'It felt like I accomplished something great': First RI girls wrestling state championship
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island high school wrestling dates to the early 1950s.
The pioneers are touted and new champions are crowned each winter. But for the girls of high school wrestling, their moment was seven decades in the making. It finally arrived on Saturday.
The inaugural Rhode Island Interscholastic League girls wrestling state championship, and the first of its kind in the state, showcased weight classes ranging from 100 to 235 pounds and honored a dozen champions at the Providence Career and Technical Academy.
Wrestling simultaneously with the boys’ championship bouts, the girls’ tournament embarked with the 107 match between Daisey Hawkins of Scituate and North Kingstown’s Takara Clayborne. Hawkins wasted little time earning the first-ever hardware with a pin in 41 seconds.
“It feels pretty great,” Hawkins, who was named Most Outstanding Girls Wrestler, said of winning the first title. “It’s something for the younger girls to look forward to when they start wrestling in high school.”
The second-ever title winner also belongs to a Hawkins.
Kamie Hawkins, Daisey’s younger sister, seized the 120-pound class in 50 seconds. The Exeter West-Greenwich freshman watched as her older sister made history as the pair entered the season hoping to become the first sisters to win Golds — they accomplished that and more.
“I was more excited that my sister and I had both won,” Kamie Hawkins said of her crowning moment. “And just knowing that we were the first girls ever, in the girls division, to win.”
There were 31 total grapplers in the tournament, but the state exceeds 70 girl wrestlers. In 2014, Rhode Island had just eight.
Some titles — 152, 185 and 235 — were awarded without any championship matches from lack of numbers. And most title bouts had just two competitors in the bracket. But the opportunity to star alters the history books.
“I feel like that's the biggest thing we've learned with girls wrestling, it's like you're starting it for the girls below us,” said Scituate’s Maura Pendergast, who won at 152. “Everything we've done this year with girls wrestling, it's pretty much for the little kids below us. It’s obviously for us, but it's also for the generations to come.”
'Opportunity creates everything':First all-girls wrestling state tournament
The 165-pound class boasted the largest bracket with five wrestlers as Shalom Feliz of Mount Pleasant bested Hope’s Yasmin Bido by pin in 3 minutes, 50 seconds. Coventry freshman Abigail Otte took the 138 title, 10-7, in one of the most closely contested bouts of the night.
“It felt like I accomplished something great,” Otte said. “I've always wanted to be here and I'm really glad at how the girls’ division came out.”
Otte is the only girl in the Oakers’ program and practices regularly with boys.
“We should go up to more girls and advertise it more,” Otte said of growing the sport. “Offer more free classes because everything's more expensive and just give them more opportunities.”
A team title wasn’t awarded, but Scituate, who had the most entrants (7), left with three first-place finishes, while Mount Pleasant and Toll Gate had a pair of winners.
“I am beside myself and thankful,” said Scituate coach Serge Bouyssou, whose daughter, Katelyn Bouyssou-Jarrell, was one of the state’s earliest female wrestlers. “Obviously, there's work to do and there's some bugs to work out because of the numbers. But overall, to give these girls an opportunity to do something like this is just outstanding.”
Scituate star Gabriel Bouyssou said: “I'm watching my friends wrestle on two different mats at the same time in the finals making history out there.”
Kamie Hawkins still has three years of tournaments remaining, but is already thankful for the women that came before her. “It has always been my sister and just the guys,” she said.
“[Katelyn Bouyssou-Jarrell] was helping us and a bunch of girls started joining after we did. Daisey kind of cleared the pathway a little bit for all of the other girls. We've just been trying to grow women's wrestling.”
RIIL GIRLS WRESTLING RESULTS
100: Allison Patten, PILG def. Alyssa Marciano, NP, 4-0; 107: Daisey Hawkins, SCIT pinned Takara Clayborne, NK, 0:41; 114: Angel Bui, TG def. Jordan Richardson, CMBL, MD 15-5; 120: Kamie Hawkins, EWG pinned Kaedyn Minta-Jacobs NP, 0:50; 126: Katelyn Egan, SCIT def. Ibriani Fargas-Cruz, CLSS, 19-17; 132: Meili Shao, LSA pinned Darling Feliz, CLSS 1:38; 138: Abigail Otte, COV def. Marley Bilotti, PNGT 10-7; 145: Victoria Salinas, TG pinned Aubrey Hastings, CMBL, 5:48; 152: Maura Pendergast, SCIT; 165: Shalom Feliz, MTPL pinned Yasmin Bido, HOPE 3:50; 185: Vanessa Sen, MTPL; 235: Jinell Kelley, CMBL.
jrousseau@providencejournal.com
On X: @ByJacobRousseau
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: First-ever Rhode Island girls high school wrestling state championship
