Maggie Zuber was the first girl to ever wrestle for Mother McAuley. She spent two years as the only one. And she dreamed of having a team at her school.
Zuber then went out and recruited a coach. Now, it’s all happening for her senior year as the Mighty Macs are set to embark on their inaugural season with a wrestling team.
“It’s honestly better than I could have imagined,” Zuber said. “We have so many girls. We have mats. We have practices. It’s everything I’ve wanted since freshman year, and it’s really cool to see.”
After training and competing on her own for her freshman and sophomore seasons, Zuber was joined by a pair of seniors last season. The trio competed individually in the Illinois High School Association’s girls wrestling state series.
Now, the Mighty Macs have 10 to 12 girls coming out to practices. All of Zuber’s teammates are brand new to the sport.
“We’ve had meetings since my freshman year, telling people if they were interested to come to the gym,” Zuber said. “It’s just never been a big thing. Freshman year and sophomore year, it was just me.
“Last year, we had two other girls who were seniors and having people see, ‘Oh, there are other girls besides just that one random girl who’s wrestling.’ You could see people start to think maybe they’d give it a shot.”
Sophomore Raven Bal is one of the newcomers.
“My biggest inspiration was seeing Maggie start the whole process of wrestling here,” Bal said. “It started as just her, and now we have this whole big team because of her. She encourages new people to come join, which really helps because most people are scared to try new things, especially wrestling.
“Wrestling is a really big sacrifice for yourself and your whole body.”
Zuber also found a coach, recruiting Samantha Barrientos, who had coached Zuber with the Beat The Streets Chicago wrestling club.
“Maggie came to me and was like, ‘Hey, I need a high school coach. Would you be able to coach me?’” Barrientos said. “When I was in high school, I didn’t really have a coach, trying to navigate high school wrestling in California. I told her, ‘I don’t want that for you,’ so I jumped on board.”
Zuber’s wrestling journey started in 2020, sparked by pandemic lockdowns.
“I was in eighth grade and there was nothing to do at all, but Beat The Streets Chicago was doing outside workouts with masks at a park not too far from my house,” she said. “My dad made me and my twin sister (Maeve) walk over there.
“We did the workouts and I was like, ‘Maybe this is something I really want to do.’ So, when the lockdowns started becoming less strict, I started going to practices. I really loved it.”
Zuber was not a stranger to the sport. Her older brother, Matt, wrestled at Fenwick and Northern Illinois.
“I was always a wrestling sister,” Zuber said. “I’d go to all the matches. I knew a lot of the stuff, but I never thought I wanted to do it.”
Zuber, who is wrestling at 140 pounds, has qualified for the state meet the last two seasons and won a match there as a junior. Now, she has her sights set on the podium.
But seeing one of her new teammates find success and perhaps even join her at state?
“That might feel even better,” Zuber said. “That’d be amazing.
“All the girls are really nice and I just try to lead them in the right way and help them with skills in general. When they ask me for help with something and I can help them learn something new, that makes me feel good.”
Zuber knows the best feeling is on the horizon when the Mighty Macs will finally have their first competition as a team.
“It’s actually insane,” she said. “Since freshman year, I’ve been trying to picture it, but I still haven’t been able to even picture it. I don’t think I’ll be able to do it until I actually see it in person.
“We’ll see it soon.”
