Journie Rodriguez is a powerhouse in girls wrestling. In her weight class, Journie is the number one girls-wrestler in the state and ranked 17th nationally – she’s also a captain for McCaskey’s varsity girls wrestling team.

Upon first glance, she may be easy to underestimate. You may not suspect a bubbly, 5’0 girl in a male dominated sport to have such power, but once you see Journie wrestle, those notions dissolve.

You see, Journie’s power really shines in her signature move in which she picks up her opponent and flips them onto their back to pin them. Earlier in the year, I spectated a girl’s wrestling match and upon watching Journie’s match roll around, my friend said, “I hope she (Journie) flips her!” in reference to Journie’s opponent. 

When she gets on the mat, she looks like a different person entirely. She gets so focused, you can physically see the shift in her once her match begins. “I always go in there with a game plan,” Journie said in regards to her wrestling. “My mind has a set goal so I know what I have to do to get to that.” 

The love and skill for this sport didn’t just materialize; Journie has been wrestling since she was six years old. “My dad was the head coach for McCaskey. So, I was raised around it and always involved with the sport.” She has no plans to stop wrestling once she leaves high school. She wants to continue in college and even go to the Olympics one day. 

However, wrestling hasn’t always been easy for Journie. 

She discussed that the hardest part of being a wrestler is the mental aspect of it, “You’ve got to be really there and aware of everything.” In a sport which is so physically demanding, she emphasized that, “You always have to be in it.” This creates lots of discipline, according to Journie. She says, “If you put hard work in, that’s what you get out, so it makes you very disciplined.”

On top of these struggles, wrestling is a male dominated sport. In fact, Journie was on the boys wrestling team her whole life. She feels blessed to have had support even while on male teams, but it still took its toll on her. “It was harder mentally, you put all your hard work in and train all this time. Then, a lot of matches didn’t go the way I wanted them to just because of strength.”

Previously, McCaskey had only a boys wrestling team, coached by Journie’s dad. This changed in March 2020 when McCaskey became the first high school in Pennsylvania to have an official girls wrestling team. By the end of 2020, there were nine high schools with girls wrestling teams in Pennsylvania. Currently, there are 183.

This monumental stride has paid off in more ways than one. One major benefit is the opportunity this has provided for girls across Pennsylvania. Another is the close relationship and success of McCaskey’s own girls wrestling team. 

The girls wrestling team is ranked fifth in state and they won every match this season save for one. On top of that, they’ve also competed in several tournaments becoming LL League Women’s Wrestling Champions as well as PIAA South Central Section 1 Champions.

Most recently, they sent ten girls to the first ever PIAA South Central Regional Championship tournament: Yarelis Rivera, Journie Rodriguez, Janyce Santiago, Jazelyn Mendez, Liana Samuel, Kaleia Timko, Destyni Pagan, Ytzel Figueroa-Rivera, Jurelys Peguero del Rosario, and Lauren Labrew. 

Jurelys Peguero del Rosario and Journie Rodriguez both secured spots to the first ever PIAA Girls State Wrestling Championship. Both girls became PIAA Girls Wrestling State Champions. In their respective weight classes, Jurelys was able to secure fifth place while Journie was able to maintain her title as state champion.

The girls got to wrestle in the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Journie expressed her excitement about this, claiming, “Last year with the girls we had it at a high school, which isn’t the same as a big arena which was kind of upsetting. Now that we have the opportunity to wrestle at the Giant Center, it’s amazing.”

The success of McCaskey’s girls wrestling team is no surprise once you see the relationship between the girls. The girls are very supportive of each other according to Journie who says, “You don’t have to be good or experienced. It’s just how you are as a person.”

 Even though the sport focuses on individual performance, Journie discussed how wrestling is a sport with one of the strongest team bonds. Indeed, Journie’s team and their family bond is her favorite part of wrestling, with her saying, “Even if you win or lose, they’re always on the side of the mat, cheering you on. They just comfort you, and I think that’s my favorite part.”