Morgan’s Lorie Wardell headed to State Girls Wrestling Tournament

Senior Lorie Wardell is the only Morgan High Girls’ Wrestling team member this year. As a second-year high school girl wrestler and pioneer in the sport for Morgan’s first year team last year, she placed third at State in 2022 in the 125 weight class. This year she has worked tirelessly with her coach Jason Jacobsen to prepare and compete. As the lone wrestler on the team, she has had to overcome several challenges; the biggest one is finding practice partners. Wardell has persevered and found other schools with girls’ teams that welcomed her to their practices so she could prepare for competition. As she prepares for the state tournament next week, Wardell is excited for the opportunity to go and “give it her best shot.” Still, she notes that she would feel more confident if she had been able to have more consistent practice opportunities. 

Wardell started wrestling in middle school after watching her brother Sim Jr. wrestle. “He’d be at tournaments and would need a partner to warm up, so I would warm up with him, and I thought, ‘This is pretty fun,’” Wardell said. “In 7th and 8th grade and part of my freshman year, I wrestled with a club in Layton, Northern Utah Girls Wrestling.”

“After a break, I started wrestling again last year when Morgan started a girls’ team,” she said. “Tenley Jones [2022 MHS graduate and state champion wrestler] was a big influence on me. She’s now wrestling in college and really helped me get better,” Wardell said. During her first year, coach Carlitos Nava led the team. She appreciates all the support Nava gave his wrestlers in their first year and the continued encouragement he has provided. This year, Jacobsen took over head coaching duties and has worked with Wardell and her family to coordinate matches, practices and tournaments.

As the only member of the team, she has courageously stepped on the mat to represent Morgan in a sport that is only in its third sanctioned year. Last year Morgan had three wrestlers qualify for State, but two of them graduated. This year three girls started out the year, but only Wardell remains. One of her favorite parts of wrestling has been “the people that I meet. I’ve met so many really nice girls and coaches from other teams that have encouraged me. It’s hard to be the only girl wrestler at Morgan and to fight to overcome the stereotypes against girl wrestlers. Meeting other girls and coaches who think girls wrestling is cool has been so great.”

She has compiled a winning record during the season, participating in duals against Green Canyon, Juab and Summit Academy and in the MC Filly and Lady Hawk Rumble tournaments.

Wednesday, Feb. 1, she participated in the Divisional Tournament in Morgan and earned fourth place in the 120 pound bracket, punching her ticket to the 3A State Tournament that will be held Feb. 15-16 in Richfield. In her opening match against Kanab, she won by decision 8-6. In the semifinal, Wardell fell to Grantsville’s Brielle Fawson, a 2022 state champion, by fall (3:57). Wardell rebounded and won her consolation semifinal match by pin in 1:16 over Union’s Addisynn Meryhew. In the 3rd Place Match, she lost by tech fall to Grantsville’s Reagan Pitt.

Jacobson said, “Lori wrestled well at divisionals and is now off to State. We are looking forward to her doing well. She is a returning state placer, and she works hard to be better. She not only practices with the Morgan High Team, but she also gets outside coaching. It’s been difficult for Lori and the team because she didn’t have any workout partners close to her weight.”

Wardell would encourage any girl who is considering wrestling to give it a try, and she hopes to see the girls’ wrestling program grow at Morgan. “Personally, I would tell any girl that wrestling is life changing. I used to struggle with anxiety and depression, and wrestling has benefited me so much mentally as well as physically. It will change you as a person, and it is definitely worth it.”

Wardell is the daughter of Sim and Drea Wardell of Enterprise. When not on the mat, she loves showing pigs, farming and riding horses. She is involved with FFA at Morgan High, and after high school, she plans to attend Snow College and study Animal Science. She also isn’t shutting the door on wrestling. Snow College has a girls' team, and Wardell is open to exploring possible future wrestling opportunities at Snow.

“I’d love to see more girls in Morgan come out and wrestle,” she said. “It’s a great sport, and I hope more girls in Morgan can have the opportunity to participate in such a great sport.”