against anyone who doubted them, as their time to shine has finally arrived in the state of Pennsylvania.
"I mean, I look around at the other sports at the school and it's like they're all sanctioned and we're not and for the past few years that I've been wrestling," Timko explained.
"We've been like competing for mat space with the guys, even my sisters who are both going to wrestle will ask me 'is this even a real sport' and I am 'like yea on Wednesday.'"
This journey, like any other on the mat has been grueling, but wrestlers persevere. With now over 110 schools sponsoring the sport and more every day it seems as the PIAA voted for sanction status. The less pressure to find mat time close to home and compete against peers is welcomed.
"We are traveling just to find like, see if anybody else [at] any other high school has like teams and just going everywhere trying to find a tournament it's going to take, so much pressure off of our backs and it's just going to be so cool."
"Cool" may be an understatement to describe wrestling in Pennsylvania.
The crown jewel is championships at Giant Center, where next year Kaleia and her fellow competitors step into the bright lights for the nation to watch.
"This is huge, but I sit down [and] I try to take it all in. It's like, suddenly, it's like too much, it's like, we're gonna be there to like it's just like really awesome. It's surprising still."