Exploding. Brooke Zumas was the chair of the Sanction PA task force that helped schools add girls wrestling as a varsity sport with the goal to get over 100 programs in the state ti apply for PIAA sanctioned sport status. Brooke is from Bethlehem, went to Lehigh (her dad wrestled there) and is the school psychologist in Parkland schools (the Outstanding Wrestler Award is named after her at girls states). She obviously had a ton of sway in getting girls programs launched in D11, with Parkland (where she was the head coach), Easton, Nazareth, Emmaus, Liberty, Northampton, Palisades, and the Pocono schools all have it. Easton had a state champ last year who is #1 in the country at 136, represented the USA at pan am games, and going to Lehigh, and they have a freshman who is #2 in the state at 106. Bethlehem Catholic I think is adding next year, and has the inside track on getting Mia Emili, who has dominated the elementary league here against boys and is the next big thing coming up in girls wrestling (her brother is Becahi’s nationally ranked 107 and her dad was a 2x state finalist for Northampton in the ‘90s). The club I work with has a pretty good contingent of middle school girls, and it’s been majorly on the rise over the last three years.
with the success of the women’s Olympic team, that’s helped momentum I think as there has been a big push from USA wrestling on the girls side. It’s one of the biggest growing sports in America.
