Girls high school wrestling history was made this weekend and Hastings High School took center stage.
For the first year ever, the Michigan High School Athletic Association held individual district tournaments at eight different sites across the state. Previously, individual wrestling tournaments would start at the regional level and then advance to the state meet, because there typically were not enough wrestlers to fill a district field.
But, because girls wrestling stands as the fastest growing sport in the state, the MHSAA added a district stage — and Hastings High School was lucky enough to host one of them.
“The growth of girls wrestling has been amazing,” Hastings girls coach Mike Goggins said. “This year will be just the fourth year MHSAA has offered a separate girls division and the number of girls participating has more than doubled in that time. We were really vocal about the need to expand the girl's tournament by offering district-level competition to the tournament and are happy MHSAA decided to do so, and even happier to be asked to host.”
Winning a bid to host the event was just part of the hard work — finding volunteers from the school and community at large was also a key component. Hastings Athletic Director Mike Mohn commended all the volunteers for their hard work in bringing this historic event to the high school.
“We pride ourselves on running several quality wrestling tournaments each year for our boys and girls at both the high school and middle school level and are ready to do that again for this first-ever girls' district,” Goggins said before the tournament.
Taking to the mat in their home gym, six Saxons managed to place in the top four in their weight class to advance to the regional meet, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 16 at Portage Northern.
Dez and Naomi placed first in their respective weight classes, claiming district championships. Chloe finished second and Kennedy placed third. Finally, both Nani and Jordan placed fourth in their weight classes.
The tournament attracted over 150 wrestlers and served as a great day for girls' high school wrestling.