On Friday, January 25th Dubuque Senior High School sent their first-ever wrestling team down to the Womens State Wrestling Tournament held in Waukon Iowa!

The small, but mighty Dubuque Senior team consisted of three freshman -Carly Hefel (106), Hannah Reel (118), Marissa Kamm (152) and one senior- Kes Whalen (138). This is the first year Dubuque Senior High school had a Women’s wrestling team participating in dual meets and all-girl tournaments.

Woman’s wrestling is among the fastest-growing sports in the United States. Since 2001, participation has jumped from 3,405 to more than 17,000. Studies suggest that the inclusion of women’s wrestling as an Olympic sport in 2004 and the popularity of mixed martial arts have contributed to the surge.

The sport’s growth exploded across Iowa this past year. Last year, Iowa’s first ever Women’s State Wrestling Tournament took place in Waukon at the highschool, with around 90 girls taking part in the tournament. This year over 350 girls participated in the Womans State Wrestling Tournament, including teams from Dubuque: Dubuque Senior (4 girls), Wahlert (20 girls), and West Dubuque (4 girls).

Here at Senior, there will be an official women’s’ team alongside the men’s’ team. The head coach Joe Connolly explains he plans to have the girls’ and boys’ practice alongside each other like this year in hopes they can work together to learn new moves and mindsets and so on. The team worked very well with the girls this season teaching them new drills and possible moves, as well as boosting our confidence.