I’m guessing you like me are watching USA athletes joining nations around the world in the 24th Olympic games. You may not have noticed that there’s medal competition for women’s wrestling. It’s a very competitive sport, just ask Lily Runez, a Keene High School rising Junior.
Let me introduce you to Lily if you haven’t seen her wrestle on the Keene Coed Wrestling Team. Yes, because of women like Lily, wrestling isn’t just a high school men’s competition any longer. Lily is ground breaker. Like one of Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000-hour geniuses. Nobody in the New England wrestling community see’s Lily as an ordinary girl, she’s a phenomenal athlete.
Her impressive credentials include:
As a freshman at Keene High in 2023, Lily became the first girl to be crowned a state champion at the inaugural NHIAA Girls Wrestling State Championships.
This year she competed in the co-ed state tournament as a sophomore, seeking to become the first girl in Granite State history to win a co-ed wrestling title. Lily finished second at the Division I tournament at 106 pounds. She also earned second at the Meet of Champions. In other words, only one boy in the state was able to beat her. Her 2nd place finish qualified her for the all-NE coed tourney, where she earned wins in her first 2 matches.
This past month, the Keene Sentinel reported that “the 16-year-old Keene native competed on one of the biggest stages junior wrestling has, finishing eighth in the junior girls freestyle 105 pound weight class at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals held in Fargo, N.D., July 12 through 20, 2024. Lily entered the tournament as the 20th seed in her weight class, faced off against 64 of the best wrestlers in the country and finished in the top-8 earning All-American status, surpassing the achievement of any Keene wrestler ever, and placing her on the radar for top collegiate and perhaps international status.
For her Junior high school year, Lily will continue her athletic and academic efforts at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn. Lily will be wrestling on an all-women’s team and competing nationally. We’ll be able to watch her on-line from the school’s website.
As her dad and head coach of the Keene high School Coed wrestling team, Peter Runez says, if you put in the effort the wins follow. Lily puts in the effort. Assistant Coach Bill Gillard described Lily’s routine. She’s in the gym at 6 am. At her natural weight around 106 pounds, she is able to lift from a squat position, 215 lbs. She also runs cross country on the KHS girls team.
Lest we think Lily is one-time phenom, girls wrestling is a rapidly growing sport in Keene and nationally. Keene’s developmental wrestling program begins with the Kindergarten to 5th grade Keene Gladiators, led by former Keene High School state champions, Brandon Black and Cory Black. Jerimiah Crump also a former state champion coaches Middle schoolers and at Keene High School, Mark Trubiano, Jeff Johnson (the primary women’s coach), and Bill Gillard are assistant coaches to Peter Runez. This year the Keene High School team sent 8 wrestlers to the all-state Meet of Champions, 6 placed in the top 6 of their weight class placing Keene High in 3rd place overall, and 4 wrestlers placed in the top 3 to qualify for the all-NE tournament, where Lily won 2 matches in her weight class, the best performance of all Keene’s wrestlers. One of those competing with Lily at the all-NE tourney was her brother, Silas Runez, who was a state champion this year and who will be attending and wrestling at the University of Southern Maine this fall. As a former high school wrestler, I’m very excited for some great spectator opportunities in Keene’s future.
Of coach Peter Runez, Bill Gillard says Pete is a phenomenal technician and good teacher. His attitude is that to be competitive you need to pragmatically avoid the highs and lows of individual sport competition. Pete doesn’t yell, he’s kind and compassionate and he recognizes team accomplishments. Of women competing on a coed wrestling team both Bill and Peter see it as a very natural thing when it begins in K-8th grades. Women’s wrestling is bringing more people into the sport. A girl wrestler will encourage her siblings into the sport. And with more schools and colleges adding women’s wrestling into their athletic programs, interest in the sport and the conditioning that comes with it will grow.
About the spread of the sport, Bill described how last fall MONIFF showed a feature film produced by Dillon Mulick, a 2000 KHS grad on Helen Maroulis. Helen is wrestling in her 3rd Olympics as a two time medalist at the 57 Kilo weight class, around 120 lbs, having won Olympic gold in 2016 and bronze in 2021. Women’s wrestling finals can be viewed on August 8 and 9. Not only did Helen Maroulis come to Keene for the viewing of Mulick’s film, she led an afternoon clinic for both male and female wrestlers.
I want to thank Lily and Peter and his fellow coaches for building wrestling interest and recognition in our Keene community. For your accomplishments, I want to present Lily Runez and Peter Runez with this honorary key to the city as a token of the City’s appreciation. We’ll be cheering for your future successes.
Jay Kahn
Mayor, City of Keene