Old Lyme — Only a couple of weeks after winning the 132-pound championship at the CIAC Girls’ State Wrestling Championship, Old Lyme High School junior Hoshena Gemme placed first in the inaugural New England championship for girls.

Down 6-5 to Mount Anthony’s Jillian Glaski (Bennington, Vermont), Gemme performed a takedown with 4 seconds left to give her the 7-6 lead and the win by decision.

“At around 10 seconds left, I thought to myself, ‘I need this win. I put too much work into this sport. I deserve this win more,’” Gemme said.

During the regular season and in the Class S state tournament, before competing in the girls-only events, Gemme trains and competes with both boys and girls.

Gemme is unfazed by her male opponents and competes the same way no matter what, often resulting in a victory. Placing second in the 2022-23 Class S state tournament as a 113-pound sophomore, she proved to her male adversaries early that she should not be taken lightly.

Gemme said: “Sometimes they get a little upset, but most of the time they are more in awe that I beat them. They are usually stronger than me, but my technique has always been really good, so I can usually outmaneuver them to win matches.”

Someone who has been following her career since middle school, Old Lyme athletic director Hildie Heck, is one of Gemme’s biggest fans. A fellow woman in sports, her pride lives vicariously through Gemme as she dominates on the mat.

“We had been in contact with her mother while she was going through youth programs because she was excelling in everything she did. She was an integral part to us starting our wrestling program here,” Heck said.

One of the proud founding members of the Old Lyme wrestling program, Gemme’s leadership and individual success has been monumental for the growth of what the Wildcats have created.

Heck said: “She keeps everyone in check, she helps organize, she’s kind of like the coach’s right-hand man. She also works closely with me if I need information from the team; if I need a picture or a meet date, she’s always the first one I go to. She’s the co-captain and she does a great job helping her team, but she does a lot more for the program than just that.”

“It’s been really great seeing the new kids come in and watching them progress as wrestlers,” Gemme said. “I was a captain this year, so I was working with the younger kids a lot — teaching them the basic moves and finding the move that they can do most often in the match. With my older teammates, it’s more competitive, just trying to get each other better no matter what.”

Gemme has been instrumental in the progression of her teammates and that is due largely in part to the various mentors and clubs that she’s worked with throughout her career.

Apart from her tenure at Old Lyme High, she spends a considerable amount of time training with area club teams like Wolf Gang Wrestling in Groton, FishEye Wrestling in Windsor and Team Tugman in Ansonia. Since the third grade, she has been wrestling for various coaches and programs, which has given her a diverse repertoire of skills that she not only uses but shares with her teammates.

Gemme specifically named T.J. “Carnivore” Hepburn, the former Ledyard High School great, former Mixed Martial Arts fighter and current coach, as one of her biggest mentors growing up.

“I went to MarcAurele for my youth program, then slowly branched out to other clubs as I got older,” she said. “Going to the clubs really helped me build a good foundation for my skills, then T.J. Hepburn from Wolf Gang took my skills to a whole different level.”

With her third high school season coming to a close, Gemme begins her club season in the approaching weeks.

In April, she will attend the 35th Annual High School Nationals at Virginia Beach, Virginia, with Team Tugman. Then in May she’ll be in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to compete with the Connecticut USA Wrestling team. In July, Gemme will travel to Fargo, North Dakota, to wrestle with Connecticut USA Wrestling once again.

“Nationals is coming up, so I definitely want to win that first, but in the future I just want to win as much as I can — states again, New Englands again,” Gemme said. “After that, I’d like to get recruited to a (Division I or Division II) school to wrestle; I think I have the work ethic for it.”

Her recruitment is wide open, as she has just begun doing visits and college research. She has aspirations to pursue a medical degree.

One thing is for certain, wherever Gemme ends up, she’ll continue to inspire girls like herself to pursue what they love regardless of the adversity and competition they face along the way.

Heck said: “As a wrestler and a strong woman, she’s really a spokesperson for the sport, whether she’s aware of that or not. The kids are so young that they probably don’t realize, but it hasn’t always been like this; they’re building history. Women’s wrestling is still on the rise and seeing Hoshena make her mark on that is really cool for me because I love seeing my girls succeed more than anything.”

z.cunningham@theday.com