For the first time ever, Rosemount High School is introducing girls wrestling as a winter sport. 

Boys wrestling has been a sport at Rosemount High school since the 1960’s, but this year they have added girls into the mix. Many people are excited about this new addition.

 Mr. Manning, the athletic director at Rosemount High School explained, “wrestling has always been something that girls can participate in, but now the sport has an actual team here at Rosemount.” As he explained, “Girls wrestling was sanctioned by the state high school league, so it’s its own sport now. On November 17th, any boy or girl interested in participating in wrestling, will meet after school. For the girls, anyone grades 7th-12th will be eligible to participate. In this inaugural season, coaches are hoping for enough wrestlers to allow each girl a female wrestling partner. 

Boys wrestling and girls wrestling will practice in the same room at the same time, starting right after school. 

Two of the six coaches Mr. Salter and Mr. Hartwig are the head coaches. Mr. Hartwig informed me that, “Mr. Salter is a security coordinator for district 196 and his daughter, who is a freshman, has been wrestling for the past six years.” 

In addition to daily practices, there will be the opportunity for the girls to compete in girls only tournaments, or they can opt to go head to head in boys tournaments. This is a huge milestone, because this way girls can feel more included and comfortable. In the past if girls wanted to compete at a tournament they would have to compete against boys only. But now, that’s not the case. 

More specifically, in late February the girls wrestling team will compete in a girls sectional tournament with the top placed winners advancing to the Minnesota state high school girls wrestling tournament.