SMAC female wrestlers battle for state titles

In identical fashion to their male peers who arrived at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro for the Maryland State Wrestling Championships on Saturday afternoon, a pair of female wrestlers from the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference earned state titles while another settled for runner-up honors after suffering a narrow defeat in the final.

Northern High School junior Emily Boling and La Plata junior Daisy Rojas each earned their first respective state title on Saturday evening, while Patriots’ junior Emma Hardeman, a state champion one year ago, settled for runner-up honors in her finals match.

Both Boling and Rojas traveled different paths to get to the title, with Rojas becoming the first female state champion in La Plata history.

“Words cannot describe how much this means,” Rojas said of her 145-pound title after recording a first round pin against Sonia Pegoue of Walter Johnson in Montgomery County. “Last year I finished fourth in my weight class and this year our girls team grew from five girls to 12. I really put in a lot of work during the offseason, going to camps and conditioning.”

Boling had initially joined the Northern wrestling team as a manager her freshman season then opted to test her skills on the mat as a sophomore and eventually earned state runner-up honors last year. But on Saturday at the Show Place Arena, Boling was hardly content with settling for minor spoils again and she pinned Oakland Mills’ Katrina Abhikari less than 30 seconds into the match to earn the 235-pound (heavyweight) title.

“When I first joined the team as a manager, I didn’t know much about wrestling,” Boling said. “But the more I watched the more I got interested in learning how to compete. Last year was my first full season wrestling and I was state runner-up. This year I was intent on winning a state title. I came out aggressive and got the pin very early and that moment was very special.”

While both Boling and Rojas departed with state titles on Saturday, Hardeman suffered a narrow, 6-4 setback in the 120-pound championship match against Montgomery Blair’s McKinley Jovanovich. Hardeman led 2-0 after the opening round and 4-2 late in the second, but Jovanavich drew even at 4-all before the second period ended and eventually forged a narrow 6-4 victory in one of the more contentious female state title matches on the card.