Bloomington-Normal girls blazing a trail in wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Intercity wrestlers felt temporary disappointment after not placing at the IHSA Girls State Wrestling Finals in February 2023 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
Those feelings were short-lived, however, and replaced with pride in the realization of being trailblazers in their burgeoning sport.
Normal West senior Sammy Lehr (100 pounds) became the first Intercity two-time state qualifier, while West senior Angel Bateson (105) and University High junior Allison Kroesch (115) reached the state finals for the first time. They are among a small handful of female wrestlers from Bloomington-Normal high schools to advance to state competition in the short two-year history of the sport being sanctioned by the Illinois High School Association.
“Knowing I was the first girl period from U High was a pretty great feeling,” Kroesch said. “Going into state, I was pretty proud just to be in the top 16 girls. Although I lost, I know I did my best in the moment. Now, my goal is to place next year.”
Kroesch lost by fall in her first-round match then was eliminated in the consolation round on a 4-2 decision. She finished the season with an 11-9 record.
“The second match was so close, and I started to think about all the little things I could have done differently,” Kroesch said. “Twenty minutes later, I was all good and starting to think about open mats and training for next year.”
Lehr lost her first-round bout before pinning LaSalle-Peru’s Kiely Domyanich in 5:27. Lehr was eliminated in a 4-2 decision in the second round of wrestlebacks.
“I was content with how I wrestled that day,” said Lehr, who only began wrestling as a freshman. “I felt like I put it all on the mat and had a successful season. It was a culmination of being proud of what I had accomplished and sad to see it come to an end.”
Bateson was bumped to the consolation round by fall before a 10-5 decision ended her season. She finished 18-6.
“I am proud of how far I’ve grown as a wrestler over the last four years,” Bateson said. “Even when I got injured sophomore year and couldn’t wrestle for half of my junior year, I was still able to come back this year better than before. My injury gave me more determination to get to state.”
For all three girls, a vast majority of their wrestling competition and training has come against boys. Allison began wrestling in sixth grade when she heard of the opportunity at Kingsley Junior High School.
“I’ve wrestled against boys all through junior high. I’d maybe face one girl a season in competition,” Kroesch said. “I’ve always been comfortable with it, because I grew up doing it.”
U High coach Caleb Phillips says there are significant differences in how boys wrestle vs. how girls do, giving more credence to the need for girls-only wrestling.
“In general, boys are stronger in their arms, and girls are stronger in their legs,” Phillips said. “There are enough small nuances between the two that the sport needed to be separated into boys and girls. It was like sending girls to train for baseball all year, but then play fastpitch softball for the tournament.”
As the only female, Allison was the girls wrestling team last year in the U High program. This year, she had two female teammates — Addison Nord and Keagan Naffziger — with her in the wrestling room.
“Keagan was my friend from cross country who I recruited, and she helped get Addison to come out. Having them and my teammates from the boys’ team cheering me on at state really helped,” said Kroesch, who also participates in ballet and plays the cello.”
Bateson also started wrestling in the sixth grade.
“When I started, I didn’t know girls wrestling was going to become as big as it is now,” she said. “I have enjoyed being there for other females as they learn and further their wrestling careers.”
Coaches agree that the IHSA sponsoring girls wrestling has increased interest at the high school level and younger ranks.
“Anytime we were asked for feedback about if girls wrestling was an emerging sport, we always said yes,” said Phillips. “It’s been very encouraging to have the IHSA’s sponsorship. Girls have opportunity to play basketball in the winter, and that’s about it, so this creates more opportunity to participate in high school athletics.”
Normal West coach Adam Richards said the level of talent and competition at this year’s state finals was considerably better than the first year.
“It was an exponential improvement over last year,” he said. “Last year, there were some weight classes that didn’t have enough qualifiers. You could see how much more seriously the girls were taking it this year. The girls have put in the work and want to be on the awards podium.”
Consider Kroesch to be among those chasing a state medal in 2024.
“She was bummed when the season ended,” said Phillips. “But very soon after, she was asking when open mats and camp started. She immediately turned her attention to how she is going to get better.”
Boys wrestling: Two NCHS wrestlers in top 6
Normal Community sophomore Caden Correll capped a remarkable season by posting a 51-2 overall record and finishing fifth at 106 pounds at the IHSA Class 3A Boys Individual State Finals in Champaign.
Junior Cooper Caraway overcame an injury during warmups to finish sixth overall in the 220-pound class.
Sophomore Cole Gentsch also qualified for the state meet. He advanced to the second consolation round to finish with a 48-7 record.
Other state qualifiers from the Intercity included Bloomington’s Dylan Watts (138), Maddox Kirts (160), Tyler Barlow (106), Javier Enriquez-Lynd (120) and Normal West’s Evan Willock (132), Brock Leenerman (170), Froylan Racey (120) and Austin Johnson (126).
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