National appearance

WESTFIELD — Katie Rowles has reached the state wrestling tournament in the 2023.

She missed out on competing on the highest high school level this past season after getting upset in the semi-state tournament.

She’s making it up in the summer by competing against some of the top competition in the nation.

Rowles competed for the Team Indiana 16-and-under girls wrestling team in the USA Women’s Wrestling National Duals at Grand Parks Event Center in Westfield from June 18-22.

The team competed in a pair of team-focused tournaments competing with one being freestyle wrestling and the other greco-roman.

“It was a great experience to be with all those girls,” Rowles said. “It was the 16U girls and the 14U girls, so the younger girls kind of looked up to us a little bit, but a lot of them had been wrestling for as long or longer than me. So, it was just great to hear their stories from different tournaments and get to know more of the better girls wrestling in Indiana right now.”

To qualify for team Indiana, wrestlers competed in the Indiana State Wrestling Association Freestyle State Finals and the winners were picked for the team. Rowles got the opportunity to wrestle in the 88-pound weight class as opposed to the 100-pound division in high school – which is the lowest weight class available.

“It’s a whole different level playing field,” Rowles said. “Now I get to go out there knowing they are going to be the same size as me. I’m not going to be wrestling up 10 pounds and it’s completely different. It feels great knowing I can go out and compete against girls from other states and do well.”

Over the pair of tournaments, Rowles wrestled in eight matches, earning a 7-1 record. She went 3-0 in the freestyle tournament and earned victories by forfeit six times to help Team Indiana to a second-place finish in pool C and fifth overall. In the greco-roman style tournament, Rowles went 3-1 and won by forfeit twice as Team Indiana finished second in pool D and seventh overall.

Rowles didn’t have an opponent for the first four matches of the freestyle tournament until she finally got on the mat against Kylee Tran of Oklahoma. Rowles came out on top in an 11-5 decision against Tran to start the tournament off right. Team Indiana still fell to Team Oklahoma 34-32.

The Jay County High School junior got her first pin in the opening round of the finals. She put California’s Emily Darer on her back in 53 seconds, but again Team Indiana fell in a close match 34-33.

Rowles sat out the second and third round of the finals without an opponent to face before she matched back up with Tran. She narrowly beat Tran in a 6-4 decision to help Team Indiana to a 36-33 victory over Team Oklahoma to take fifth place.

In the greco-roman tournament, Rowles’ first match came in the third round against Darer. Rowles again pinned the California native – this time in 1 minute, 46 seconds – but California still came out on top 35-32.

In the first match of the finals, Rowles got a new opponent in Oliva Whitlach of Ohio. Despite Rowles’ 15-6 technical fall victory, Team Ohio topped Team Indiana 43-28.

In the third round, Rowles matched up with Tran for a third time, but couldn’t pull off the hat trick as she fell in a 7-4 decision.

Rowles’ tournament finished with an 8-0 technical fall win against Ariel Mendoza of the Texas Blue team in the third round of the finals. Team Indiana fell 34-33 in the match before beating Team Kansas 34-33 – Rowles won by forfeit – to place seventh.

“I can’t say enough about that girl,” said Indiana State Wrestling Association women’s director and coach Jason DeLois. “Her spirit, her attitude, her eagerness, it's just everything. … Even when she loses, her attitude is just golden. … Katie’s just awesome.”

While she kept a good attitude all throughout the weekend, Rowles said her loss to Tran was the match that stood out the most. She mentioned that she allowed Tran to get an early lead and just couldn’t recover, but will look to use the match as a learning experience.

Her first match against Tran ended up being Rowles' favorite. She hit Tran with three headlocks, a move she didn’t particularly attempt much during the high school season.

Rowles will also get to wrestle in the USWA 16-and-younger Women Fargo National tournament in Fargo, North Dakota in mid July.

“‘I’m just really glad girls are getting these opportunities now,” Rowles said. “To be able to go and wrestle on this team with girls spread out from throughout the same state and meeting girls from other states is just really fun and I’m glad we get this opportunity.”