High school wrestler Julia Horger inspiring other girls: “It shapes you as a person”
By Krystle Rich
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PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A Bucks County high school wrestler is going for a three-peat this weekend. Julia Horger three-peated at a top-level tournament, and now, the Conwell-Egan Catholic High School senior is seeking to three-peat as a state champion.
Horger first walked on the mat when she was 7 years old.
“I remember always going to the youth tournaments,” Horger said. “I was really into wrestling ever since I was younger. I loved the sport.”
“She was tough. She was beating up boys all the time as a little kid,” Chuckie Connor, head wrestling coach at Conwell-Egan, said. “She’ll do a lot of throws and exciting moves. Even as a little kid, she was tossing boys around. It was great.”
Ten years later, Horger became a two-time state champion, winning both her sophomore and junior years.
“That sophomore year after she won states, she went on to win Fargo, which is the highest level of wrestling in the country,” Connor said.
Her high school career started at Bensalem High School. In her freshman year, she only wrestled boys in matches, and at 95 pounds, she wrestled up at 106 and won 25 contests.
“It kind of brought down my confidence getting beat up by the guys all the time,” Horger said. “I thought I was doing so bad. I’m losing all the time, but looking back on it now, I’m like, ‘Wow, I actually did really good.’ It definitely toughened me up.”
With a new toughness to draw from, Horger transferred to Conwell-Egan in her sophomore year. She helped the Eagles start a girls’ wrestling program and was finally able to compete against girls.
“It was a weight off my shoulders,” Horger said.
“It almost wasn’t fun how much she was able to dominate,” Connor said.
Finally feeling free on the mat, Morger won the Beast of the East, a top-level tournament, in her sophomore and junior years.
“Her junior year, she went the entire season without having a match go the distance,” Connor said, “which means she pinned or technical fought every single opponent, which is crazy.”
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m a two-timer.’ That’s pretty cool,” Horger said.
The only thing cooler? Three-peating at Beast of the East, also winning her senior year.
At Beast of the East, Horger avenged her only senior year loss, against the same opponent, for her 100th career win.
“The best part for me was seeing the fire and spark in her,” Connor said. “You can see her training after she lost a match stepped up a whole other level.”
“I worked really hard that week,” Horger said, “and to know all my hard work was actually paying off was a really great feeling. This year was the first year that I started to see it. All these girls come up to me and tell me I’m inspiring them, and they want to wrestle in college. I’m so proud to be able to inspire people. This is such a great sport to come into as a woman. It shapes you as a person.
“My dedication, even if something goes wrong, I’m not the type of person to give up, that just makes me want it more.”
Horger hopes to one day wrestle in the Olympics.
States started Thursday in Hershey. Horger advanced and will wrestle in the championship match Saturday after Friday’s semifinal victory.
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