This year’s Del Val girls wrestling team made school history by hosting its first ever home match. On Jan. 10, Del Val took on the Warren Hills Blue Streaks in the Hutch gym.
The girls win about 70% of the bouts they wrestle, as seen be their home match where they lost 30 – 25, but they won five out of their six bouts.
The team was formed last season, following a petition made to the school, and it was coached by head boys wrestling coach Andy Fitz.
“I have to give credit to Coach Fitz because Coach Fitz welcomed us from the start,” girls wrestling coach Joseph Toye said. “He said ‘Joe, [co-head coach] Justin, you can have this part of the wrestling room. You can be in here the same time we’re in here. You can practice when we practice.’ We transferred into that [arrangement] naturally, and I have to give him credit.”
This year, Toye and Justin Bagley, whose daughters both wrestle on the team, coached the girls together.
Freshman Lydia Bagley and sophomore Emmy Rea Hotz made their mark on the team this season.
Bagley, who ended the season 30 – 7, placed seventh for her weight class in the state tournament.
Hotz, who ended the season 26 – 5, also placed seventh for her weight class in the state tournament.
Bagley placed second in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex County Championship in her weight class and Hotz won the HWS Championship.
As a team, the girls won 113 out of 172 individual matches.
“This has been a tremendous effort by all the people involved,” Toye said. “The community allowed the wrestling program to happen, and especially Coach Fitz, Coach Bagley, and the other coaches, who basically to the girls on.”
The team finished second out of 10 teams in the Lady Lions Opening Weekend Tournament, fifth out of 25 teams in the Lady Patriots Tournament, fifth out of 18 teams in the Skyland Conference Tournament, and ninth out of 44 teams in the NJ Region Tournament.
Even with only six rosters, the team had a fantastic season.
“We envision, and if all goes well, we know there’s a youth program with maybe 10 to 12 girls coming up to us in the next few years,” Toye said. “We’re going to be able to fill a squad, we’re going to have a full time coach and build a program that’s gonna be like Warren Hills, North Hunterdon, Hunterdon Central. That’s our goal. We started and were going to get there.”
