“I never really thought about it as I’m making history. I was just happy that I was able to do something I loved,” said Lili Maxwell.
Division III commit, Lili Maxwell, has left her mark on the Greater Latrobe Girls Wrestling team. Not only was she a member of the first girls team at Latrobe, but she is also the first female wrestler to commit to continue wrestling in college.
Lili is only in her third year of wrestling but she has already found her spot in history. The senior began wrestling in the tenth grade after her parents suggested she pick up the sport. In a short period, Lili fell in love with wrestling. “It just really felt empowering because it gave me the strength to do something that a lot of people wouldn’t do,” Lili said.
Girls Wrestling wasn’t sanctioned until Lili’s junior year, so her career began at All American, a wrestling club, based in Latrobe. This club didn’t have a lot of girls in attendance, which forced the wrestler to face off against guys. This caused her to have to work twice as hard to make any move on her opponent. While this may seem daunting, Lili faced this challenge head-on and decided to learn from it.
“It made me a lot stronger and mentally tougher because I was going in there knowing that these guys were way stronger than me,” said Lili.
The size of her opponent wasn’t the only thing Lili had to worry about at All American. On occasion, one of the guys would refuse to wrestle with her because of her gender. The wrestler struggled with this because she knew it was taking away from her quality of practice. However, Lili once again overcame this obstacle with a powerful mindset. “That’s on [the guy wrestlers] and I can just work harder on myself to make up for it,” Lili said.
The wrestler recognized that her extra effort would pay off when it came time for Girls Wrestling season to start. Lili finally found evenly matched opponents, in her teammates, which allowed her to realize that wrestling was something she could be really good at. “It was taking it out on the mat with the girls at wrestling practice and realizing that I could actually do this, and then it was just working harder at that,” Lili said.
Lili’s commitment story is far from ordinary. One day she got a text that said, “Hey, I want to talk about wrestling with you.” Immediately, the wrestler thought this was a scam and ignored the message. However, several months later she revisited the text after a friend convinced her to and she ended up being the Women’s Wrestling Coach at Alvernia University in Reading, PA.
On (date), Lili announced her commitment to Alvernia University. The student-athlete knew Alvernia was right for her after she found out about their accelerated physician assistant program. The wrestler is determined to enter the workforce as soon as she can, so accelerated schooling is the perfect fit for Lili. “I wanted something where I could balance more academics in athletics,” said Lili.
The collegiate athlete is determined to become the very best athlete she can be and will do anything to achieve this goal. During her first year at college, she plans to grow significantly stronger, so she can compete to the best of her abilities. “I just want to give [collegiate wrestling] my all,” Lili said.
A concern the incoming freshman has is the rigorous course load that she will take on, with the accelerated PA program, presenting its own set of challenges. Lili is concerned about balancing her academics and athletics while learning to manage her newfound independence and free time.
Lili’s road to becoming a collegiate athlete wasn’t without roadblocks. On Saturday, December 14, 2024, the wrestler was left temporarily paralyzed mid-match. During the Trinity Duals, Lili was mid-match when her opponent placed her in a half nelson, twisting her, coincidentally, into the right spot to tweak her neck. Her injury came on so suddenly that Lili struggled to describe the moment, saying, “It kind of just happened and I felt a sharp sensation in the right side of my neck.”
The wrestler lost feeling on the right side of her body, in her arm and leg, for a few hours following the accident. Lili remembered not realizing anything was wrong until she started to cry, a reaction caused by a combination of fear and worry. She was worried that she was letting her team down since they were competing in a Team Dual at Trinity High School. The feeling of fear followed because her parents weren’t in attendance, as the pair were with her brother.
This injury caused Lili to sit out for a portion of her senior season. However, this senior was not deterred but instead, the motivation made her work harder. “I had to fight back from [injury] and learn how to be confident even though I was worried about my neck,” said Lili.
Every challenge that Lili has faced has only made her a stronger athlete and person. Her want to succeed in wrestling has made her determined to achieve her full potential. “I developed the mindset, the discipline, and the strength to [wrestle] in college,” Lili said.
