Centennial girls wrestling heads into Sections with top-ranked sophomore wrestler
CIRCLE PINES, Minn. — Inside Centennial High school's wrestling room, a growing team is taking over the mat. The girls wrestling team grew from seven girls last season to 12 this year.
"I'm so proud of how far it's come and how big it's growing," said Kahlea Jolly, the team's head coach.
A standout on this team is only a sophomore. Nora Akpan took home sixth in state last year. Now, she's headed into Sections this weekend as the first ranked in the state in her 130 pound weight class.
This sport was a fun pastime that turned into a passion for Akpan.
"What inspired me to do this was I liked wrestling with my brother," said Akpan. "It's me on the mat, I'm doing it, and that appealed to me."
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Despite the strength and physicality of team, there's so much more to wrestling to be successful at it.
"There's many aspects of it. It's almost like an art. You can be physical in one aspect, like some wrestlers, or you can be really technical," said Akpan.
The Centennial girls wrestlers are building the foundation of this new sport at their high school, but it's their coach who mapped out the blueprint
"I'm so happy that I can give back and be a part of it," said Jolly.
Jolly wrestled for Centennial High School five years ago on the boys team. Although, she fell in love with the sport when she was even younger, watching on the sidelines as her dad coached youth wrestling.
"I asked my dad, because he was one of the coaches, and I said, 'Can I try it?' I didn't have my shoes, I was just in my socks, and he was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.' And there were a couple other girls in youth at the time, so I practiced with one of them and the rest was history," said Jolly.