This weekend the Greeneview High School wrestlers add another item to that list – barriers. The Harlow sisters will help make history when they compete in the inaugural all-girls Ohio high school state wrestling championships. Nearly 250 girls from 97 programs are scheduled to participate in the two-day tournament that starts Saturday at Hilliard Davidson High School.
Ellie, a sophomore, is ranked No. 1 in the 170-pound weight class. Karlie, a freshman, is No. 2 at 189.
“I’ve hoped ever since I started I was going to take a home a state championship in high school,” said Ellie, who started wrestling when she was 4 years old. “I want to be the first girl wrestler on the wall in high school.”
The sisters have nearly been running through walls in their training to prepare for state. The duo have been training no less than two hours a day, six a days a week. They go through their varsity practice with the Greeneview boys team, go home to rest and eat, then head back to the wrestling room with their father, Eric, for more drilling and conditioning.
“You have to be willing to push through everything. Everyone is in pain right now,” Karlie said. “Every single one of us has been to the trainer or been hurt.”
Greeneview’s wall of honor has photos of four wrestlers who placed at the OHSAA state championships. The girls championship is hosted by the Ohio High School Coaches Wrestling Association, but an OHSAA tournament of their own isn’t far behind. When that happens Ohio will join twenty other states that hold sanctioned high school girls state championships, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
From 1994 to 2019, the number of females wrestling in high school has risen from 804 to 21,124. There are close to 500 high school girls wrestlers in Ohio.
The Harlow sisters are the lone high school wrestlers for Greeneview (a third was forced to quit because of a bad back). There are a half dozen on the junior high team. By the time Ellie becomes a senior the Rams will be close to filling all 14 weight classes.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Eric Harlow said of finally having a girls tournament. “I don’t want to look too far ahead, but I really pray I’m coaching Sunday in the finals. To go from this mat at (Greeneview) to the championship … ”
Harlow couldn’t finish the sentence. He teared up. His voice cracked as he echoed the feelings of wrestlers and coaches playing out around the state this week.
This weekend is an all-girls event. But as their male teammates lifted weights and worked out at the other end of the weight room, the girls thanked them for helping power their dreams.
“I feel like the boys have gotten us ready for the girls wrestling,” Karlie said. “Without the boys we wouldn’t be where we are today. … It builds a lot of confidence for girls, to be able to go out there and to something like this.”
Added Ellie: “I don’t think I would have made it this far without my teammates pushing me, for sure. They won’t let me quit. And Karlie, my partner, without her I wouldn’t have anything.”
They hope to celebrate state championships together on Sunday. Fourteen girls are in Ellie’s 170-pound bracket, the biggest challengers including No. 2-seeded Columbus Olentangy Orange freshman Talia Mitchell and No. 3-seeded Miami East junior Erin Hamby. There are 16 girls in Karlie’s 189 bracket, including top-seeded Olivia Daniels, a senior from Malvern.
Should state titles not happen for whatever reason this weekend, at least they know they have another chance next season. And each season after that.
“I’d probably shed a few tears (if I win). Probably a lot of tears. It’d be cool to be up on the wall,” Karlie said.
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