The Maine Principals’ Association took a major step in growing the sport of girls wrestling in the state when the organization approved an official girls state tournament in November.

Maine will now join a group of 14 states that have a girls-only state championship — and the move has been welcomed with open arms by people in the wrestling community.

“I feel like it’s a huge step in the right direction and, to be honest with you, as a state we are way ahead of the curve in terms of that development across the nation,” said Joey Schreiber, who is the USA Wrestling Maine Women’s National Team coach and a high school wrestling official. “Less than 20 states have developed a sanctioned women’s wrestling tournament by their state’s governing body, and to have Maine be in the front of that, I think it says a lot about the direction we want to take our sport and the possibilities that it has.”

The first MPA girls wrestling state tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 20 at Penobscot Valley High School.

Schreiber and others are hoping the creation of a girls state tournament will help bring — and keep — more girls out for the sport.

“A ton of them don’t make it past sixth grade and for them to have this visibility-wise is just huge for them. It means they have something to look forward to,” said Schreiber.

Pat Casten, who is the officials’ liaison to the MPA Wrestling Committee, agreed with Schreiber.

“I wrestled and I remember running through the high school back when they had the physical trophy case and every state championship head gear was in there. I remember seeing those and that was my motivation to wrestle. I was like ‘I want one of those in there,'” said Casten. “That was my goal and now girls can have that too. They can see a Zoe Buteau or a freshman that can be a four-time women’s state champion.”

Buteau is a senior at Oak Hill and wrestles for the combined Lisbon/Oak Hill squad. Last year she made a run to the 120-pound Class B South regional championship wrestling against the boys.

The standout believes the addition of the girls state tournament is a great thing for the female wrestlers in Maine.

“Honestly, I was really happy because boys get their own states — and yeah we get to wrestle in it, but it’s hard to be a girl to wrestle guys all the time,” said Buteau. “It’s just nice because you don’t feel like you’re going to be overpowered because of strength. You can wrestle your technique and not worry about it.”

Falmouth sophomore Anunthaya MacDonnell echoed that sentiment.

“I was very happy because I think it’s more fair to girls that we’ll have our own state tournament,” said MacDonnell.

 

Strong history

Girls wrestling isn’t new to Maine as the state has had plenty of female standouts on the mat in the past two decades.

The most famous of all the girls to come through Maine is probably former Marshwood standout Deanna Rix, who won 100 matches — all against the boys — and made a run to the state finals in 2005.

Rix, who dropped a heartbreaker in overtime in the state finals, is thrilled to see Maine making this move.

“It’s awesome that Maine’s taking those steps. When I think back to when I was wrestling in the state championships, it’s just come so far and there wasn’t that many girls around,” said Rix, whose married name is Betterman. “It would be rare to see another girl when I was wrestling and now that they have enough girls to have their own girls state championship is awesome.”

Buteau and MacDonnell both call Rix — who also wrestled for the U.S. National Team — an inspiration to them and all girls in Maine’s wrestling community.

“Honestly, she’s a big role model to a lot of girls out there because she was so close to winning states. She was that one girl that everybody watched,” said Buteau.

“I think she still is (an inspiration) to girls,” added MacDonnell.

Camden Hills’ Kristi Pearse and Noble’s Kayleigh Longley also made trips to the state finals against the boys.

 

Good start

Everyone involved with girls wrestling in the state is hoping that this is the beginning of a successful run for the sport in Maine.

“I think it’s the first step towards maybe eventually having girls teams and I think it’s a good first step towards that,” said longtime Wells coach Scott Lewia.

Casten was convinced an MPA-sanctioned girls state tournament was the right thing after officiating at an unofficial state tournament, which Schreiber has helped run over the past few years.

“We saw that and came into the committee and I said ‘I’ve seen this and it’s worth doing and also it’s a recruitment vehicle,'” said Casten.

Casten credits the MPA with seeing the significance of giving the girls this opportunity.

“The MPA was open to the idea because I think the MPA understands the importance of empowering young women and also the importance of giving them a chance to thrive in their own environments,” Casten said.

Lewia, who is the coaches’ liaison for the MPA Wrestling Committee, is proud that the organization is doing “the right thing.”

“You have somebody like Zoe Buteau who has placed in tournaments and I think that’s just a good start. I think the MPA is doing the right thing by offering this,” Lewia said.

Schreiber believes this will not only help girls wrestling in the state, but the sport as a whole.

“I think this is a really healthy thing for our sport … especially in our state where we have to create more opportunities for people who want to do it and create a culture that invites everyone who wants to do it, to try it,” said Schreiber. “With this development, and the MPA allowing this to happen, I think it does that.

 

‘How it should be’

Rix now lives and coaches wrestling in Colorado, which also added a girls state tournament this year.

There is one major difference between the two states when it comes to how they are implementing their girls’ states — and Rix believes Maine is doing it the right way.

Maine will continue to allow the girls to wrestle in the boys state tournament — if they qualify — as well as compete in the new girls tournament. Colorado is making the female wrestlers choose which one they compete in.

“In my opinion it’s good and bad to have your own girls state championship. It’s a huge push in the right direction especially for those girls who are new to wrestling and are doing it later in their career in high school.  I think it will get huge from here on out now that the girls have their own state championship,” said Rix.

Rix believes taking the opportunity for the girls to wrestle against the boys away from female wrestlers is a bad thing for the sport.

“Wrestling the guys really helped me get to the level I was at. We have some hammers here in Colorado and obviously other states have some hammers, and that’s because they are wrestling with the guys. So for them it might not be as good, but for the beginner girls or girls trying it out in high school it’s going to be huge.”

The former Maine state finalist was happy to hear her home state was letting the girls compete in both tournaments.

“That’s awesome … that’s how it should be,” Rix said.