INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time, young Hoosier athletes took to the mat for the girls’ wrestling state finals with full recognition and support from the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
“There will always be others, but there will never be another first,” said Robert Faulkens, IHSAA assistant commissioner. “We’re pretty excited to have that opportunity and give girls that opportunity to win a state championship and be an IHSAA champion.”
It took eight years to get there. Since 2017, the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association has run the tournament. That first year, just under 90 girls from across the state competed.
“We started this, and it’s grown so, so much in such a little amount of time,” said Markaela Pugh, the girls wrestling coach at Hamilton Heights.
Pugh was among them in 2017 and is now coaching at her alma mater.
“If you’ve seen a boy’s state finals, it’s like this,” Pugh added. “It’s packed, it’s crazy, only wrestlers on the floor. It’s nice to be able to have them treated the way they need to be treated.”
Support for the sport has since grown exponentially – getting approved as an “emerging sport” in 2022, meaning it would be subject to IHSAA rules. The association gave girls wrestling full recognition last year, and now, around 2,000 are participating in the state finals from more than 250 schools.
“You have a tournament like this, you get the word out, girls get to see that they get to compete, they have a chance to win a state championship, and that number’s going to grow again,” Faulkens said.
They’re paving the way for what’s come to mean more to these girls than just getting the pin.
“Even though it’s an individual sport, I feel like I’ve never been a part of a team that’s this together, and like family,” said Hamilton Heights wrestler Zoe Pugh.
As the sport gains more momentum each year, the IHSAA encourages anyone interested in becoming an official or coach to go for it.
