DHS Girls' Wrestling: The Power of Expression and Involvement
In an interview with Alex Gregorio-Perez and Jade Weiss, get to know about the historical DHS girls' wrestling.
By Jaden Longeville
February 29, 2024
In an interview with Alex Gregorio-Perez and Jade Weiss, get to know about the historical DHS girls' wrestling.
By Jaden Longeville
February 29, 2024
In July of 2022, Jade Weiss and team captain Alex Gregorio-Perez entered their first girls’ wrestling practice as freshmen at DeKalb High School. Perez and Weiss both began wrestling in their eighth-grade year at Huntley Middle School, combining with Clinton Rosette Middle School’s program. As two of the older girls in the middle school, their head coach, Connor Infelise, believed that Perez and Weiss should have an opportunity to carry their love for the sport to the next level. Believing that there should be a girls wrestling program at DHS, Infelise advocated that the girls should spread “multiple papers around the school, and also talk to [their] friends to get people interested in the program,” says Weiss. While Infelise is also an educator at DHS, Perez says that he informed his classes of the foundation by reaching out with the simple encouragement of “Hey you should come, you should come!” After Infelise successfully created the first girls’ wrestling initiative at DHS, all that was left was for Weiss and Perez to advise girls to join. By spreading flyers and the word around, about fifteen girls became involved within the first year they began the program and stayed about the same in numbers in the current year where Weiss says that “people left and the same amount joined.” When a large number of girls decided to try wrestling in just the first year that it was available at DHS, both Perez, and Weiss, as well as all of the other girls who joined, experienced a taste of history. It was the first time that the program was given an actual title as a women's sport at DeKalb, and “the ability to wrestle other girls” was a new experience for many of the young women who hadn’t wrestled competitively.
“it's really powerful to see other girls wrestle, and their ambitions to get a point or score and get a takedown.”
The decision for Infelise to speak up was recognized as important to many of the girls at DeKalb High School because of its heavy impact on their perception of girls involved in wrestling. Perez says that it’s amazing “to be able to have the opportunity to wrestle, and I think it's really important and a lot that goes into it,” as well as believing that “it’s cool to have a title.” Perez speaks on behalf of many of the girls who wouldn’t have the option to join if the program was combined with the boy's wrestling program because of the “stereotypes that girls and boys don’t wrestle together.” This assumption is normally based on the number of injuries that the sport may acquire, as well as the differing numbers in weight, height, and number of people involved in the programs. Parents speculate that these factors are not safe for their children as the meets and tournaments are more competitive than just simple practices, beginning the standard that girls should have a separate facility from boys to prevent injuries. Weiss believes that the importance of her coach and teammates speaking up about this instance was that it had the effect of “spreading the word that they’re starting this, and girls wrestling is becoming a thing- it’s now a movement, and it’s not something small.” With the idea that DHS only pertained to boys wrestling, the concept of beginning a program to enhance the experience of the young girls via tournaments with other women, or simply having their title as a DeKalb sport was that of significance.
As Weiss and Perez recall their eighth-grade wrestling season at Huntley Middle School, they recognize the large improvements they’ve made in just two seasons of being able to participate in wrestling. Perez was involved in the inaugural DVC girls all-conference team, progressing to being the first 2023 IHSA state qualifier in DHS history. Perez illustrates both her accomplishments, along with her teammates that just began wrestling, and sees “all of the ambition” that carries their team to higher limitations, and believes that "it's really powerful to see other girls wrestle, and their ambitions to get a point or score and get a takedown.” Perez’s experience at state only enhanced her love for wrestling, and by seeing all of the standards she’s listed in person, she thinks that it is very important that DHS began the girls’ wrestling program in 2022. Although Weiss faced an injury last year, enabling her to wrestle for parts of the season, she believes that the experience of her freshman year wrestling season was extraordinary, and she was grateful to be able to participate in the newfound program.
On the weekend of February 24, 2024, Alex-Gregorio Perez and Reese Zimmer, another member of the girls’ wrestling program, both placed sixth in their differing weight categories at the Illinois state competition, claiming their title as the first two state winners in DeKalb High School history.
As Weiss and Perez recall their eighth-grade wrestling season at Huntley Middle School, they recognize the large improvements they’ve made in just two seasons of being able to participate in wrestling. Perez was involved in the inaugural DVC girls all-conference team, progressing to being the first 2023 IHSA state qualifier in DHS history. Perez illustrates both her accomplishments, along with her teammates that just began wrestling, and sees “all of the ambition” that carries their team to higher limitations, and believes that "it's really powerful to see other girls wrestle, and their ambitions to get a point or score and get a takedown.” Perez’s experience at state only enhanced her love for wrestling, and by seeing all of the standards she’s listed in person, she thinks that it is very important that DHS began the girls’ wrestling program in 2022. Although Weiss faced an injury last year, enabling her to wrestle for parts of the season, she believes that the experience of her freshman year wrestling season was extraordinary, and she was grateful to be able to participate in the newfound program.
On the weekend of February 24, 2024, Alex-Gregorio Perez and Reese Zimmer, another member of the girls’ wrestling program, both placed sixth in their differing weight categories at the Illinois state competition, claiming their title as the first two state winners in DeKalb High School history.