This ‘sweet’ gesture helped ease her friend’s grief over missing out on the PIAA girls’ wrestling championship

Third in an occasional series of stories about the inaugural season of PIAA girls’ wrestling.

Barefoot, frantic, and falling behind, Northeast High School sophomore Samiyah Rahming desperately searched for the entrance to Quakertown High School at a wrestling weigh-in ahead of regionals in late February, where she likely would have qualified for the inaugural PIAA girls’ wrestling championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Inside, Marianna Bracetti Academy sophomore Julissa Ortiz pleaded with officials, explaining that her friend was just outside.

Rahming and her father, Michael, however, had arrived in the front of the building, not the back. It had taken more than an hour and 20 minutes for them to travel from Olney.

They were about 10 minutes overdue by the time Rahming gave up on the front, found an unlocked door in the back, and sprinted into the gym.

“I was devastated,” Rahming said in a recent phone interview. “I just started crying.”

Illness scuttled her chances at last year’s unsanctioned state tournament, and her heart was set on competing in the first official girls’ championships.

“I was completely gutted,” Michael Rahming said. “I was crying. We both were inconsolable at that point.”

They weren’t alone.

“I know she felt defeated,” Ortiz said. “I did, also. I could feel it. It actually broke me to see her not be able to wrestle, because I know she’s a really good wrestler.”

Ortiz, though, had no intention of wrestling in the PIAA championships without her friend — one way or another.

» READ MORE: What was the first season of Pa.-sanctioned girls’ wrestling like? Let the people involved tell you.

They had met years earlier at a Police Athletic League wrestling club in Port Richmond, where they usually were the only girls.

“The first time I met her I was like, ‘Oh, wait, she’s really good,’” Rahming said of Ortiz, who had begun wrestling years earlier.

They bonded quickly, feeling like outcasts in a wrestling world that wasn’t always welcoming of girls.

The sport also was a family business of sorts for both.

Ortiz, who last year became the first girl to win a Public League wrestling title, fell in love with the sport because of her older sister, Tatyana, who in 2016 forced the Catholic League to alter its rule allowing girls to wrestle boys.

Rahming wrestled because of her older brother, Nasir, who is now a senior at Northeast.

Their father, a 2004 graduate of Olney, also wrestled in high school before becoming a coach. He is the wrestling coach at West Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: Julissa Ortiz became the first girl to win a Public League wrestling title. She’s just getting started. | From 2023

Making matters even more painful, Rahming finished second in last year’s regionals and qualified for the unsanctioned girls’ state tournament held at Central Dauphin High School.

A severe stomach virus sent her to the hospital instead.

Ortiz also likely would have qualified, but she was one pound over the limit in the 121-pound weight class ahead of regionals.

Perhaps that’s another reason she felt Rahming’s pain and chose to honor her friend.

As Ortiz took the mat during the PIAA championships at the Giant Center in March, Rahming watched via the FloWrestling stream.

“I was watching Juli wrestle, and then I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my headgear,’” she said. “At first, I was confused.”

Her father then explained that Ortiz asked if she could wear Rahming’s headgear so that her friend was at least there in spirit.

“I was like, ‘That’s actually so sweet,’” Rahming said. “It was a really good feeling. It showed that someone actually felt that me wrestling mattered to them.”

Ortiz, despite suffering a concussion during regionals, finished second in the 124-pound weight class in Hershey. The injury caused her to miss a week of practice before the finals.

A week after the state championship, she defeated a Delaware state title holder in a showcase event.

Perhaps Rahming also had some positive momentum. She recently won four matches and claimed the 117-pound title at the prestigious Viper Pit Nationals in West Virginia.

“I think it was a really big accomplishment because I wrestled girls from all around the country,” she said. “I was happy, but at the same time, I know that this is just the beginning. I know I have more things to work on and more to accomplish.”

That includes competing in next year’s PIAA postseason events. Rahming also won a coed Public League title at 114 pounds this year.

“I think that will be my main goal my junior year,” she said. She already won several middle school titles, traveled the country, and made good friends since she started wrestling at about 10 years old.

» READ MORE: Conwell-Egan’s Julia Horger fell back in love with wrestling after her mom started a club for girls

She also hopes to wrestle in college and perhaps make a run at the 2028 Olympics.

For now, her father is just proud to witness the positive changes wrestling has helped his daughter make. She’s become known for her ability to toss opponents like rag dolls.

“It’s an outlet for her,” he said. “She’s very sweet. She’s more mild-mannered. You wouldn’t believe that she’s the same person on the mat.

“It helps with body positivity, self-esteem, learning how to regulate emotions, learning how to live with loss and the highs and lows, and it helps them when they leave high school. I think there’s a saying, ‘Once you’ve wrestled, everything else is easy.’”