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Lady Flames wrestlers growing by leaps and bounds under Manley sisters’ watch
4/20/2023 3:38:23 PM | Women's Wrestling
Liberty University’s women’s wrestling team took baby steps and giant leaps throughout the 2022-23 season, Head Coach Charisse (Manley) McIlhenny’s third at the helm. She and men’s wrestling Assistant Coach Josh McIlhenny not only welcomed their first child, Zain, into their family, but the women’s team introduced several newcomers to the sport after pre-season tryouts.
“Several of our girls this year have never wrestled before and ended up winning overtime matches at (NCWA) nationals,” Charisse McIlhenny said. “So we’ve definitely experienced a large amount of growth of individuals in the sport of wrestling, which was awesome.”
Lady Flames freshman Mackenzie Yates was among those who strapped on singlets and walked onto the mats for the first time, and grew in both wisdom and stature, as well as in the ways of the Lord, throughout the initiation process.
“This was my first season ever wrestling and it has been an amazing experience, just the way that the team has fostered such a Christ-like environment and that I have been able to parallel my faith and my wrestling journey,” said Yates, who finished 4-8 at 155 pounds. “Just being able to grow in the Lord with all of this sisterhood and brotherhood with the men’s wrestling team, I have absolutely adored it. I have improved so much so I’m like in the best condition that I’ve ever been in.”
“I believe that many other colleges don’t have the kind of culture that we do, the Christian environment that our coaches are growing us in,” added freshman Madison Alcon, who competed at 136 pounds. “They took some people who had never wrestled before, didn’t know what they were doing, and then we ended up going to Puerto Rico for (NCWA) nationals, which was an incredible experience. Our team has grown tremendously over the past six months … and now we are able to do almost anything we put our mind to.”
McIlhenny, a two-time NCWA Grand National champion at Liberty, said she and Assistant Coach Cendall (Manley) Murphy, her younger sister and a four-time national champion for the Lady Flames, set the bar high for both the returning and incoming wrestlers.
“Some of (their growth) was individual athleticism, but also we really just pushed the pace with the girls this year and held them to a standard of like ‘Hey, if you’re going to be on this team, you’ve got to rise to the occasion and learn,’” McIlhenny said. “Then with the amount of amount of competition we had, the skill levels just grew exponentially.”
She said putting God first in everything they do, from practices and matches to their academics and social lives, has been key to the team’s holistic development and camaraderie in the wrestling room.
“Our culture is really centered on, ‘Christ is our foundation, we do what we do because Christ has called us to be excellent in everything our hand finds to do,’” McIlhenny said. “Then we want to create this environment where we are in each other’s corner, cheering on one another, sharpening each other, and I think that the girls have really taken that on this year and we hope to continue to grow that in years to come.”
Yates is looking forward to the 2023-24 season with boundless enthusiasm.
“Going into this next season, I am so excited to learn a bunch of new moves because we have a base set of moves now,” she said. “So learning and continuing to grow onto that and then getting ready to get back with this family and expanding it, I can’t wait.”
Video edited by Kylee Lilge/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator