Craven County girls wrestling: entering into a new era
New Bern High School freshman Faith Bane doesn’t consider herself a pioneer but as a one girl wrestling team the moniker fit’s like a singlet.
Bane was the lone New Bern female wrestler this past season coming within one match of placing at the recent Girls State Invitational Wrestling Tournament. She was one of nearly 400 lady wrestlers who competed in the combined 2023 State Invitational and Showcase Tournament held in tandem in the Greensboro area.
Bane hopes to be a beacon, attracting other female wrestlers to the New Bern program as next year girls wrestling moves ahead as a sanctioned sport by the North Carolina High School Activities Association. The sanctioning was a long time coming and coaches are ready for a new era.
“It was all about the numbers,” New Bern wrestling coach Bo Lansche said. “The numbers will be higher now that we are a sanctioned sport.”
The Big Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference is not immune to the varied numbers game.
Havelock High School saw 19 girls come out for wrestling while others like J.H. Rose had none. With girls wrestling featuring twelve weight classes, the NCHSAA will require just five wrestlers for a school to be classified as a full team with a goal of 75% member teams at that level.
Havelock, with a long tradition of girls wrestling, took a full team to this year’s State Invitational and finished second in the team competition. The Rams’ produced a champion as Natalie Titus prevailed at 152 lbs winning all four of her matches. Three of those wins were by pins including a pin in the championship match which nailed down second place for the team.
Havelock coach Chase Holleman said “Natalie saved her best wrestling for state. When she needed to be at her best, she was.”
The NCHSAA has also decided for the time being there will be just one classification in girls wrestling and if necessary, females and males can compete against one another. While in a perfect world that’s not the optimum choice of coaches and wrestlers, it’s a scenario that could be short lived.
“The growth of girls wrestling has been exponential” claims Lansche, “I think we are close to having the numbers we need for girls wrestling to thrive on its own.”
Holleman adds, “A boy versus girl match would only be allowed in the regular season, not the postseason. It’s a process but we are getting there.” Holleman pointed out in 2022 there were 48 girls at the State Invitational, this year the number was 192.
A major positive for girls thinking of competing in high school wrestling comes from the college ranks where recently tons of scholarships have been made available for women’s wrestling.
“It started in the midwest and more and more colleges and universities are jumping on board every year,” says Lansche.
Many beleive the growth of women’s wrestling is being fueled by the passion of the wrestling community. This unique, demanding and challenging sport is not for everyone.
“Wrestling is family, I preach that all the time,” Lansche said.” It’s about becoming a complete person.”
Just like basketball and softball exploded when they were sanctioned, girls high school wrestling is on the fast track to new heights. To be sure there will be growing pains along the way but with North Carolina middle schools already jumping on the girls wrestling bandwagon, there promises to be many young ladies willing to pin their athletic hopes on a North Carolina high school wrestling mat.
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Craven County girls wrestling: entering into a new era
