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In 2025, three girls represented Globe-Miami in the Arizona high school wrestling tournament, in just the second year of girls’ wrestling as a separate program.
“It’s a brand new sport for almost every school in Arizona,” observed Globe High School head coach Isaac Mitchell. “Last year the Arizona Interscholastic Association wanted girls’ wrestling to be its own thing, so they set up a statewide program.”
The game-changer might have been a Tucson student, Audrey Jimenez of Sunnyside High School, who won a state championship in the boys’ division.
“I think that was a major driver in coming to the decision to have a separate girls’ program,” said Mitchell. “It seems like a lot of the rules started changing when she showed up.”
This season, Globe High School junior Isabel Rascon-Perez earned a spot in the girls’ wrestling state championships by taking first place in the sectional tournament, held February 8 in Phoenix, becoming the first girl from Globe to win sectionals and qualify for the state tournament. Rascon-Perez achieved those milestones after missing state by one match last season.
This year Rascon-Perez notched a 23-7 record in her weight class of 120, up from 107 last season, and her sectional win earned her a number four seed.
She was joined in the February 21-23 girls’ championships, also in Phoenix, by two Miami Jr./Sr. High School wrestlers, sophomores Elise Combs and Dani Vargas. Combs would place fifth in the tournament and Rascon-Perez would tie for seventh.
“Before I joined wrestling, I was kind of afraid because it’s seen as a really dangerous sport,” Rascon-Perez said. “I’ve realized it’s not that dangerous and it’s actually really fun.”
She added that a friend and fellow Tigers wrestler, Nevaeh Guerrero, inspired her to join. “She mentioned it during a cross-country meet, how she was ready for wrestling season, and I asked her about it. She was explaining to me what it was and it really got me invested.
“One thing I’ve had to overcome this season is not to get into my head too much about my opponent, because I start freaking out and see that they have a good profile, that they’re intimidating. I try to tell myself it doesn’t really matter who you’re wrestling, just the effort you put into it. I really worked hard this season and it paid off.”
Dani Vargas said qualifying for state was a big accomplishment. “Last year we didn’t even make it past blood rounds, which is the match before you get into the semifinals, but I’m proud of myself, with how far I’ve gone.
“You really need to be determined and disciplined,” she added. “You have to push yourself, and I think that’s the hardest part of it. Some kids give up or think they can’t, but in reality they can.
“They [Miami] have a really good, structured program. Our coaches are really devoted to the time they put into us.”
“I think for the girls it’s new to them; this is really only Dani’s third season wrestling,” said Vandals head coach Tony Grainger. “They’re at that level now where they need to take that next step to compete with the best in the state, or I should say beat the best in the state; just learning the mental toughness of it all.”
“Before I joined, I knew nothing about wrestling,” said Rascon-Perez, adding that she learned the sport from Guerrero. “Last year, at first it was a bit awkward. I built up and I got better.” It’s also a matter of practice; both teams practice five days a week during the season, and Grainger said the Vandals practice at least three days a week in the off-season, mid-February through May.
Vargas said that next season she intends to work on her speed and on wrestling’s mental component, which she added was 90 percent of the sport.
“As a team, we’ve gotten there but I think individually we need to get better at it and become more bonded together.”
Rascon-Perez believes more participants will help the program; there are now only seven girl wrestlers between the two schools.
“A lot of other schools are like us, they don’t have a whole lot of girls,” said Grainger. “So the AIA sets up jamborees, which are kind of hard to go to because the weigh-ins are different and everything. Finding girls the matches is probably one of the hardest things.”
Mitchell expects Tigers girls’ wrestling will grow next season. “The middle school program has quite a few [wrestlers]. I think we’re getting two or three more next year that are in eighth grade. We’re trying to recruit, but like Isabel said it can be kind of scary. At the beginning of this season I had 12 girls show interest and one showed up. It’s just sort of intimidating because it’s new.”
David Sowders, who now lives in Globe, has been in southern Arizona since childhood and grew up in Tucson. David earned an associate of applied sciences degree from Eastern Arizona College. He has 10-plus years of experience as a newspaper reporter and editor in Safford and Globe, and his articles have won several Arizona Newspapers Association awards. Writing, hiking and discovering new places around Southern Arizona are some of his greatest joys.
