Lynbrook wrestler makes her mark

One of Lynbrook’s own took home the hardware earlier this month, as Ally Fitzgerald won the New York Wrestling Association for Youth State Championship, held at Itacha College on March 15.

“Wrestling was really never something I ever thought she’d be interested in,” said Pete Fitzgerald, Ally’s father. “She came to her mom and I and said she wanted to give it a try, and it’s been great for her.”

Ally got her first time on the mat with the Lynbrook Titans, a local youth wrestling organization run by Hilary Becker, a Lynbrook village trustee. She was inspired to take up the sport at the age of eight after watching her older brother, Liam, compete with the Titans.

“She always watched her brother compete and had taken some martial arts and grappling lessons, so she said she wanted to give it a shot,” Pete said. “I talked to Hilary, and he had her join despite the fact that she was the fist girl on the squad.”

Ally said her favorite part about the sport is the time after the referee’s whistle has blown to start a bought.

“My favorite part about the sport is competing,” she said. “I love to get in there and face off against somebody.”

Since joining three years ago, Fitzgerald, now 11, has competed mostly against boys, as the sport features far fewer female athletes than male. Earlier this month at the State Championship was her first chance to fight against girls, and her training served her well.

Ally won three consecutive matches on her way to the girl’s division title, each in dominating fashion. In her first match, she was all but perfect, vanquishing her opponent by a final score of 6-1. She found perfection in the blink of an eye during her second match, pinning her opponent in just 27 seconds. She stayed perfect in the title fight, as she won her final match 16-0 over last year’s state champion to take home first place.

“I was very, very excited to have won,” Ally said. “I beat the defending state champion in the finals and that was great.”

Becker said Ally deserved the accolades she was receiving.

“We were overjoyed to hear that Ally did so well and is now a State Champion,” he said. “She’s been working hard and deserves the accolades. This is the first of many more gold medals to come. ”