20 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST With the help of a few other students, Tess McGinley ’24 (right) created the women’s wrestling club at Lehigh. ATHLETICS Gaining Momentum Formed in Fall 2021, the Lehigh women’s wrestling club made history in February by wrestling in an exhibition match. Tess McGinley ’24 was in middle school when women’s wrestling first piqued her interest. The Albany, California, high school she would eventually attend won a national championship, and she was hooked. By her sophomore year at the high school, she was wrestling herself. While McGinley wanted to continue to wrestle when she got to college, she committed to Lehigh knowing that the university didn’t have a women’s wrestling team. She decided to change that. McGinley joined forces with another student from the West Coast—Giselle Kimball ’24 (Nevada)—where women’s wrestling is more popular, and Irene Macri ’24 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania), and created the Lehigh Women’s Wrestling Club in Fall 2021. On Feb. 4, the club made more history. During intermission of the Lehigh and Army men’s match, the women’s club wrestled in an exhibition match with Rutgers and Alvernia universities. It marked the first women’s match in Lehigh history and coincided with the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which prohibited gender discrimination in educational programs and activities. “We showed people that girls can wrestle, and there were a lot of people wearing T-shirts that said ‘LEHIGH WOMEN’S WRESTLING.’ It was really amazing,” McGinley, who just finished her first year as the club’s president, says. The club also participated in its first tournament in November, the Princeton Open. As a school with an excellent wrestling tradition—Lehigh’s men’s program has had 28 individual national champions, 159 NCAA All-Americans, 16 top five NCAA team finishes and 38-time EIWA champions—McGinley hopes one day that the women’s wrestling program can enjoy success that rivals the men’s team. “I’ve been impressed with the women who are part of the club program, and also by the support they have received from the Lehigh “I THINK WE’RE GAINING A LOT OF MOMENTUM WITH THE CLUB, AND I AM PERSONALLY PUSHING HARD TO TRANSITION INTO A DI [DIVISION I] PROGRAM.” —Anni Futch ’26
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