- Video shows Southern Door High School girl's wrestling team
- The team has more than doubled in participation numbers since last season.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
According toflowrestling.org, girls wrestling has had a 46% increase in participation across the nation in the 2022-2023 season. I’m your Door County neighborhood reporter Katlyn Holt with how this explosive growth is happening right here in Southern Door.
"It's great having all these team members to look up to," said Delaney Wilke, who is a freshman on the Southern Door High School girls' wrestling team. Wilke says she wrestled when she was younger and grew up around the sport.
"I was one of the only girls, if not the only so coming into high school and seeing such a big team was really amazing," Wilke said.
Jerry Englebert, the head coach for girls and boys wrestling, says this is the first year they've had close to a full team for a dual team, filling nine of the 12 weight classes.
“It's really different styles and some people even say it's like, almost like a different sport," Englebert says.
The more girls that come out for the sport, the better Englebert says he thinks it will be.
"It's different. Strengths are different, flexibility is way different," said Englebert. "The experience level, the technique is just getting better and better all the time."
Last year, the Eagles girls wrestling team had four girls, meaning they have more than doubled their numbers.
Two of their returning members made it to state last year.
"You have to put in work otherwise you're not going to get anywhere," said senior Hailey Veeser, who took fourth at the state tournament. She says it's fun to see more girls participating and the new members have been catching on fast.
"I kind of want to be that person, like help them to have fun in the sport, too," Veeser said. "When I was young, that's kind of what I always wanted."
The girl’s wrestling team from Southern Door High School won their most recent tournament as a team. You can view where they compete next, here.
