Wrestling has been an Iowa pastime for more than 100 years.

It's a sport that embodies the spirit of being tough, hardworking and gritty, something Iowans are known for.

Wrestling is a sport that is easy to fall in love with.

I think there's two types of people, there's people who love wrestling and people who don't understand wrestling.

(cheering) ♪♪ Historically, the sport has been dominated by men.

If girls wanted to wrestle in high school, they often had to compete against boys.

That changed in 2022.

♪♪ Thank you all for being here.

We have some championships to settle later on.

There is one thing I would like to say, and that is, we've sanctioned girls wrestling.

(applause & cheering) ♪♪ (chanting) After the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union voted to make girls wrestling an official sport in 2022, participation skyrocketed.

In the 2023-2024 season, more than 3,000 girls across 200 programs participated in the sport.

Erin Gerlich: Iowa is one of the greatest states in the nation for wrestling, historically has been.

Wrestling is familiar to a lot of people, so when it comes to girls wrestling, the concept wasn't so foreign.

I think just us putting our stamp on it gives, just gives it legitimacy across the state and more avenues for growth.

♪♪ Gene Adams: Now girls feel it's for real.

Girls wrestling isn't just necessarily on the back burner or something that some girls are doing off on the side.

Now it's real and it means something.

Now they have actual credibility that this is a real sport.

(coach cheering) Troy Greder: The state has really embraced it and I think people have because they see the difference in the sport.

It's way more aggressive, guys tend to be a little bit more defensive and are really waiting to take their shot, where a girl there could be four or five shots in that same 30 seconds that the boys maybe haven't even shot yet.

So, it's definitely fun to watch.

Some official said, I've never gotten a hug after a match.

But that happens and that's part of girls wrestling, that's what makes it kind of special.

♪♪ The story of girls wrestling in Iowa is just getting started.

The athletes competing now are pioneers in the sport paving the way for generations to come through passion, hard work and purpose.

♪♪ Ridgeview Senior Tatum Shepherd started wrestling in kindergarten after watching her brothers.

Tatum is a multi-sport athlete and served as a wrestling representative on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for the girls union and is an ardent ambassador for the sport.

(wrestling practice) ♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: When I was younger, I wrestled with the guys and it definitely didn't feel the way that it should have.

Girls get to play basketball against other girls, girls get to play softball against other girls, but when I was younger, I wrestled the guys.

So, I tried to make it my goal to kind of create as many opportunities for girls as possible, and that means getting them on the mat.

I would just go around school and be like hey, you want to wrestle?

And the immediate reaction was no.

And I'm like, what if you could just try it?

I definitely want as much participation as possible because it's such a cool sport and it teaches you so much.

Tonight, we're going to go a six-minute drill match and then we're going live the whole time.

So, we're going to go hard.

Shake hands.

(whistle blows) Tatum Shepherd: Wrestling has taught me that I can do hard things.

After you wrestle, everything else in life is a lot easier.

We just finished the second period.

Time to pick the pace up.

Tatum Shepherd: There's just so much that goes into practice, a lot of technique, it's probably the most mental sport out there.

One, two, three -- ♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: I enjoy getting better.

I look forward to just making small improvements.

I'm not worried about losses.

I'm just worried about getting better and getting to spend time with my family.

(crowd cheering) Tatum Shepherd!

♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: For my legacy, I don't want to be -- I mean, I want to be known as the state champ, but I'd rather be known as the person that started wrestling in high school against the guys, worked their way up and now got to wrestle against girls.

♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: I want to be known as a person that people can talk to or set a good example for the younger girls, they see me and they want to continue wrestling and it gives them a little bit of hope.

Perhaps no one has a more inspiring reason for why they wrestle than Charles City native Lilly Luft.

In 2017, Lilly's older brother Logan was killed in an ATV accident at the age of 15.

To honor Logan's love of wrestling and his dreams of becoming a state champion for Charles City High School, Lilly decided to go out for the sport herself.

She went on to become a three-time state champion and is now part of the inaugural women's wrestling program at the University of Iowa.

♪♪ We're going to hit some live, let it out here, spill it out, leave it on the mats today.

♪♪ Lilly Luft: You know, Logan was such a determined and goal-oriented kid that it drove me to want to create those goals.

And one of his other goals was he's going to wrestle for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

And so, now I'm here, I'm on the women's team and I'm not necessarily walking in his footsteps, but I think that having that why and having him kind of push me along through that is something special.

Time!

Lilly Luft: It has taught me to become more resilient.

It has taught me to become patient, determined and persistent.

Other sports are definitely mentally and physically challenging, but not like wrestling.

And I think that when I walk into the practice room it's just all I can focus on.

Lilly Luft: One of our mantras for this year as a team is "for her".

For her means the girls that have paved the way in front of us and us now paving the way for the ones to come.

And there are so many young girls in the state of Iowa and just throughout the country that are looking to compete at the collegiate level and for us to be the first power five in college and to start that is just truly special and we're trying to set that example for them and show them that you can wrestle in college and you can achieve your goals.

And to be a part of that is amazing.

One, two, three -- ♪♪ Decorah High School powerhouse Naomi Simon is another familiar face to those in the Iowa wrestling community.

She ended her high school career with an undefeated record and made history as the first four-time girls state wrestling champion.

(whistle blows) ♪♪ Naomi Simon: I started wrestling when I was in seventh grade, just decided to go out.

I had done taekwondo, gymnastics, soccer, every youth sport really and I never really liked any of them.

♪♪ One, two, three -- (whistle blows) Naomi Simon: I've always had a really hard time connecting with my peers, making friends and wrestling just turned out to be a really great place where I could make friends and meet new people.

Everybody who steps foot into a wrestling room is automatically transported into a new world, like realm full of just hard work that is found nowhere else.

(whistle blows) 170 pounds -- Naomi Simon, Decorah -- Naomi Simon: I've had so many people come up to me and say, oh I watched you wrestle and it just made me want to go out.

And I'm like, oh, that's so sweet.

I never intended to be the person up front.

I've always looked at people like Adeline Gray, Dan Gable, Spencer Lee, all of the wrestling icons and I'm like, I want to be there.

Oh my God -- (laughter) Naomi Simon: Especially within the past few months I have just sort of realized that all these people are just here to help me and support me and I just want to give back to them.

(applause) ♪♪ (chanting) ♪♪ Naomi Simon: I love it.

It pushes me to be better.

It pushes me to be a better version of myself.

It allows me to help other people be better.

(cheering) Naomi Simon: The biggest thing I think it has taught me is how to respect everybody and still want to go out and battle them.

Every opponent I face I have the utmost respect for because they're there wanting to fight me essentially.

(cheering) ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Naomi Simon: It gave me a platform to show other people that no matter what they do there's always a place like wrestling, or if you do basketball, there's always somewhere where you can belong.

♪♪ Naomi Simon: I think that the hard work, the work ethic and everything that I have gained through wrestling is just keeps pushing me to come back.

♪♪ Naomi Simon: I have a wrestling addiction.

I just can't leave.

♪♪