Doing it her way
Alex Szkotnicki didn’t understand why she wasn’t asked to join the wrestling team. She was in kindergarten, and her youth football coach enlisted everyone on her team to try wrestling — everyone but her.
She asked her mother why. Szkotnicki remembers being told she probably didn’t really want to wrestle anyway. Her response? “Now I do.”
From then on, Szkotnicki dedicated herself to what had once been a boys-dominated sport that is growing rapidly among girls in Maryland and beyond. She loved football, but she was small. Wrestling delivered her the physicality she craved, the challenges she loved to tangle with and the empowerment of being able to compete against opponents her size.
This year, Szkotnicki captured titles at the prestigious Super 32 and Junior National Championships. She made the U17 World Team in 2019. And the senior, the No. 9 pound-for-pound high school wrestler and top-ranked 112-pounder in the country, according to FloWresting, is committed to three-time defending NCAA champion McKendree.
She asked her mother why. Szkotnicki remembers being told she probably didn’t really want to wrestle anyway. Her response? “Now I do.”
From then on, Szkotnicki dedicated herself to what had once been a boys-dominated sport that is growing rapidly among girls in Maryland and beyond. She loved football, but she was small. Wrestling delivered her the physicality she craved, the challenges she loved to tangle with and the empowerment of being able to compete against opponents her size.
This year, Szkotnicki captured titles at the prestigious Super 32 and Junior National Championships. She made the U17 World Team in 2019. And the senior, the No. 9 pound-for-pound high school wrestler and top-ranked 112-pounder in the country, according to FloWresting, is committed to three-time defending NCAA champion McKendree.
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