Bemidji, Brainerd Compete at 1st Ever Dual Meet State Championships for Girls’ Wrestling

At St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday, a dual meet state championship for girls’ team wrestling was held for the first time ever in the state of Minnesota. Bemidji and Brainerd both competed in the historic event.

Every team begins their season with the goal of winning a championship, but what if there was no championship to win? For girls’ wrestling teams in Minnesota, here wasn’t on – until now.

“Having the opportunity to just wrestle in this kind of environment, to have all these supporters come and watch us, makes us actually feel good,” said Bemidji senior Kiera Hagman. “Have our own state duals, it’s awesome.

Put on by the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association, 16 teams competed on eight mats in the St. Michael-Albertville Fitness Center for a dual meet state championship, the first ever held in the state of Minnesota.

“I thought it was really cool and that there’s so many teams, and teams we haven’t even saw before,” said Brainerd eighth grader Anilyse Bundy, who’s been wrestling on varsity since the sixth grade. “I think that’s really cool that it’s grown so much even from my first year of wrestling.”

Three years ago, the Minnesota State High School League sanctioned girls’ wrestling is a sport, holding an individual state tournament for it. But because there are currently only about 20 full teams in the state, the sport lacked the 32-team minimum required by the MSHSL bylaws to hold a four-team state tournament. The coaches association decided to get a head start.

“Girls are growing the program,” explained Bemidji head coach Rance Bahr. “There’s over 1,500 girls out there now. Four years ago, we were at 275. So with the [sport] growing, I think the opportunities need to grow as well.”

With the tournament a success, there is certainly excitement for the direction in which girls’ wrestling is headed in Minnesota.

“This is just the start of where we’re going,” said Layne Danielson, the head coach at Brainerd. “We had 16 duals this year. Last year, we had two. And so there’s just, there’s more competition to have and now it’s just a matter of [the MSHSL] putting this forth so that we get more opportunities.”

And for those competing, they’re enjoying the opportunities they have now as they pave the way for the next wave of girls’ wrestlers.

“I’m looking forward to making more friends in the sport and it just growing bigger,” Bundy said with a smile.

“For the girls watching, being able to see that we can that we got this opportunity and knowing that one day they can have this opportunity, it’s awesome,” added Hagman.

Bemidji went into the tournament as the three-seed and finished in fourth place, and Brainerd finished as the consolation bracket runner-up. It was Forest Lake that took home the state title, cutting down top ranked Apple Valley.