Editor’s note (April 23rd, 2026): This story has been updated to provide additional clarification on the timeline of events, and the context surrounding student quotes. Additionally, a previous version of this story incorrectly used brackets to paraphrase within a quote.
In the last three years, Benson Polytechnic High School’s wrestling team has been through it. A campus move, a flooded new facility, multiple coach changes — and the departure of one wrestler, Gabi Trimble. Trimble was one of just two girls on the wrestling team during her time. She has been wrestling her whole high school career, has made it to state three times, and has found joy in the challenge on the mat. However, she decided to wrestle for Roosevelt High School this year because of the discriminatory environment she experienced at Benson. While wrestling at Benson, Trimble “did not go to any exclusive girls tournaments aside from regionals, which is, you know, really problematic.”
“I felt isolated,” said senior Benson wrestler Gabi Trimble. Unfortunately, her isolation ran deeper than the lack of female teammates, or her coach not putting her in all-girls wrestling events. The culture left Trimble feeling, at the worst times, unsafe. “The only way I can describe the wrestling room is, like, locker room talk,” Trimble said. “It’s just kind of uncomfortable to be in.”
Trimble recalled the boys making rape jokes, which made her feel very uncomfortable, saying things like “I’m going to get raped at this tournament” or “I just got raped by this dude.” Trimble said it made her feel unsafe, and when she told her then-coach, JD Day, he sat the team down against the wall and told them to quit it. Trimble recounted feeling ten pairs of eyes turn to look at her. While the talk from Coach Day made them stop the jokes for a bit, they eventually resumed. After that, Trimble only felt more excluded. “I didn’t have friends,” she said. “I was kind of just like a body to practice with.”
Day did not respond to a request for comment.
Jeff Martin, a boy who was on the Benson wrestling team Trimble’s freshman year, recalled often hearing misogynistic comments, as well as homophobic language. “There’s definitely heavy misogyny in that community,” he said. “There was a lot of homophobia. […] People would make gay jokes, make homophobic remarks.” Trimble added that she had also heard racist jokes.
This aggression led to a feeling of unsafety for Trimble. At Marshall Campus, where Benson was located during Trimble’s time wrestling for Benson, the wrestling room was deep underground. There were two exit doors, both of which could lock and lead up to the locker rooms, which were under the gym. Trimble said that it did not feel like a safe place. “It’s me and like 12 to 15 guys.” She noted that the boys could overpower her if they wanted to. “It’s a scary situation.”
During practices, Trimble often was left without a partner. When there was a second girl on the team, they were not in the same weight class, and it seemed as if the boys were uncomfortable wrestling her. When she did get the chance to wrestle a boy, it didn’t always go well. “You’re in pretty, like, close proximity with these guys. Two of them got boners. That was uncomfortable. That was actually really uncomfortable to deal with.” Martin said that some of the boys worry about wrestling against a girl because “a lot of guys are worried about ‘oh, what if I accidentally grope someone?’ […] that was definitely a problem.”
But without a partner to practice with, Trimble was unprepared for tournament wrestling. Her freshman year, her then-coach Rustin Marcello entered her into the JV side of a boys tournament, where she was injured. “I broke my collarbone because I was wrestling a dude.” Collarbone injuries are common in the sport, but Trimble felt as if “it could have been mitigated if, like, my coach was doing proper coaching.” She also felt that “Marcello did not do a good job protecting me.” In November 2025, The Oregonian reported that Marcello is currently involved in a lawsuit filed by Cleveland High School girls wrestlers, alleging discrimination. The Orbit contacted Marcello for comment, but did not hear back.
While Trimble struggled to find her place on the team, that isn’t the case for her everywhere. After Benson’s wrestling room flooded at the start of the 2024-25 school year, Trimble began wrestling for Roosevelt High School’s girls team, and has ever since. contrasts the environment of girls wrestling with that of the boys. “It’s so much more supportive.” The girls tournaments are a friendly and supportive environment. “It’s a space for women to just, like, be themselves and express their emotions.”
At Roosevelt, Trimble has only gone to girls tournaments. She said that she’s always on good terms with her opponents regardless of what happens on the mat, and “there’s kind of, like, a difference, especially at boys tournaments where they’re like ‘that dude’s a f**king asshole! I hate him! He, he beat me. I’m gonna beat him up!’ like what?! Hello? What is this mentality? They’re just your opponent. They’re not your enemy.”
Jessica Russell, the Benson Athletic Director, was not in her current position during Trimble’s experience. She said she had been unaware of a possibly discriminatory environment and that “it’s just really disheartening for me to hear that it was a negative experience on the team for her.” She continued, “It was very clear that it wasn’t a good experience for her athletically because she didn’t have anyone else in her weight class to wrestle against.” Russell noted it “would have tanked her senior season.”
Natalia Salinas, a Benson sophomore and the only girl on the wrestling team this year, also said she feels isolated. “It’s kind of weird. I don’t really know how to describe it. It just feels like I’m a little out of place.” Salinas felt like she was the last choice, and said that “Everyone else there is, like, friends and they’ve got their […] ‘bro code.’ […] Dudes just connect a lot easier with each other than they kind of do with others.”
Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing high school sports in the country, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. But, so far, Benson has struggled to be a part of that trend. Next year though, Benson hopes to have a girls team of their own. Both Russell and the current wrestling coach, Robert Caudillo, are optimistic about the girls team next year, although they have some concerns about getting the numbers needed. Caudillo is very enthusiastic about the idea of getting it off the ground. “I’m going to bring girls wrestling back next year.”
Speaking generally about wrestling alongside girls, Gaius Vickery, a Benson wrestler who was not informed by the Orbit of Trimble’s specific experience, said that the girls are “just teammates. It doesn’t really matter the gender, if you’re a girl or a boy you’re just part of the wrestling team. We’re all there, pushing each other, working to be better at wrestling for ourselves and for our team.” Perhaps Vickery represents the culture shift reaching Benson. The real evidence will be seen on the mat.
