The
growth of girls high school wrestling in Minnesota over the past two years has
been remarkable. During the 2022-23 wresting season, full brackets of girls
wrestled at the state tournament for the first time. The scene at Xcel Energy
Center was electric during those matches, adding another level of greatness to
an already outstanding tournament.
The
addition of female wrestlers has led to a growing number of female wrestling
coaches. I wrote about this facet of the sport prior to the state tournament,
and this story is No. 3 on the list of my Top 10 favorite stories from 2022-23.
It originally appeared on Feb. 27.
Teresa Tonda
remembers the day in May 2021 when girls wrestling was approved as an MSHSL
sport. Despite having no background in the sport, the longtime teacher in South
St. Paul and a onetime basketball coach immediately made it clear that she
wanted to help coach female wrestlers.
The
middle school language arts teacher, now in her 34th year as an
educator, said, “Literally that day I went in and said, ‘I want to coach
wrestling.’ My stepsons had wrestled, I love the sport and I wanted to be part
of girls having a place to belong.”
Tonda
is one of several female high school wrestling coaches in Minnesota, where
wrestling for girls is in its second season. Some of the coaches are veteran
teachers and coaches in other sports, some have children who wrestled, some are
young women who have experience as wrestlers on the high school and college
levels, and all are enthusiastic about this new opportunity for female
athletes.
“It’s
really awesome being a role model and leader for these girls,” said Savannah
Vold, 23, an assistant coach at Chatfield who wrestled at Rochester Mayo High
School, Waldorf University in Iowa and Augsburg University in Minneapolis.
“It’s cool to know how much they look up to me.”
The
number of MSHSL schools sponsoring girls wrestling doubled to 96 this season,
and the opportunities for postseason berths also doubled. The number of section
tournaments for girls went from two last season to four this season, and the
number of girls advancing to state also has doubled.
Ninety-six
females have qualified for this week’s state tournament at Xcel Energy Center.
A year ago, when girls competition was held for the first time, four girls
advanced to state in each weight class. When the individual competition for
girls and boys is held Friday and Saturday (boys will compete for team titles
on Thursday), girls will wrestle in 12 weight classes from 100 to 235 pounds,
with eight girls in each class.
It's
a sea change for a sport that was largely a boys-only activity for nearly a
century; the MSHSL began sponsoring state wrestling tournaments in 1938.
“The
big thing for me is I wanted to show girls you can have a job and be a mom and
work out and be strong and sweaty and dirty, and then you clean up and put on
your high-heeled shoes and go to the dance,” Tonda said. “There are zero
limitations for girls.”
South
St. Paul’s Gisele Gallegos and Ella George will wrestle at state. The Packers
brought seven female wrestlers to the section tournament and they all medaled,
including three who are first-year wrestlers.
Kahlea
Jolly, 21, is one of the busiest wrestlers and wrestling coaches in the state.
She wrestled at Centennial High School for four years and is now a senior
wrestler at Augsburg -- which has sponsored women’s wrestling since the 2019-20
season – as well as an assistant coach at Centennial. She was at Hastings High
School for a girls section wrestling tournament on Feb. 11, where Centennial’s
Jaden Ruegsegger, Nora Akpan and Alaina Franco advanced to state.
“It
was full of emotions,” Jolly said of the section tourney. “The highest of
highs, sending three girls to state, and the other girls barely missed going to
state. I was full of adrenaline all day long. It’s kind of bittersweet because
when I was in high school, we didn’t have this. I’m soaking up every second of
it.”
Jolly
is very busy, because a typical day begins with wrestling practice at Augsburg
at 7 a.m., a full slate of college classes, followed by coaching Centennial
High School wrestlers at 3:30.
“I
love it,” she said.
A
love of wrestling provides motivation for coaches, no matter the gender.
Jenn
Passe, 38, works as a school nurse at Jordan High School as well as a
first-year assistant wrestling coach for the Scott West team, a cooperative
squad with athletes from Jordan and Belle Plaine. She wrestled at Hesperia High
School while growing up in southern California.
“It
was the only way my dad would let me and sister wrestle,” she said, “if it was
on all-girls team. Me, my sister and other girls joined forces. My dad drove us
to tournaments, because there were no buses for us. It was nothing like it is
today. We had three tournaments and that was it. No section, no state, nothing
like it is now.
“And
I would have to say I love it,” she said. “My five-year goal is to build the
girls team up as well as the boys team. We had 10 girls at Scott West to start
with, and two left the team. Next year I hope to double or triple that number.
I’m paying my respect back from when I was in it, and I’m glad I can pay it
forward because I love wrestling.”
Vold
graduated from Rochester Mayo in 2018. She began wrestling as a high school
junior, competing mainly against boys.
“You
really didn’t see any girls wrestling,” she said. “It was crazy if you saw two
girls. It was basically all boys.”
Chloe
Berg, who will wrestle at state this week, is one of seven female wrestlers on
the team at Chatfield.
“I
love all of them so much,” Vold said. “It’s so much fun getting to bond with
them and relate to them. That makes the girls more comfortable to come out for
wrestling.”
Having
females compete has given wrestling a big boost, in numbers as well as
attention. The female coaches see much more growth ahead.
“Honestly,
I feel like it’s going to keep getting bigger and bigger,” Vold said. “It’s
amazing that the MSHSL has sanctioned it. I’ve talked to my friends from
Augsburg and we wish we’d had this opportunity. It’s cool to talk to the
wrestlers now and hope they appreciate this. I don’t have any doubt that
it’s going to continue getting bigger. Now that it’s an actual thing and they
see all these girls go to college and wrestle, they know they have a shot with
this now. It’s super cool to see.”
Passe
said, “Ten years from now, I feel like girls wrestling will be just as big as
boys wrestling, if not bigger. Especially with how many girls wrestle now
compared to just five years ago. I feel like it’s a powerful sport and now that
parents are realizing that their girls can do it, and now there are female
coaches and female refs. It’s going to become a female sport just as much as a
male sport. It’s a wonderful thing.”
Vold
said the relationships with young female wrestlers is vitally important.
“I
can help give them experiences that I didn’t necessarily get,” she said. “Being
there for them off the mat, too, giving them life advice, is important. It’s
pretty special.”
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the
leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on
Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever
you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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