A pair of Franklin County grapplers battled for a spot in the MIAA Girls State Tournament finals last month.
Franklin Tech’s Jacqueline Churchill and Mahar’s Anya Roberts were part of the four-person, 215-pound bracket in the state tournament at Game On Fitchburg, and met in the semifinal matchup. The two had only wrestled once prior, at a dual meet earlier in the season.
Roberts — a senior — used her experience and defeated Churchill — a freshman — to move on to the title-bout, the first finals appearance in her wrestling career.
“Going to states is amazing,” Roberts said. “I love going there. I love seeing everyone compete. I had my best performance at states this year.”
Roberts took on Hampden Charter’s Victoria Fogg in the finals. Fogg picked up the win, but Roberts said she was more than pleased to close out her high school wrestling career with a second place finish at the state tournament.
In the third-place match, Churchill fell to Lowell’s Amanda Moundele to settle for fourth overall. The first-year wrestler felt the experience at states will help her for years to come.
“It’s really big there,” Churchill said. “It was fun wrestling at states. Even though I didn’t get that high of a placement, I still got to place. It was really good experience. I learned so many new things watching the other matches. I got to see what I can improve in.”
The state meet was the only all-girl meet of the season for both Churchill and Roberts. The two went against each other when Franklin Tech and Mahar competed, but spent the rest of the season wrestling against boys.
Mahar has hosted an annual girls meet in the past but was forced to cancel this year due to COVID-19, making the state tournament all the more meaningful this winter.
“The state tournament is the only tournament you get to see other girls, really,” Roberts said. “I think I only saw four girls [total] at meets during the season. The sport was growing but then COVID happened and we lost a season last year. None of the teams were as big as they used to be, which I expected. It was the really the same amount of individual people at the state meet this year. It didn’t decrease in numbers and there were new people, but it didn’t grow the way it did in the last couple years before COVID.”
It was a whirlwind of a senior season for Roberts with the Senators. She missed the first month of the season due to COVID getting passed around in her house, then the pause in the season at Mahar occurred which cut out a few weeks of the season.
Like all teams around the state, Roberts and the Senators had to navigate canceled meets and practices. It was a challenge of a season, but she was happy to end on a high note.
After her match against Churchill in February, Roberts made sure to give the freshman advice moving forward.
“She’s very new to the sport,” Roberts said. “I got to practice with her the week before the tournament. She’s still learning. From where she was when we wrestled in our meet against Franklin Tech to where she was in states, she had improved a lot. I was happy for her.”
Churchill and Roberts talked after the dual meet matchup during the season and at the state meet as well. Churchill said she took the advice Roberts gave her to heart, looking for new ways to improve her wrestling abilities going forward.
“We talk a little,” Churchill said of Roberts. “When we wrestled at states she told me that when I go for a headlock, I need to keep my arms closer together. She got me to the ground because my arms were too far apart.”
One of the things that draws Roberts to the sport of wrestling is being able to make connections at different meets. She enjoyed her chats with Churchill, in addition to meeting other competitors at the state meet.
“I love how in wrestling you can make friends with people on other teams,” Roberts said. “It’s the only sport you can do that. Other sports you just don’t have that mix of people. At wrestling tournaments, it’s all about the individual, so it’s nice to meet people at different weight classes, become friends with them and cheer for them.”
Churchill was the first Franklin Tech girls wrestler to compete in the state tournament. She ran indoor track in middle school but decided to wrestle this year because Franklin Tech doesn’t sponsor an indoor track team.
While she started out completely new to the sport, she now has a season of knowledge under her belt. She said she’s grown leaps and bounds throughout the year.
“At the beginning of the season I didn’t know much,” Churchill said. “I didn’t know what to do or how to do any of the drills or skill stuff. By the end of the season I was able to get a good grip on what I was doing. At my first tournament, I didn’t do that good. I only lasted nine seconds. Once I got further into the season I was able to last longer. I almost made it to the second round a couple times. It was figuring out how to bridge and get out of being pinned and learning how to defend myself.”
While she learned a lot at practice, Churchill also got better by watching the sport.
She made sure to focus on other wrestlers, particularly at the state tournament. That knowledge enabled her to pick up new tricks and find areas she can improve.
“That’s what [Franklin Tech wrestling coach Mike] Aiken says to the whole team all the time,” Churchill said. “When we’re at tournaments or duals, when we’re not wrestling and not on the mat, he tells us to watch the other matches. You watch to see how they get out of situations.”
Roberts is off to Fitchburg State University next year and is thinking about looking for a wrestling club in the area to continue the sport, as Fitchburg doesn’t have a girls wrestling team.
Churchill on the other hand is already gearing up for next season.
“I’m going to stick with it,” Churchill said. “Hopefully one day I can even do it in college. Coach Aiken is doing a summer thing. I’ll be playing softball and still wrestling this spring which is exciting. I want to be in better shape and know a lot more going into next season.”