Huskies prepare for first season of IGHSAU wrestling

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 11/16/22

The winter sports season for area high schools officially began on November 14, the first date of competition for the inaugural season of IGHSAU girls wrestling. While Highland won’t be in …

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Huskies prepare for first season of IGHSAU wrestling

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The winter sports season for area high schools officially began on November 14, the first date of competition for the inaugural season of IGHSAU girls wrestling. While Highland won’t be in action until Saturday’s tournament at BGM, the Huskies are already ready to wrestle. 

“They’ve come a long way,” said Highland wrestling coach Nick Cole during a recent practice. “They’re a year more mature. They’ve had one more year in the sport. A few of them came to open mats this summer and got good workouts in, so they’re excited. And they’re ready to test themselves next Saturday for sure.”

Highland’s lone senior is Mackenzie McFarland, who was one win away from the quarterfinal round at 105 pounds in the IWCOA girls state wrestling tournament last year. 

This season, McFarland is hoping to be one of the first to qualify for the premier of the IGHSAU state wrestling tournament on February 2. She said that it was special to see the girls’ union add wrestling as an official sport for her final season. 

“I want to try to go to state,” she said. “Since it’s sanctioned this year, you have to qualify for state, so that’s my goal.”

Eight wrestlers will advance from each of the four regionals on January 27, creating a bracket of 32 for each of the 14 weight classes at the state championship. 

McFarland has spent time in the offseason working towards her goals.

“She’s done a lot of extra wrestling throughout the summer,” Cole said. “She was probably our top girl last year record wise, and she’s really working hard.”

Also competing to get back to the Xtream Arena in Coralville for the state tournament will be Abbie Grout, Angelina Roling, and Lilly Barre. 

“Lilly Barre is a sophomore, second year wrestler, who works her tail off every single day,” Cole said. “She has come a long way and she’s a competitor.”

McFarland has also seen improvement from her teammate, who wrestled at 135 last season. 

“She’s changed so much,” McFarland said. “She’s gotten way better  and she’s more confident. She’s just ready to wrestle, and she knows what she’s doing.” 

Angelina Roling’s three victories at the state tournament were the most for any Highland wrestler last season. All three wins came by fall, with a pair of first-period pins. 

“She’s also really good,” McFarland said. “I think she’s going to have a good year. She’s getting better at what she’s doing.”

Grout earned her first state tournament win with a 13-second pin last year and finished the weekend 2-2. With her second victory, she reached her goal of wrestling on Saturday in Coralville.  

“She’s going to wrestle at 100,” McFarland said about Grout. “She’s really small for weight class, but she does really, really, good. The girls that she wrestles with, a lot of them are cutting weight and she’s always under and she has all that strength. I think she’s going to have a really good year too.”

New to the team is freshman Lexie Skipton.

In addition to the state-qualifying meets, another change for the girls will be body fat and hydration tests. The girls will also join the boys teams in using a strict weight loss descent plan, which is meant to encourage safe weight loss for athletes trying to drop into a lighter weight class. 

Since the girls will now be wrestling official regular season matches, teams won’t be able to just pair their wrestlers with the closest weight to have a match. 

“They actually have to wrestle either at their weight or one weight above,” Cole said. “They can’t go two weights above like we had in the past.”

The Huskies traveled for a scrimmage with Mount Pleasant/Pekin last week, and felt good about the results from those matches. 

“That was good to see where we’re at, compared to where some of the other programs are,” Cole said. 

Cole, and his assistant coaches Dylan Stewart, Rocky Hamilton, T.J. Scott, Jack Walker and Jeff Wieland also coach the Husky boys. 

Highland would like to find the girls wrestling program its own head coach. Until that happens, Saturdays will be busy for the Husky coaches with boys varsity, junior varsity, and girls tournaments running simultaneously around Eastern Iowa every weekend. 

McFarland is looking forward to the first matches of her final season on Saturday. 

“The girls that we have going out, they’re really fun to be around,” she said. “They’re encouraging and the way that we all work together and help each other out and pick each other up, it’s nice.”