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•🧑🤼♀️ Who: Niceville Lady Eagles Wrestling Squad, led by coaches Matt Hanlin and Adam Harder
•🏆 What: Won their first-ever girls’ district wrestling championship
•📅 When: This season, with regionals coming up this weekend
•💪 Why: The team’s growth and internal competition have fueled their success, with school officials emphasizing the sport’s increasing legitimacy and
The Niceville Lady Eagles Wrestling Squad has made history by winning their first-ever girls’ district title.
The Eagles outshone teams from Pace, North Bay Haven, Lincoln, Crestview, Gulf Breeze, Chiles, Choctawhatchee, Mosley, Bay, South Walton, Wakulla, Freeport, Wewahitchka, Fort Walton Beach, Bozeman and Milton to get the team win.
The team has a total of 16 girls on the squad – which head coach Matt Hanlin says makes all the difference when building a program.
“When you can get a room like that, the competition inside the room only sets them up for tournaments and dual meets, kind of like the district tournament, which is the culmination of the season,” Hanlin said.
In total, nine girls will see the mat this coming weekend at the regional tournament for their weight class at Bay High School in Panama City:
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The FHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling just three seasons ago by unanimous vote. Florida was the 24th state to sanction the sport.
This first district title is a testament to the young team’s grit, according to another NHS girls wrestling coach, Adam Harder. “Wrestling is a sport of attrition,” Harder said, “The hard work, blood, sweat, and tears they’ve put into the season AND the support they’ve had for each other has kept the team strong and kept everybody on the team.”
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Niceville High School Athletic Director Daniel Griffin added that the team has made huge strides as a team and for the sport. “I want them to get over the misconception of girls wrestling, kind of like we did 25 years ago with girls weightlifting,” Griffin said, “We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved up to this point, but we’re going to be achieving to get more and more. We’ve got 14 girls involved in the program next year. My goal next year, I mean, this year, goal next year is to have over 30.” With just two team members graduating this May – the team has plenty of returning wrestlers to rely on in future bouts.
Niceville High School Principal Charlie Morello brought up the speed at which the team has bonded together and created an elite product on the mat reflects well on the athletics at the school. “We became the pinnacle of success in the area – not just in terms of winning championships but [also] in numbers of participants. There were a lot of people [at other schools and districts] that said, ‘sure, we’ll jump in with girls wrestling‘ and then had four girls show up for a meet. We have ample numbers in every weight class. When Niceville Girl’s Wrestling shows up, you’re going to have a full team and and that’s that number is going to continue to grow. So, not only proud that they have the success that they’ve had, but [also in] the way that they started the program.”
