Article by Genevieve Darst and Addison Mullis

Bianca Connell, a Mauldin High School sophomore, defended her wrestling state championship for the second year in a row. Connell traveled to the Civic Center of Anderson on February 24th, 2024, where she won in her 155 lb division. In just two years of wrestling, she has won a state championship title both years as well as being the first woman at Mauldin High School to win state.

Connell got her start as a wrestler two years ago while playing football. “I played football before and one of the football coaches was actually a wrestling coach and he said for me to come try out and see how I like it and here we are,” Connell said. She has continued to advance her wrestling skills throughout the years with her teammates and coaches. 

Her coach, Quay Scott, was a wrestler himself at Hillcrest High School in the early 90’s. He has helped her tremendously through the last two years and helped her to continue and grow her skills. Scott says coaching Bianca is very easy because, “She's smart, tough, hardworking, and coachable. She's the ideal athlete for wrestling.” With great coaches like Scott, Connell has been able to grow in skill and strength and says, “I honestly wouldn’t be a state champion without them, like, if they didn't teach me moves and how to wrestle basically.” Coaches that believe in an athlete are crucial to hardworking and confident athletes. He says, “She was confident and determined, so I had no doubt that she would win again. I'm just happy for her and glad to see all of her hard work pay off.”

Anyone would be impressed with such an amazing athlete in general, but even more so, she has accumulated a state championship title for every year she has been a wrestler. She has had to grow her skills with the competition growing as well. “Skill-wise I have become a better wrestler; skill ability and mentally I guess you would say,” says Connell. 

To become an exceptional athlete one needs to not only work hard, but care about what they do. To perfect a skill it will take a lot of practice and repetition. This is what Coach Scott instilled into his practices before the state championship. He aimed his message to be tough in order to push Connell to be the very best wrestler she could be and give her the confidence that she needed in order to dominate her competition at the meet. “You're practicing for something big so it’s more work, more effort into it, to make sure it's perfect,” says Connell. After winning state, Connell was stuck in a state of shock that she won again, “All that was going through my mind was like ‘Wow, I won again, I made my coaches proud, my family proud.’” Both Connell and Scott hope that they will grow as a team and continue to make Mauldin High School history.