FORT MADISON - Fort Madison High School broke a barrier Monday night when it hosted its first-ever all-girls' wrestling event, an eight-team affair at the Hound Dome.
And not only did they enter the record books with the first event in school history, but they took second place with 95 points, trailing only Anamosa with 118.
Four Fort Madison wrestlers – Hailey Kemper at 100 lbs., Mara Smith at 130 lbs., Mylah Blanchard at 135B, and Athena Carson at 235, all brought home tournament titles.
Kemper went 3-0 on the night with three pins. The sophomore scored wins by fall in the first two rounds over Anamosa and Highland and then pinned Keokuk's Madelyn Rose in just :25 to end the night undefeated and take the 100lb. bracket.
Smith, just a freshman and daughter of Fort Madison boys' head coach Ryan Smith, rolled through the 130lb. bracket going 4-0. She scored all her wins by fall going past the first round just one time and wrapping up her night with a :41 second pin of fellow Bloodhound freshman Carolena Crooks.
"Mara did very well. A lot of these girls are finding their identity in the wrestling world. They are piecing together what works for them and what doesn't. But she did pretty good tonight," said Head Coach Kyle Doherty.
The first-year coach said it was a great event.
"One of the biggest takeaways was seeing some of these different schools that we're normally used to seeing in wrestling. There was a lot of good wrestling here," Doherty said.
"I also thought the support from the community was very strong."
Blanchard, a senior, also went undefeated with three wins all by pinfall. Two of the pins were in under one minute and the third was eight seconds into the second period.
"Mylah Blanchard's our hammer and she looked really good. I was really impressed with where we're at even seven days ago," Doherty said.
Blanchard said she liked going to the guys' wrestling event, and along with some other girls, pushed to get the program up and running in Fort Madison.
"I think this is cool," she said. "It's exciting to be part of this for the first time.
"It was a little harder than I expected. My first match wasn't that hard, but the girl from Anamosa was harder than I expected."
"Leading up to this, they were super excited and they were excited to help set everything up. In that transition, they went from being into getting things set up to getting ready to get on the map."
Doherty said he hopes to build the annual event into a two-day weekend event.
"With the rich history of our wrestling program, it should bring more teams here," he said. 'But our gym is one of the better places to wrestle in as far as environment, how it's set up, and how it's ran."
Sophomore Athena Carson wrestled in a bracket with only one other wrestler from Burlington Notre Dame, but she downed Macey Johnson two times by fall at 1:31 and 1:13.
Carson said it was nice to be able to have a home meet.
"I really like the support we've been getting," she said. "Being a part of the women's wrestling team is a big step in the right direction. Now that it's more common and there are more wrestlers, it's really nice."
Marquel Warner earned a second-place finish in a short division at 145lbs., while Sadie Brandon was second at 170lbs. Alexa Walz 135A and Marie Young 135B both came home with third-place finishes for the night. Freshman Tatum Peters was third at 155.
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