South Jersey's first state champ named Rancocas Valley's girls' head coach
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Kaila Mungo set the standard for girls’ wrestling at Rancocas Valley Regional High School.
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Now, she’s going to lead the Red Devils.
The first state champion in South Jersey girls’ wrestling history, Mungo was recently approved as the new girls’ head coach at her alma mater.
“Kaila is a true trailblazer who holds a special place in our program’s history,” Rancocas Valley athletic director Mike Lamb said in a press release. “Her wrestling experience, fierce competitive spirt and passion will help our student-athletes grow both on and off the mat.”
Mungo’s rise in the wrestling world may have been a surprise to some. She was a standout softball player for the Red Devils and went out for wrestling as a way to stay in shape for her work on the diamond.
“When I first started wrestling, I knew absolutely nothing," Mungo said in a press release. "But I quickly developed a passion for it and became determined to learn as much as I could. I started obsessing over learning new positions, mastering different moves and finding ways to improve my skills."
Mungo would be a diamond on the mat when she won the heavyweight title in the 2019 NJSIAA state wrestling championships at Atlantic City’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. The then-junior knocked off Kittatinny’s Kiera Hubmaster 2-1 in a tiebreaker to become the area’s first-ever state champ on the girls’ side and just the second at RV, joining Eric Childs, who won a title in 1988.
“It’s amazing,” Mungo said immediately after that championship bout. “It’s so powerful to be a part of this.
“I don’t think I’d even watched a wrestling match before I joined the team. I ended up falling in love with it.”
Then-RV girls’ coach Anthony Bowker saw Mungo’s potential for success early on.
“Day 2 (of the preseason), I said to the other coaches that Kaila was going to be our first (female) state champ,” Bowker said back in 2019 minutes after Mungo reached the top of the podium at states. “You could just tell from her work ethic. She’s physical and has an athletic build. If she stuck with it, she was going to get it done.”
Mungo finished her scholastic career with a fourth-place finish at states as a senior. She went on to wrestle at Gannon University.
After a knee injury derailed her grappling career, Mungo transferred to Rutgers University, where she completed a degree in communications.
She returned to her alma mater as a teacher’s aide and was an assistant girls’ wrestling coach last winter.
“I understand the unique experiences that come with being a girl in sports, especially in a traditionally male-dominated sport like wrestling. Being a female wrestler allows me to bring a perspective to coaching that comes from understanding these experiences,” she said. “Representation matters, and I hope to be someone the girls can look up to and see that they belong in wrestling or any other sport just as much as anyone else.
“I was fortunate to have coaches who were patient with me, taught me everything I needed to know, and helped me develop into the wrestler I became. The relationships I built and the sense of family within the RV wrestling program are what make those years so special to me.”
Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 40 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: South Jersey's first state champ named Rancocas Valley's girls' head coach