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The sport of girls high school wrestling hasn't slowed in its growth and does not appear that it will anytime soon.
Friday will mark the start of the second Ohio High School Athletic Association girls state championships which will run in conjunction with the boys state tournament at the Schottenstein Center.
Since 2020 there has been some kind of girls state competition with the early tournaments being sponsored by the Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association.
"I just got an e-mail the other day from the state," East Liverpool wrestling coach Jeremy Shaw said. "It showed us the numbers from four years ago when there were 283 girls entered into regional tournaments. That number has increased 1,100%."
That also means it's much, much tougher to qualify for the state tournament than it was in 2020.
"Back then, we'd go to regionals and there would be six to eight girls (per weight class) in it," Salem coach Drew Hart said. "You'd get to state and there would be more than one girl from a school in a weight class because they would have trouble filling it up. Looking at this year, it's phenomenal the amount of numbers you're seeing. But, it's not even that. It's the talent level and the skill set that the girls have."
Hart said that many of the girls currently wrestling didn't have the luxury of learning the sport in junior high and just had to adapt on the fly in high school.
"I don't want to pick sides on this, but the girls seem to pick things up a little bit faster than the boys," Hart said. "If you're a high school junior boy and you start wrestling, you're probably not going to do too well. Of course, there might be an outlier. With the girls they really seem to pick stuff up."
Shaw said the current high school girls wrestlers have built opportunities for younger athletes to step up and take on the challenge.
"We're growing," Shaw said. "I think we have six girls in the youth program -- one is my niece and one is my daughter. Tristan Eckles -- who made the boys state tournament -- his sister is a big wrestler for us."
Paige Cowan
East Liverpool Potters
110 pounds
36-5, Fr.
Cowan comes from a wrestling family, so it's not surprising to see her take to the sport as well as she has.
"She's wrestled her share of boys and took her lumps and put in the work," Shaw said. "She's one that you don't have to tell her, she knows. She has two practices a day, several times a week and is really dedicated to this sport. She takes it seriously."
Shaw said Steubenville freshman Talea Guntrum is the favorite in weight class and has been a good measuring stick for Cowan.
"(Guntrum) has got us the last few times, but we've been closing the gap," Shaw said. "I see Paige placing top three but she is fully capable of doing that. She's young and this is the first year, she has wrestled all girls competition. We're excited for her future."
Cowan is ranked 20th in the state in her weight class by American Women's Wrestling.
Auston Brown
United Golden Eagles
125 pounds
41-5, Soph.
Brown returns to Columbus after placing fourth at the same weight class as a freshman. Even with her experience, the field looks to be a tough one. Doylestown Chippewa's Gabi Martin was second at 110 in 2023 and second at 115 in 2022. Clayton Northmont's Lacie Knick was second at 120 last year and Lewis Center Olentangy's Cori Young was fourth at 120 in 2023.
Brown is slotted fifth in the American Women's Wrestling rankings for that class.
"I believe she was satisfied with a fourth place finish last year, but it wasn't the end goal for her," United girls wrestling coach Tyler Leitza said.
Her coach thinks she has greatly improved her mindset heading into her second trip to state.
"Last year she just used a lot of raw talent and ability," Leitza said. "This year, she's not getting frustrated and she's doing a good job of staying level-headed. You know, throughout the year you're going to see some of these girls multiple times and they're going to strategize against you. She's trusting in her training and knowing that her stuff is going to be there."
Ilani Jones-Wallace
Salem Quakers
135 pounds
44-5, Sr.
Jones-Wallace is a former basketball player that was recruited to come on the team by Salem senior Karlie Stith, the first Columbiana County girl to reach and place at the girls state tournament.
"She had torn her ACL her freshman year of basketball, so she was worried about how her knee would handle wrestling," Hart said. "I told her all the stuff you do with wrestling is actually going to strengthen those joints and tendons. It's going to be good for you. She came out and really impressed. She's super athletic and really smart."
Hart said she's extremely coachable and that has made her better.
"She's the kind of athlete that's always asking why we do something and really digs into the technique," Hart said.
Jones-Wallace is not ranked in her current weight, but was 17th at 130 pounds by American Women's Wrestling.
Makyan Newlun
East Liverpool Potters
145 pounds
45-2, Sr.
East Liverpool wrestling coach Jeremy Shaw refers to Newlun as "the pioneer" because she came up in the program as girls high school wrestling has grown in the state.
