Ashley Diaz is already a trailblazer for girls’ wrestling

continued from front page pin in a dominant display.

“They do seeding based on credentials,” Takseraas said. “In the final, she faced the one seed. It was a good match. Ashley scored first, then her opponent tied up the score, before Ashley got the pin in the third period.”

Diaz’s season is still not over. Counties are coming up, with the competition being officially set for Feb. 11. And, since she’s a junior, Diaz’s varsity career is still far from over — although she does have her sights on collegiate wrestling.

“In the offseason, I’m going to be wrestling at a bunch of national competitions outside of school,” Diaz said. “Hopefully I’ll get officially ranked by USA Wrestling. That’s the next step.”

Diaz has kept her eye on girls’ wrestling at several colleges, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Northeastern University, both of which could offer promising futures for female wrestlers.

“Ashley is a credit to Seaford,” Kevin Witt, Seaford’s athletic director, said. “She’s a credit to the coaches and all the kids they embrace. It makes the whole process for other kids in every sport so much easier knowing that Ashley had so much success.”

According to Takseraas and Witt, Diaz is already made history for women’s wrestling. But with another competition and one

Allard performs at Temple B’Nai Torah

more year in varsity, as well as wrestling in college, the best may be yet to come for her career.

“Sometime down the road, maybe 20 years from now we’ll look back and see how girls’ wrestling is so much bigger than it is now,” Takseraas said. “Ashley was a trailblazer in that she was the first one to win states.”

Temple B’Nai Torah welcomed Ellen Allard, center, a well-known musician in the Jewish music industry, on Saturday. With Allard were fellow performers Sean Cotty, Temple Cantor Rica Timman, Kevin Kelly, Dave Mackie, and Stacy Kelly. Third from right is the temple’s rabbi, Daniel Bar-Nahum. Allard has won numerous awards as a performer, educator, and composer. She spent the weekend of Feb. 3-5 as the ‘artist-in-residence’ at Temple B’Nai Torah.