The Hillsboro Lady Indian wrestlers made history Sunday by becoming the first ladies wrestling team from Hillsboro to enter an Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) sanctioned all girls wrestling tournament.
The Lady Indians, led by coach Jessica Yuellig, traveled to Warren for the Warrior Fitness Girls Invitational. Due to injury and illness, Hillsboro traveled with just wrestlers — Mia Skinner and Natasha Knight.
Skinner has been wrestling for several years and fell just one match short of qualifying for girls state last year. She competed in several out-of-season tournaments this offseason and competed well at this tournament. She placed second in the 110-pound weight division.
Knight, just a freshman, pinned her way to the 155-pound finals where she fell short and also brought home a second place finish.
“Natasha is a beast. She is going to do great things for this program over the next few years. With her and Mia anchoring this program, we know we are in good hands and our future is bright. We expect our numbers to grow significantly over the next couple of years and these two girls will be the reason for that,” Yuellig said.
Overall, Hillsboro turned in a top 10 finish as a team despite only taking two wrestlers to the tournament. Between the two, they finished with four wins and only two losses. The Lady Indians finished ninth out of 18 teams.
“We knew going in that we did not have the numbers to compete for a tournament championship with the schools who brought upwards of eight to 10 girls, but we wanted to make the best of what we had,” Yuellig said. “Our girls showed that they could compete with anyone in the state at their respective weight classes and we’ll continue working in the wrestling room to make sure we are ready to make a run at the state tournament this year. I believe both of these girls have the potential to make it out of districts this year and become HHS’ first representatives at the state level for girls wrestling.”
The Lady Indians will be back on the mat Jan. 5 at home against the Washington Blue Lions.
This story was provided by Scott Eastes.
