HERSHEY, Pa. — "It's an honor to know that I'm the first-ever," said Journie Rodriguez while tearing up after Saturday's state championship win. "I work really hard and to come from McCaskey, a school that people don't really know, is just amazing."
The emotion from the J.P. McCaskey junior wrestler shows just how long the journey has been for the sport in Pennsylvania.
"I mean four years ago a bunch of us got active with Sanction PA and the goal, the dream was to someday have that team championship available for the girls and to see it come to fruition this weekend was surreal," said McCaskey Girls Wrestling Coach Kevin Franklin.
McCaskey was the first public school in the state to have an all-girls wrestling team in 2020. The program had to wrestle the 100 school sanction process, traveling nationwide for tournaments, and a global pandemic. This all made it even more special to walk into the Giant Center over the weekend for the first PIAA girls' wrestling state championship.
"I think Thursday night was overwhelming just to walk on the floor and then the last day-and-a-half was more business as you just got in the grind," claimed Franklin. "And then when we finally got in here, the reality set in that this has actually happened and it is done and it will be here permanently."
"I've grown up with a lot of these girls," recalled Rodriguez. "I see them in club teams, in practices in the offseason, I wrestled with the national team so I know a lot of these girls, they're close friends."
But only a select few can call themselves state champions, and one wrestler, from the first girls' program in the state, was the last one standing after a 7-3 decision for the 112-pound state crown.
"I've wrestled since I was young. So being on the boys' team and then this year wrestling for the girls for the first time, it's just a big change but I had to do whatever. It's never given to you. I had to force this win," Rodriguez said.
It's a championship the entire state appreciates, but it's one that Lancaster is proud to call their own.
"A lot of our teammates came to support us. You know, I have a big support system, and our girls, we work so hard to get here and I'm just happy that I can be the first girl from McCaskey and represent my school," said Rodriguez.
"The whole community, the whole city of Lancaster is galvanized behind her," added Franklin. Her dad's the head coach for the boys, I mean, this is a whole community sense of pride for her and her teammate Jurelys Peguero, who took fifth place, I just couldn't be happier with the outcome."