MFL MarMac Girls Wrestling Preview: Growing team hopes to prove itself in more duals
The MFL MarMac girls wrestling team includes (front, left to right) manager McKenna Kozelka, Charlotte Koether, Aaliyah Corcoran, Ayla Ruff, Kennedy Bachman, manager Mayleigh Ruff; (back) coach Pape, Kaitlyn Kozelka, Hannah Jacobson, Bayleigh Wood, Isla Henkes, Veda Torkelson and Alydia Abel. Not pictured are April Upton and coach Shawn Morrissey. (Photo by Audrey Posten)
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
The MFL MarMac girls wrestling team continues to grow, and with 11 athletes, is hungry to prove itself in more duals this season.
“I’m just super excited about the youth of the program. We love seeing the numbers grow,” said head coach Brent Pape, who attributed much of the enthusiasm to Bret Corlett’s work at the middle school level, encouraging girls to try the sport. “There is some stuff coming through here now which is showing from the middle school level.”
The Bulldogs return one state qualifier from a season ago—sophomore Charlotte Koether—who said wrestling at the highest level was a good learning experience and helped her gain more confidence.
“It definitely prepared me for what’s at state and the competition that’s there. Now I know what I can work on in practice and know how to improve for this year,” Koether shared.
She’s learning to hone basic skills and build her technique. Cross country season also helped her develop endurance and lung strength. Wrestling with teammate Kennedy Bachman over the summer and so far this fall, Koether said she’s ahead of where she started last year.
“I’m not where I ended, but I’m definitely mid-season. So there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement,” she said.
Koether hopes to return to state, this time making the podium.
“If I gain more confidence and just have trust in my abilities, I can make it there, and just build strength and learn techniques. Kennedy is really good at helping me with that,” she reflected.
Bachman, a junior, narrowly missed qualifying last season—a moment that motivated her to train and prepare even more this offseason. Through tournaments, wrestling with a club and camps, she said she learned a lot of technique.
“That’s kind of what I need is technique and just getting faster on my feet,” she said. “I feel like I started from down here and then this season I already feel like I’m up here. I can tell I’ve already grown a lot from doing stuff in the offseason.”
The effort is paying off. Bachman is ranked in Class 1A and won her first two tournaments this season. Pape is excited to see more.
“I know Kennedy has worked her tail off this summer, and it is showing. When she comes up, she’s laser focused. Sky’s the limit for Kennedy. She’s hungry,” he said.
Other key returners for the Bulldogs are senior Bayleigh Wood, junior Hannah Jacobson and sophomores Isla Henkes and Veda Torkelson.
“lsla and Hannah Jacobson, they make great practice partners up here. Both strong and independent girls who like to battle,” detailed Pape. “Veda Torkelson is starting to figure out her body and her movements, and I’ve just been impressed where her technique has come.”
The remainder of the team is what Pape called “young spark plugs,” in freshmen Aaliyah Corcoran, Ayla Ruff, Kaitlyn Kozelka and Alydia Abel. Junior April Upton has also started wrestling.
“So we are young,” Pape said, “but I think they’re hungry. They’re up here working hard every night, and I absolutely love it.”
Pape anticipates the Bulldogs will be a strong dual team, and this year’s schedule includes more dual opportunities.
“We’ll be a very strong dual team because we’re not leaving weights open and our girls, although they look kind of similar weights, they really stacked out really nicely,” he said. “There’s going to be no freebies against MFL MarMac unless somebody’s got a heavyweight we can borrow.”
Individual opportunities abound, as well, with some previous 1A schools, like Decorah, moving up to 2A for better balance.
“There’s a few teams around that would normally be with us in our regionals, and when you take some of those other schools out, it really opens up for us,” Pape noted.
Most of all, though, Pape is excited to watch the wrestlers grow in the sport and their support of one another.
“We are kind of like our own little family up here and it just keeps growing bigger and bigger,” he reflected. “They support each other each and every night.”
