By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The New York Mills girls wrestling team has been hard at work this year as they make their mark in their third year. The team recently competed in the Section 5 and 6 MSHSL Section Tournament at St. Michael-Albertville High School, which was the first time the team had the opportunity to do so.  ¶  Coaches Eric Niemi and Dustin Geiser said the team has come a long ways and credited the girls with how hard they have worked thus far.  ¶  “These ladies battled in brackets over two days ranging from 15-23 girls,” said Geiser. “Their attitude, grit and efforts made their coaches, parents and the NY Mills wrestling family proud! Girls wrestling is the fastest growing high school sport in the nation and our Eagle ladies are making their mark.”

Geiser’s daughter, Shauna, eighth grade, joined the team this year after seeing her family so heavily involved in the sport.

“I wanted to try a new sport and my whole family did (wrestling),” she said. “I like all the people you meet and winning. I’m looking forward to going to state one day.”

Shauna’s classmate, Makya Oehrlein, also joined the team this year to get an inside look at the sport.

“I wanted to try a new sport out,” Oehrlein said. “I like getting to see my friends that are also in wrestling and meeting new people.”

Oehrlein, who is the daughter of Mackenzie Oehrlein, is also looking ahead and hopes to make it to state in the future. She took the team milestone as the first dual meet win on the boy’s team this year.

Sisters Rose, ninth grade, and Rachel Tumberg, 10th grade, daughters of Reese and Rhonda Tumberg, returned for their third year wrestling in 2024-25. They both enjoy the camaraderie of the team atmosphere.

“My friends,” said Rachel.

“The friends,” agreed Rose. “The guys are pretty fun too.”

While Rachel agrees with her teammates that going to state is on the top of her list of things to look forward to, Rose is already focused on next year’s season. Rose took the milestone of first section win this year, while Rachel joined Shauna Geiser as the team’s first section place winners.

“They really came a long ways,” said Coach Niemi. “They’re dedicated to the practice room and they do everything we ask them to do.”

Niemi said the girls program was essentially established when the Tumberg sisters joined three years ago and continues to grow. He said this follows the trend of the growth of women’s wrestling over the past decade internationally.

“It’s been a longtime olympic sport,” he said. “Women’s freestyle has always been big because that’s the olympic styles and collegiate style. We’re seeing that trickle down to high school now and it’s going to be able to really support those two organizations.”

The girls season started in the fall along with the boys season and finishes up in February. Niemi mentioned that the sections are in the beginning of the month and they’ll wrestling in the state tournament at the same time as the boys.

“For young athletes, they have come a long way,” said Niemi. “They’ve proved to be successful and have placed well in tournaments and had a nice showing.”