By Chris Cox

Every time Wichita East senior Haley Somchay steps on to the wrestling mat, she knows she is blazing a trail.

“When I started wrestling not a lot girls did it and it wasn’t really popular for females to wrestle,” she says. “When I started, I had to wrestle boys but then more girls started joining. Just two years ago it became an official girls sport and more and more girls are joining. But it’s not just Kansas, it’s getting bigger everywhere.”

Somchay says it feels incredible knowing she is at the forefront of women’s high school wrestling in Kansas. 

“I feel like I’m inspiring others and making the sport grow,” she says. “It’s such a male dominated sport. I like inspiring other girls and making wrestling among females more normalized.”

When Haley started wrestling about six years ago, she said there were no women in the sport she could look up to.

“At the time, I never knew of any girls who wrestled,” she says. “I just had to push myself and motivate myself. There were some male leaders I could look to but most of the inspiration and motivation came from myself.”

Out of both the boys and girls teams, Somchay is the most experienced wrestler at Wichita East. With that experience comes a leadership role that Somchay embraces.

“I always try to encourage all my teammates,” she says. “I also push them to their full extent. I believe in all my teammates and I think a leader should try to get them to be their best.”

Last season Somchay qualified for the state tournament becoming the first Wichita East wrestler to do so. She knows she has the talent to compete with anyone in the state but her goals this year are more about improving herself than earning a specific result.

“The goals I set for myself this season are to believe in myself and be confident as an athlete,” she says. “I lose matches because I get in my head a lot. So, this year I just want to believe in what I can do.”

Outside of wrestling, Somchay also plays tennis for the Blue Aces. Following graduation Somchay would like to wrestle in college and major in social work.