Grove, Simmons lay the groundwork for Shady girls program

Feb. 10—The Shady Spring girls wrestling program didn't start with Tayla Grove and Danielle Simmons. Tianna Godbey was a senior when the two were freshmen, and they were all joined by Sarah Harvey at the inaugural West Virginia Girls Wrestling Championships in 2020.

But Grove and Simmons stuck with it for a four-year career, and got the ball rolling in growing the team to where it is today.

"They're my first ones that have wrestled four years all the way through," Tigers coach Anthony Shrewsberry said.

"They're the foundation of the girls team. They're the ones that started it all and went out and recruited all these girls this year."

On Saturday, the two will wrestle in their final girls state tournament, starting at 1 p.m. in Parkersburg. But they won't be alone, and just by sheer numbers the Tigers have a shot at bringing home the team title.

Shady has a girls roster of 10 and eight of them showed up in the first-ever girls state rankings released Friday. Grove is fourth at 152 pounds and Simmons is second at 185.

Also ranked are Brooklynn McClure (first, 100), Leslie Ward (sixth, 114), Kamryn Chiochetty (seventh, 132), Abigail Hamilton (fifth, 145), Carlee Vanatter-Grove (second, 165) and Alexus Wilkinson (third, 235).

Also on the team are Lena Wilkinson and Sarah Johns.

With Shrewsberry not in the school, the job of recruiting the hallways and cafeteria for girls to wrestle fell on Grove and Simmons, and they came through. Shady has the top-ranked girls team in West Virginia.

"Bribe them mostly," Grove joked of her approach. "Not really.

"Last year I went to every single table at lunch and I was like, 'Please! We need females. You don't have to wrestle boys. My coach is working on some girls tournaments.' A lot of them, it was their parents. Their parents wouldn't let them do it. So half the team can wrestle boys and girls, but half the team can only wrestle girls."

"(Recruiting) was Tayla mostly, but it was quite difficult," Simmons said. "I think it was moreso the parents not wanting females to wrestle with men, where they are so aggressive."

Both girls are hopeful this year's team can set the table for even more participation in the future.

"I believe that next year a lot more girls will see all these girls and be like, 'Oh, OK. I can do that,'" Grove said. "And it will show their parents they don't have to wrestle boys. They can also wrestle females."

"I feel like next year, after a lot more girls realize they won't have to (wrestle boys), they can compete against their own level, that we'll have a lot more girls come out and stick with it," Simmons added. "And it will grow."

Grove, who has been wrestling for eight years, will actually be making just her second state tournament appearance. After placing third at 136 pounds as a freshman in the inaugural tournament, she missed the next two because of Covid and a broken ankle.

"I'm really excited about it," she said.

"I'm glad that we have it going on. I don't like how it's going the same time as one of our boys meets (the Coalfield Conference Tournament is also set for Saturday), because then both coaches can't be there.

"I am very, extremely nervous for this year because I don't know who's all wrestling anymore. I haven't done it since ninth grade, so I'm nervous."

Simmons also placed third as a freshman, at 185, and she was state runner-up at 195 last season.

"I feel as though the girls with a little bit of experience the last couple of years are definitely going to to really, really good," Simmons said.

"And the other girls that this is their first year, I think they're going to go up there and just kind of get to know what it's like to wrestle with females compared to males."

Grove summed up the difference.

"When I wrestle a girl, they're a lot more flexible," she said, "so their shoulders bend a lot weirder. and it's harder to pin a female, in my opinion, because they do all these flips and tricks and it's confusing to me. But when I wrestle a boy and set it up properly the way that I'm taught in practice — because we practice on boys — it works on them. But you have to squeeze a lot tighter, you have to grip with everything you have just to pin them. It's hard."

Shrewsberry is confident his team can perform well overall in Parkersburg but concedes it won't be easy.

"I think we've got a really good chance just because of sheer numbers to be in the top three," he said. "Liberty's been looking pretty good (the Raiders are ranked second). We've wrestled them pretty good head to head the last couple of times. But what you've got to figure in is Musselman (the three-time state champion and current state No. 3) has about 11 girls. I don't recognize a lot of the names, but there's still 11 of them. That's numbers.

"So I think in order for us to be able to win it, us and Liberty and several other teams would all have to take a little bit of Musselman out."

No matter what happens this weekend, both Grove and Simmons are looking to continue their careers at Bluefield State, which started its women's wrestling program this season.

As for the immediate future, both are glad that the sport continues to grow at the girls level. They were hoping the sport would officially be sanctioned in West Virginia by the time they graduate. Still, they're confident that day will come soon.

"Today I was talking about how me and Danielle know the feeling of when we see another girl. It shocks us," Grove said. "But within a few years girls won't know what that feels like. They're not going to know that feeling. and it's an exciting feeling. I'm extremely grateful that it's starting to come up."

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Also competing from the area are:

London Cook, Liberty (No. 3, 100); Kirclyn Coleman, Oak Hill (No. 4, 114); Jenna Panossian, Liberty (114); Zoee Meadows, Nicholas County (No. 3, 126); Kelsie Fields, Richwood (No. 4, 126); MaKenzie Hanshaw, Nicholas County (No. 3, 132); Rylei Belcher, Liberty (No. 4, 132); Tanaya Sanchez, Greenbrier East (132); Kylee Rapp, Nicholas County (132); Karlie Osborne, Liberty (No. 1, 138); Kassidi Richardson, Liberty (No. 2, 145); Lucy Farris, Liberty (152); and Maddy Lucas, Liberty (No. 4, 185).

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