Girls Wrestling History At MACS: Tigers First Season Underway

by Contributor | January 17, 2025 1:17 pm

MEXICO, NY – Throughout the winter season, the Mexico Tigers’ newest team has been taking the mat and finding success as a group: the girls’ wrestlers.

The varsity team officially began its season back in November, with wrestling veteran and Palermo educator Karintha Myslivecek as the program’s first coach. Matt Wood, a CiTi BOCES educator who has assisted the varsity boys wrestling and last year coached the modified team, is the team’s assistant coach.

Myslivecek said she has long been waiting for the day Mexico started a girls program. Having previously wrestled 11 years at Sandy Creek, she never had the opportunity to wrestle against females, only males her whole career.

“Being able to coach these girls, for me, is giving them the opportunity I and many others didn’t have,” said Myslivecek. “I am very passionate about the sport of wrestling, I think it’s a sport that teaches self-discipline and mental toughness like no other. It’s a sport that guides young athletes to become successful adults.”

At the season-opening Bill Andersen Memorial Girls Tournament, the Tigers had two grapplers reach the semifinal round, with eighth-grader Emma Caufield finishing second at 92 pounds and senior Rosa Curry was fifth at 152. Caufield is currently ranked third in Section III in the 94-pound division.

The Tigers went on to win their first-ever home dual meet on Dec. 11, defeating Syracuse 35-30.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team, truly,” said Myslivecek. “The growth from day one has been incredible. Their hunger and desire to get better and improve each day is remarkable.”

Coach Wood echoed those sentiments.

“Starting the season unsure and not certain about the sport and themselves in it compared to the transition they have all made and the way they hold themselves and conduct themselves on and off the mat has been incredible to experience,” he added.

Myslivecek started out in the pee-wee program at Sandy Creek, where she says she was coached by some of the best in the area. She has coached at MACS for six years, having been the coach of modified basketball and softball, as well as an assistant varsity boys and varsity girls basketball coach. Wood wrestled at Fulton from the age of four until he graduated high school and won two medals in the Junior Olympics.

James Loomis, a longtime MACS wrestler himself who now coaches the boys varsity team, applauded this incredible opportunity for the girls at MACS as girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the U.S.

“The opportunities for them to compete with just girls is amazing and it also provides opportunities for them to further their education with scholarships in college since they have also implemented girls-only college wrestling teams in the NCAA,” said Loomis.

As the team approaches the postseason, there are still plenty of opportunities for the girls to qualify for the section tournament and states, Myslivecek said. The girls have their senior night Jan. 22 at Mexico High School against Homer beginning at 5 p.m.

Beyond the accolades and team goals, however, Myslivecek says she is just incredibly proud to be here for this historic season and all of the little moments that fall in between.

“It’s an amazing honor,” said Myslivecek. “I am ecstatic for the girls’ opportunities to make history and pave the way for other female athletes.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/sports/girls-wrestling-history-at-macs-tigers-first-season-underway/

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