Fight like a girl! Two female high school wrestlers in Arizona and Maine beat boys to win state titles
- Maddie Ripley defended her boys’ state wrestling title in Maine
- And Arizona native Audrey Jimenez also made history this week
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Two high school students defeated boys this week to win state wrestling championships in Maine and Arizona.
In Maine, 17-year-old Maddie Ripley of Oceanside High School defeated three boys in one day to defend the state title she won last year.
“I didn’t really hear that it was a fluke,” she said ABC news. “Now that I’ve gained a second, it just proves that wasn’t the case.”
According to the network, Ripley competed in the 113-pound weight class of the Class B high school wrestling championship in Rumford, Maine.
She is the first girl in Maine to win a high school wrestling title against boys.
Maddie Ripley of Oceanside High School in Maine defeated three boys in one day
And Audrey Jimenez became the first girl to win a state wrestling championship in Arizona
Jimenez, who won in the 107-pound division, is currently training for the 2024 Olympic trials
Ripley even won its first ever title in the girls division earlier that same week before gaining some weight to compete with the boys.
She told ABC she gained six pounds after lifting weights.
Incredibly, Ripley’s boys division title came on the same day Audrey Jimenez accomplished the same feat in Arizona.
Jimenez, a senior at Sunnyside High School in Tucson, Arizona, defeated boys in the 107-pound weight class to win a title at the AIA Arizona High School State Wrestling Championships.
She became the first girl to do this.
Ripley competed in the 113-pound weight class of the Class B high school tournament
Jimenez was previously only allowed to compete in the postseason against other girls
“The crowd was just super crazy,” Jimenez said Scripps News Phoenix. “So that made it more like, ‘Oh wow, like I just won state.’
Oddly enough, Jimenez was allowed to play against boys during the regular season, but not in the postseason the past three years.
However, coaches this year successfully petitioned the Arizona Interscholastic Association to allow Jimenez to compete in the boys championship.
“Once you see it happen,” she said, “you’ll know it’s possible.”
According to ABC News, Jimenez is currently training for the 2024 Olympic Trials, while Ripley hopes to one day become an Olympian as well.