By Chad Koenen

Publisher

New York Mills has always been a wrestling community. 

For generations now, Eagle wrestlers have found themselves on the biggest stage at the team and individual wrestling tournament each February and March in St. Paul. So it almost seems fitting that NY Mills finds itself joining what has become a meteoric rise in the popularity of girls wrestling by hiring the school district’s first girls team wrestling coach this winter.

Dustin Geiser was hired as the new head girls wrestling coach and hopes to grow a sport that is still fairly new in Minnesota, but has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years. During the 2024-25 school year there were more than 1,500 girls in grades 7-12 on a wrestling team. That number was nearly double from a year ago and has grown from just 250 girls in the sport during the first year that the Minnesota State High School League sanctioned the sport during the 2021-22 school year. 

NY Mills has also seen a rapid growth in the sport going from just two participants two years ago to four last year and now 10 girls in grades 7-12. 

“That growth has happened exponentially fast,” said Geiser of the growth of the sport. “Our school has done a good job of recognizing we have something here.”

The first-year head coach went so far as to say he hopes the days of girl wrestlers needing to square off against their male counterparts in order to simply get a match in due to a lack of participation from female wrestlers are a thing of the past. While the state tournament will still be just one class this year, the MSHSL doubled the amount of participants in the individual state tournament from just eight to 16. There are also talks of having a girls team state wrestling tournament down the road as well. 

One of the challenges NY Mills has faced over the years is finding adequate space to hone their skills. It’s not an uncommon problem many teams are facing across the state as rapid growth means a space crunch during an already busy indoor winter sports season.

With half a mat behind the divider in the Sports Center, the NY Mills girls wrestling team warmed up recently at the school. With basketballs bouncing on the other side of the gym, the members of the NY Mills wrestling team warmed up and worked on reversals as they take advantage of whatever space is available to them that day. Geiser said some days the group wrestles in the commons area and other days the older girls spend the last part of practice in the wrestling room with their male counterparts. 

“We are willing to go wherever we have to go,” said Geiser of finding practice space. 

After filling in when needed at tournaments last year, Geiser accepted the position as the first-ever girls wrestling coach in NY Mills with the hopes of seeing the sport grow both on a local and state level.

“I am passionate about girls wrestling and passionate about giving girls a chance,” he said. 

In addition to Geiser, Katie Geiser was recently hired as a girls wrestling assistant coach to help grow the program at NY Mills School. This year the girls wrestling team will be made up of one junior, one sophomore, two freshmen, four eighth graders and a pair of seventh graders. Though they will compete as individuals at tournaments as they do not have enough people to fill out a team to compete, Geiser said the goal is to continue to grow the sport at NY Mills for future generations of Eagles.

“This is wonderful and we can always have more (wrestlers),” he said. 

The Eagles are scheduled to participate in a tournament on Saturday at Wadena-Deer Creek High School.