For the first time in school history, varsity female wrestlers placed at an official tournament. Senior Erica Therkorn not only placed, but won the entire St. Stephens and St. Agnes Christmas tournament at her 132-pound weight class on Dec. 29. Junior Lea Gobec also made history by placing in her weight class at the meet.
Therkorn and Gobec not only broke school records, but were also the first female wrestlers to ever place at this particular tournament in its 39-year hisroty.
Gobec and her family moved from Croatia last year; her little brother is also a member of the wrestling team. Gobec was a national champion in Croatia for Judo, which helped her quickly improve with her wrestling skills.
“There’s a lot of skills that carry over from one sport to another, so she’s a pretty quick learner,” coach Jason Plankis said.
Therkorn has wrestled since she was a freshman and was ecstatic to have won at an official meet.
“Before my match I didn’t expect to win, and I got completely in the zone on the mat,” Therkorn said. “When I won, it felt amazing; I didn’t believe it happened at first. The biggest thing to do is to be aggressive and to not hesitate.”
Although Therkorn was victorious over winter break, she has encountered various obstacles in the past based on her sex.
“On the mat it’s all the same. People can judge you, and you can tell if your opponent doesn’t want to wrestle you, and you even get stares from other coaches, but ultimately if you work hard you’re going to succeed,” Therkorn said. “The time I got refused [by another wrestler] I thought it was a really big deal but no one reacted to it or said anything. My coach at the time basically catered to this kid’s sexism by ignoring it and wanting to put the next kid on the mat.”
Planakis doesn’t coach differently based on sex, but instead focuses on the overall technical skills of the team.
“I’ve always approached it like, ‘You have wrestlers, and that’s it.’ If you can make it through the grind of our practices and the overall toughness of what we do as a sport … no one is going to care if you are a girl or a guy. The only thing that matters in wrestling is how hard you’re willing to work.”