Delaware State women wrestlers: ‘It’s our turn to make history … with people who look like us’

When Delaware State University announced in November 2024 that it would be the first historically Black college and university (HBCU) to start a Division I women’s wrestling program, Kenya Sloan saw more than a job opening.

Then an assistant women’s wrestling coach at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, Sloan knew she wanted to be the Delaware State program’s first head coach. She wanted the responsibility that came with building a program critical to the growth of women’s collegiate wrestling.

“I think it has become a part of me to pioneer the sport that I’ve loved my entire life. [To] be able to take it into new spaces was why this job seemed perfect for me,” Sloan said. “There’s young women who had a dream of attending an HBCU, and they also have this dream of being a college wrestler at a high level. Maybe if I hadn’t stepped up and done this … they wouldn’t be able to chase this dream.”

In the Hornets’ first competition, in November at the East Stroudsburg University Open in Pennsylvania, they finished eighth out of 32 teams. In December, the program secured its first victory, defeating Greensboro College. And in January, the Hornets finished second out of 23 teams in the Tornado Open in Tennessee.

Despite the program being new, the Delaware and women’s wrestling communities have welcomed the Hornets warmly at tournaments.

“It’s incredible because when you look around, we’re the only team where it’s like every single person on our team is a person of color and is very, very deep into their culture,” freshman Christina Lisboa said. “When we go into tournaments, we’re chanting, we’re being loud, we’re not fitting into that box.

“It’s great to set the tone at these tournaments and to just see people watch us. People come up to us all the time and it’s like, ‘Wow, you guys are Delaware State women’s wrestling.’ It’s honestly really exciting to hear and really inspiring.”

Sloan took the reins as head coach of the Delaware State women’s wrestling program in June, inheriting a blank slate without a coaching staff, roster or facility.

She spent her first few weeks fast-tracking recruiting while laying the foundation she believed would distinguish the Hornets’ program from others and help create a blueprint for other Division I programs.

“We’re setting the standard not only for what women’s wrestling at Delaware State University is, but what women’s wrestling at an HBCU looks like, what women’s wrestling at the Division I level looks like,” Sloan said. “There’s a lot of people and places that are looking to us to figure out how it’s supposed to be done. So I really was purposeful in this first class in just recruiting a team that I feel like could build a foundation that every team after this can work and grow off of.”

From searching for a place to wrestle as a young girl to competing as a collegiate athlete to now leading a new Division I women’s wrestling program, Sloan has witnessed and helped drive the sport’s evolution at every level.

At Campbellsville University in Kentucky, Sloan helped her team win the 2022 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) women’s wrestling championship and captured the individual title at 155 pounds. While building the program at Delaware State, she now hopes to replicate the same family-oriented culture that fueled her own success.

“I envision a team that’s like a family – that’s what my college team was like – and that’s what made me want to continue to coach in college and to build this team. [It’s] not just people who love each other, but they care about each other and their actions,” Sloan said.

Sometimes that involves some tough love, she said.

“The girls in this room – they call each other out when they’re slacking, when they’re not doing the right thing,” Sloan said. “At the end of the day, it’s always love because I want what’s best for every single one of them.”

Her philosophy aligned with Delaware State director of athletics Tony Tucker‘s broader vision for the athletic program. Tucker said the decision to add women’s wrestling was rooted in the university’s desire to expand what’s possible at an HBCU.

Sloan’s charisma made her a perfect fit for Delaware State, Tucker said.

“She has a presence. … She’s going to just take our women’s wrestling program to a really high level very, very quickly,” Tucker said. “We’re just so proud of that program. I can’t wait to just continue to watch that grow and watch that get better and better. We’re going to end up being one of the best women’s wrestling programs in the entire country.”

After years of being listed as an emerging sport in the NCAA, this is the first season the NCAA will sponsor a women’s wrestling championship. Currently more than 90 NCAA institutions across Divisions I, II and III have women’s wrestling programs, and according to NCAA demographic data, 43% of student-athletes on women’s wrestling program rosters are minorities.

When assembling her coaching staff, Sloan brought in assistant coach Brock Budesheim, whom she knew from their time coaching Tennessee’s USA Wrestling girls’ national team.

“Wrestling always pushes the ability to persevere and to push forward and to keep going when things get tough. The awesome thing about women’s wrestling is that’s exactly the foundation that was built on,” Budesheim said. “Women’s wrestling is women pushing forward and looking at people in the face when they’re saying, ‘This is a man’s sport.’”

While their coaching styles differ, the contrast is intentional – and effective, team members said.

“I think they’re like the yin [and] yang to each other,” Lisboa said. “Coach Sloan is very calm, very technical. She’s showing you how to do it to the T. Coach Brock, he brings that aggressiveness and he brings that strength and that power to it. … They [mix] very well, and it gets the room excited.”

The Hornets’ inaugural roster has 13 student-athletes. Sloan said the current roster – a blend of experienced wrestlers and young women new to freestyle wrestling – is missing athletes in a few weight classes, but she hopes to field a full team with all weight classes covered in the next season or two.

“I feel like all these young women are able to come in and put their egos to the side,” Budesheim said. “We have everyone from first-time freestyle wrestlers to returning national champs on this team, and you walk in and you really won’t be able to tell.”

Freshman wrestler Jehieli Velez-Almodovar said she didn’t understand what an HBCU was initially but came to appreciate choosing Delaware State because it offers her more opportunities. Being part of the program has allowed her to fully embrace the HBCU experience, and she takes pride in representing her team and the sport while helping challenge stereotypes surrounding women’s wrestling.

“Some of the misconceptions [about women’s wrestling] is just girls wanting to be like boys,” Velez-Almodovar said. “I hate whenever you tell somebody that you wrestle and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t want you to slam me or take me down.’ … There’s so much into our sport other than just takedowns or slamming. There’s the work ethic, there’s the environment that you’re around, [and] there’s the people that actually support you.”

Senior Juliana Diaz ranked ninth in the nation in the 124-pound weight class in the most recent National Wrestling Coaches Association poll. Diaz, a transfer from Missouri Baptist University, had sought a more diverse and culturally rich environment than what she experienced at her small Midwestern school, where she won the 2024 NAIA national championship title in the 116-pound weight class.

When she was in high school, the opportunity to wrestle for an HBCU didn’t exist. Being able to participate in the Hornets’ inaugural season holds special meaning for her, she said.

“Now it’s our turn to make history, and we can do it with people who look like us and people of different cultures,” Diaz said. “Being the first, you get to set the standard and just show people what you are about.”

Sophomore Sumayyah Kemp echoed Diaz’s sentiments. Kemp is a non-traditional student; she spent a few gap years coaching high school women’s wrestling before enrolling in college. After spending a year at John Carroll University in Ohio, where she was the only person of color on the women’s wrestling team roster, she transferred to Delaware State.

Although Kemp is redshirting this season – and helping her teammates train during practice in the meantime – she said being at a historically Black university has improved her college experience.

“I actually have the opportunity to be a student-athlete – not just come to practice and go to class, but I have an opportunity to create relationships and build bonds in a way that I didn’t have before,” Kemp said. “So this is the best decision I made for myself to be here, to come here and to experience the HBCU life.”

Despite the Hornets’ strong early showing in competitions, the team has responded by pushing themselves in practice to show they intend to be a formidable opponent on the mat and help the program earn its respect.

“[In] three to four years, whenever people think of Delaware State women’s wrestling, I want them to be like, ‘Damn, they’re dogs and they’re classy,” Sloan said. “I always wanted to have this reputation of, ‘We keep our heads down, we work hard, we get results, and we lead with class.’”

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