Talia Sprague

Girls wrestling is Illinois’ fastest growing high school sport. But equity remains elusive for some, parents say.

The match was over in seconds.

New Trier High School junior Jillian Giller, 16, yanked her opponent to the ground, wrapped her right arm under the girl’s right leg and, with a few quick thrusts, pinned the girl’s shoulders to the mat. It was the first of what would be two victories for Jillian that Friday night, both against opponents above her 140-pound weight class. Jillian was one of at least 60 other girls from area high schools who packed a curtained-off section of Adlai E. Stevenson High School’s sprawling field house for the Dec. 15 girls invitational wrestling tournament, competing in what has become the fastest growing high school sport in Illinois.

In years past, girls who wanted to wrestle in high school either had to do so at the club level or join the boys teams at their schools. And with few female participants, that typically meant matches against boys. That all started to change three years ago, when the Illinois High School Association officially sanctioned girls wrestling as a sport. Since then, participation has skyrocketed. In the last two years, the number of girls competing in high school wrestling has doubled, to 2,400 this season, IHSA figures show. More than 350 Illinois high schools have girls on their wrestling teams, the agency said, an increase of 114 from the previous year.

“We knew there was growth there, and a potential for girls wrestling to be a really strong sport,” said Sam Knox, an IHSA assistant executive director who oversees wrestling and other sports. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised and excited at how quickly it’s grown in the last few years.” Still, some parents say their daughters’ high schools have been slow to devote resources to the sport, leaving girls without their own teams or dedicated coaches and with fewer chances to compete.

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Reporting by Jonathan Bullington with photos by Talia Sprague for the Chicago Tribune