Girls wrestling is here to stay

Newton’s wrestling team took a trio of wrestlers to the state wrestling tournament at Waverly-Shell Rock High School last year.

That tournament, the second girls state wrestling championships, featured around 220 wrestlers. The first state tournament didn’t even involve 100 wrestlers.

This year, the number grew to more than 450 competitors and more than 470 were registered for the event.

Newton again brought three grapplers to the party, and this time, two of them came home with medals.

For senior Grace Brown, she now stakes claim to two state medals.

“To make history and be able to show girls that it’s a wonderful thing, it’s awesome,” Brown said. “Even Dan Gable said it tonight — it’s awesome to see a woman in a male sport. That’s exactly what’s happening.”

This year’s tournament featured the first three-time state champion in Iowa Valley’s Millie Peach. And plenty of media were on hand to help spread the word through articles, videos and interviews with coaches and participants.

Newton coach Adam Hale is excited for the future. The two girls expected back next season — sophomores Jessie Hutchinson and Emma Lopez-Garcia — already told Hale on Saturday that they wanted to bring in more girls next year to continue to build the program.

“It feels great to be here and to be able to support my team and my school,” Hutchinson said. “I really hope I can get more girls to come out next year. It would give us a bigger program and better opportunities for all of us.”

The first two years of the state tournament took place at Waverly-Shell Rock. The coaching staff there presented the idea to the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association and has been the host school for the tournament the first three seasons.

The Go-Hawks also bring the most wrestlers and have won three straight state titles. So part of bringing the idea to the IWCOA was that they knew they’d be successful.

Can anyone catch the Go-Hawks in future years? I don’t know the answer to that. But I do know that girls wrestling continues to grow and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

How many more schools will get on board? It must take a few more because the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has yet to make the call to sanction the sport.

That is the clear next step. For now, the girls will continue to compete on a big stage in a fantastic new facility in Coralville and do what they can to make their mark.

The Xtream Arena appears to be the new home for the event. And it’s a perfect fit for right now. It’s not too large and not too small. If the numbers continue to trend in a similar direction, it may need to be moved to a larger venue though.

“It was crazy just walking in here,” said Hutchinson about competing in the arena. “I have never been in this kind of environment before. The atmosphere was awesome.”

Lopez-Garcia’s main sport is soccer. She wanted a new challenge this winter and is hoping girls wrestling is sanctioned before she graduates.

“It’s a huge, wonderful thing. I can’t wait for it to be sanctioned,” said Lopez-Garcia, who went 2-2 in her first state tournament. “There’s something powerful about girls wrestling. I’m surprised Iowa has even held off since it’s wrestling. But hopefully we can get it sanctioned before my senior year.”

Brown has seen the evolution of the sport grow simply through her own weight class.

She competed in the heavyweight bracket the past two seasons. The first season, the bracket featured four girls. Last year, Brown placed third in a bracket of eight. This season, she was fifth in a weight class that featured 12 others.

“Heavyweight isn’t a popular weight for girls and to have a big community of that is amazing to see,” Brown said.

The first state tournament did not include a 145- or 160-pound weight class.

The traditional state tournament in February that takes place at Wells Fargo Arena includes 14 weight classes. The 2021 girls state tournament featured 12 of those weights.

“Coach (Dan) Gable said girls wrestling saved the Olympics,” Hale said. “It’s nice to play a small role in that. It would be nice to see it get sanctioned.”

Hopefully that comes sooner rather than later. I’m not sure how much longer they can hold out.

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@shawmedia.com