From the Ground Up: A New Era for Girls Wrestling
A year ago from this time, there were only 2 wrestlers on the girls team, Leah Connolly and Tegan Erickson. A very small team with a big dream of making an impact to inspire more girls to join. You would think that this would not be such a possible thing, but from their very impressive results of last year‘s season more girls joined the team. This year the wrestling program did something very different from previous years by co-oping with Pact Charter High School, resulting with many more names added to the roster.
History wasn‘t just made by having an increase of members in the team, but by having the first ever girls home dual in the history of their program. This program started not that long ago and is already making a big impact in the entire community.
Senior Fayth Lindahl, one of the two captains of the girls wrestling team, shared how challenging her growth was in wrestling due to the lack of girls in the program.
“Back when I wrestled in second grade like girls wrestling literally wasn’t a thing. The girls state tournament was all of 60 girls maybe. And so now that we’re able to host a full like girls dual, like that’s cool and it’s going to help spread the word out,” Lindahl said.
Apart from those who have wrestled before the impact still is being made in those who just joined the team such as Senior Saeran Whitney.
“As this being my first year in the team think it’s really cool that Spectrum’s able to do a girl dual girls duel this year because last year there were only two girls on the wrestling team and now we almost have a full lineup,” Whitney said.
First challenges of the season
In November of 2025, the season started with new faces in the mat ready to give it all, but not everything came easy for this brand new team. Since most of them were new, at the beginning they had to take a step back in order to teach a lot more to those who just joined.
Such as Spectrum Wrestling Head Coach, Justin Werk, and captains, Fayth Lindahl and Tegan Erickson, have stepped up to help those in most need by keeping a fun and creative environment for them.
“A lot of them are brand new [Girls wrestlers], so they had to work really really hard at not just getting in shape but also learning kind of the basics and they’ve all done an extremely good job,” Head Coach Justin Werk said, “Leaders like Tegan and Fayth have helped them to catch up really quickly.”
Throughout every practice of the season, the girls wrestlers worked really hard in order to make this season be worth all of their dicipline. Challenges might come, but the mindset will always stay strong just like 8th grader Brittany Tschudi said about having to start the season from zero.
“From this being my first season, it has been very hard since I had to learn everything from scratch. But I have made sure to keep my head up and not give up just like all my teammates would want me to do,” Tschudi said.
Fayth faced her own challenge this season since she attends Pact Charter High School. This means that there has been issues with getting to practices or meets on time and making sure there is a proper communication with the coaches.
“Spectrum gets out of school like 40 minutes, 45 minutes before Pact does. And so trying to get all the times with that and then communicating with coach of when does he want me here for away meets and then having to communicate that with the athletic director at my school,” Lindahl said, “It’s definitely been challenging, but honestly we have tried our best to make it work and have no issues.”
One Team, One Family
Despite the challenges faced this season, the team has made sure to stay united and work through every obstacle together in order for them to not just improve as a team, but to create a bigger bond with each other.
Before the season started, not many of them talked or even knew each other. From walking by each other in the hallways to becoming a family, the team have improved in many ways. Coach Justin Werk mentioned about the quailities of the team and how unique they are together.
“When it comes to qualities they have this ability to work extremely hard and still have a lot of fun by keeping a strong bond together and being by each other’s side,” Werk said, “There’s always a group of them cheering each other on, but really most importantly that quality of being able to work really hard and keep it fun it’s difficult to do and they do a really good job at it.”
Sarean Whitney mentioned how being new to the team have made it more easier for them to become closer since they didn’t already know each other.
“Our team is pretty close because there’s only 13 of us. So, we’ve gotten to know each know each other really well throughout the season and especially since this is Spectrum’s first year with a full girls team,” Whitney said.
In Fayth‘s view as one of the captains on the team, she has made sure to be there for her teammates in case they are hurt or they need motivation. A true example of a dedicated captain making sure her team stays connected stronger.
“After one of our ladies has a tough match, I’ll go up to them and I’ll be like, “Hey, what’s wrong? Like are you hurt?”, or I’ll ask them about the match and things like “what do you think you did well on? What do you think you need to work on?” questions like that. And that kind of uplifts their spirits cuz they think of positives, things they need to work on, and then things they want to take on into their next match,” Lindahl said.
One Night, Long-Term Impact
No matter what it is, events like this might be small to some but they create a long-term impact for the future of not just wrestlers, but of the program. New beginning lead to new successes that can be achievable in any way possible if you decide to believe.
Coach Werk shared how an event like this creates awareness to those who are interested in wrestling and would like to join in the future years.
“I think that having a home duel was really important to not just highlight all the work that the wrestlers put in, but also to tell the girls, that if you don’t have a winter sport or maybe you only do a fall sport, wrestling could be a really good option for you,” Werk said.
Coach Werk also mentioned that if more people were to join, in the home duals there would be more fun and more opportunities to wrestle.
“If we have 20 girls, then 20 girls would go in the home duels. The 13 weights will be filled, but there will be JV matches also. So, everyone can wrestle, everyone gets a chance, and we continue to grow,” Werk said.
Future on the Mat
Throughout the whole ongoing 2025-26 season, everyone have made sure to make every day worth it, for the future and growth of the team. With dicipline, determination, and faith they all have accomplished extraordinary things and now they can hope for the best in the future.
Each one of those spectators that watch the matches could be new members of the team in the future, which is why this group of girls make sure to make a huge impact and give it all on the mat to create awareness.
Coach Werk characterized the importance of trying something new even if you don‘t end up liking it at the end.
“I think you should just try it. Talk to some of the girls that have done it in the past and ask them how it went for them and just try it. You know, it might be your thing, it might not be your thing and that’s okay. But I think until you try it, you don’t know, ” Werk said.
It‘s not just all about doing something different than usual or trying something new, but like Fayth said you get to meet a lot of people from all over the state and have a good time while staying active.
“It’s super fun. You get to meet a bunch of new girls from a bunch of different teams like all throughout Minnesota. And like at state, you get to meet so many new girls from literally all over Minnesota,” Lindahl said.
With some old and new faces on the team, this season have been one to remember in the heart‘s of everyone. From giving it all in the mat, to getting up from the mat with a win and an impact made, this group of girls has just started something beautiful in the history of this program.