DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
224 girls and thousands of high school wrestling fans packed the Memorial Gymnasium in Kokomo Friday to celebrate another year of incredible growth in the sport of girls wrestling in Indiana, culminating in the crowning of 14 state champions, with eight of those young women repeating as champions and six standing on the top of the podium for the first time. The New Haven Bulldogs claimed their first team title with four placers and two champions.
Jay County’s Mallory Winner, an eleventh-grader, became a three-time state champion, joining Julianna O’Campo of New Haven as a potential four-timer at the 2025 Girls State Finals.
A big topic of discussion throughout the day revolved around the debate of whether those 2025 Finals will come as a sanctioned IHSAA sport or if the association will continue to drag its feet and hold off on taking the tournament over from the IHSGW, despite being one of the few states left in the union not to take that step.
Ticket sales in excess of 5000 Friday in Kokomo, along with the passion and blood and sweat of the competitors, paint a promising picture for the sport moving forward.
The IHSAA did have a presence Friday, allowing the tournament to be conducted on the same four IHSAA mats as the boys championships. That move came as a surprise to most.
“We worked really hard with Robert (Faulkens) and it was a big surprise that we wanted to have for the girls,” said Gary Myers, president and founder of the IHSGW. “Why shouldn’t these girls get the chance to wrestle on these mats?”
Assistant commissioner Faulkens was also on hand to award team trophies to representatives from all 16 regionals and the four semi-states at the beginning of the day.
There were, however, no representatives from the IHSAA present for the medal rounds or the finals, but that made little difference to the girls on the award stands.
This year’s opening round was easily the most competitive ever in the event, the eighth State Finals hosted by the IHSGW. Several big names were knocked out in the first round and kept from the medal stand.
Locally, Jay County’s Lina Lingo and Mallory Winner scored falls in the opening round, while Emily Manor was handed a tough draw after a fourth-place finish at semi-state. Manor faced eventual champion Aleksandra Bastaic from Highland and bowed out of the tournament after a first-period fall.
In the quarterfinals, Lingo pulled off a big upset, working her takedowns to knock off #2 Haylee Selis from Penn, 6-2. Mallory Winner scored a fall just 20 seconds into the second period against Perry Meridian’s Kate McKee.
Lingo, who entered the state tournament ranked 11th in the state by IndianaMat, was outmatched in her final two matches, but still finished on the 4th-place spot on the podium at 135.
Winner pinned #3 Josie Hause from Monrovia in the semifinals, setting up a rematch of the semi-state championship bout with Rhaigyn Trenary, the freshman from Eastside.
Mallory once again controlled Trenary on the ride after scoring a takedown early and ended the six-minute bout with a 6-0 decision, setting herself up to be a four-time state champion next year.
New Haven clinched the team race with titles by sisters Julianna and Ysabelle O’Campo. Heaven Gardner took fourth at 170 and Olivia Bohde was third for coach Jimmy Linn’s Bulldogs.
There were several upsets in the finals that kept girls from repeating as state champions. Ella Gahl of Northfield was a winner last season, but was knocked off by Noblesville’s Kyra Tomlinson in the semifinals. Tomlinson gave up the opening takedown to Huntington North freshman Aubrey Troutner in the finals at 130, but then came back to score 14 points in the first period on her way to a 19-10 major decision.
Ava Allen of Silver Creek nearly scored an upset at 140, but Aleksandra Bastaic hit a state championship-winning double leg at the buzzer to repeat as champion. The Highland wrestler was ranked #1 all season long.
The biggest surprise of the tournament came in the finals at 190, where Hannah West of Mt. Vernon (Posey) appeared to be just minutes away from reaching the top of the mountain and the rarified air of being a four-time state champion until Jaiah O’Neal of Brownsburg reversed West and held her on her back for much of the third period. West won the bout by a 6-3 score.
Rose Kaplan of West Lafayette was awarded the Mental Attitude Award after winning her second title.
TEAM SCORES
Place | School | Points |
1. | New Haven | 90 |
2. | Southport | 72 |
3. | Indian Creek | 52 |
4. | West Lafayette | 48 |
5. | Northeastern | 47 |
6. | Merrillville | 44 |
7. | Jay County | 41 |
8. | New Palestine | 40 |
9. | Lake Central | 39 |
10. | Warren Central | 37 |
Championship Bouts
100-#1 Kendall Moe (Hamilton Heights) p. #5 Kyleigh Honaker (East Noble), 3:10
105-#1 Heather Crull (Northeastern) p. #4 Kynlie Keffer (Daleville), :30
110-#1 Julianna O’Campo (New Haven) m.d. #2 Joy Cantu (Merrillville), 9-0
115-#2 Ysabelle O’Campo (New Haven) d. #1 Tola Aluko (Ben Davis), 3-0
120-#2 Sophia Buechner (TH North) p. #3 Naima Ghaffar (NorthWood), 1:12
125-#1 Rose Kaplan (West Lafayette) p. #9 Aminah Rusunuguko-Taylor (Warren Central), 1:15
130-#2 Kyra Tomlinson (Noblesville) m.d. #4 Aubrey Troutner (Huntington North), 19-10
135-#1 Maddie Marsh (Pendleton Heights) d. #4 Katy Vardaman (Homestead), 7-2
140-#1 Aleksandra Bastaic (Highland) d. #2 Ava Allen (Silver Creek), 5-3
145-#1 Elly Janovsky (Lake Central) p. #4 Jazlinn Diaz-Avalos (Franklin Community), 3:18
155-#1 Mallory Winner (Jay County) d. #2 Rhaigyn Trenary (Eastside), 6-0
170-#1 AvaLynn Mosconi (Southport) p. #4 Nyisha Gindelberger (SB Riley), 3:45
190-#2 Jaian O’Neal (Brownsburg) d. #1 Hannah West (Mt. Vernon (Posey)), 6-3
235-#1 Varzidy Batchelor (Northview) p. Eva Stokes (Harrison (WL)), 1:26