South Lancaster News

HARRISBURG – More than a dozen high school state wrestling champions were recognized on the Pennsylvania Senate floor today as part of High School Wrestling Day at the State Capitol, according to Senator Scott Martin (R-Lancaster). The event honored wrestlers who earned gold at the 2024 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) state wrestling championship competition held in Hershey in March.

Senator Martin noted this was the first year state championships were sanctioned by the PIAA for girls’ wrestling, which is currently the fastest-growing high school sport in the country. "Earning a state championship in wrestling requires years of practice and hard work, both on the mat and in the gym," said Martin, who was a PIAA and National Heavyweight wrestling champion at Lancaster Catholic High School. "All these exceptional young athletes deserve recognition for their accomplishments, and I am proud that so many of them were able to make the trip to Harrisburg to be honored by the Senate of Pennsylvania."

Among those honored on the Senate floor was McCaskey High School’s Journie Rodriguez, a pioneer of girls' wrestling in Pennsylvania. McCaskey was the first high school in the state to sponsor a girls’ wrestling program. At a girls’ wrestling event last year, Senator Martin promised Rodriguez that if she won the state championship this year, they would sign a pair of poster-sized prints of a photo of them together: one for Rodriguez and one to hang in the Senator’s Capitol Office.