From the west to the east, sophomore Codi Turner, moves from Arizona to Virginia. Moving to a new area allowed her to adapt to a new environment and discover a newfound love for wrestling. 

Leaving her hot, dry hometown in sunny southern Arizona and moving to Sterling Virginia, with its humidity and greenery, was a big change for sophomore Codi Turner. Turner may have changed her environment, but not her love for wrestling. 

Before wrestling even crossed her mind, Turner was a soccer player from five to 10 years old.  “At some point, it got super boring, and I had taken a bigger interest in wrestling,” said Turner. 

Turner decided to take up wrestling because it has always been a topic of interest for her. In Arizona, Turner started wrestling around December of last year when she was 15. She mainly wrestled girls and wasn’t affiliated with her previous schools wrestling team, but on occasion, Turner did go to off-season practices with her friends. “When I first brought up wrestling to my parents, they really liked the idea and were really supportive of my decision to change my sport,” said Turner.

“Wrestling interested me because my friends, who were on the wrestling team, constantly encouraged me to join, along with their coaches,” said Turner. 

Moving to Virginia in July, Turner started at Potomac Falls and took interest in joining the wrestling program. She is not the only female on the team this season, but before Turner, along with freshman Nijah McLean and sophomore Lily Myers, there has only been a single female to participate in the sport at PFHS.

“Sometimes being [a] girl [on the team] gets difficult because on occasion I have to deal with snarky comments from some of my freshmen teammates, but overall it’s a great experience and I feel like it opens the door for other girls to join,” said Turner. 

Females wrestling has been growing especially in the East coast according to head coach of the wrestling team, Duke McKean. “My intent is to have a full girls wrestling team at Potomac Falls in the next two years,” said McKean. “As of right now, we have three girls on the team and I would like to have more. I definitely think that more wanted to come out but have been intimidated due to the sport being more male dominated.”

Turner’s presence has impacted the 35 males on the wrestling team in a positive way. “I think it’s good that people are joining the wrestling team because there’s not a lot of people joining, and I feel like it might be intimidating for girls to join the sport,” said Turner’s teammate, junior Luke Dumas. “I like that she works hard and it’s because of her, two more girls joined the team.”

In her first scrimmage, Turner won her first match against another female wrestler from Loudoun Valley. Turner didn’t get to compete in the second round because there was no one to go against and in her third match, she lost to teammate Nijah McLean by a point. “Overall, I think I could have done better, especially in the third round. I definitely will have to improve my cardio because I was getting tired after the third minute,” said Turner. 

Leaving her friends and her old life behind has been a challenge for Turner, but wrestling has always been a factor that helped her with moving across states. “I found comfort in wrestling because it reminds me of home and my teammates. Wrestling has changed my perspective on life; it’s also helped me make friends after moving to a new school,” said Turner.