P-O makes girls wrestling program official

PHILIPSBURG — Philipsburg-Osceola became the second Centre County school and the 96th school in the state to add girls wrestling after a school board vote Jan. 26.

P-O joined Bald Eagle Area in adding the sport. The PIAA announced in 2020 that 100 schools with a girls wrestling program would be needed in order for it to sanction the sport. That means, as of Monday, only four more schools were needed to get to 100.

“It’s very exciting,” P-O coach Justin Fye said, “especially for a school district such as Philipsburg-Osceola with the rich history of wrestling that we have. To be part of this push of this first group of schools that are saying ‘Hey, we’re willing to support and back that’ is a big deal not only for myself, not only for the program, but for the entire school district.”

Most girls wrestling backers expect that 100-school threshold to be reached very soon. The PIAA would then vote on girls wrestling becoming a sanctioned sport. But Fye says girls wrestling probably won’t be a PIAA sanctioned sport with dual meets and a postseason right away.

“If they vote on it this year, it would be an official sport in the 2024-25 school year,” Fye said. “There’s a problem with scheduling (for 2023-24) and everything that goes along with it. You don’t want to push it too fast because you want to make sure it’s being done correctly.

“It’s just super exciting to have that opportunity for our girls.”  

Bald Eagle Area added girls wrestling in June 2021, becoming the 12th school to do so. In less than two years, 84 schools have followed BEA.

Girls of all ages have begun to wrestle for P-O’s club team, coached by Chris McCully.

“One of our elementary parents has a female in the program and has really pushed. He came to me in November and said ‘Hey coach, what do you think about doing a girls night?’” Fye said. “I said absolutely, let’s try it out. Thanks to Chris McCully, Bub Lumadue and a couple other parents and coaches, who are there every Thursday with the girls.

“It’s turned into a couple nights a week. Our girls are traveling to tournaments. It creates a lot of opportunities for girls. The more the kids can be involved, the better it is for those kids. It keeps them focused on getting their grades up and staying out of trouble in school.”

The push to have an official school girls wrestling program gained steam around Christmas, when Fye talked with other coaches and athletic director Kelly Rees. Fye said he reached out to Sanction PA, which is the nonprofit organization spearheading the push for girls wrestling in the state, for information.

The P-O coaches talked with Superintendent Gregg Paladina about presenting the idea to the P-O school board.

“At the beginning of January, myself and Chris McCully presented something to the school board, and they were on board to sanction us,” Fye said. “It happened pretty quickly over a couple months’ span.

“But the biggest thing we wanted to see was the commitment from our girls who are in the program. Our girls stuck with it. We had about 25 the first time, and we’re sticking 20 to 25 every time.”

There are some girls who wrestle for the boys teams now, including three for the P-O High School team. The PIAA will have to iron out if the girls will still be able to wrestle for both girls and boys teams. But the playing field will be leveled with girls wrestling just girls.

“I know some girls have been involved with it for a while,” Fye said. “They’re used to wrestling boys all the time. You have some girls who don’t want to wrestle a boy. Honestly, there are a lot of times when the boys don’t want to wrestle a girl also.

“It’s about the equity of having a female competing against a female and a male competing against a male.”