![Saginaw Buena Vista wrestling](/sites/default/files/2022-01/220111_TitleIX_2H.png)
Title IX at 50: Harrold's Achievement Heralds Growth of Girls Wrestling
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 11, 2022
This March, for the first time, 14 championships and 112 medals total will be awarded to the highest achievers from a girls-only division at the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals – the latest of history-making steps over the last 30 years of girls competing on the high school mat in Michigan.
There have been many heroes along the way, as participation has grown to see more than 400 girls wrestle at MHSAA member schools during the 2019-20 season, the last not interrupted by COVID-19 (and 283 took the mat last year despite reduced participation across the sport after a late start due to the coronavirus.)
About 900 athletes open the annual Individual Finals with a “grand march” to kick off the now two-day event. First among Michigan girls to join the parade was a pioneer from a now-closed high school who, by competing at Joe Louis Arena on March 11, 1999, took a major first step toward cultivating the opportunities of today.
Saginaw Buena Vista’s Cynthia Harrold, then a senior, brought a 29-7 record into the Finals and competed in Division 3 at 103 pounds. She lost both of her matches, but not without plenty of deserved fanfare for her accomplishments in making the journey. Many matches are wrestled simultaneously at the Finals, especially during the early rounds, and so many photographers swarmed to capture her matches that the adjacent mats needed to be shut down to accommodate the media crowd.
According to a Detroit Free Press report published that Thursday highlighting the start of the tournament, Harrold had won 98 matches over her four-year high school career. She also played softball and ran track, and previously was a cheerleader before turning her winter sports focus completely toward wrestling.
She was set to join the grand march that day in Detroit with 895 other wrestlers, all boys. The following year, three girls qualified for the Individual Finals. Martin’s Amy Berridge in 2004, Goodrich’s CC Weber in 2009 and Clawson’s Katlyn Pizzo in 2017 would become the first to place at the state championship wrestling tournaments, bringing additional spotlight to girls achieving at the high school level.
With interest continuing to grow, the Michigan Wrestling Association (the sport’s high school coaches association) began sponsoring a Girls Wrestling Finals in 2019 – with momentum from that event leading to the creation of the MHSAA girls individual championship division at Ford Field to debut this season.
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Dec. 20: Competitive Cheer Gives Michigan Plenty to Cheer About - Read
Dec. 14: Evelyn's Game Had Plenty of Magic - Read
Dec. 7: Council Term Ends, But Leinaar Leaves Lasting Impact - Read
Nov. 30: Basketball Season Ready to Add to Rich Tradition - Read
Nov. 23: Marysville Builds Winning Streak Yet to be Challenged - Read
Nov. 16: Wroubel Has Championed Girls School Sports from Their Start - Read
Nov. 9: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History - Read
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
(Photo courtesy of the Detroit News.)
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Thrush Thrives in Farwell's Mat Return
February 6, 2019
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
Jay Thrush admitted once he bought the new shoes, he knew he was back.
Thrush was a promising wrestler at Farwell High School three years ago, finishing in eighth place as a 171-pound freshman at the 2016 Division 4 Individual Finals. He followed that up with another Finals trip as a sophomore, falling just short of the podium in 2017.
That momentum was stopped last year when the Farwell athletic administration had to cancel the season because of a lack of participation.
"My freshman year six of us went to state and three of us placed, and I thought that was going to help build the program – but it didn't," Thrush said. "I thought people were going to join, but no one did. Wrestling is a hard sport, and it is hard to convince people to go out."
Then a new coach showed up.
Marcus Wilkes, a former Farwell wrestler, was asked to come back to his former school by Farwell baseball coach Josh Higgins to try and get the wrestling program back up and running.
"The last few years I was a manager at Walmart in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and I was sick of working 100 hours a week and I just got married," Wilkes said. "So I ended up quitting and going back to school. Now I go to Ferris and coach."
Higgins did a good sell job to convince the energetic Wilkes to come home.
"I wrestled for Farwell for my first two years in high school, and then I moved to Wisconsin and wrestled the final two years," said Wilkes, who also played baseball in high school. "I lost every match I wrestled my freshman year, but as a senior I finished 32-13 in Wisconsin.
"I did talk to Josh and asked if he needed any help with the baseball team, and he said none this year, but wanted me to come back and coach wrestling. I was hired in the fall and began to recruit kids."
Obviously one of the first Wilkes reached out to was Thrush, but Wilkes admitted he wasn't sure Thrush was all in to come back for his senior season.
"I knew Jay wasn't sure he wanted to wrestle when we started, but he got new shoes a month into the season, and then I knew he was in it for the long haul," Wilkes said.
Thrush agreed.
"Yeah, once I got the new shoes, I was trapped after that," Thrush said.
Luckily for Wilkes, Thrush picked up right where he left off after his sophomore season.
Heading into this past weekend, Thrush had a 25-4 record wrestling at 189 pounds. And he has been a help to Wilkes in the practice room, showing some of the new wrestlers – along with Wilkes – moves the younger athletes can build upon.
"He has been a huge asset," Wilkes said. "He has become a leader. He is teaching techniques that I am rusty at, helping the younger kids improve."
Thrush has been a leader in the classroom too, carrying a 3.5 GPA.
How many kids have Wilkes and Thrush had to work with this year?
"We had 12 to start, but we have lost some during the year," Thrush said. "Wrestling is mentally tough on first-year wrestlers; it takes a while to understand the sport. Experience goes a long way in this sport.
"We have a youth program, and I hope the young guys stay in the sport," he added. "And having a new coach helps."
One of those young wrestlers to build the future around is freshman Chase Burchette, who has won more than 20 matches this season at 160 pounds.
Wilkes is looking forward to the future.
"I'm excited," Wilkes said. "When I set up our schedule I only had four wrestlers. And I set up a somewhat difficult schedule, and with what I've seen, I'm excited for the future. It was good to see where our team stood against same-level teams with limited weight classes, and we have done well. But this year I wanted to concentrate on individual, and next year we will concentrate on team."
Farwell is in Division 3 and starts its MHSAA Tournament with Team Districts on Thursday at Clare High School and Individual Districts on Saturday at Freeland.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jay Thrush is again a mat standout as Farwell brought back its wrestling program this winter. (Middle) As a freshmen in 2016, Thrush wrestled Clinton’s Verneri Korkee at the Finals and took eighth in Division 4 at 171 pounds. (Top photo courtesy of the Farwell athletic department; Finals photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)