Katie Bowen was bouncing around, anxious for things to get underway. The rest of her teammates were not quite as enthusiastic.

It was a December day in Blair Oaks. And it was a first – a groundbreaking moment.

Never before had Mexico High School fielded a girls wrestling team. There have been girls who wrestled, but they appeared on the same roster as boys.

Bowen had been wrestling since before middle school. The others were facing their first challengers after weeks of workouts, learning the fundamentals of the sport.

“She was all excited,” Kaylynn Pehle said, referring to Bowen. “We were all scared.”

The Bulldogs are nearing the end of this season of firsts. Districts loom Feb. 5-Feb. 6 at Mexico – the first time the school has hosted a wrestling meet of girls teams. Bowen won her weight class at Blair Oaks, making her the first wrestler on a girls team to bring home gold.

“It felt great,” Bowen said of the moment. “I’m making history for Mexico High School.”

Through it all, the girls have been pushed – by head coach Tony Senor and by themselves. The Bulldogs new to the sport admit the process of becoming wrestlers tested them. Many times during conditioning drills or as they settled in at home they were tempted to give it up.

But as they arrived at school the next morning they managed to steel themselves for another round on the mat.

“It’s definitely not easy,” Pehle acknowledged. “It takes a lot to stay with it.”

To the novice observer, wrestling is a test of strength – two athletes pitted against each other for three two-minute rounds, a form of hand to hand combat. But it’s not that. Instead the sport involves technique, thought and awareness.

Mexico’s Brett Iman calls it an aggressive chess match.

“It takes a lot of mental discipline and focus,” she explained.

Anticipating moves, feeling for opportunities, knowing one’s position on the mat and in the match are all part of it. Gaining leverage and using the right moves at the right time gain victories.

“You don’t have to be stronger than the other girl,” Abby Drew said.

This is what they’ve learned about the sport in a short time. And they have become wrestlers. They talk of wins and moves, of bus rides and working as hard – maybe harder, due to their relative inexperience – than the boys.

Gathered outside the wrestling practice gym, Pehle points to the Mexico boys team, circled on the mat chatting casually.

“See – the boys are taking a break because we’re taking a break,” she said with a laugh. “Equality is everything.”

Under Senor’s tutelage, the team has performed well. Bowen now has five gold medals on the season. She finished second twice. Drew can show off three golds, two silvers and a pair of third place bronze medals. Pehle won her class for the first time recently at Liberty North. She also has two third place finishes. Choice Foster earned three silvers and two bronze medals. And Iman has a second and a third.

Bowen is 21-7 on the year. Drew is 18-13.

Senor was made for this. He also coaches the Mexico Middle School team, so he’s familiar with instructing, encouraging and fortifying wrestlers new to the sport.

He points out that coaching the girls is different, but in a way that is encouraging.

“Every single one of them has gotten better through the season,” Senor says of his squad. “I love the team, I love their effort, I love their enthusiasm.

And that enthusiasm is evident.

“When Kaylynn won her match in Willard I gave her a hug,” Drew said, rating that as her favorite moment of the year. “She fought so hard.”

“Mine was the ride home from Willard,” Pehle chimed in with a big laugh.

The rest of the team also burst into laughter. Something went on during that trip home.

“We did a lot of team bonding,” Pehle said, which in this case meant breaking into improvised songs and plotting weddings ten years down the road.

“I also like the bus rides,” Bowen added. “I talk and talk and talk.”

Missouri introduced girls wrestling districts and a state tournament two years ago. This year is the first for state sanctioned girls wrestling teams, with a regular season schedule – albeit one broken up by the pandemic, also historic.

The Class 1 District 4 tournament will bring 22 of these first ever teams to Mexico, followed by sectionals in Versailles and the state tournament.

It’s been a season of transformation, as well.

“It was nerve wracking,” Iman said of that December day in Blair Oaks. But after earning her first match win at the Capital City event on Jan. 8, she has added three more and speaks with confidence about her sport.

For Bowen, it has been a special season full of favorite moments.

“I’m happy seeing my friends enjoy something I’ve loved for a long time,” she said.