When watching high school wrestling, some rarities happen that you don’t get to see every meet. You may see a forfeit often, maybe a tech fall every once in awhile, but rarely do you see a co-Ed match with the rise of girls wrestling in the last five years. Both tend to stay separate, but on January Fifth, when Newton took on the Kittatinny Cougars in a duel meet, the 106 bout was a shock to the crowd. Newton put Gianna Simeone on the mat at 106, and it proved to work to their success. While Newton lost the meet overall, Gianna won her match against Troy Sharp with an impressive 9-4 final score. Gianna is certainly an impressive athlete for Newton, being a three-sport-athlete, competing in girls wrestling, field hockey, and golf. I had the pleasure of interviewing Gianna at last years Regionals, and got the pleasure of doing so once again at the meet.
You got to wrestle against Troy Sharp from Kittatinny today, what were the feelings going into that?
“I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie. I’ve only wrestled one guy before. I’m still new to wrestling our varsity team. I have such a fun time wrestling with the guys, and I really enjoy it.”
I’ve gotten to commentate two of your matches now, and you dominated in both. How are you feeling about your season so far?
“I’m feeling really good about it. I enjoy the sport and I am happy to be wrestling again this season.”
Any messages to all of the girls out there wrestling?
“Honestly, if people say you can’t, don’t listen to them. I had people say to me “oh you’re going to wrestle?” I went for it, go for it, if you really want to do something, do it.”
Gianna continues to be a staple of Newton’s Women’s division and myself and The Dyspatch wish her luck on the rest of her career.
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