Girl Power: EHS girls test strength on wrestling and powerlifting teams

Senior Madison Karten understands the importance of being a girl in male-dominant sports. 

The wrestler and powerlifter said it’s good to have girls come in and help the sports grow. 

“It’s beneficial to show that there can be change in a sport that has been mostly guy-dominant,” Karten said. “The change might be small, but there can be change and there will be change.” 

Karten, junior Reese Pattison and sophomore Abby Fager are among a rare group of girls nationwide participating in both wrestling and powerlifting.

During the 2021-22 season, girls comprised 16% of wrestling teams across the nation and 41% of competitive weight lifting teams, according to reports sent to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Among those pools of athletes, roughly 15% of girls did both sports. 

For high school wrestling, female participation has increased by 55% over the last year, according to the federation. Over 49,000 girls participate, which is up from 31,654 in the 46 states that reported in 2021-22. 

Just 10 years ago, there were fewer than 10,000 girls in high school wrestling. 

As for competitive weightlifting, nearly 10,500 girls participated in the sport in 2021-22 based on reports from seven states to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

The three girls who do both sports in Eudora share why they enjoy the challenge.

Madison Karten, senior

Karten has no trouble staying busy throughout the school year. 

The senior participates in volleyball, cheer, and track and field to go along with wrestling and powerlifting. Karten sings in the school choir as well. 

“I don’t really know what to do when I’m not busy,” Karten said. 

Karten helped the powerlifting team get started last year after approaching head coach Scott Russell. 

“I’ve wanted one since my freshman year,” Karten said. “I knew he (Russell) came from Basehor and Basehor has a powerlifting team. I was like, ‘Maybe he has more information about it.’” 

Karten said her interest in starting a powerlifting team came from lifting weights in middle school and her love for competition. 

“My eighth grade year, we had a group of kids that wanted to lift heavier weights than we did in class,” Karten said. “Like, we came in a few mornings a week and lifted, and then once we got into high school, yes, we were lifting heavy in class, but I wanted more. I wanted to go to competitions. I wanted to compete, but we didn’t get that until Russell came in.” 

Russell said he didn’t plan to start a powerlifting team in his first year in Eudora, but after seeing Karten in her athletics and her interest in starting a team, Russell knew it was time to get something going. 

“It’s kind of funny because it was pretty early in the year, but then once I saw what she was doing, I’m like, ‘That is a state champion waiting to happen,’” Russell said. “She is incredibly talented. She’s a talented lifter. Talented jumper. Talented sprinter. The kid can do just about anything.” 

Karten was a powerlifting state champion last season after she placed first in all three lifts — bench press, squat and hang clean — totaling 665 pounds. 

Karten started wrestling her sophomore year and took her junior season off before joining the team again this year. 

Karten went to state for wrestling her sophomore year, but did not place. 

Karten said the wrestling coaches convinced her to try wrestling.

“They needed someone in the 155-pound spot, and I was like, ‘You know what? I can balance cheer and wrestling. It’s not like I have never done two sports before,’” Karten said. 

After seeing how strong Karten is, head wrestling coach Miles Cleveland knew Karten could be a great wrestler as well. 

“I saw her in here (the weight room) one day and told her she needs to wrestle,” Cleveland said. 

Karten said she was drawn to wrestling because of how she can see her progress over time, much like powerlifting.  

“It’s based on the effort you put in. You get to see your results, and it’s just so uplifting the way that you see your own results as you grow throughout the season,” she said.

Karten said she loves being a part of each team because of the chemistry everyone has with each other. 

“In the wrestling room, it feels more like a family, and powerlifting is definitely a family,” Karten said. “We all are laughing in the mornings even though it’s 6 a.m. We’re all cracking jokes with each other. We’re all cracking jokes in the wrestling room after school, too. It’s just a better family environment.”

Reese Pattison, junior

Everything revolves around softball for Pattison. 

The two-time all-state catcher rejoined the wrestling team this year after taking her sophomore season off because wrestling helps keep her in shape for softball season. 

Pattison said she was introduced to wrestling her freshman year. 

