H-S Athlete of the Week: Jenna Chapman, Albert Gallatin
Submitted photo
Name: Jenna Chapman
School: Albert Gallatin
Class: Sophomore
Sport: Wrestling
Chapman’s week: The Lady Colonial spent five minutes and 22 seconds of time on the mat in winning the championship in the Ram Slam Tournament on Saturday at Pine-Richland High School.
Chapman opened action in the 235-pound weight class with a fall in 2:36 during the quarterfinals before a pin in 15 seconds to advance to the finals. She won the title by planking Fort LeBoeuf’s Zahra Al-Zamly in 2:31 to finish off a dominant tournament, as Chapman didn’t reach the third period in any of her bouts.
“It felt really good to win the tournament, especially with all my wins being by fall,” Chapman said. “I was aggressive but also patient with my attacks. I tend to have most of my success using throws.
“I have been wrestling for five years, and I also go to club practice at Phoenix Wrestling Club in Washington, which puts me in a position to work with some tough wrestlers. I also wrestle against boys in practice, and after doing that, my actual matches don’t seem as challenging, but girls have better flexibility.”
Strong start to the season: Chapman began her season on Dec. 3 and earned a fall in 4:50 over Southmoreland’s Zoey Murphy, who is the defending WPIAL champion and PIAA runner-up at 235. Murphy pinned Chapman last season at the Powerade Tournament.
Chapman, who will compete in the Powerade Tournament again this season, has been ranked No. 1 at 235 by a panel of coaches and avid followers of WPIAL wrestling in the website PA-Wrestling.com for the week of Dec. 16. The rankings also has Chapman listed as No. 10 in the WPIAL across all weight classes. She is an honorable mention for the PIAA rankings.
“Winning that match over Zoey started me off on the right foot this season,” Chapman said. “It is nice to be in the rankings, but I want to be in them at the end of the season. I really want to go to the state tournament this year. I was one win shy of qualifying last season.”
Family affair: Chapman followed her brother into wrestling, and when she competes, her dad, Jon, is in the corner, but Albert Gallatin athletic director and boys wrestling coach Duane Dupont attends as many matches as he can.
“I started wrestling because my brother was doing it and I went to all his practices,” Chapman said. “I thought it was pretty hard at first, but I have worked at it really hard, especially this past offseason. It still isn’t easy but that is what makes it great. It is nice to have my dad with me at every match.”
Friendly competition: Wrestling matches are physical, and sometimes that can lead to hard feelings, but Chapman has respect and friendship with a number of her opponents, which is escalated because Albert Gallatin doesn’t field a full girls team.
“I know pretty much all of the girls from around the WPIAL, and I am on the Pennsylvania team that competes against other states in the nation, which is really neat,” Chapman said. “We traveled all over the country this past summer, so I made a lot of friends with those girls. Some of my toughest opponents have become my best friends. We all go out and eat after matches and just hang out. We don’t have a girls team yet at Albert Gallatin, so we all kind of hang together as wrestlers. I hope Albert Gallatin can field a girls wrestling team soon.”
Chapman has a desire to wrestle in college, and although she plays softball, wrestling is her No. 1 sport.
“I want to keep succeeding in high school so I can wrestle in college,” Chapman said. “I really enjoy softball, and I have played travel softball, but once I started getting real serious with wrestling, I decided to pick one as my main sport.”
Compiled by Jonathan Guth