By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
KILJ — This weekend completed the third ever Girls’ State Wrestling Meet in the State of Iowa.
Those words — “girls” and “wrestling” — will never not be amazing to type.
As we continue to provide a progressive, more inclusive future in women’s athletics what Mount Pleasant’s duo — Abby Blint and Ella McNamee — are doing should not be falling on deaf ears.
Those two competed in Coralville this weekend, at the newly finalized Xtream Arena and put on a show of class and brawn and continued to blaze a trail set for them two years prior when the tournament was fashioned.
Let’s look at things at face value: this year’s tournament spotlighted the first ever three-time state champion in Iowa Valley’s Millie Peach.
Fast forward just three years and the tournament field has grown by more than that of five times.
Just five years ago, only about 100 girls wrestled at the high school level.
Now?
That number is reaching 700 and climbing faster than anyone can ever imagine.
Just look into our own backyard.
Blint was a place-winner taking 7th at this year’s tournament, while McNamee wrestled two quality matches.
Iowa Wesleyan opened one of the few NCAA (soon to be NAIA) women’s wrestling programs under head coach Shawn Contos — and that program is set for stratospheric takeoff.
This year, 457 girls from more than 100 different Iowa high schools competed in the 2020 State Tournament.
Remarkable.
At the tournament’s inception — again just three years ago — only 87 came.
Last year that number was only 350.
24 wrestlers from 17 different high schools wrestled in this year’s finals.
Again, remarkable.
It just puts into perspective how awe-inspiring the work of Blint and McNamee — and so many others here in Mount Pleasant and statewide — are doing.
We are witnessing history before our eyes in a sport that demands our attention — and has captivated the hearts of girls in the Hawkeye State; as evidenced by the fever pitch rise in participation.
Now, the sky is the only limit.