LAKEWOOD — Being a pioneer takes time and patience, but once prevailed it can be a sweet satisfaction.

Lakewood senior Chelsea Favro was Lakewood’s first girl wrestler when she entered the program her freshmen year. Since then, girls wrestling has gained popularity.

Favro recalls her freshmen year when only 150 girls wrestled in Washington state. She wrestled boys the majority of the time and, instead of qualifying for the state championship, all girls qualified. Now Washington has close to 1,000 girl wrestlers. Lakewood has a full girls team consisting of 10 athletes.

Remembering her past achievement, Favro, the girls team captain for three years now, said, “It feels really good to be one of the first girl wrestlers. Lakewood High School is a small school, so thanks to my efforts, it got the ball rolling at larger schools in the area like Arlington and Marysville-Pilchuck High School.”

Of the girls Chelsea inspired to join wrestling was Lakewood senior and last year’s district champion, Christina Ordonez. She joined wresting to get in shape, but was afraid to get onto the mat. She conquered that fear with her first season last year, which resulted her becoming district champion and runner-up at the regional tournament. For her first year as a wrestler and never finishing below second place at a tournament shows the dedication she has for the sport.

Between the two seniors and standout Lakewood junior Keely Caldwell, the three agree that boys are harder to wrestle because they have more strength. Even if they get their moves right, the boy can just overpower the girl. All three girls prefer wrestling boys for the challenge. They claim if they wrestle above their level it will make them better.

The veteran girls are excited for the season to go far and place well at the state tournament. Unlike boys wrestling where the tensions are high and the rivalries make up most of the sport, the girls wrestle hard during matches, but like to keep good relations with other girl teams.