Case in Point

Remember the names of these Iowa trailblazers

Girls' wrestling taking off in Iowa

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We’re a mere few days away from perhaps the largest athletic event of the year at Wilton High School — District wrestling — which the Beaver wrestling program will host Saturday, Feb. 15.

Wilton has been hosting Class 1A District wrestling for several years. It’s the final intense step before Iowa’s biggest state tournament, always held during a weekend in February where Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines gets filled from floor to ceiling as the state’s most popular sport crowns a new set of state champions.

As always, there are hopefuls right here in our backyards. Some of our 12 wrestlers heading to Districts have a real shot, in my estimation, of going far at state.

Let’s stop right there for now. Dreams will come true, and be dashed, this weekend. We’ll be there on the mats and you can follow Wilton and Durant journeys in your hometown paper next week.

Instead, I want to formally introduce our communities to three young women who, while they won’t be competing this weekend in Districts, have already put their mark on this wrestling season. Better yet, their names will be etched into the history of not only their schools, but also their state and this nation…

Mea Burkle

Carlie Jo Fusco

Ellie Fuller-Long

Wrestling may be the staple of Iowa sports, yet girls’ wrestling is its rising star. There’s a meteoric shift happening right now in this sport. Young women are migrating to wrestling rooms in all corners of our state. When I was in high school 20 years ago, every once in awhile you’d see or hear of a female wrestler. And, far more rarely, you’d see a female make her way to the state tournament.

Now, girls are joining in numbers so staggering, these pioneers are well on their way to having female wrestling sanctioned in the state of Iowa.

Please take a moment and read those names again — Wilton’s Mea Burkle, Durant’s Carlie Jo Fusco, and Durant’s Ellie Fuller-Long.

They each have their own stories to tell and collectively, they are the trailblazers of these schools and communities.

All three attended the second ever girls’ state wrestling meet held in Waverly Jan. 24-25. Last year, the first ever all-female state wrestling tournament had fewer than 100 participants. This year, the number ballooned to nearly 400.

This is only the beginning. Forever, Wilton junior Mea Burkle will be known as the first ever place winner in school history at girls’ state. She made her way through a 49-person bracket of girls from schools both small and large to finish sixth in the state at 132 pounds.

For Mea, a desire to wrestle and eventual spot on the state podium may have been meant to be. Her father Ben Burkle has been a longtime assistant in the Beaver wrestling program and her younger brother Garrett also wrestles.

“Wrestling is his purpose,” said Mea of her father’s passion for the sport. “And my whole life I’ve been going to practices with my brother. It’s what I grew up with. It’s our family bonding."

Ironically, Mea has gone through the full evolution of a female involved with wrestling. She was once a manager and cheerleader before taking her talents, which also include Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to the mats.

She witnessed former Wilton wrestler and all-time wins leader Trey Brisker win a state title from the mat as a cheerleader, an experience she called “the best moment of my life until girls’ state.”

Thanks to the numbers in the Wilton wrestling program, Beaver head wrestling coach Gabe Boorn made the decision to allow Mea to focus solely on girls’ tournaments this season, though she was ready, willing and able to compete in a boys’ meet anytime, and she did, wrestling in a handful of matches against boys. Wins against the boys are few and far between for many female wrestlers, but Mea did pin a boy in competition last year. “The whole crowd stood and cheered, it was great,” she remembers.

“Now there’s more opportunities for girls to wrestle girls,” said coach Boorn. “If we can grow the sport, why not create those opportunities in high school, opportunities that are already there in college.”

Mea had to get through several matches at state in order to make the second day and, eventually, the podium. Having her father there added extra pressure. “He expects a lot from me,” Mea added. “I wouldn’t get there without him.”

She was seeded 11th, a bit of an unknown according to her own recollection.

Her first loss was to the eventual state champ. She then had to win several in a row to not only make day two, but also place.

“She wrestled phenomenal,” said Boorn. “The best she has all year. Just like the guys, we want her to peak in the big meets.”

“I didn’t think I’d make it to day two. I expect low,” Mea admitted with a laugh. Her favorite memory was winning in what was known as the “blood round,” which meant she’d have a guaranteed spot on the podium. “I bawled with my mom and dad after that,” she said.

The top six of all weight classes were introduced to the crowd as “elite wrestlers.”

“I thought, ‘This is crazy.’ I felt on top of the world,” Mea said.

“My expectation was for her to earn her spot on our wall in the wrestling room. It’s attitude and effort. She’s always had that,” said Boorn.

