The Mount Si wrestling program made history this winter, welcoming the team’s first-ever girl competitor into the program.

Senior Mackenzie Will, currently wrestling at 112 pounds, joined the program looking for something different. Besides competing on the mat, Will is a Mount Si cheerleader.

“I’m always up to trying new things and I’ve always liked wrestling,” she said.

Coach Tony Schlotfeldt couldn’t be happier about Will’s potential.

“We’re excited about Mackenzie being on our team, especially because she’s very coachable and she’s learning moves quicker than a lot of our boy wrestlers,” Schlotfeldt said.

When Will told her parents of her plan to compete on the wrestling team, there was a mixed reaction.

“My dad was stoked. He thought it was really cool,” she said. “My mom was kind of iffy, not wanting me to go get hurt or anything. She actually cried at my first match because she was so excited.”

Reaction around the school has been supportive.

“After the first couple days of practice, I told my buddies that we had a girl on the wrestling team and they asked, ‘Who?’” said senior teammate Trey Botten. “I said, ‘Oh, Mackenzie.’ There wasn’t much of a surprise there because Mackenzie’s a real tough girl.”

“She’s a scrapper, so it’s nice to have her out here,” Botten added.

Mackenzie is not the first member of her family to compete in Mount Si sports; older sister Marie, who graduated in 2005, played for the Wildcat girls basketball team.

Will has wrestled a few times thus far; most recently last Monday, Jan. 18, at Newport. She has competed against boys, and her opponents’ reactions have been mixed.

“The first boy I wrestled, he came out with guns blazing, he didn’t seem intimidated at all,” Will said. “My latest competitor (at Newport), when he came out, he seemed a little more timid. He was very polite to me, helped me up.”

While her Knights opponent was trying to be classy, Will isn’t looking for anything easy.

“I’d rather be treated as just another wrestler,” she said.

Botten says his team is doing just that.

“The wrestling team is one of the most accepting and it’s really like a brotherhood and now we’ve got a sister in here, so it’s kind of cool,” he said.

Schlotfeldt also sees that acceptance in the team.

“They really have embraced it,” he said. “It’s a great setting for us, and maybe it’ll encourage more girls to come out.”

Will has mixed feelings about being the first competitive girls’ wrestler in the history of the school.

“It’s definitely pretty cool being the first at anything, but I’m also kind of saddened by it,” she said.

“Wrestling is really fun, it’s not just a boys’ sport,” Will added. “Girls really should go out for it; hopefully, it’s inspiration for other girls.

“It is a challenge, but girls should not be afraid of any challenge,” she said. “We are just as capable of doing anything.”