The Ogden Meet

 From Wrestling Herstory by Tricia Andersen

It was a frigid morning in January when the next vital step in high school girls wrestling in the state of Iowa happened just shy of a year later in Ogden, Iowa. 

A month earlier, a notice appeared on social media about a girls only division being held at the Ogden High School JV Tournament on January 6th, 2018. 

An invitation went out to all the high schools in the state, asking for their girls to attend. It was echoed on social media in groups administered by Jason Loyd of Iowa AAU Wrestling and Charlotte Bailey of Iowa USA Wrestling. 

The message was specific: If the girls wanted to wrestle other girls in high school, they needed to be at this event.

Teams streamed into the Ogden gym early that morning with fans and wrestlers filling the stands. The floor was filled with boys warming up for the day. One girl wrestler could be observed getting ready among them. Two mats were set up in the main gymnasium and one nearly took up the capacity of the cafeteria. 

It wasn’t long before the gymnasium filled with wrestlers, parents, cheerleaders, and coaches.

The JV boy wrestlers were called to weigh in first, then the girls. The group of female wrestlers found their way to the doorway leading outside, eyeing the ten-foot sidewalk that separated the main school building and the pole building that housed the wrestling room. It took a little while for them to summon the courage to sprint the short distance in the frigid cold. This was the first opportunity for the eleven girls to get to know each other as they discussed if there was another route to take. Finally, there were a couple shrieks and a few giggles as they hurried together from one building to the other. Their coaches and a few parents chuckled as they followed. The girls were pleasantly surprised to find the wrestling building where the weigh-ins were held was pleasantly warm.

Out of the 91 high school female wrestlers in the state of Iowa, eleven girls weighed in for the meet. They included Shae Muecke of Kingsley-Pierson High School, Keagan King and Hannah Payne of South Central-Calhoun, Maddy Buffman and Olivia Diggins of Logan Magnolia, Kim Hendrian of Roland-Story, Llia Hostetter of Colfax Mingo, Chloe Krebsbach and Kate Mostek of Osage, Camrae Schakel of Nevada, and Ali Andersen of Cedar Rapids Kennedy. While almost all of the participants were only an hour or so away, Andersen was the only girl from the east section of the state to compete.

Krebsbach and Muecke competed in the 113 weight class with Krebsbach taking first after winning two matches. Payne won three matches against Andersen in the 120 bracket, taking first. The 128 weight bracket had five wrestlers in it, King, Diggins, Mostek, Hendrian, and Hostetter. After four rounds, Hendrian finished first, Diggins second, King third, Hostetter fourth, and Mostek fifth. The final bracket of 138 held Buffman and Schakel. Buffman took first in two rounds.

After the first two rounds, activity was stopped to recognize the eleven girls on the mat. Applause resounded from the crowd in response. Television cameras and reporters lined the mats to get the female wrestlers in action. A group picture of the eleven was taken outside in the hall after their first match.

Jesse Sundell, the wrestling coach at Ogden High School, was interviewed by the Des Moines Register. The article appeared three days later on Jan. 9.

“The idea started with our former coach, Brian Reimers. He has been trying to help push to get wrestling more involved in the state tournament,” Sundell said. “He had mentioned about trying to host our own all-girls tournament. He put me in touch with (Iowa/USA Wrestling Women’s Director) Charlotte Bailey. From there I organized and set it up with the help of Charlotte.”

He added, “I felt the tournament went well and the wrestlers were very happy and proud of the day. We seemed to get very good reception and recognition from it. Everyone that was there was very happy to see us put the event on in hopes for more success in the future.”

Lewis Curtis, Director of Officials for the Iowa High School Athletic Association was quoted by IA Wrestle concerning the Ogden girls only division, “We are excited that Ogden High School has created a separate division for girls in their upcoming tournament. It will be interesting to see the numbers of girls that participate from our member schools, and the reaction we get from the tournament directors. We are very interested in finding ways to increase participation in the sport of wrestling, for boys as well as girls.”

Matt Watters of IA Wrestle added, “It is hard to believe how much wrestling nationwide. I think the importance of this tournament is that it shows other schools in Iowa that we don’t have to wait for a governing body to sanction girls wrestling. This shows that going forward, any school may include a girl’s division as part of their tournament and give the girls the opportunity to compete against other girls. I would love to eventually see a girls division as part of the state wrestling championships.”

Troy Greder, the girls coach at South-Central Calhoun, cornered King and Payne. He had also made arrangements with Kingsley-Pierson and Muecke’s parents to coach her also. He also took a moment to talk to Andersen as well about a match.

He saw the importance of that meet in Ogden. “Impact, I think it finally was that glimpse of light for the girls who had been wrestling boys their entire career. I think it showed them that what they had been doing was worth it and that a giant step towards getting sanctioned wrestling in Iowa has been accomplished.

“The growth of girls wrestling is really outstanding,” he continued, “The first year I coached Keagan, we had 66 girls in the State Wrestling which was important because it broke the 50 girl mark. We are up to 500 plus now. Really, without being sanctioned we have what almost every sanctioned state has - girl divisions at tournaments, a state Tournament, and we are starting to see Duals. We are just scratching the surface and still have coaches and schools dragging their feet. I don't think we need to rush things and get unneeded road blocks. If we continue to see the growth there won't  be a choice, Iowa will have to sanction. The girls Union was started because many believed basketball was too physical for girls to play competitively. I hope they remember their roots and help these girls out.”