TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — East Lake senior Arianna Antoniou is used to setting the tone.
She is used to setting the scene. She is used to blazing a trail.
What You Need To Know
East Lake High senior Arianna Antoniou capped off her senior wrestling season with a state championship
She’s the first female at East Lake to win a wrestling state title
She will continue wrestling at the next level. She’s attending the University of Florida and plans to wrestle on the club team
But this season, Antoniou did something no other girl had ever done at East Lake High School. She made history as the first girl to win a wrestling state championship. Not bad for a girl who took up the sport because she saw it advertised on a flyer.
“It means a lot to me,” she said. “I really hope I did inspire people to just try out wrestling. Like, even if they don’t think they’ll be good at it, even if they don’t think that’s the vehicle for them, just try it out. You’ll have fun and you might stick with it.”
Antoniou didn’t set out to make history or serve as a role model. She just wanted to try a sport that would challenge her. That would provide a platform to compete. And that’s what wrestling did. Wrestling gave Antoniou a strong foundation to build upon in whatever she decides to do in the future.
“Every great wrestler needs athletic ability and a good mindset,” head coach Jason Leggett said. “And she has both of them and you can’t really teach a good mindset. You can teach them how to wrestle but you can’t teach them how to think about wrestling.”
Next up for Antoniou after graduation is the University of Florida. They have a club wrestling team and she plans on continuing to take part in her favorite sport because it’s given her so much.
“I leaned that no matter what I’m doing, no matter how hard I think anything I’m going through in life is, I can do it,” Antoniou said. “As long as I put my mind to it, as long as I believe in myself, put the work in, I can do anything.”