INSIDE THE CIRCLE: From Track Lanes to a Wrestling Mat, Avery Ortz Has Discovered a Different Kind of Race - exploreClarion

NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT) — Avery Ortz couldn’t sit still. She bounced on the edge of her seat. Stood up. Sat back down. Tugged at her headgear. Then looked up at the mat where, in a few moments, it would just be her and one other girl. No lanes. No staggered starts. No teammates racing beside her. Just a whistle, a circle, and a room full of eyes. “I was bouncing off the walls,” Ortz said. “I could not sit still. I was so nervous.” This wasn’t a track meet, where jitters disperse across a field and disappear at the sound of a gun. This was wrestling — one-on-one, nowhere to hide — and it was her first match. The sophomore at Redbank Valley, who first put on wrestling shoes just a few weeks...