BULLPUP WRESTLING: Sandpoint girls are making history with record turnout
The Sandpoint Middle School girls wrestling team makes their way to the bus after a meet at Timberlake earlier this season. 30 out of the 32 girls on Sandpoint's roster wrestled either an opponent or one another at the meet.
(Courtesy Photo)
SANDPOINT — Throughout the years, Sandpoint had just one or two girls who competed for their middle school and high school wrestling teams. Fast forward to 2023, and the SMS girls wrestling program now has one the largest programs in the entire state with 32 girls signed up this year.
Valerie Johansen, the head coach of both the middle school and high school girls wrestling programs, said that just a couple of years ago the team had increased to nine girls. So, what led to the record number of 32? Johansen, who also coaches one of the middle school volleyball teams, started promoting the sport to some of her volleyball athletes, and they quickly became interested.
“It helps when there is a female that’s going ‘hey do you want to wrestle? We can do it, we have girls wrestling. You can do it,’” Johansen said.
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