Editor’s Note: This is the first story in an upcoming series examining girls sports in Eudora and the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

Girls wrestlers for Eudora schools want to continue to pin their opponents on the mat but on their own terms.

Earlier this month, assistant coach Carl Springer held a meeting with students and parents about the possibility for the girls to have their own team for wrestling. 

Since the meeting, Springer said the girls decided they are going to follow through and come up with a proposal and submit it for the agenda of the May 12 school board meeting.

The girls have attended practice and wrestling matches alongside the boys up to this point. If the girls’ proposal for their own team is approved by the school board then the challenges that come with working with the boys can be addressed, such as logistics of separate practices. 

Having their own team would also pave the way for girls wrestling to continue its growth in Eudora. 

There were 1,526 female wrestlers in 179 high schools in Kansas for 2022, according to the Kansas State High School Activities Association.

In the presentation to the girls and parents, Springer spoke about how girls wrestling is on the rise. Every high school will have a girls wrestling program in the next five years, he said.

“We don’t want to be the ones left behind. We don’t want to be the ones that are still struggling to get the program off the ground in five years when the next group of people comes through,” Springer said. 

Freshman wrestler Maddy Arnold has been working with Springer to help create and gather awareness for this new team. 

“Honestly, this will put us on the right side of history. It will be cool to see all the names of us who started the girls wrestling team and for future girls to look up to us and say, ‘They did that, so why can’t I?’” Arnold said.

Superintendent Stu Moeckel was presented with the idea for a new girls’ team by Springer and Arnold. Moeckel advocated his support for the idea and discussed the process of starting a new team.  

“I was impressed with their research. Just like all the other athletic programs, we are excited about the opportunity. I hope the girls are able to meet the needs and policy for new sports,” Moeckel said.

As part of this policy, the girls will need to fundraise money to get their team funded for coaches’ salaries, new uniforms and trips for away meets. 

If the petition for the girls’ team is accepted, 100% of the total cost for the first two years would be paid by the girls’ fundraising efforts. In the third year, the school district would pay for one-fourth of the cost and one-half by the fourth year. In the fifth year, the team would become fully funded by the district. 

The dream for this new team is to create an inclusive space where more girls can try out wrestling as well as leave a long-living legacy for these young women. 

Freshman Mars Skiffington is on board with the girls having their own team and expressed her lack of appreciation when she and her fellow wrestlers are referred to as “Lady Cardinals” or the “girls Cardinals.” 

She would rather the boys and girls all be addressed by a singular title and does not see the need for the discrepancy. 

“It makes me feel like less of an athlete when I’m referred to as a lady. I can be just as strong as a guy can and I’ll wrestle a boy if I have to,” Skiffington said. “The fact that we don’t go around saying ‘guy’ or ‘men’s’ Cards, we say ‘Cardinals’ because when you go to Eudora we are the Cardinals whether you are male or female.”

In the meeting with the girls, Springer made it a point that the success of this team is not to be a detriment to the boys’ team and that he wants both teams to succeed. 

Springer said he will apply for the position as head coach for the girls’ team but did not guarantee the girls he would get it due to him no longer being a full-time teacher at the middle school. 

Furthermore, Springer said despite his desire to be the girls’ head coach, he wants to see more women coaches for the wrestlers, believing that is the future of this team. 

“My hope is to have more female wrestling coaches. We (Eudora) are an entire generation away from having female head coaches who have wrestled all the way through school.” Springer said. “Right now, it’s hard to find female head coaches that have wrestled forever but when it happens, my hope is eventually it’s an all-female staff for the girls.”

The new team will also face several other obstacles if it’s able to get off the ground. In the past, the girls have had to practice alongside the boys junior varsity team.

Creating a new schedule for the girls’ practice in addition to having both coaches for the boys and girls work together on a sustainable workflow for the teams would need to be addressed.

Accommodations will need to be met for the girls’ team regarding their weigh-ins and hydration tests. There is a chance not all women could take these tests at the same time as the boys, meaning additional days will be added for the girls. 

Recruiting new wrestlers into the program is also a factor that the girls want to tackle, and sophomore Kyleigh Musick said it is an obtainable goal considering how well other recent girls sports programs have grown. 

“Since the girls soccer program has been a thing, we have now had over 30 girls come out and try because it was pushed so much by the Erpeldings. If we keep pushing this, we should have a pretty solid number of recruits,” Musick said.

Musick and her fellow wrestlers aim to relieve some of the worries girls have when considering wrestling as a sport to participate in. They hope the new team shows girls this sport will raise their confidence and spawn more proud athletes.

“I cannot say enough about how wrestling improves women’s confidence. These girls go from being shy in the hallways and getting picked on or bullied to being a state qualifier. That’s what brings people in and fills the room,” Springer said.

The decision to move forward on proposing this team was not unanimous among all the girls, Springer said, but for the ones who are pushing for it, he believes they can make their dream a reality.

Arnold said wrestling has helped her solve a lot of problems and realize there’s more out there.

“Yes, it is scary to go on the mat, but once you’re in there, there is no better feeling than getting your hand raised at the end of your match,” Arnold said. “That’s the best feeling you will ever have in your life.”

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Reach reporter William Crow at [email protected].