January 30, 2024
Glade Wins Super Regional
There is no easy path in wrestling, but Haley Glade made her run to the super regional title at 145 ‘look’ easy. She won her first three matches by fall in an average time of just over 2 minutes. She won the 1st place match over the tournament’s #1 seed by decision, 8-2. As strong and technically skilled as she is, her patience may have been her best trait last Friday at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines.
“I try not to force things, because when you do, bad things happen,” said Glade. “So I react to what they do and then do my stuff. What I’ve been doing has been working all year.”
Glade started the day with a determined hand slap with Coach Strandberg before her first match—then never wavered. She pinned Jenna Rucker (I-35) in just 35 seconds. Glade’s next opponent, Chloe Ruepke of Southeast Warren/Melcher-Dallas (25-12) was a little tougher. Glade got a takedown about a minute into the match and led, 2-0, after 1 period. In the 2nd, Glade had control of her opponent on the mat, but Coach Strandberg instructed her to let Ruepke go. Ruepke got a point for the escape, but then Glade quickly took a shot and got another takedown, worked Ruepke to her back, and got the pin at 2:52.
Peyten Van Dyke of Iowa City West (24-10) was Glade’s opponent in the semifinal. Glade got a takedown and a near fall 1 minute into the match and led 4-0 after 1 period. Glade got another takedown early in the 2nd, then finished Van Dyke off with a pin at 3:15.
Glade took on top seed Ella Anliker (20-2) of Valley, West Des Moines in the final. Anliker got a takedown in the 1st, but Glade tied the match in the 2nd with a near fall. Glade made a quick escape early in the 3rd to take the lead, then a takedown at 4:26. That essentially ended the match. Anliker had no answer, and Glade added a near fall with 44 seconds left.
Glade wrestled with confidence all day, never letting herself get into trouble.
“I’ve wrestled a lot of ranked girls this year and I’ve been in every match I’ve wrestled,” she said. “I wrestled the #1 ranked kid (in the state) last week and lost 3-0 in a decision. It helps knowing that I’m right there. I think just doing well all year long has really helped my confidence. And, I gotta give it to God. I pray before every match.”
Coach Strandberg added, “She has a lot of hours under her belt at this point. She’s a junior. She’s going to her 3rd state tournament. She’s obviously seasoned, so I think when it comes down to it, it just becomes natural. A lot of muscle memory, but also a lot of confidence.”
Glade will wrestle at the state tournament in Coralville this Thursday and Friday. This will be her third straight appearance under those bright lights. She’s ‘been there and done that’—and that helps.
“You get down to the state tournament, you don’t know where you’re going to get seeded,” said Coach Stranberg. “I would hope she would have a decent seed, being a regional champ twice now. She’s has some losses this year, but she’s obviously had some pretty good wins. This is a great day for her. Getting down to that state tournament, just knowing what to expect with the time management, how to eat, all of that kind of stuff—comes into play and it takes a veteran to understand that. That’s where she gets a leg up on some of the other kids going down there.”
Glade lost in the consolation round at state last year, but she seems poised to make a run at the podium in 2024.
“I’ve definitely gotten a lot stronger than last year,” she said. “I’ve been working on my technique—not out muscle people. My big thing is moving my feet, which I’ve been trying to work on. It’s not always showing, but I’m always finding things to improve every practice.”
Cards Add Depth to Team
Girls’ wrestling in Iowa keeps growing. This season, participation was up 22% from last year across the state. For the Earlham varsity program, growth was 200%. Okay, two more girls were out, up from one—but the math is what it is.
Haley Glade held down the fort for the first two years of the Earlham program as the only girl. This year she was joined by junior Sophia Millage and freshman Lilli Strandberg. Both the new kids are from ‘wrestling families,’ but the decision to go out still wasn’t easy for either one.
“Both my brothers have been wrestling since they were really little,” said Sophia. “So I’ve been dragged to tournaments as long as I can remember. So just watching them, I decided I would give it a shot. They were obviously a big inspiration for me to try it. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”
Lillli’s dad is head coach Ben Strandberg, but that doesn’t mean that her going out was a sure thing—or that she was under any pressure to do it. What led to her decision? It depends on who you ask!
“My dad is pretty passionate about it,” said Lilli. “I wasn’t really thrilled about the idea of it. But he and Haley banded together and convinced me of it.”
The coach has a slightly different perspective about the process.
“It was her decision,” he said. “She was the one that kept on asking me if she should, and I gave her the 411 on what she should expect. It’s not easy, it’s a lot of tough work.”
Neither Sophia nor Lilli had any formal experience, but having been around the sport for so many years certainly helped once they started competing.
“After you get out there on the mat for the first time, you’re just trying to get a feel for it,” said Sophia. “Once you do it a few times, you get used to it. Obviously, you get better through practice. I have a good support system. My dad and my brothers were always more than happy to teach me new things and new moves.”
Lilli added, “I’ve always sort of wrestled with my brother, but I never really knew the rules. The first two weeks when it was just me and Haley, that was tough. She’s a state qualifier and I’ve never wrestled before. But I just wanted to convince myself that I could do something like this, even though it’s a tough sport. There’s a lot of pain; you have to force yourself through and keep wrestling. You have to tough through it.”
Neither wrestler won a ton of matches this season, but they did improve—and that was the main objective.
“I just try to leave everything I can on the mat,” said Sophia. “I’m not worried about winning or losing, per se, as long as I give it everything I have. If I can walk away without saying, ‘I should have done this or I should have done that,’ then I’m perfectly happy with that.”
The very nature of wrestling—you’re out there all by yourself, you have no timeouts, somebody is trying to pick you up and throw you down—can be intimidating for anybody, let alone a first timer.
“It’s real nerve wracking, especially because in this sport, you don’t know who you’re going up against,” said Lilli. “They could be like you and haven’t wrestled a day in their life until a couple weeks ago, or they could be wrestling since they were in preschool and have qualified twice for state. You really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s pretty difficult going out there not knowing what’s going to happen.”
More girls participated in the Earlham Wrestling Club this year, too. Now with three Cardinal varsity athletes, all the young, aspiring wrestlers have multiple girls to look up to. The two new Cardinals are aware of the additional attention they get from the kids, while still trying to establish themselves.
“I feel like I’m one of the ones that is trying to learn from others like Haley, too, and learning to carry the torch,” said Sophia. “It’s good to see the community and see how many girls come to the tournaments. It’s really eye-opening to see how many are on different teams.”
Lilli even has her own personal fan club—and Lilli returns the favor.
“I have a little girl that I babysit, it’s actually coach Spieker’s daughter,” said Lilli. “She wrestles and I’ve watched her a couple times. She’s a really sweet girl, and I think she’s going to be an amazing wrestler when she grows up if she stays with the sport.”
For both professional and personal reasons, Coach Strandberg is pleased to see the team growing. “We put ‘trailblazers’ on our poster for a reason,” he said. “Haley was the first, Sophia and Lilli are the next wave of it. It was really cool to get a couple more girls to come out. I know I’m a little bit biased because one is my child, but they are in there every single day working really, really hard. I think they’re a great example of what girls’ wrestling can be. Not just for Earlham but statewide. You’re seeing that at the numbers here (at super regionals) and I hope to see that with the numbers for us in the future.”
Earlham Echo 
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