Girls Wrestling Makes the Podium as Sport Rises in Popularity

Kieran Mooney and Alexa Marshall each grew up in wrestling families, but they never really considered doing girls wrestling themselves.

“When I was younger I remember traveling to my twin’s and older brother’s wrestling tournaments. I’ve always had a love for the sport but I never realized it until I quit basketball my freshman year,” said Kieran.

Alexa had a similar story. “My dad’s the coach and I grew up around it and it was always my favorite thing to go watch as a kid,” she said. “I never thought of doing it until we got a girls team last year!”

Their uncertainty was not uncommon. Not too long ago, wrestling was not a clear choice of extracurricular for high school girls. Since the beginning, girls wrestling has been a really tough sport to break into.

Girls have been wrestling for much longer than they’ve been able to form their own teams. Girls wrestlers have gone as far back as boys wrestlers, when the UHSAA began the sport in 1938. These early co-ed girls wrestlers, though, were few and far between, wrestling boys as members of boys teams.

In 2021, UHSAA recognized growing interest in wrestling among girls and made it a sanctioned sport. Now girls could wrestle girls, have their own tournaments, and build their own teams. This year along the Byway, Panguitch, Escalante and Piute all have girls teams of at least two each.

Choosing Wrestling

It took Kieran and Alexa a few years to become interested in girls wrestling. Both originally had plans of being on Panguitch’s girls basketball team. In the end, they each pulled back their blond hair into tight wrestling braids and committed — a decision neither of them would regret.

Kieran began girls wrestling last year as a sophomore. And “I had huge success with that,” she said. 

That year, the girls were combined with 2A and 3A, but Kieran still placed 3rd at region and 4th at state. Still reeling from her first-year wins, she was also invited to the Ross Brunson All-Star duals. She realized this was something, different from basketball, that she could be really good at.

Kieran was one of two members of Panguitch’s first girls team in 2023. In being on the team, she helped pave the way for Alexa to gain interest and join. “Kieran … definitely inspired me to wrestle and helped me love the sport!” said Alexa.

At that time, Alexa was about to go into her freshman year. She had been debating between choosing basketball or wrestling. “But I’m so glad I decided to wrestle,” she said.

Panguitch Girls Wrestlers Make History

Kieran and Alexa clearly both excel on the mat, but that does not mean any of it was easy.

“This season was a tough one,” Kieran confided. “On the second week of practice I ended up fracturing my ankle, tearing ligaments, and having large amounts of bone bruising which caused me to sit out for almost the whole season.”

Being injured and on the sidelines for so long was a huge mental game for Kieran. She learned a lot about what coaches mean when they talk about being mentally prepared. Her entire season was a head game.

“Sitting on the side of the mat and craving it was one of the hardest things I’ve done mentally,” she said. “I’d imagine the moves I could do to potentially win. You can’t win if you aren’t in the winning mindset.”

Kieran’s injury also meant Alexa was missing her only opponent. “For about three-fourths of the season I was wrestling a dummy, my younger brother, or my dad,” she said, “which was definitely hard, but it gave me more of a desire to push and drive to become better even without a partner.”

Then it came time to get ready for state, but Kieran had not been able to wrestle in a single match. She had to get on the mat.

“This year, because our league was brought down to 1A-2A, we only had to have wrestled one match to qualify for state,” said Kieran. “So for the last home dual of the season, I taped my ankle, walked out on the mat, and pinned my opponent in the first period despite the pain.”

Kieran and Alexa each went on to win every one of their matches at state, putting them each in first place in the 105 and 135 brackets. This is the first time Panguitch has had any girls take first place. 

They were one of the smallest teams there, but they took 6th at state.

How Might Girls Wrestling Grow as a Sport?

Even aside from the highs and lows, Kieran and Alexa just had a great time being girls wrestlers.

“It was really cool to go to a lot of the big tournaments and to see how much bigger this sport has gotten for girls!” said Alexa, and it was cool for her to be a part of the sport that was so important for her family. “It was also just really fun to be in the room a lot more. I’ve come closer to a lot of the people on our boys team which has been fun!”

Kieran is always joyfully promoting girls wrestling. “Wrestling is an upcoming sport for girls,” said Kieran, “and I encourage other girls to give it a shot and build the girls program.”

As the sport continues to grow, what could next year, and the year after that, bring for girls wrestling? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

– by Abbie Call

Feature image caption: Kieran Mooney wins first place in the 135 pounds girls bracket. Courtesy of Jake Schoppe.

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