Girl’s wrestling has really expanded in South Dakota these past few years. Sanctioned in 2021, there were 125 girls competing, in 2022 the numbers had grown to 284 and this year in 2023 there are 416 girls competing in wrestling. Stevens sophomore Tailie Brehm is one of them, “It has grown tremendously, a lot more girls are participating, and most adults are advocating for the sport.”
With that support behind her, Brehm has had a solid season, “I have beaten a lot of people I lost to last year.” While she commented saying she wanted her personal record to improve greatly throughout the season. As a team, the Raiders had a good season, at every tournament this year, except state, they placed in the top three.
With success comes some struggles. The biggest ones for this team were filling weight classes and staying mentally tough through challenges during their long season.
Brehm hopes that next year “as a whole, the girls’ team can improve in every level and place higher at state.” One thing for sure, girls wrestling is a fast-growing sport in South Dakota that is mentally and physically tough.