Morgan looks to grow high school girls wrestling program

In 2022, Morgan High senior Tenley Jones won Morgan’s first state championship in girls’ wrestling. Jones grew up wrestling with her brothers and against other boys. When the Utah High School Activities Association officially made Girls’ Wrestling a sanctioned sport in 2021, there were no girls competing for Morgan. Jones’ senior year 2022, she recruited nine other girls to the team, and they were coached by Carlos Nava. Five girls traveled to the State Championship in 2022.

In 2023, with Jones having graduated and wrestling at Carl Albert State University, only one wrestler, Lorie Wardell, represented Morgan with Coach Jason Jacobson now at the helm. Jacobson, an MHS graduate, 2x state champion, and Division I NCAA wrestler at Boise State, noted, “It was hard for Lorie to find good workout partners since she was the only girl. She often had to travel to wrestle with girls from other schools. She got a lot of support from the boys’ team, but it is nice to have other girls in the room to support each other and to practice with.”

As the 2024 season begins, Jacobson returns as the head coach, but this year he has something many girls’ programs in Utah don’t: a female coach who has wrestling experience and knowledge. Morgan’s own state champion, Jones, who was an All-American last year at the National Junior College Championships, has returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach with a fire to build a program with Jacobson.

“I’m so excited to be back at Morgan,” Jones said. “I’m excited to give back to the sport that I love and share the joy and strength that I’ve found in wrestling with girls at Morgan High.”

Jacobson added, “Girls who come out are lucky to have a coach like Tenley. She’s experienced and has been where they are. She’s a part of the history of girls’ wrestling at Morgan High, and we’re inviting everyone to come try out wrestling and be a part of building the foundation of girls’ wrestling in Morgan.”

Practices are held at 2:45 p.m. after school on the third floor of the high school.  

Jones addressed some of the misconceptions surrounding girls’ wrestling. “We only wrestle girls. Our girls compete against other girls at every tournament and dual.”

“Girls who wrestle don’t have to fit a stereotype and be all muscly or masculine,” she continued. “Girls come to wrestling from all different sports and areas,” Jones explained. “There are wrestlers who dance, play softball, play volleyball, swim, play soccer, and run cross country. Grantsville and Juab both have girls who are cheerleaders who wrestle on their teams. In fact, two of them wrestled each other at State last year.”

She invited, “We accept all who are interested in learning a fun, new sport that will give them a chance to show their determination and drive.”

Jacobson echoed this sentiment. “We’d love to have girls come out and give wrestling a try. We want to give the Morgan High girls a chance to try out this sport that we both love and have found to be life-changing. Wrestling teaches so many lessons and builds so much confidence. Wrestling led me to graduate from college.”

Wrestling, long considered to be a boys’ sport only, like basketball and soccer once were, has a long history of success at Morgan High. Even though the only state title came in 1963 under current boys’ head coach Kelly Wilson’s father, Bob, Morgan regularly has several boy state champions and has placed in the top three for the last several years in boys’ wrestling.

Girls wrestling has exploded in popularity nationwide with 44 states now sanctioning girls’ wrestling. With only 804 girls wrestling in 1994, there were 35,653 girls who wrestled in 2022 in high schools nationwide, and last year over 52,400 competed.   

Utah’s high school numbers have shown a similar trajectory among all classifications. In 2022, 700 girls participated in high school wrestling, and in 2023 the number nearly doubled to 1,300. 

Geneva Gray, Women's Wrestling Director and Women's National Development Coach for USA Wrestling Utah, came to Utah two years ago from the US National team to help build the sport of girls’ wrestling. Gray “has coached and wrestled at the National level and been part of Team USA as a training partner for the World and Olympic Games.” 

In an interview this week, Gray shared how wrestling can benefit girls. “Wrestling is learning to push past your doubt, anxiety, and stresses, and just be creative, powerful, and authentically you. Girls can be creative, use their strengths, capitalize on their hard work, and truly find their limits then push past them.” 

“Wrestling builds strong character and humbles you to know the work you put in will pay off in many ways, not always having your hand raised, but in the resilience of losing and continuing forward.” 

With 150 colleges and universities offering girls’ wrestling programs, scholarships are currently plentiful for successful female wrestlers. Each year Utah high school girls’ wrestling coaches are contacted by college coaches looking to fill their rosters. Last year, Snow College fielded Utah’s first collegiate girls’ wrestling program, and over 20 high school seniors received scholarships to programs throughout the country.

Jones was among those who reaped the benefits of a college education due to her wrestling skills. “My teammates and I all found joy in the sport. We felt good being out there helping each other get better every day. It’s about the team.”

“Come join our team here at Morgan,” she said. “Be a part of history, build a legacy of strong girls wrestling at Morgan, and be a part of the beginning. Make history!” 

“The sport is so young right now,” Jacobson added. “It’s never too late to join. As coaches we are happy to work with athletes from different sports and to work with their schedules, if girls want to come try wrestling to see if they enjoy it.”

He continued, “Girls who wrestle at Morgan have the benefit of two coaches who wrestled in college helping them build their skills from the ground up. We have plenty of skill and knowledge, now we need the girls. I’m tickled pink to have Tenley with us, and I once again invite any girl interested to come try it out.”

Jones concluded, “I graduated from Morgan High, and I know we have a strong tradition of powerful girls’ sports programs. My goal is to not only help build a powerful girls’ wrestling program but also to build girls that can confidently celebrate their accomplishments on and off the mat and in their lives due to the skills they learned in wrestling.”

For more information about girls’ wrestling, stop by a practice at 2:45 p.m. on the third floor of the high school, or contact Coach Jacobson or Jones through Morgan High School.λ