Culver Girls Academy sophomore Flynn Carrillo takes down an opponent.
Culver Girls Academy, the alma mater of Olympic wrestler Kayla Miracle ’14, fielded its first girls wrestling team this year, sending one CGA member to regionals.
“I think given the short notice that we had, and constructing a program out of nothing, I think the season went well,” wrestling coach Patrick Mulkerin said.
Sophomore Flynn Carrillo said she was unaware the Indiana High School Athletic Association had voted last spring to fully recognize girls wrestling as a separate sport when she decided to join the wrestling team this fall. Carrillo said she planned to wrestle as a freshman but “chickened out.” She decided to give it a try this year and quickly learned she liked it.
“I like that it’s really difficult. I feel like it pushes me as a person because a lot of times I’m not sure I can do it, and then I can. It helps make me more confident,” Carrillo said. “I feel like it’s a great way to get your aggression out. It’s a lot of fun for me.”
Carrillo said getting started was the biggest challenge.
“The worst part is the first week and a half where you don’t really know what you’re doing. Then you just kind of settle in,” she said.
Carrillo said her previous experience in jiujitsu, which she went to almost daily in middle school, helped.
Carrillo initially was the only girl on the team, so Mulkerin worked out a series of tournaments for Carrillo to compete in. But then three more girls, Cerenity Houghton ’25, Jessica Kang ’25 and Kiersten Blacker ’26 decided to join. Kang and Blacker had never wrestled before.
Houghton had wrestled as a freshman and sophomore but quit to focus on academics. She also tired of always wrestling against boys.
“It was difficult and frustrating,” she said.
Houghton planned to be wrestling team manager this year, but changed her mind when she saw how Carrillo was doing and that she’d be able to wrestle against girls.
“I realized how much I missed it. And seeing there’s another girl on the team I could practice with, I wanted to join again,” she said. “It was a lot more comforting.”
Houghton, who started wrestling in elementary school, ended up winning six of the seven matches she wrestled.
CGA sophomore Flynn Carrillo won a tournament at Alexandria-Monroe High School earlier this year.
Blacker and Kang joined about the same time. It worked out well because all four were relatively close in weight – Flynn wrestled at 125, Houghton at 130, Kang at 135 and Blacker at 140 -- so they could practice against one another.
They also sometimes wrestle against boys, which Carrillo said is beneficial.
“I think it was good practice to go against guys because they are strong. But the guys who are new at wrestling don’t use a lot of technique. They’re just very strong. I think that prepared me well for competing because I was used to going against people who were a lot stronger than me,” she said.
The girls didn’t have a formal dual schedule. When the boys team had a dual match, Mulkerin would see if they had girls in the program who the Culver girls could wrestle against.
Because the sectionals were held while Culver was on Christmas break, only two of the girls competed. Carrillo finished fourth to advance to regionals. She had the misfortune of drawing undefeated Ava Strayer of Crown Point in the first round. She lost and Strayer went on to win the state championship.
Houghton, who is from Cameron, North Carolina, said she had her bags packed to travel to Indiana for sectionals but something came up that prevented her from going. Blacker, who is from Saudi Arabia, couldn’t make it back.
Mulkerin said adding the girls team was a challenge.
“I’m trying to manage two varsity teams in the same season with only one full-time assistant. It is very difficult. I would love to see the sport grow. I would love to see more coaches come out and support the program,” he said.
Carrillo believes having a dedicated girls coach would help the program grow.
“I think if we can get a girls coach we’ll be able to get a lot more girls to join,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said she knows of at least two girls who have expressed an interest, so she’s hopeful the team will be bigger next year.
“The more people we can get the easier it will be to get more people to join,” Carrillo said.
According to the Indiana High School Athletic Association, 1,145 female wrestlers representing 256 schools took part in the state tournament this school year, an average of 4.5 girls per school.
Houghton went to regionals to cheer on Carrillo and was pleased by what she saw.
“I’m glad I was able to go to see Flynn wrestle and to see there are so many girls teams that I didn’t even know were in Indiana. It was really cool,” she said. “The sport is growing really fast in Indiana.”
Carrillo and Houghton said knowing that Miracle, a two-time Olympian who as a sophomore at Culver in 2012 became the first female to qualify for the IHSAA wrestling state finals, should inspire girls at Culver.
“She showed that girls can be really good at wrestling,” Carrillo said.
CGA sophomore Flynn Carillo takes down an opponent.