Jan 21, 2020

Hays High embraces first year of girls wrestling program

Posted Jan 21, 2020 7:37 PM

By DUSTIN ARMBRUSTER
Hays Post

In late April 2019, the Kansas State High School Activities Association approved the formation of girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport for the first time.  By late August, a vote of 65-2 by a board of school representatives put the wheels in motion for the 2019-20 school year to be the first official season. 

Schools are not required to have girls wrestling if there is no interest.  First-year Hays High wrestling coach Heath Meder began to see if any girls in Hays had interest.  The answer he found out was a quick yes.  Initially, 12 girls signed up to receive more information and 10 eventually started the season.

Currently, six of those are still active wrestlers including Sarah Zimmerman who as a freshman is ranked fifth at 109 pounds as of the Jan. 14 rankings.  

It has been a work in progress for coach Meder as the season has gone along. Singlets needed to be ordered but had to wait until a week into the season to see how many would be needed.  Girls are not required to wrestle boys if they do not wish to.  This is the first time wrestling for most of the girls so the coaching staff had to bring back the basics.

There have been some girls only tournaments this season. Most recently, Hays High hosted the Junior Prairie Classic. Traditionally, this tournament was for junior varsity wrestlers. This year, they decided to add an all level girls tournament to the equation. 340 wrestlers showed up last Saturday in Hays. Nearly 100 of them were girls.  

Meder said some of his favorite moments so far in the new venture of girls wrestling comes from the joy the girls have competing.  He also notes that some of the girls are the most aggressive wrestlers he coaches.  

There will be separate girls regional tournaments that will lead to a separate state tourney.  Currently, there are two regionals with classes 1A through 6A all in one division.  Hays will be among the 79 schools in McPherson Feb. 14 and 15 trying to qualify individuals for the state tournament.  The other tournament is in Paola and has 71 schools attending.  The top four from each weight class at each regional will qualify for state. 

The State Tournament will be in Salina on Thursday, Feb. 27.  The tournament is one day in advance of the boys state tournament.  

Coach Meder expects the number of female wrestlers in Kansas to continue to grow.  The National Federation of State High School Associations backs up the thought.  NFHS numbers show a 27.5% increase of female wrestlers in the United States from 2018 to 2019.  The state of Kansas saw a growth rate of almost 75% in the same time.  (USA Wrestling High School Development Committee, Co-Chair Joan Fulp and Andrea Yamamoto http://kshsaa.org/Public/Wrestling/PDF/GirlsParticipationData.pdf)

Each of the Western Athletic Conference schools have a girls wrestling program, and Meder says he wouldn't be surprised to see girls wrestling at the middle school level soon.