When Alanah Vetterick started wrestling in third grade, she was the only girl in the room on day one and quickly asked her mother if it was OK for her to be there.
Nearly 15 years later, Vetterick appears to be right where she belongs as the first-ever girls head wrestling coach at Norwalk Community.
Norwalk is one of many schools across the state to add girls wrestling for the 2022-23 school year after it was established as the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s latest sanctioned sport earlier this year.
Vetterick, a 2018 Norwalk graduate who earned NAIA All-American wrestling honors at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, is coaching 20 high school girls and eight middle school girls in this inaugural season of Warrior girls wrestling. She hopes to instill in her team the same love for the sport that she developed at a young age, watching the program grow along with each wrestler’s confidence as they learn valuable life lessons on the mat.
“I’m extremely excited for this opportunity, especially coming from Norwalk,” Vetterick said. “When I was wrestling (here) I had to wrestle on the boys team, so to be able to be part of history and see how much girls wrestling has evolved in Iowa… I’m extremely thankful.”
During a 13-year wrestling career, Vetterick began competing in national tournaments in eighth grade. She was a three-time runner-up at USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals and an All-American at USA Wrestling Girls Freestyle Nationals. She directed the Norwalk Girls Wrestling Club last year before being hired this summer as the school’s newest head coach.
“It’s been a very humbling experience, and I believe that wrestling has created me to be the strong person I am today,” Vetterick said. “I’m confident because of wrestling. The most important thing that I tell the girls (is that) in wrestling you’re the only person that steps out on the mat, so it really teaches you to have confidence in yourself so you are able to be successful.”
Norwalk competed in its first girls wrestling meet Thursday at Ballard and fared quite well. Masie Silvius, Olivia Kritzler, Kamryn McWilliams and Alysse Ivanovich all placed first in their bracket with two wins by fall.
Vetterick already sees a strong family dynamic developing within her squad, noting that girls rally around each other and do not give up on the mat. She says that this year’s success will be defined more so by the effort and growth of the wrestlers than by postseason accolades.
“I would love to get a few girls to state,” she said. “But if my girls go out there and they give me everything they’ve got and they’re working as hard as they can in the wrestling room, that’s all I can ask for.”
The Warrior girls will wrestle at the Nevada Tournament today, then hold their first home meet Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. A regional tournament in January will set the stage for the Girls State Wrestling Tournament February 2-3 at Coralville’s Xtream Arena.