Interest has been growing steadily in women’s wrestling in Indiana over the past several years with this year being no exception.  We are making important improvements to our women’s events, opportunities, and overall outlook to allow for more young women to enter the sport.  Once we get them involved in the sport at a young age, the most important item is to keep them involved and competing in wrestling throughout high school and into college.

Our ISWA Women’s State Tournaments have both been streamlined in reducing the number of age groups and weight classes to allow for more competitive tournaments.  Team competition is an area that will continue to expand in the years to come.  Having a group of women wrestlers in a club or team will contribute to them wanting to stay involved and competing throughout high school. 

 Getting the word out for women’s wrestling and the importance of attending all of our Indiana events and national team events is an ongoing effort.  We continue to have really strong women wrestlers coming up through the age groups and our current Indiana representatives are making a name for themselves in Junior and Senior Level events, both nationally and internationally.

 We will continue to do everything we can to assist any women wrestler to reach her goal.  It is very hard work to compete with boys throughout the year, but the payoff is when you get to compete against other women at the state, national, and international levels.

2018 Girls Folkstyle Nationals. 26 girls Indiana girls attended this year 12 of them made All-American Status. Congrats to the following women wrestlers:

Rhianne Murphy 1st (Champion) Novice 80 Lbs.

Ella Gahl 3rd Novice 95 Lbs.

Kiersten O'Neill 3rd S/G 165 Lbs.

Gloria Cloud 4th Int. 45 Lbs.

Elly Janovsky 4th Novice 118+ Lbs.

Kaylie Petersen 4th S/G 110 Lbs.

Heather Crull 4th Novice 70 Lbs.

Sydney DeLois 5th S/G 105 Lbs.

Hanna Givens 6th Int. 45 Lbs.

Hurshal Pol 6th S/G 101 Lbs.

Cailin Campbell Cadet 122 Lbs.

Siera Pienkowski Cadet 138 Lbs.

The ISWA sponsored the first all girls Cadet/Junior dual team from Indiana at Folkstyle Nationals 2018. The team went 1-3 and wrestled hard against some very tough competition and learned some things along the way. Special thanks to coaches and supporters of Indiana Girls Wrestling!

Team Indiana entered 14 wrestlers at the 2018 Women's Freestyle Nationals. This is more than twice the highest number we have ever entered. Seven of the 14 came home All-Americans. They are: Heather Crull Nov. 70lb. 2nd

        Rianne Murphy Nov. 80lb. 1st

        Paislee Chambers Nov. 85lb. 8th

        Ella Gahl Nov. 95lb. 1st

        Madeline Rearick Cadet 36-40Kg. 5th

        Alara Boyd Cadet 65Kg. 3rd

        Jasmine Hale Cadet 73Kg. 5th

Everyone else wrestled very good. The competition levels at this tournament was by far the best in the country with some girls having 50 plus in their bracket. Great job Team Indiana! Fargo is just around the corner.