Path of Iowa’s high school women’s wrestling draws upon historic gender struggles

Cedar Falls women’s wrestling continues to learn and grow this following season. 

Last year, they finished third in the Iowa Women’s State Wrestling State Championships as a team. Furthermore, two students—seniors Lauren Whitt and Briar Ludemen—also claimed the title of champion in their respective weight classes, a first for the program as a whole. 

Despite their recent triumphs and success, oddly, women’s wrestling had not been a sanctioned sport in Iowa until 2022, Iowa being the 34th state to do so. Even still, before the official sanction, Iowa’s women’s wrestling still held state tournaments, four to be exact, before becoming officially approved. Coach Ali Gerbracht was an assistant coach during the time of this transition and said she is pleased with what the sport has become.

Originally, high school women’s sports had a rough go. In Iowa, high school girls began to play basketball in 1920. Rural schools were quite enthusiastic about the sport, but larger schools around Iowa still were hesitant. This eventually led to the Iowa Teacher’s Convention in 1925, which eliminated state sponsored funding for the sport. 

Luckily, high school women’s basketball wasn’t going to go down without a fight. This is when IGHSAU (Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union) was born. In 1949, 40,000 fans attended the sold-out Iowa High School Girl’s Basketball State Tournament sponsored by IGHSAU. 

In 1972 when legislation was passed for the gender equity in federal funded programs, high schools around Iowa were scrambling to implement girls programs across the state. IGHSAU helped implement these programs and got multiple programs sanctioned, eventually leading to women’s wrestling being sanctioned in 2022. For why it took so long for women’s wrestling to be sanctioned, Gerbracht said it’s due to the state being unsure of women’s wrestling’s future success.

“I believe it’s mostly due to people being unsure if women’s wrestling is just a trend at the moment or if it will hold far into the future,” Gerbracht said.

Describing her background as a women wrestler, Gerbracht had been interested in wrestling since a very young age, as her dad was a men’s wrestling coach. Taking part in her father’s all men’s team, Gerbracht never really minded the gender difference between her and the rest of her teammates. They were all passionate about wrestling, and that’s all that mattered. 

Her dad is also who initially encouraged her to coach wrestling as she ventured off to college. Gerbracht hadn’t wanted to move too far away from home, but there weren’t many wrestling opportunities at nearby colleges. 

As Gerbracht recalls, “In Iowa at the time, the only large college that had wrestling was Grand View.” So, her father recommended coaching as a way to stay in touch with the sport. 

“I didn’t even know what the future was going to look like since it wasn’t a sanctioned sport. I didn’t really know what to expect,” Gerbracht said.

If you want to support women’s wrestling or learn more about women’s sports history. Check out the IGHSAU historical website, where most of the information gathered in this article originated from.