Coughlin senior balancing wrestling, dancing

WILKES-BARRE – Midway through a recent practice, Coughlin’s Ariel Johnson got frustrated because her hair kept falling out of its ponytail.

Unlike many teenage girls, the Crusader senior wasn’t worried about her appearance. And it took place during a practice in which you won’t find many girls of any age.

Johnson was aggravated about her hair because it kept getting in the in the way of her possibly executing a perfect move and notching a pin on fellow Crusader wrestler Anas Mahmoud.

That’s right. In a sport dominated by males, Johnson is the only female wrestler in the Wyoming Valley Conference.

“She’s got a great sense of humor and is very mature,” said Coughlin head coach Steve Stahl. “We’ve kicked kids off the team and she’s still here drilling every day. That says something about the way she is.”

The time-consuming demands of wrestling on the high school level haven’t stopped Johnson from pursuing another passion – dancing.

The Wilkes-Barre resident has been dancing as a ballerina for 13 years. She is a former member of the NEPA Academy of Dance in Edwardsville and is part of the Dave Ragnacci Studio in Scranton.

While wrestling offers intensity with every practice and match, dancing takes place in a relaxed atmosphere, says Johnson.

“Dancing is the best feeling in the world,” she said. “I’m a dancer and a wrestler and it is two totally different things. But it kind of equals each other out because of my balance and flexibility. That helps me (in wrestling).”

Pushing her limits

As a young student at Pittston Area, Johnson always joked with her friends about joining the wrestling team because she wanted to be involved in a sport.

When she moved to Wilkes-Barre in seventh grade, Johnson thought about wrestling every once in a while. But it never went any further.

She tried diving for the Coughlin swim team when she entered high school, but that sport didn’t offer what she was looking for.

“(Diving) isn’t hard enough for me,” she said. “I like to be pushed over my limits and (wrestling) definitely does it for me.”

Pushing herself is exactly what she has done. While a handful of boys failed to make it through the season, Johnson has made it through every practice. Cracking the Crusaders’ starting lineup has been tough because the Crusaders have three wrestlers at 130 pounds. She has wrestled only a handful of varsity matches and her lone victory came via forfeit.

But Johnson hasn’t backed down from any challenges. Despite being eventually pinned early in the first period, she wasn’t afraid to compete against Crestwood’s Jake O’Hara, a District 2 Class 3A champion who finished third at the Northeast Regional Tournament and placed eighth at the PIAA Championships last year.

“We told Jake that if we lost the toss, there was a chance he was going to wrestle her,” Crestwood coach Darren Testa said. “He just took it like any other match. There’s someone out there and he has to wrestle.”

Johnson, who has won awards as a dancer, will most likely get a chance to compete for a championship at the District 2 Junior Varsity Tournament on Feb. 15-16 at GAR High School.

A determined person

Though she might make some male counterparts feel uncomfortable because they are not familiar with wrestling against a female, one thing is certain – she will be ready for whatever comes her way.

“The experience of being in a totally different setting and being a girl, you would think I would get flustered from people saying stuff,” said Johnson. “But I don’t let that bother me when some people say ‘She’s not as tough as a guy, she won’t make it.’ I want to prove them wrong, that I can do it, so I get extra motivation.

“It proves that I’m strong and I know that I can do it and stick with it. I’m not a quitter at all. I’m not going to let any hard practice or anybody in school keep me from doing what I want to do. I never thought of (quitting). I’m a very determined person.”

Johnson has hopes of attending DeSales University in the fall to study dancing -- even though the university doesn’t have a wrestling program and she would like to continue in the sport.

Even if she doesn’t get to wrestle after high school and continues to excel as a ballerina, one thing is certain: She will be the toughest competitor on any dance stage.

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