Girls’ wrestling is one of the fastest growing high school sports in America with a nearly 60% increase in participation in only one year. Colorado officially sanctioned the sport in 2020 making the 2020-2021 season the first official season in Colorado. Durango High school has a girls wrestling program that has been slowly growing and improving throughout the years. For the 2025-2026 season the team has nine girls between ninth and eleventh grade officially registered for the sport. Both the coaches and the team aim to make this season the best it can be, and the program aims to build a base for every wrestler that they can build on through tournaments and years to come.
Wrestling is a character building sport that teaches athletes to push themselves past pain and exhaustion and keep focused on the match in front of them. “I always compare wrestling to strongman training” Said Beth Hermeson, one of the coaches for the girls team, in reference to the intensity of the training and the perseverance of the athletes. DHS’s girls wrestling program has allowed female athletes to build the character and confidence that comes with wrestling. The program and the sanction of girls wrestling in general has allowed athletes to build a tight knit community and support each and every athlete whether they have been wrestling for years or have never had a match before.
The DHS girls wrestling team is looking forward to a great season with their first meet on December 4th in Pueblo. The team is going into the season with eight experienced and dedicated wrestlers who are looking forward to their first competition and have been putting in the work during training. Beyond the physical challenges of wrestling it truly is a mental sport “those things that affect you when you train, those are the things that are going to come up during a hard match” said Coach Ryan McGrath, the head coach for the girls team. In the training rooms the wrestling team works not only on the physical but on the mental. The mental strength that is built in the wrestling room gives the girls competing the confidence to succeed beyond high school wrestling and into nearly every aspect of their futures and everyday lives.
The sanctioning of girls wrestling has given countless young athletes the opportunity to compete against opponents just like them. The DHS girls have built up this program and trained to succeed both on the mat and off, the environment and support has only grown among the team as the years went on. Everybody is accepted when they step into the wrestling room and the team has grown to feel like family to many of the athletes, and the sport is only continuing to grow, the DHS team right now is building the base for generations that will compete after them.
