tournament.
File Photo
Radford High School wrestling coach Dwayne Martin has been in the forefront in trying to get girls’ wrestling recognized as an official high school sport in the State of Virginia.
This past week, he received some good news as the Virginia High School League’s (VHSL) executive committee voted to officially sanction the sport as of the 2025-2026 season.
The move comes as the sport rose from 273 participants three years ago to 631 this past year.
Radford High School fielded an entire girls’ team for the past two years with Maggie Page highlighting both its challenges and success. She finished third in this past year’s Three Rivers District tournament.
Martin said he is very proud of the program that Radford High School girls wrestling has developed over the last three years.
“I am also very proud of all the female wrestlers across Virginia that are participating in the sport,” he said.
This past season, the Radford squad participated in a Zone One tournament, coming away with the most points.
“The main goal of the last three years was to get Women’s Wrestling recognized as its own sport. We are right on track and I’m very thankful for those who have made this possible,” Martin said.
Recently, Page made it official that she would continue her wrestling career at Emory and Henry University, which has jumpstarted its own girls’ program.
Page, who is in her third year of wrestling at RHS, is a team captain and 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 says she 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 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.
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.
Page made it official during a signing in Radford gym in front of family, friends, teammates and coaches. She will continue the uphill battle for girls’ wrestling at Emory and Henry.
