McCracken County eighth grader Eelynn Hayden made history on Saturday, securing a seventh place podium finish at the inaugural KHSAA Girls State Wrestling Championships in her 126 pound weight class.
The 2023-24 season was the first season the Kentucky High School Athletic Association sanctioned girls wrestling. Before, female grapplers would either compete against their male counterparts, or compete in the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association (KYWCA) to earn a state title.
“I think the quality of wrestling on the girls side simply because they made it an official state championship with a qualifying round jumped tremendously,” McCracken County head coach Steven Spadafino said.
Among those quality wrestlers were four McCracken County girls, Eelynn Hayden, Abby Ellis, Lillian Harden and Lakelynn Janssen. While not all of the Lady Mustang grapplers made podium finishes, the accomplishment of them making it to the inaugural state championship was one for the books.
“It was a surreal experience,” Hayden said. “I didn’t think I would even make it to state after coming back from being gone for four years. It was a really cool experience seeing how much you can do when you put your mind to it.”
And, as just an eighth grader, Hayden will have plenty of opportunities to make it back to the state wrestling mats.
Hayden suffered a first round loss, by fall at 1:55, but fought her way back in the consolation bracket in the next four matches. She would go on to win by fall (2:47), by major decision (14-2), decision (7-3) and fall (1:12) to win the seventh place match.
“For her to get that pin in the seventh/eighth place match was amazing,” Spadafino said. “It was kind of a scrambling match. Both girls were going for the big moves and we got a little nervous for a minute, but she came out on top and did a great job.”
“Growing up I always had to wrestle boys and I had never really wrestled a girl,” Hayden said. “The fact that it’s such a big thing now it’s really cool to see girls that might not have wrestled before but can now.”
She credits a growing female wrestling program at McCracken County for her return to wrestling. A wrestling program that Spadafino has been glad to see grow over the years.
“The past two years, Ariel Workman did a great job and was state placer in the Coaches Association State Championships and she was big in recruiting the girls we have now,” Spadafino said.
Abby Ellis was the first to find success over the weekend as the only Lady Mustang to win her opening round match by fall at 3:13. The remaining fell in their opening matches, falling to the consolation bracket were some made it a few more round, while others saw their state journey come short.
Among the four Lady Mustangs, they secured 16 points for a 41st place team finish. Hayden brought in nine of those points, Ellis earned four and Lillian Harned secured three.