In wrestling there are times when you just have to take a shot, and Keith Stoerr took his a few months ago. With interest in girls wrestling skyrocketing in Western New York, the Clarence High School wrestling coach was looking to draw that kind of passion to his program.
So he asked Cael Vesper, a sophomore and an old family friend, about the chance of signing up. He told her he had heard rumors Cael was interested, and that he would see her Friday morning for a team meeting.
“Not happening,” Cael replied.
“OK,” Stoerr responded. “So you’re in.”
Somehow he knew Cael would speak to some close friends and teammates from volleyball, a fall sport, and – behind the most powerful of teenage motivations – she would go because her friends liked the idea, too.
He also guessed the change within regional wrestling in recent years – in which girls can now almost always wrestle against girls, no longer forced by lack of numbers to wrestle against boys – might be enough to get her started, and once started something much deeper would be at work.
She is a Vesper, which to wrestling is like a flame to straw.
The season ended a couple of weeks ago. Cael’s preparing to try out for flag football – another blossoming opportunity for girls – but she’s also at the gym, several times a week, to train for next year’s wrestling with close friend Elouise Shifflet.
Amy Kwasniewski, Cameron’s mom, said she and her husband are…
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