By Rich Winter

605 Sports

When girls wrestling became an officially sanctioned sport last year not every school had girls lined up out the door to participate. Several programs like Canton and Pierre seemed to be a step in front of everyone else thanks, in large part, to the success of their boys programs. 

Pierre had 18-20 girls out for wrestling last season with two of those athletes being crowned state champions. This season the number of participants swelled to 25 when the wrestling room opened in November. 

“I think a lot of it has to do with the community bond that comes from our boys program having success,” Pierre girls coach Matt Thorson said. “Pierre is a wrestling town and we had a lot more girls and even parents willing to give it a shot.” 

Thorson helped coach the boys team a season ago. This year, amidst some program improvements, he was hired to lead the girls program. With a crowded wrestling room in Pierre the girls even got their own space to work on their craft. 

“The girls practice at Jefferson elementary,” Thorson said. “Our administration got us a nice big mat that we roll out and roll up everyday.”

There was a girls state tournament in 2021 but no official team champion was crowned.  

Pierre, the No. 1 rated girls team, qualified 10 athletes for this year’s state meet. The Governors, along with Canton, (qualified 10 athletes) appear to be the front-runners at this weekend’s state tournament. 

“It is really exciting with Pierre and Canton having this early success,” Thorson said. “We’re not surprised to be in this position mainly because the boys set the bar so high. The girls are excited and love the team points this year and that will always be in the back of our minds.” 

Marlee Shorter and Ciara McFarling were Pierre’s state champions a year ago. Both girls, along with Sydney Uhrig (106), Nevaeh Baade (113), Dani Ringstmeyer (120), Hattle Baldwin (126), Gianna Strangeland (132), Abbigail Lewis (142), Ireland Templeton (154) and Emalee Larson (170) comprise this years state tournament team. 

Thorson didn’t know quite what to expect when switching to coach only the girls team. In many ways he said the transition has revitalized his love of coaching.  

“It is an absolute blast and the girls are like sponges,” he said. “If you tell them to do something they just go out and do it where boys sometimes stick to what they’ve done in the past.”

Thorson also noted the girls, with so little experience, rely on their coaches for knowledge of the sport. 

“The one thing that is really different is we have a lot of hair braiding going on during our bus rides and it is not nearly as quiet when we travel,” he said. 

A season ago Thorson felt like some of the girls and even the parents were hesitant about trying something new. With success that hesitancy is gone and the girls now have enormous support from their immediate wrestling family. 

“This year the parents are screaming from the stands and they have completely bought in,” Thorson said. “Some of our parents are learning and some are lifelong wrestling moms of boys but our kids feed off that enthusiasm.” 

 The cheering section for the Pierre girls has come alive this season

As girls wrestling progresses other programs will catch up…maybe?

“Someone had to trailblaze a bit in girls wrestling so why not us,” Thorson said. “We have girls in their first year having a ton of success and that’s because everyone is new so you can step in and very quickly have success because everyone is on the same playing field.”