December 24, 2024
Senior Haley Glade is as polite and pleasant as any student-athlete at Earlham School. She’s always quick with a smile whenever you say hello to her. But when she’s on the wrestling podium getting an award, that smile disappears, and she goes with the classic ‘stone face’ pose. Oh, she’s happy. But having wrestled with and against boys before there was such a thing as ‘girls’ wrestling,’ she says that the ‘no emotion’ look just comes naturally.
“Growing up being on the podium with guys all the time, that’s just what you learn,” said Glade. “You don’t smile on the podium.”
As for her teammates—Kenady Ridout, Sophia Millage, and Lilli Strandberg—they all beamed when they took their turns on the podium last Thursday at the West Central Activities Conference meet in Woodward.
“Haley’s way too serious,” joked Ridout.
After the meet, the Cardinals had plenty to smile about. Glade won at 155, Millage won at 105, Ridout (190) and Strandberg (135) both finished 3rd, and the Cardinals finished 5th in the team standings.
With just 49 wrestlers total, the meet went quickly, and some weight classes were more crowded than others. There were six competitors at 135, so Strandberg wrestled twice before any of her teammates wrestled once. In her opening match, Strandberg dominated Piper Downing (Panorama). Strandberg got an early takedown, then chalked up 4 points for a nearfall, before finishing off Downing with a pin at 1:48.
Strandberg took on tough Tori Alexander (Ogden) in the semifinals, and lost by fall at 1:11.
Strandberg’s 2nd-round consolation match was a near mirror image of her opening bout. Against Abigail Crawford of Woodward-Granger, she racked up 7 points with a takedown and a nearfall before winning by fall at 1:55.
In the 3rd-place match, Morgan Dickinson (I-35) took down Strandberg 36 seconds into the match. Ten seconds later, Strandberg got a reversal, then pinned Dickinson at 1:18.
Strandberg is only in her second year of organized wrestling and her improvement has been dramatic. She has shown much more technical ability and is aggressive every time out.
“Not even just physically, but mentally I’ve gotten a lot more confident with a few things that I know how to do and do them well,” she said. “That’s helped a lot. And Sophie’s helped a lot, too.”
There was just one other wrestler at 105, so Millage’s one and only match was for the title. She was much too fast and strong for Jazabella Morse (West Central). Millage got a takedown 44 seconds into the match, then finished it off with a pin at 1:05.
Millage’s strategy was simple enough—and executed perfectly.
“You always start out just kind of moving your feet, and it’s whatever I can get to first or whatever opens up. And the first opportunity I see I take it. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at moving my feet and moving around and looking for that opening and realizing when it’s there.”
Ridout lost her opening match by fall to Ellie Hutton (I-35) at 2:58. In the 3rd place match, she led 3-0 when she pinned Jude Stark Anderson (Woodward-Granger) at 1:05.
Ridout has taken on the massive challenge of trying a new sport as a senior, but she’s a gifted athlete and a coachable kid, so she’s adapting well and having success.
“It’s been difficult, but I do enjoy it,” she said. “It’s a lot of work. And practice is a lot different environment than I’m used to because I played basketball for so long. It’s been a good experience so far.”
After a 1st round bye, Glade took on Karli Rumley (West Central) in the semifinals. Glade piled up 10 points in the 1st period with 2 takedowns and a nearfall, then put Rumley away with a pin at 3:30.
In the final, Glade won by fall over Gracie Recker (Panorama) at 1:55. It was the third time this season that Glade had wrestled Recker. Wrestling somebody multiple times can be tricky—you know them, but they know you, too. That didn’t really matter in this match.
“Even if they know what’s coming,” said Glade, “they still have to stop it.”
The girls’ wrestling team is growing steadily, if not quickly. The Earlham youth program should feed a few more girls into the high school ranks in the coming years. For now, with four girls and a dedicated head coach, the team is succeeding and has a good vibe. And Glade, who was the only girl on the team her first two years, is happy to have some teammates.
“It’s nice to have warmup partners and not having to go places all alone,” she said. “It gets kind of boring when you’re sitting there for hours with nothing to do.”
Earlham Echo 
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