The closest New York has ever gotten to a girls' state championship was last year’s state invitational championship.  

Despite a major turnout, no one was crowned a “state champ.” If you wanted that title, you still had to make it to the boys’ championship. 

But as of Oct. 18, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association declared the state would go fully freestyle for high school girls wrestling. The Empire State’s historic first championship will be held in February. 

According to Middletown High School women’s coach Heath Macaluso and his wife, Nikki Macaluso — a women’s advocate for New York women’s wrestling under the New York State Girls Wrestling Task Force — this is just the beginning of a nationwide movement. 

Their collective goal: Get high school girls wrestling sanctioned in every state and then start getting each state on board with freestyle, according to Heath Macaluso.  

One outlier exists in New York, however — New York City. 

For nearly 11 years, Beat the Streets New York has organized a girls freestyle season in NYC. The girls in the city have a traditional folkstyle season in the winter and freestyle starts in the spring. 

So the question remains: Will New York City join in on New York State’s sole freestyle season and state championship? Or will they continue their established folkstyle tradition?  

Elsewhere across the country, girls wrestle folkstyle during the traditional high school season. At the college level, however, women pivot into freestyle. An across-the-board change to freestyle at the high school level could ease the transition for athletes with college and international aspirations. 

Heath Macaluso — whose daughter, Sofia, was a U23 World Team member — coaches a roster with a state-high 43 wrestlers. 

“Our girls don’t have to learn to transition from folkstyle now,” he said. “They’re natural freestyle wrestlers.

“We’re training them like Olympians and they don’t even know it.”

Behind Makennah Craft’s Missouri Valley Open Victory

Makennah Craft left Fargo this summer with a feeling of dissatisfaction after placing fifth. It became a motivating force for the Ohio high school senior to chase more top-notch opponents at high-level tournaments. 

Craft entered one of the most prestigious college tournaments — the Missouri Valley Open — and she dominated her way through the 103-pound bracket. She followed that up earlier this month by winning the Ironman title at 100 pounds. 

Craft shares her thoughts on her performance at the Missouri Valley Open and the Ironman in a video interview with Kimberly Iglesias. 

Bixby Wins Ironman 

An up-and-coming Bixby (Oklahoma) squad captured the team title earlier this month at the Ironman. 

Led by seven placwinners, Bixby racked up 131 points to finish 3.5 ahead of second-place Olentangy Orange. Millie Azlin (second at 170), Aiyana Perkins (third at 125), Jay’la Ford (third at 145), Malana Miller (fourth at 235) and Lily Lane (fifth at 110) led the way for Bixby. 

“Sometimes teams go to these events and they’re thinking of the individual,” Bixby associate head coach Jenna Burkert said. “And when they don’t get what they want, sometimes it’s hard to wrestle back. I think we had key players that were willing to keep fighting all the way through.” 

On the individual front, top-ranked Taina Fernandez of Archbishop Spalding survived a semifinal scare, fighting off her back against Sophia Antonio before registering a major decision. Fernandez went on to win the title at 135. 

Wyoming Seminary’s top tandem of Jaclyn Bouzakis and Emma Bacon both took home titles. Bouzakis notched two pins, a technical fall and scored a 7-1 win in the finals at 105, while Bacon scored a late takedown to seize a 7-4 win in the finals against Caroline Hilton at 130.  

Full results from the Ironman