Emily Frost loves wrestling. When the Tamarac senior is done practicing at school, the work continues at her wrestling club.

“I love watching wrestling, like I’ll watch it all the time,” Frost said. “I’ll watch my teammates, and I’ll even watch other people from college, like Olympic-level.”

She lives and breathes the sport. But Frost only started wrestling just a few years ago in 8th grade.

“When she first came into the wrestling room and she wanted to wrestle, at first I always tell this story where I didn’t think she was serious,” said Erick Roadcap, the wrestling head coach at Tamarac. He said he had only coached one other girl prior who took wrestling seriously.

Early on, Frost struggled and lost a lot. But she never gave up and stayed in the fight.

“I always talk about it now. God, did she prove me wrong,” Roadcap said.

Over the last six years, Frost has gone on to be one of the most accomplished wrestlers in school history. Last month, she signed a national letter of intent to wrestle at the University of Iowa, the first female wrestler from New York ever to do so.

“I’ve been working really hard and I knew, like when I signed, my hard work paid off,” Frost said.

She will be wrestling for Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun, who was hired as head coach in the fall of 2021 after Iowa added women’s wrestling to become the first Power Five institution to offer the sport.

“It was my dream school, and it seemed like the right fit for me, and I’m really excited to be a part of their team,” she said.

But before she heads off to Iowa, Frost is looking to finish her senior campaign on a high note. She has already put together a nearly perfect record competing at 126 pounds this season, which includes finishing first at the Eastern States Girls Wrestling Classic.

“It’s really a great story,” Roadcap said. “It really is because she walked on, she was starting from scratch and she did it for the last six years. And she’s there now.”

As her high school career begins to wind down, Frost is still hungry for more. She’s eying placing at Sectionals this year, with aspirations of earning a spot at the state tournament.