Feminine persuasion:
Osage girls wrestlers benefit from female coaches
By Kristi Nixon
DECORAH — No doubt head coach Ryan Fank motivates his Osage girls’ wrestling team as the Green Devils claimed the Region 8 title on Friday, Jan. 27 and are sending eight to the inaugural Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union state meet.
However, when any team member wants to seek someone with a female perspective, they don’t have far to go: assistant coaches Katie Mostek and Katie Walk are there for them whenever they need it.
Sophomore 115-pound Region 8 champion Maddie Swenson likes that fact.
“It’s very good,” Swenson said. “We can just go to them and talk about stuff that we feel we can’t talk to Fank. Which, usually, we can talk to Fank about anything. Just having those two girls, they are supporting us, along with us, it’s just better.”
Senior 170-pound Region 8 champion Leah Grimm agrees.
“I love it so much,” Grimm said. “Walk has been in my corner since day one. Since she came here, she’s been in my corner and we’ve grown so much together and I love having her in my corner. She keeps me there and keeps me breathing. She tells me what to do sometimes, like, she’s been in my corner by herself, and I don’t need a male coach in my corner if I have her. She’s such a good part of our team.”
In addition to Swenson and Grimm, defending state runner-up at 100 pounds, Gable Hemann as well as 110-pounder Jalynn Goodale also punched their ticket by winning their respective Region 8 titles dominantly with a 10-0 major decision and a win by fall in 56 seconds. Osage added four others in the top-four, which was qualifying, with runner-up finishes from Annaliese Arciniega (135) and Katelynn Huebsch (140), third for Alexis Kolbet (105) and fourth for Emma Schipper (235).
As for Mostek, she says it is important to have that female communication.
“I think sometimes they are looking for that female to ask certain things or like if they are questioning certain things because he (Fank) learned a different way,” Mostek said. “I started helping way back when my oldest daughter was in wrestling just because they didn’t have a coach at that time, and I started taking them to tournaments and stuff. I had two daughters that did it. I just really enjoyed it, so I stuck with it.”
Walk added, “Obviously, I didn’t wrestle. Some people look down upon that, but it’s a different perspective. It’s not the same as male wrestling. I have tremendous respect for anyone who did wrestle: there is a different bond there that they can come to another female and say, ‘I have a question on technique, can you show me?’ Or, ‘I’m struggling with this mental issue, what do you think?’ There are different bonds. Don’t get me wrong, all of the coaches are great at different times. I maybe have a leg up or a head start.”
The full story and more photos will be found in the Feb. 1 print and e-editions of the Enterprise Journal.
