Willow Moylan wins first girls wrestling title in IHS history

While 2024 is still in its infancy, history has already been made in the Tompkins County sports scene.

On January 20, the Ithaca High School wrestling team took part in the Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) Championships in Horseheads. The Little Red had many strong performances, but Willow Moylan stole the show by capturing the girls 145 weight class title, becoming the first female wrestler in school history to win a STAC championship. She was also named the girls tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. The junior reflected on such an unforgettable accomplishment.

“It means a lot to me,” Moylan said. “I’m very excited to have the title, and I also hope that it makes more girls want to join the team at IHS.”

Moylan’s victory represented a bit of an underdog story, as she entered the tournament as the third seed in the bracket. She first took down the seventh-seed Lilly Garrabrant (Horseheads) with a 45-second pin, then pinned the second-seed Sophia Colgan (Johnson City) after just 42 seconds.

The final against the top-seeded Maia Woertendyke (Oneonta) would be Moylan’s toughest battle yet, but she prevailed with yet another pin after one minute and 11 seconds. She talked through her challenging yet triumphant matchup to win it all.

“I just went in with a lot of aggression,” Moylan said. “I think it helps a lot, especially with more of the newer wrestlers. I just kept going even though it was a little bit of a rocky match for me. I made a couple of mistakes that put me in a compromising position. She got me in a cradle for a little bit, but I got out of that and I managed to get back on top of her, so it worked out.”

Along with an aggressive mindset, confidence was also key for Moylan to come out on top. It’s an element of her game that has improved the most as the season has progressed.

“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t have a lot of confidence,” Moylan said. “I’d go in and my matches would not be great. Now I have a lot more confidence, and when you go in with confidence, you can really make your opponent nervous. I think that’s what helped me in a lot of my matches.”

Moylan credited the team’s coaching staff—head coach Eric Parker, assistant coach Josh Antoine, and volunteer coach Dylan Watros—for helping her confidence grow.

“My coaches helped me a lot,” Moylan said. “They helped me through a lot of things because I am just a very nervous person in general, so they’re very supportive.”

What makes Moylan’s historic victory even more incredible is that this is her first year on the wrestling team. Last year, head coach Eric Parker asked her if she wanted to join the team, and she hopped on board this campaign. As soon as Moylan first hit the mat, she immediately knew she made the right decision.

“[At] the very first practice, I felt very happy,” Moylan said. “I felt like I really did actually want to do wrestling. That’s why I kept with it.”

Moylan is the only girls wrestler on the Little Red this season, down from the two they had last year. Moylan hopes that her momentous triumph can drum up interest in girls wrestling at Ithaca High and be part of the exponential growth of the sport in the section.

“Especially at IHS, I think it actually has a really nice atmosphere,” Moylan said. “The coaches are super nice and encouraging. It’s also a really good sport to get into because it’s a lot of work and you can really get some good cardio in. It’s good for your body and it’s super fun.”

The focus for Moylan shifts to sectionals, where she aims to make even more history for the Little Red as their first-ever girls sectional champion. She identified which aspects of her game she wants to improve so that she can come out on top again in the postseason.

“I’d just like to work on connecting moves more smoothly, because sometimes I go out there and I kind of forget what to do,” Moylan said. “I think being even more aggressive is the key.”

Moylan was not the only Little Red wrestler to find success at the STAC Championships. Senior star Daniel Parker took home the 145 weight class title thanks to a trio of pins. This adds on to a memorable season of his own, as Parker reached 100 career wins earlier in the campaign.

Dikota Hamilton joined Moylan and Parker with gold medals, as he won the 170 weight class championship. The junior pinned his first two opponents before taking down Oneonta’s Bobby Struble in the final in a 3-2 decision. 

Quentin Getzin finished in third place in the 138 weight class, while Caleb Bergman (101) and Kaleb Chilson (124) each recorded fifth-place finishes.