That’s where Mea’s legacy will live forever. Her podium shot will hang in the Wilton wrestling room from here on, right alongside the boys where it belongs.

Durant duo keeps grinding

I cover hundreds of athletes every year in these communities. It may not be politically correct to pick favorites, but ask me whom my favorite is to watch and I’ll have a quick answer without hesitation — Durant’s Carlie Jo Fusco and Ellie Fuller-Long.

There’s not a close second to what these two girls do.

I was a basketball player. I never wrestled nor did I have an interest. However, this job has not only made me learn, it’s truly made me appreciate it. Yes you are part of a team. Yet in every match, it’s you and the other person — one-on-one. Sport in its purest form.

For those that follow Durant wrestling, we know numbers have been thin in recent years to say the least. Therefore, when Carlie Jo and Ellie decided to try wrestling, they were thrust right into the varsity lineup.

The varsity BOYS lineup.

It began with Carlie Jo, who wanted to try something new. She ran cross country with Ellie and talked with her about it. Ellie had grown up in a wrestling family but had never thought of doing it herself, until Carlie Jo presented her with the scenario of them trying it together.

They’ve been constants in the Durant wrestling room and on the varsity mats ever since, with Carlie Jo wrestling at 106 pounds and Ellie at 126.

Yes these girls will tell you their weights. And they’ll admit that watching their weight is one of the hardest parts.

With them in the lineup, Durant has, at times, been able to field 10-11 of 14 possible weights, something we haven’t seen in years. The Wildcats have even won some dual meets this season.

And while they do collect forfeits every once in awhile, neither Carlie Jo nor Ellie have a win against a boy this season. Zero. But every meet they’re in the center of the mats, shaking hands with some of the state’s best, like Ellie and the seemingly countless times she’s wrestled one of Wilton’s best — Kael Brisker — this season.

Put yourself in their shoes. New sport. Only girls in the wrestling room in a “boys’ world.” And every single time you’re on the mat with the boys, you lose. Sometimes quickly, badly.

Would you continue? Would you stick it out? Would you keep your head up?

They do. They love it. And they want more.

“I want to wrestle with the boys. I’m glad we’re not on JV. It’s beneficial for us to wrestle boys. When we went to girls’ state, the matches weren’t as hard as when we’re against boys,” said Ellie, who went 2-2 at girls’ state. “I’m glad I had those hard matches because it benefitted me at state.”

“We had more confidence. The aggressiveness is so different with boys,” added Carlie Jo.

They have the support of their friends, school, community and peers. “The whole school is behind us. Not just girls, everybody,” said Carlie Jo, who collected two forfeits and lost two at girls’ state.

Given that they’re in the interesting position of watching a powerful girls’ wrestling movement, coupled with the fact that their boys’ team still needs bodies, both of them want to keep wrestling in boys’ meets. They like the challenge that coed brings.

Carlie Jo plays basketball too

In case you needed anymore proof as to why these women are my favorite athletes to watch, did I mention that Carlie Jo plays basketball too.

I’m not joking.

When I was a little boy, I had the same decision to make that all boys do — play basketball or wrestle. Through junior high you can do both but once you’re in high school, it’s one or the other.

Carlie Jo was a basketball player. While she toyed with the idea of trying wrestling, she wasn’t ready to give up basketball. She talked with head wrestling coach Casey Strub, who told her that some boys on the bowling team have also wrestled, so perhaps it was possible. She talked with coaches within both programs, including Durant JV coach Mary Huesmann and head coach Ross DeLong.

They created a tentative plan and schedule, which mainly involves being sure to practice wrestling the night before meets and basketball the night before ball games.

Handling the workload has been tough for Carlie Jo. She admits that at times she thinks about not doing one or the other next year. At the time of our interview however, her mindset was to continue both.

As one could imagine, the aggressiveness of wrestling has filtered through to basketball, where she admits to committing more fouls this season. In fact, she entered the concussion protocol last week for an incident in basketball, keeping her out of boys’ Sectionals at West Branch last weekend.

“I just have to make sure my coaches know what’s going on at all times,” she said of keeping schedules straight.

“Sounds like it would be stressful,” said Ellie when thinking of trying to play both winter sports.

I’ve seen and covered a lot in my career. Yet my head spins when I watch these women do what they do. My advice: take notice. And when you think you’ve got it rough and/or have a hectic or busy schedule, check in and watch one of their matches against the boys. If that doesn’t do it, come back the next night and watch Carlie Jo sprint up and down the basketball court.

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