On [Saturday, Feb. 22,] the FHC girls wrestling team had their state competition at [location]. Two female wrestlers qualified for the competition: senior Sophia Tran and freshman Sophia Miller. In preparation for the big event, their practice style was altered to match the intensity they would be experiencing. 

“We’ve [practiced] a lot. Shorter practice, but faster pace to get everything covered that we need to know,” Tran said. “And just eating healthy, and making sure we’re around weight.” 

For Tran, although she also competed in matches for FHC last year as a wrestler, she felt that having the support of other female teammates created a new motivation for her to be able to push herself to state this year.

“[Having a girls team is] so nice. It’s like there’s a lot of support with you this time. That shows that we’re all like a big group going together and accomplishing things together. So it feels good,” Tran said.

Miller also agrees that the encouragement of other girls has an astounding impact on the energy that is felt during matches and competitions, even in practice.

“We’re going to practice a lot right before, and then we’re going to boost each other up, and we’re going to help each other and get each other through it and just be like ‘You have this, you’ve got it. You’re going to win, you’ve got it,” Miller said.

With the combined forces of her enhanced training and the support of her teammates, Tran has been able to improve drastically from last year, which has subsequently gotten her to state.

“I think this year has been more successful for me. I’ve been able to do way more things than I was able to do last year, due to different factors that kind of held me back. But this year I’m more open to sport and I just have people by me to do it with,” Tran said. 

Despite all of their hard work, the girls didn’t perform as well as they had originally hoped, although they are happy to have made it to state in the first place.