Pop quiz: what's the fastest growing high school sport in the country? Girls’ wrestling. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, more than 50,000 girls are now wrestling at the high school level. Among them: 2024 Weston High graduate Sophia Lancin.
She started wrestling on a whim in 8th grade. “My parents were putting my brother in PAL wrestling in Westport, and I wanted to do it, too,’” says Sophia, who had been competing in elite taekwondo and cheerleading. So her dad got her a pair of wrestling shoes. “My parents will support anything I want to do, as long as they think I could benefit from it.”
When freshman year rolled around, Sophia wanted to wrestle for Weston High, though at the time there were no girls on the team. “I loved the sport, I thought it was fun, and I thought: women should have equal opportunities to do this.” The school agreed, and she earned a spot. Initially, she didn’t see joining the team as trailblazing. “I didn’t know girls’ wrestling was on the come-up. I didn’t know I was going to meet so many impactful women or make so many friends. I just knew I wanted to do it.”
As Weston’s first competing female wrestler, it wasn’t always easy. Sophia says the team was unsupportive; she faced bullying from her teammates and the family currently has a Title IX complaint pending against the school. But despite all this, Sophia excelled, earning three All-State titles and two New England titles. She credits her parents' support—her dad would train with her in their basement—as critical to her success. And with Sophia’s guidance, another female wrestler joined the team this year. She’s tired of the narrative that girls participating in wrestling is surprising. “Almost every day, someone says ‘oh, you wrestle? Girls can do that?’ Of course we can wrestle. We can do anything.”
“The girls that I've met in wrestling are the most wonderful people,” says Sophia. “They love to get dressed up, or love dance, or theater. In the same way that guys wrestle and it doesn’t define them, it’s true for the girls that do, too.” She also hopes young female Westporters, Westonites, and Wiltonites learn that wrestling is something they can try, too. “You’re gonna get pushed out of your comfort zone, but it’s a hard sport not to enjoy.”
It’s a point of pride that Sophia’s name will forever be on the wall at Weston High, but she’s focused on what’s next. “One of the tough parts about being in an up-and-coming sport is that not a lot of schools have wrestling programs,” she says. She’s headed to Indiana University this fall, which doesn’t have a girls’ wrestling team (even as a club sport), but she’s vowed to start one. She didn’t fall in love with it to let something like that stop her. “Sometimes you work hard at something and you don’t get to see it through,” she says. “But in wrestling, you get to. I really like that feeling.”
“Guys wrestle, and it doesn’t define them. It’s true for girls, too. Almost every day, someone says ‘oh, you wrestle? Girls can do that?’ Of course we can wrestle. We can do anything.”