Girl grapplers in silver and black form a new kind of Tech Pack
Wrestling in Sussex County continues to grow in more ways than one, and the girls’ wrestling program at Sussex Tech, now in its first year, is an example of that progress.
“I started my junior year, last year, but last year they didn't have a girls’ team at Sussex Tech,” said senior MacKenzie Adams. “This year, we have our own league. There are a lot more girls joining. It's a lot of fun. We get to go to tournaments, dual meets, and we wrestle all the girls that we can.”
Paving the way for girls like Adams was 2024 graduate Logan Flood, who is now at St. Andrews in North Carolina, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics member school.
“Logan wrestled her freshman year; she wrestled varsity for the boys during the COVID year, and then we put her in the girls’ tournaments her sophomore and junior years,” said coach Scott Layfield. “Last year, more tournaments, but this year is the first full year of girls. We have nine girls on the team doing tournaments, and we’ve wrestled in some dual-meet matches.”
The girls have wrestled matches against local teams like Caesar Rodney, Dover, Smyrna and Delmar, but they are also competing on the big stage.
“We've been to the Beast of the East, and we went to the War on the Shore tournament for the girls,” Layfield said.
Sussex Tech also took part in the Lady Hawk Dual Meet Tournament at St. Georges Tech Jan. 26 and Queen of the Jungle at Queen Anne’s County High School Feb. 1. The Ravens will be one of nine teams competing in the state championship tournament Sunday, Feb. 16, in Smyrna.
“Next year, we're hoping to be fully sanctioned; the girls have put in a lot of time,” Layfield said. “Logan Flood was the pioneer; she's wrestling in college now, so she took it to the next level.”
Layfield started the program through word of mouth and began putting up fliers. Adams and junior Vanessa Polanco were already on the team. Those two, along with junior Jade Seefried and sophomore Savannah Stevenson, are the only non-freshmen on the squad.
“The girls are all friends now, but I like traveling with them, and like being on the bus,” Seefried said. “I like being around them; they're very nice.”
Seefried may play nice off the mat, but it’s a different story in the circle. The junior picked up two pins at 125 pounds in the match against Caesar Rodney Jan. 29.
“They had two [wrestlers] for the same weight class, so they just put me in there and I pinned them both,” Seefried said.
She has some advice for girls thinking about picking up the sport.
“Honestly, just do it; you're gonna get really into it once you start doing it,” Seefried said. “At first, I would have never thought that I would ever do this. Now, this is like my thing.”
“Personally, I think it's empowering; women can do this too. It’s not just boys dominating the sport, and it's actually a lot of fun,” Adams said. “The team's really supportive, the coaches are really supportive, and it’s a great way to stay in shape.”
