Katelynn Czerpak clearly remembers stepping into the wrestling room as a freshman at Overland and standing out as the only girl.
Fast forward to her senior year and Czerpak’s view in the room is decidedly different and immensely satisfying as she has helped be a leader of major change.
Czerpak is now one 10 girls in the room as part of Overland’s first-ever all-girls team, which began this season and becomes the fourth Aurora team joining Eaglecrest, Regis Jesuit and Vista PEAK.
“It’s really nice having a team that relates to you; freshman year being the only girl, it was hard to talk with the boys sometimes,” Czerpak said after Overland’s win over Denver North in its first-ever home dual match . “It’s nice having a team that is yours.”
It’s been quite a journey to get to this point, but it illustrates the immense growth of girls wrestling locally, which is part of a national trend.
Czerpak wrestled with the boys team as a freshman, then joined the Cherry Creek Schools co-op team based out of Eaglecrest when all-girls wrestling began, first as a pilot sport for two years until the Colorado High School Activities Association officially sanctioned it last season.
Junior Vianca Mendoza also wrestled with the Eaglecrest team last year, but she and Czerpak — who were training partners — had the dream of having their own team at their own school.
“Vianca and I had the idea for awhile and while I was in softball season she went and talked to Coach (boys coach Carter Krueger) and he pulled me out of class and asked me if I could get some girls to join,” Czerpak said. “A lot of them joined just from hearing about it, so I guess our word spread.”
Czerpak said five girls were needed to have a team and Overland has double that.
The girls team needed a coach and there was already one in the building in alum Nikki Garcia, the school’s girls lacrosse coach who also wrestled on the Overland boys team for four years when she was in high school from 2013-17.
Garcia’s perspective reaches back to when the only option for girls was to wrestle boys — which many did reluctantly just for the love of the sport — so having a team full of girls is a revelation for her.
“When I wrestled, we didn’t have girls duals or tournaments or anything, so this is amazing,” Garcia said. “It really gives girls a chance to see what they can do. It’s epic, really.”
The team-building happened quickly as Czerpak and Mendoza spread the word through the Overland hallways and Garcia recruited some of her athletes from lacrosse to wrestling as a tune-up for the spring. Garcia also said two athletes came over from Smoky Hill.
While the numbers are high — especially for a first-year team — the experience is not, magnifying the importance of the presence of Czerpak (a two-time state qualifier) and Mendoza, who wrestled in double-digit matches last season and participated in regionals.
“They are really strong leaders, they run our warmups and show the team all the moves,” Garcia said. “I’m really happy that I have them.”
Czerpak placed fifth last season at 105 pounds at the state tournament, which was moved to Pueblo due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is currently ranked No. 9 at 111 pounds by On The Mat.
She isn’t sure where the season will take her, but she’s reveling in the accomplishment of helping start the Overland team and build the skills of her inexperienced, yet eager, teammates.
“This is my last time wrestling — I’m not going to college for it — so I just want to have a season full of fun and being with a team that’s ours,” Czerpak said. “I would love to go to state again, that’s the goal, but if not, I’m fine having a good season with this team.”
So far, Overland finished 25th at the Arapahoe Invitational to open the season, then took 11th out of 15 teams at the Eaglecrest Invitational and wrapped up the opening portion of the schedule with a 26th-place finish among 40 scoring teams at the Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament.
Garcia doesn’t quantify what a successful season would look like.
“I’m just looking for them to have fun and find a sport they feel welcome in,” Garcia said.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
