Pennsylvania State University – Schuyler Groat took the lead.
Groat was a high school girls wrestler in New Jersey less than a decade ago, and was one of the few wrestlers in the state before the NJSIAA recognized girls wrestling as a sport and held its first state championship in 2018-2019. There was only one person.
She became the first female wrestler from the state to win a title at the national championships in Fargo in 2015, winning the junior gold medal.
This weekend, Grote became one of only two female wrestlers from New Jersey to compete in the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials at Penn State, going 3-2 in the 76 kg weight class. The other was Parsippany native Sidney Petzinger, one of the first New Jersey state champions, who was 0-2 at 53 kg.
Grote won two of his matches this weekend by technical fall and the other by pin. She was close early on Kennedy Blades, who led six-time world champion Adeline Gray 1-0 in the best-of-three final, but lost in the quarter-finals by a score of 11-0, then I lost my rank. Kylie Welker went 6-0 and finished 5th/6th in the trials.
“I think in some ways I'm happy. I'm really happy with my mental approach in this tournament,” said Grote, who started the tournament as the No. 8 seed. “I wasn't mentally ready for the U.S. Open, so I had to make a change. I was looking at my partners and they were mentally ready to go after me and kill me in a wrestling sense.” And I haven't been able to match that, and I worked really hard last year to get that mental edge, although I don't think I'm quite there yet. You can see that in our performance this weekend.
“Last time I fought Kyrie, I learned the technique in a minute, so you can see I'm making small adjustments. In the match against Blaze, too, it's just small things that I need to change.”
Grote went from 68kg to 72kg (reaching Final X New York in 2022) to 76kg. She aims to make the world team and plans to drop down to her non-Olympic weight of 72kg after her trials, which she said is likely to suit her going forward. .
Groat, a North Jersey native, was a member of Blair Academy. Even if high school state championships were part of the landscape when she was a collegiate wrestler, she probably would have chosen to attend Blair College, she said.
“I don't think that changes my decision for President Blair,” Groat said. “Going to Blair College was a great thing for my career and academically.”
After high school, Groat attended Brock University in Canada and graduated in 2021. She then spent time training at Oregon State University and now lives in Colorado, where the US Training Center is located.
But Grote regularly finds time to return to Jersey, often running camps and clinics for the next generation of female wrestling stars in her home state.
“After this, I'm going home,” Grote said. “It's nice to see friends and family. I love the camps and clinics because eventually I want to be a coach (after her competitive career is over).
“When I was wrestling in Jersey, I was one of seven girls, and now I think there's over 3,000. It's been amazing to see that growth.”
Bill Evans can be contacted at: bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Thank you for trusting us to provide you with the journalism you can trust.Please consider supporting us NJ.com Includes subscription.
