DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
Despite being turned away by the IHSAA as an official sport for the last couple years, the sport of girls wrestling in Indiana continues to grow at a pace unlike any other sport in the state of Indiana.
Brackets released by the 16 host regionals show that 1059 girls are entered in this year’s state tournament. That number is likely limited by the fact that schools can only enter two girls at each weight in the tournament.
The governing body of the sport in Indiana, IHSGW, made a major expansion of the tournament for this season out of necessity by adding another weekend into the tournament. Prior to this year, there was just a regional round prior to the State Finals. The new format now mirrors the boys tournament from the regional level on, with 16 regionals feeding into four semi-states ahead of the State Finals in Kokomo.
A total of 896 girls will survive the opening weekend to advance to the semi-states. While this will create rather small brackets and a short day for regionals, many in the sport are willing to accept an uneventful opening round in order to have a true bracket at the semi-state.
Coaches met for seeding meetings earlier this week for the regionals and each advancing wrestler to semi-state will slot into the SS bracket automatically and there will no longer be a need for A and B brackets and all of the other oddball fixes that once were necessary in the old formats.
“Last year there were two levels and the girls at Warren Central didn’t get out of the gym until 1 a.m.,” noted Gary Myers of IHSGW. “It was the same way at all four regionals last year, this was a necessary expansion even if there are some really small regionals.”
Myers noted that if there are less than four girls in a weight at a specific regional, it is likely that girls who finish in fifth and sixth at other regionals will be invited to fill in those open spots at the semi-states.
The Perry Meridian regional in Indianapolis has the largest field Saturday, with 127 girls entered across the 14 weight classes. Just 56 girls will automatically advance to the semi-state, which is set to be held at Mooresville.
WZBD has remained committed to its coverage of the sport and after becoming the first radio station in the country to cover a high school dual meet for the girls this season with three different broadcasts, 92.7 FM will provide full coverage of all three levels of this year’s state tournament, beginning with coverage of the Jay County girls wrestling regional on YouTube Saturday.
The station will also be broadcasting the final rounds of the Rochester Semi-State on January 5th.
This year’s State Finals will be back at Kokomo and WZBD will be there with full radio coverage again on January 12th.
Jay County Patriots Lineup and Records
100-#9 Katie Rowles (24-4)
105-Sophia Thomas (5-14)
115-Tatianna Willis (10-7)
120-Elizabeth Wendel (1-4)
120-Callie Yates (6-10)
125-Willow Hardy (16-10)
135-Lina Lingo (19-8)
140-#9 Emily Manor (19-1)
145-#16 Maleah Parsons (17-7)
155-#1 Mallory Winner (16-0)
155-Madison Gage (4-8)
170-Tessa Miller (5-14)
190-Sydney Huftel (0-2)