Middleton, Fla. – History was made for The Villages High School athletics department Wednesday in Middleton.

Emily Frantzen, a senior on The Villages High School girls wrestling team, became the first female in school history to sign a letter of intent and accept a scholarship offer to continue a wrestling career at the collegiate level.

Frantzen signed her name to Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, celebrating the milestone in front of friends, family and teammates during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon inside the VHS Cafeteria.

"I owe a lot of this to my team, my coaches and especially Coach (Joe) Cummings," Frantzen said. "He built the program for me and gave me the opportunity to compete, and really just see what I could do out there on the mat. I'm really going to miss this team because here is where all of my groundwork was and I'm ready to build on it."

Frantzen, who also competes on the VHS varsity flag football team and previously played for the Buffalo junior-varsity football team, leaves behind a trailblazing career in a Buffalo singlet.

She serves as a founding member of the VHS girls wrestling program in its debut season this past winter, recording 22 victories and a tournament win at the Lady Devils Invitational at Kathleen High School. Frantzen also secured a regional berth as an individual in 2025.

"We were able to build our girls wrestling program around Emily," said VHS wrestling head coach Joe Cummings. "It's something that's still growing, but we've got a lot of young girls in our youth program right now looking up to her and we're looking forward to Emily passing the torch onto them."


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment via email at cody.hills@tvcs.org.