For Lady Trojans

By Corey Cusick

There is school history. Then there is pure pugilistic Peach State prominence. And this past month, the Carrollton High School girls’ wrestling program delivered an unprecedented display of epic proportions upon its monumental mat performance in the first-ever GHSA Girls Team Duals Wrestling State Championships on Jan. 20 at Buford High School.

In just their fourth year as a program, the Lady Trojans began their quest for the crown by hosting the area duals – also a first since the inception of girls’ wrestling at the GHSA level in 2019 – where the pins and wins piled up en route to a trip to the elite eight.

Seeded fifth among the eight state finalists, Carrollton entered the arena with a bit of a chip on its shoulder.

But rather than allowing how outsiders viewed the expectations, the Lady Trojans let their talents do the talking.

After thumping fourth-seeded Woodward Academy in a 54-21 quarterfinal clash, Carrollton upended top-seeded Chestatee in a 41-40 bout that featured nine lead changes to set up a state championship showdown with Jordan.

Trailing 30-12 midway through the title tilt with their big guns anxiously awaiting to take the mat, the Lady Trojans rattled off a run for the ages with six pins in the final seven bouts to secure an incredible 48-36 decision, and set the wheels in motion for a long-awaited celebration for third-year Carrollton head coach Allen Newton and crew.

“They’ve earned the right to say they’re the firstever girls state champs in the history of Georgia, and the first-ever state champs at Carrollton. That’s not something to take lightly. Carrollton has a rich tradition in sports,” Allen said. “So to be the first to do anything, that’s a big honor. They took on the challenge, and they accepted it. They represented their school, their families and their community well.”

Carrollton established its girls’ wrestling program just four years ago, and this marked the first year the GHSA provided an opportunity for girls’ teams to compete for a state title in the dual format.

Setting their sights on becoming the inaugural champion in the state of Georgia is something the Lady Trojans rallied around even before it proved to be a possibility.

“It’s been a long time in the making. Last year we had a lot of new girls that worked hard and fell in love with the sport. Everything just clicked. I knew we had something special in the works if we could bring it all together,” recalled Allen.

That’s proven especially true for Carrollton seniors Lilianna McKinley and Katlyn Thomas, who were not only leaders of this year’s squad, but pioneers in getting the program up and running.

Lilianna actually started wrestling in junior high school, while Katlyn joined forces with her as a freshman. It’s a journey that ended in storybook fashion, something the veteran of the program always hoped for but never truly envisioned until it all unfolded this winter.

“To be able to have Katlyn by my side as the two seniors left, it’s a big deal to me,” Lilianna said. “There was a time that I thought I would always be by myself. She helped me start to build this program, and now we have a full team. Having all this come together my senior year, it’s something I will always hold close to my heart.”

Katlyn agreed how this group simply had something special that she’ll always reflect on with tremendous pride, especially considering where it started with her and Lilianna being relegated to practicing with the boys’ team those first few years.

“It just doesn’t feel real. I mean, me and Lil have gone from wrestling guys to having a few girls to having a whole team. Now we had a chance to compete at a state championship and we won it,” Katlyn said. “To be able to watch this program grow has been the highlight of my high school career. To be able to leave Carrollton High School with a state championship, it’s unreal. Something I’ll never forget.”

All parties, both young and old, will be the first to tell you that the journey to the tourney started in the dog days of summer, where multiple workouts in exhausting temperatures ignited a team chemistry unlike any other.

This group became so united that it wasn’t ready to stop when scheduled workouts were over at the end of June.

“We were here almost every day during the summer for workouts in June. We weren’t going to practice in July, but we went to Coach Newton and said, ‘If we want to win state, we need to practice in July. We want to be state champions,’” said junior Bella Moore.

Sophomore Bailey Moore, Bella’s younger sister, joined her sibling on the squad last season as firsttime wrestlers – crediting cheerleading teammate Katlyn for recruiting them into the sport – something that’s been nothing short of a dream ride up to this point.

“It’s a great honor, especially for the two girls who basically started this program. I’m glad that we were able to win this with them still here,” Bailey said. “I never imagined we’d have a dual state championship for the girls, and for us to win it in the first year is crazy. It’s just been so much fun to do it with this group.”

Two other first-year standouts included sophomore Johana Mejia and freshman Madison Cooley.

As key components to the state championship run, the Lady Trojan underclassmen are soaking up the current success and hopeful of carrying the torch for years to come.

“To have something to bring back to Carrollton and show everybody that we did it, and for them to be excited with us, it just means a lot,” said Madison, who went 3-0 with two pins and a tech fall at the elite eight. “The support that we’ve had is crazy. It’s tremendous. I’m really thankful for our friends, family and teammates to have such wonderful support from them because during those tough times, we definitely needed it.”

Johana described it as an atmosphere she’s never encountered and one she’ll never forget during those three highly intense matches in the elite eight.

“Everybody was on their toes waiting to see what the outcome would be. But the whole team pushed through. We never stopped. We just kept fighting and good things came in the end because we never stopped fighting,” Johana said.

Some of the individual highlights of the state championship run included a match-sealing pin by Carrollton’s Amazing Ackey in the semifinal round against Chestatee and the stretch of pins where every point mattered versus Jordan upon falling behind 30-12.

That included winning efforts by Bailey Moore, Maggie Dudley, Madison Cooley, Amazing Ackey and Johana Mejia before freshman Hailey Lussier officially sealed the deal with a first-period pin to cap off the historic title run for the Carrollton girls.

Senior captains Katlyn Thomas and Lilianna McKinley finished 2-0 on the day, while freshmen Madison Cooley and Amazing Ackey went 3-0 and Hailey Lussier was 2-1 in the elite eight.

Rounding out the top performers were Bailey Moore at 3-0 and fellow sophomore Cadence

Wilson at 2-1. Juniors Maggie Dudley and Bella Moore both wrapped up the dual season with a 2-1 showing at the state championships.

Now that the standard has been set, Allen is hopeful the recognition this year’s squad has provided will help fuel the pipeline of upcoming talent to keep Carrollton a perennial state championship contender.

“We’ve set a precedent and these girls have set a precedent of hard work, doing the right thing and getting better. That’s the standard. Championships will come with that,” Allen said. “There’s going to be accountability, because these girls have worked hard to build a good name for this program. So I don’t think they’re going to just let anybody run it down. If the kids aren’t doing right, they’re going to let them know.”

It’s a foundation that Lilianna McKinley and Katlyn Thomas have built from the ground up. And these Lady Trojan trail blazers are excited to see how high their grappling roots can grow in the City of Dreams.

“It means the world. It honestly does. There were some girls who were here last year that graduated and weren’t able to compete with us. But I know they were cheering us on, too,” Lilianna said. “With me and Katlyn being able to do this our senior year, I think it meant more to us than it would had it been our junior or freshman year. The fact that this all happened in our very last year, this is definitely the highlight of our time here.” WGW