Nutley Hosts First Ever All Girls Wrestling Match

The Nutley High School program hosted its first ever all-girls wrestling match on Monday, January 30th. This event started at 6 p.m. and both Varsity and Junior Varsity teams participated. Presently, there are six girls on the team, but there have only been two female wrestlers prior to this year: senior Mariah Koster, who has been wrestling for the high school team since her freshman year, and junior Isabella Bobadilla who joined the team her sophomore year. 

The girls have been trying to recognize how important their roles are within the local sports community. Bobadilla said, “Nutley wanted to make history, of course, and to hopefully encourage other girls to want to join as well, so eventually girls can have their own dual matches just like the boys, but against girls teams. The plan is to have an all girls team in the future. We already hit a good goal this year with six girls and we are recruiting more for next year.” 

This event was different from any other wrestling match the girls have been a part of. Bobadilla said, “This was so much fun. We had walkout songs and everything was positive, not a hostile environment like it usually is for the boys. We all fooled around but got the job done.” 

Unlike typical matches where it’s two towns competing against each other, the event was formatted like a tournament, where multiple towns participated. Participating districts besides Nutley included Bloomfield, Parsippany Hills, Rahway, North Caldwell, Glen Ridge, Lyndhurst, Clifton, Saddle Brook, Rutherford, and North Bergen. “Each girl competed against one girl from a different town for three rounds. We invited them through their athletic directors and then initially invited their girls teams,” said Bobadilla. 

The match routine was similar to the co-ed matches. Bobadilla said, “We all weighed in and warmed up on the two mats set up. It was run by weight class starting at 100 pounds all the way up to heavyweight. Throughout the matches the announcers said who was on deck, which means who would go next.” 

The girls performed well against their opponents and ended up winning the majority of their matches. Bobadilla said, “I personally won all of my matches, as well as Mariah Koster and Izzabella Timm. Kaitlyn Aguila won one out of two of her matches, Carina won two out of three of her matches, and Amahara lost all of her matches but was injured and fought so hard. It was fun because we were going against just girls and they were all really talented. I also like that I get to see them improve every time I wrestle them.”  

The event was one that the Raiders hope to see be hosted more often. Bobadilla said, “Overall it was a very organized and fun environment. Hopefully we will see more progress and growth in the girls on this team and I hope that during my senior year more girls are comfortable or encouraged to join.”