“I didn’t want to play basketball, and in my house you got to do a winter sport for at least one year,” Pattison said. 

Cleveland said Pattison suffered an injury her freshman year and it took some convincing to get her to rejoin the team this year. 

“She’s worried about getting hurt before softball season, which is really important to her,” Cleveland said. 

Nevertheless, Pattison enjoys being on the wrestling team because of the team’s culture. 

“There’s just a lot of good people in it. Like, we all support each other really well. But it’s just fun to be with all my friends,” Pattison said. 

Pattison also played volleyball her freshman and sophomore years before switching to girls golf this season so she could keep up with her fall softball team. 

Similar to wrestling, powerlifting helps Pattison get her strength up ahead of softball season in the spring. 

Pattison placed second in her weight class at state powerlifting last season by lifting 590 pounds in the three lifts. 

Russell said Pattison recently squatted 300 pounds for the first time and has been testing the limits on her bench press. 

Pattison said she has enjoyed lifting weights since she was in middle school, but joining her friends in the weight room and the competition that comes with powerlifting drew her to the team. 

Pattison decided to take on both wrestling and powerlifting this season so she can be extra ready when softball season comes around. 

“I decided to do both at the same time because it’s just good for me,” Pattison said. “I could do both of them at the same time because, with powerlifting, we lift in the mornings and then compete on the weekends. I looked at the schedules and they didn’t really interfere too much.”

Pattison said the growth of female participation in wrestling and powerlifting is important for girls. 

“It’s just important to get girls involved in a lot of other sports,” she said. “They can show their athleticism in different areas.” 

Pattison said a big part in getting girls involved is giving them support. 

“Just having confidence in anything that you’re doing helps a lot. It makes it a lot easier to compete,” she said.

Abby Fager, sophomore

Fager has known she wanted to be a wrestler ever since she watched her cousins wrestle. 

Fager started wrestling her eighth grade year and has enjoyed it ever since. 

“I just thought it was kind of different and just doing it that first year, it was a lot of fun,” Fager said. 

Fager said there were not many girls on the middle school wrestling team when she joined, but there was a lot of support. 

“It was nice to have a few girls on there and just kind of support each other,” she said. “But I mean, the boys always support us pretty well, and the girls support back. The more it grows, the more everyone supports everybody.” 

Cleveland said Fager played a major role in the wrestling team’s success at regionals last season and he is excited to see what she does this season now that she is on the powerlifting team. 

Fager joined the powerlifting team this season because she wanted to be stronger for wrestling and soccer, but also just loves being a part of a team. 

“Having another community and it’s just a good community,” Fager said about joining the powerlifting team. “There is so much support, and it’s grown a lot in both wrestling and powerlifting.” 

Russell said he has no doubt Fager will find success in the weight room because of her athleticism. 

“She moves really well in the weight room. She’s a really good athlete, and that’s kind of what you look for are kids that could be good powerlifters,” Russell said. 

Fager said she loves being a part of each team because of the camaraderie around both. 

“With wrestling, all the girls are so supportive. When you’re wrestling, you’ll just see everybody on the side of the mat cheering you on,” Fager said. “Then powerlifting, when you’re going to hit a PR, everybody’s just screaming for you to get up. It’s just awesome.” 

Fager said it’s important for girls to join these traditionally male sports because of the opportunities they can open up. 

“There’s so many benefits to it and just growing like possible scholarships, having another community to go and just all the possibilities,” Fager said. 

For all three of these girls, their coaches appreciate their toughness and commitment to each program. 

Cleveland said he wishes there were more people, not just girls, who have the discipline that Karten, Pattison and Fager have.

“They do both, handle their school work, and I think a couple of them have jobs. So, they got four pretty important things going on,” Cleveland said. “But they’re able to handle it because they’re responsible. They know how to dedicate their time to whatever needs to be done.” 

Russell said he loves that he can bring his daughter to powerlifting practice and the girls can be  role models for her. 

“My daughter, who’s 6, I love having her around them because of just how she is going to see herself as a female,” Russell said. “I think it allows other girls to see what a strong female is like, and they have those girls to look up to.”