Across Iowa, high school girls start wrestling with their own programs

Iowa’s storied wrestling tradition started a brand new chapter.

Girls filed into wrestling rooms across the state Monday for the start of the varsity season. They have done that decades, however, this was the start of their own season. This is uncharted territory for the celebrated “Iowa Girl.”

“I’m glad that the girls are getting more comfortable coming out (for wrestling),” Cedar Rapids Kennedy sophomore Ella Brown said. “I never really thought, in my high school career, we would have had our own girls’ team.”

Dreams became a reality for many past, present and future wrestlers and their parents. Monday marked the first official day of practice for the inaugural season of sanctioned varsity wrestling by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. This has been a long time coming.

“I’m glad it’s here,” IGHSAU Executive Director Jean Berger told The Gazette while attending the state volleyball tournament in Coralville. “After two years of planning and thinking of details, it’s time to go out and get started.”

Ally Jelinek is in her fourth wrestling season. She has witnessed the number of female wrestlers grow. Now, they have their own program with more than triple the amount of competitors.

“This is a huge step for women’s wrestling, especially Linn-Mar,” Jelinek said. “The last three years has just been me and three or four other girls with guys. We haven’t really known anything other than wrestling with guys. This year, seeing all the girls, last year we had six and now we have 20. That’s just a huge improvement.

“I just can’t wait to see how these girls improve over the years. We have girls from seventh grade up to seniors here. It’s awesome, seeing all these girls out here wanting to try and get better.”

Brown echoed Jelinek’s reaction to the start of the season. She was one of the few girls in the Kennedy wrestling program, previously. Brown has also seen the swell of interest from her peers, giving Kennedy 17 wrestlers, including Jacey Bedell, who helped Coach Craig Mallicoat demonstrate snap downs in practice Monday.

“I remember when I first started wrestling and the girls’ program wasn’t that big,” said Brown, who placed second at Brian Keck Memorial Preseason High School Nationals. “A lot of girls were scared to wrestle. I’ve known the girls’ (numbers) have grown.

“It means so much that the girls can come out and enjoy the sport. I find that they will really love the sport of wrestling.”

Jelinek spent time practicing and helping coaches instruct her teammates during the afternoon practice. She takes her role seriously, serving as a role model for younger wrestlers. Jelinek possesses high hopes, wanting the girls’ program to be as deep with as many levels as her male counterparts.

“I hope even more want to go out next year,” Jelinek said. “The guys have a really big squad. They have JV, varsity, I hope we have even more than this year. I hope the girls learn and are so much better from the beginning to the end of the season. Hopefully, want to come back out next year and loved it.”

The boys’ season begins Nov. 14. Facilities will be shared. Cedar Rapids Prairie’s girls practiced Monday at Prairie Point Middle School. Linn-Mar will hold practices simultaneously with the boys being by themselves when girls compete on Monday and the girls having it to themselves during boys’ duals on Thursday. Kennedy will alternate evening and morning practices with the boys’ team.

Mike Geers has coached middle school and high school wrestling at Linn-Mar for 23 years. He heads the program after working with the girls’ wrestlers last season. The Lions have nine wrestlers who are in their first year wrestling. They also have five freshman wrestlers, who competed in junior high. Jelinek is one of five returners from the boys’ team last year.

Competitions will vary. Kennedy has duals set up with Iowa City West, Dubuque Senior and Marion. Some will be held simultaneously with the boys’ teams, while some will be standalone events. Kennedy hosts its first tournament Dec. 12, one of two Monday night competitions.

According to Geers, Linn-Mar will compete on Monday and Saturdays. They open at the Independence tournament on Nov. 19 and host their own 10-team dual tournament set for Nov. 26 that includes Waverly-Shell Rock, Iowa City High, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Waukee and Dubuque Hempstead.

The girls’ season will have four super regionals with the top eight qualifying for the first IGHSAU state tournament Feb. 2-3 at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

“I’m very optimistic about numbers, and how they’ll increase,” Berger said. “Schools will put a sign up and say, ‘Are you interested?’ and they’ll get eight to 10 girls.

“I’m happy with the number of schools. We needed 51 programs to get sanctioned, and we have more than 100. And those 100 include sharing programs.”

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com