Home Sports Le Mars Girls Wrestling Prepares for Start of Historic Season

Le Mars Girls Wrestling Prepares for Start of Historic Season

On Thursday, the Le Mars girls wrestling team will make history with their first competition as an organized sanctioned program. While the Bulldog wrestling team has had girls participate in it for some time, this new program allows it to be more readily accessible. Head Coach Greer Milledge says practice has focused on honing the skills of the experienced while introducing the newest wrestlers to the sport.

Those experienced wrestlers are an extension of the coaching staff in this first year of the program. Coach Milledge says the seniors on this team have been vital in supporting and instructing new wrestlers in the program.

The Bulldogs will field a team of 21 wrestlers in the program when they take the mat on Thursday. Seniors Bailey Brady and Kylie Hessenius will get a lot of the attention at the top. But, with a class of 13 freshmen, Coach Milledge says there will be some young faces that get the chance to shine.

Competition will not entirely resemble the boys schedule in this first season. The girls schedule will feature a heavy interest in tournaments and scrambles while less of a focus on duals.

In boys wrestling, the Iowa High School Athletic Association splits the programs up into three classes based on size. In this first season of the sport, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union will leave everyone together in one class. Coach Milledge says this means that the Bulldogs will face a wide array of wrestling talent from across the state.

There is a ton of excitement surrounding the program for their first season as a sanctioned sport. That excitement is felt by Coach Milledge who wrestled in high school and has been the middle school wrestling coach at LCHS for the last few years. He’s excited for the opportunity but is more excited for the girls to finally get a fair shot at wrestling competitively.

The Bulldogs will wrestle beginning at 5:00 on Thursday evening at Sioux City North to start their season.