"She has really put in the work to get where she is now," Shaw said. "She doesn't need to be told when to lift or when to train in the offseason. She just knows. Once girls high school wrestling was established she put her foot on the pedal and never looked back."
An accomplished powerlifter and club wrestling standout, Newlun was fifth at state at 155 as a sophomore and third at 155 as a junior. She is not ranked at 145 pounds this season because she dropped down from 155 where she was ranked fourth by American Women's Wrestling.
"She had just got back from qualifying and placing for national body building at 170 pounds and she just said 'I still feel too heavy wrestling 155,'" Shaw said. "She said that she thought with the muscle she had gained she had slowed down. We talked about it and looked at her weight loss plan and made the decision to go to 145. At 145 she is the best kept secret in the state right now. There are not a lot girls at 145 that can match up with her strength. Her speed now has also increased."
Newlun could possibly become Columbiana County's first girls state champion on Sunday if she wrestles to the best of her ability but her biggest test might come in the semifinal as defending weight class champion Jesse Foebar of Batavia Clermont Northeastern looms.
Annika Murray
Salem Quakers
145 pounds
41-8, Sr.
Murray is a multi-sport athlete at Salem and also transitioned over to wrestling for her winter sport after being involved in basketball. Her brother Sam wrestled under coach Hart for all four of his years at Salem.
"When she first came out she was going to basketball and wrestling practice at the same time," Hart said. "Once the season, she made the commitment to the wrestling team and walked away from the basketball team."
Murray got her feet wet in her first full season last year when she registered 20 wins.
"Annika off the mat is a happy, go-lucky goofy girl, but when she steps on the mat it's a switch," Hart said. "It's what we call zombie mode. She's a machine on the mat."
Murray got a chance to wrestle potential state champion threat Makyah Newlun of East Liverpool in the regional, so she knows what kind of effort it will take to get far at state.
"Annika wrestled her previously at Carrollton a few weekends ago," Hart said. "Newlun pinned her in the first 30 seconds there. At the regional, it was still 0-0 into the second period and ended with a pin at 3:26. To see the improvement over a two week period was impressive."
Jocelyn Brink
West Branch Warriors
190 pounds
16-12, Jr.
Brink will be the only Warrior at state this season but it will keep in tact a 22-year string of state qualifiers for Branch. She's also the first female Warrior to qualify for the state tournament.
"As a coach you want to be selfish and send as many kids as you can," West Branch coach Chris Dorris said. "The three girls that we had come out and wrestle for us were the first girls ever to wrestle for West Branch, so to have someone qaulify in their first year is truly amazing."
Brink's older brother Hudson qualified for state last year and Jocelyn is filling the shoes of her brother as well.
"Hudson went last year," Dorris said. "When she (Jocelyn) decided to cross that line and wrestle the expectations were for her to step into her bothers shoes and qualify for state."
Jocelyn was a quick learner, but did not get a lot of match time.
"The first part of the year was her just learning about the sport," Dorris said. "Once we started finding things that worked for her style of wrestling she caught fire and hasn't looked back since. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of girls matches in the area, so she didn't have a lot of mat time. She worked hard in practice and learned a lot from drilling."
Dakota McCracken
United Golden Eagles
235 pounds
12-1, Jr.
McCracken has two third-place finishes in this weight class to her name and is looking for more. She appears to be the favorite to bring home the state title in this class and is ranked as the top wrestler in the class by American Women's Wrestling. Her top challenge could come as early as the quarterfinal as second-ranked Harrison's Jessica Edwards, a three-time state-placer, awaits.
McCracken's coach, however, isn't too big on rankings.
"I don't pay attention to rankings very often," Leitza said. "I understand, though, that the high school kids all see those things out there, especially in this day and age where more platforms are covering the sport. I'm more about talking to the girls about focusing on what's worked for them."
McCracken has had a slow roll out after she picked up some injuries over the summer doing freestyle. She even got an extended bye in the pre-regional tournament as no other girl was entered in that class.
"There were a couple girls that we have wrestled during the season that were supposed to be there (at the pre-regional) but I don't know what happened," Leitza said.
McCracken followed that up by taking first in the regional. Now, the possibilities of a very special day on Sunday for the United wrestling community are starting to take shape as her brother Dallas is also ranked very high in Div. III at 285 pounds.
"I'd be lying if I didn't say that would be a possibility," Letiza said. "It's not something we talk about though. I don't believe in trying to add any additional pressure."