Girls’ Wrestling is the fastest growing high school sport in the United States. With a 28.5% increase in participation, girls around the country are wrestling in more tournaments and earning more scholarships. 

Here in Howard County (HoCo), the growth of this sport is evident. Wilde Lake’s own Maria Romano-Sweitzer, or as we call her, Ms. Sweitzer, was the first varsity female wrestler in HoCo and is Wilde Lake’s current wrestling coach. Since she started in 1991, girls’ wrestling has been a HoCo winter sport ever since.  

This February, for the first time in HoCo history, girls’ wrestling had an all female tournament. This addition included competitor introductions for the wrestlers and a podium for the winners. If you have ever attended a high school sports game, you may think these things are normal, but for girls’ wrestling, a precedent was set.

With this new bracket, a new award was needed: the outstanding girls’ wrestler award. Yasmine Cedars, girls’ wrestler from River Hill High School, was the recipient of this award. Mrs. Sweitzer, stood at the tournament in shock as she heard the award being announced. This monumental award was named after her: The Maria Romano-Sweitzer Outstanding Girls Wrestler Award. 

In 1991, Mrs. Sweitzer first stepped on the wrestling mat. “I was a thirteen year old freshman, [I was] definitely nervous, but excited,” said Mrs. Sweitzer. She recounts her super supportive team and the energy of stepping on the mat each time. “I like the competition,” she says, and once she steps on the mat, it’s all “beast mentality” from there. 

Mrs. Sweitzer initially decided to start wrestling because it was the best out of all her options. She wanted to be a three sport athlete and once it got to the winter sports season, she had to make a choice. “I can’t dribble a ball. I hate running, and I learned I can’t do gymnastics,” said Mrs. Sweitzer. 

So, wrestling it was. But Ms. Sweitzer doesn’t regret it one bit. 

Ms. Sweitzer started to coach wrestling at the Lake in the early 2000s. “They needed a JV coach,” she said. And when Mr. Adam Eldridge, current Howard County Director of Athletics and Activities and previously Wilde Lake’s wrestling coach, asked Ms. Sweitzer to coach, she “thought he was joking.”

However, Ms. Sweitzer did it. Since then, she has coached under four different head coaches and, this year, due to certain circumstances, took over the whole program with help from former coaches and alumni.

At this year’s Howard County Wrestling Tournament, Mrs. Sweitzer’s legacy was solidified with the outstanding girls’ wrestler award being named after her. Mrs. Sweitzer had no idea this honor was coming. “I did get teary eyed because it was just a whole bunch of emotion,” she said. 

Ms. Sweitzer was honored to have this award named after her. Now, she hopes a Wilde Lake girls’ wrestler will win it. With the growth of wrestling, Mrs. Sweitzer hopes girls will start to get their feet on the mat. She knows “it’s tough, but I want Wilde Lake to be represented in the county tournament. I want that green and gold on the mat.”