Marty Gordon
Female wrestling is growing in popularity in Virginia.
Two years ago, the Virginia High School League (VHSL) approved it as an emerging sport, even holding a girls’ wrestling invitational.
High schools around the Commonwealth like Radford have welcomed females into what was once a male-only event. Eight girls dot the varsity roster this year, and earlier this week, one of those, Maggie Page, verbally committed to wrestle for Emory & Henry Wrestling.
Page, a senior who is in her third year of wrestling at RHS, is a team captain. She has won multiple wrestling tournaments and placed third in the 2024 VHSL Girls State Tournament and will be the first woman from Radford High School to wrestle in college.
The E&H women’s squad includes Molly Keller from Pulaski County High School.
The Emory & Henry University Women’s Wrestling Team and first-year Head Coach Maria Ramos join South Atlantic Conference Carolinas consortium, which begins this year with eight NCAA Division II schools from across the Southeast.
Last season, the Emory & Henry College Women’s Wrestling Team opened the postseason at the NCWWC Region II Championships and finished fifth as a team out of eight competing schools. E&H saw three wrestlers qualify for the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships.
Page hopes to continue her success when she joins the Wasps.
Her first year in wrestling, Page (150 pounds) finished eighth at states and then third the following year, going 20-2 overall on the season.
Earlier this year, Page wrestled in Fargo, North Dakota and several other tournaments. She became an All-American at the Mid-West Nationals.
Page started wrestling after her high school coach, Dwayne Martin, kept telling her she would be really good at the sport.
“After about two weeks, I went to a practice and just fell in love with the sport,” she said.
Page is proud of the number of girls wrestling at RHS.
“It feels so good to have so many girls and know that they are loving the sport just as much as I do.”
Her first year, she had to wrestle a majority of boys and still will this season, but that is slowly changing with the rise in female numbers.
Once she learned E&H had a wrestling program, it was an eye opener for her.
“The more I started advancing in the sport made me really want to look into wrestling in college,” Page said. “Overall, this sport has been amazing for me and has opened up so many new friendships and opportunities in my life.”
Martin calls her a trailblazer for women’s high school wrestling in Virginia.
“She is a fierce competitor that is extremely goal focused. She uses previous losses as motivation throughout the season to train harder in hopes of always winning gold medals,” he said.
Martin also took a moment to brag about the rising female numbers in his program.
“We have a long history in Radford of having girl wrestlers in our rec league programs. These same girls have continued through middle school and now into high school. They recruit their friends to join in as well. The biggest recruitment and retention is that girls in the Radford program are seen as equals to their male counterparts. We all practice together, travel together, and compete together.”
The coach also points out that girls’ wrestling is in its third year of emerging sport status, it is his sincere hope that the VHSL executive committee will vote in favor of Women’s Wrestling becoming its own sport.
“Once that happens, the sky’s the limit for female wrestlers throughout Virginia. My hope is for Radford High School to produce additional female college wrestlers, female wrestling officials, and female wrestling coaches,” Martin said.
Page and her female teammates will be part of the Lady Cats Invitational scheduled for Radford High School on Dec. 21.