PALMER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WLVT) - In Lehigh Valley high school sports, the wrestling mat is hallowed ground. At Easton Area High School, this season's roster includes five girls, as the school works to grow the program.
Varsity head coach JaMarr Billman (a two-time state champion from Easton and three-time collegiate All-American) put out an open invitation to boys and girls to try out for the team.
"I have a daughter, and I don't want anybody to ever say to her that you can't do it because you're a girl," he said.
"It's a sport that I've been around, and I know a little bit about it, so I decided to get into it," said Kayla Reinert, a sophomore competing in the 126-pound class.
"My friends were doing it. They said they wanted to start a girls’ wrestling team," added junior Destiny Silva, who also competes in the 126-pound class. "I want to be a part of that."
After Kasey Kruczek paved the way eight years ago, girls are part of the wrestling team at Easton. For some of them, the sport is in their blood.
"My family has been around it my whole life," explained senior Avery Fidelibus, who competes in the 106-pound class. "My dad was a coach. My brother wrestles in college. I've been a manager since i was in seventh grade."
One of the five girls, Rachel DeGiulio, is recovering from a sports injury. All of them play more than one sport at Easton. They said adding wrestling to the mix was a challenge but one that made sense.
"I always liked playing contact sports," DeGiulio said. "I was an aggressive soccer player. I would tackle people, so i just think it shows that the girls can do contact sports, too."
"Hearing stuff around the hallways, hearing from other teams, they said that if they would have heard this even earlier, more girls would have came out for the team," Billman said, noting that girls' wrestling is growing in the Lehigh Valley. Kruczek is now an assistant coach at Parkland High School, which has 12 girls on its roster.
"Our girls are not afraid to wrestle a boy, but it would be more beneficial for them to wrestle a girl that wants the same desire and same goal and could be on a varsity level," Billman said.
"Even though we're not the same, we don't come from the same school, I think it's a good sisterhood that we're all bonding together -- that PA can be a girls' wrestling state also, not just guys," said junior Cameron Nunez, who competes in the 152-pound class.
"We need to give them an opportunity to compete at a level that they want to compete at," Billman said.
The girls on the roster said they plan to keep wrestling through their time at Easton.
"It's just amazing that we’re the first five really to start this and make it a big thing, and we just want more people to join," Silva said. "We want to lift up women, empower women to grow the program."
"You can be confident and do whatever you want," Nunez added, "and even if it's a guys' sport, just go out for it. You never know what's going to happen."
"I really don't see girl wrestlers, boy wrestlers. They’re Easton wrestlers," Billman said. "That's all I care about. I see them as Easton wrestlers."
Billman said the girls can wrestle anyone in their weight class on the mat, but he's interested in organizing a tournament just for girls’ wrestling. The girls say they’re looking forward to next month, when Easton hosts Parkland.