Contributed report
On Saturday, Feb. 4, the ANML Lightning girls wrestlers attended the largest all-girls tournament in Minnesota history at Pine Island High School.
The tournament was reportedly over twice as big as last year, as girls wrestling is growing quickly in Minnesota and across the nation, Lightning Coach Ben Youngs said.
“There were programs there with 10-20 girls wrestlers. It was really exciting to see,” Coach Youngs said.
Typically, the girls who have chosen to wrestle have been included with the boys, but other states and also Minnesota are trying to establish girls wrestling as its own separate sport.
Right now, girls are able to qualify for the state tournament with other girls only, and it is run at the same time as the boys’ tournament. The section meet for girls will be held at Sartell-St. Stephen High School on Saturday, February 11th.
The two lightning girls competed in 16-person brackets. Elsie Triplett won her first match, lost to the number one seed, then dropped her last match of the day. Abby Gindele won her first three matches, all by fall, before losing in the finals to finish runner-up, Coach Youngs said.