SKOWHEGAN — Rylie Arens had never tried a lobster.
But like most first-time tourists, Arens, a recent graduate of Crofton High School in Indiana, dove head-first into Maine culture. Not only did she try the state’s seafood speciality, she also had Moxie and whoopie pies, too.
“(Lobster) is definitely very different,” Arens said. “I’ve had seafood before, but not lobster. I liked the claw meat… I actually liked (Moxie). It reminds me of a mix of Dr. Pepper and root beer.
“(Maine) is just so different than Nebraska. “Back at home, there’s lots of grass, and I can see for miles and miles and miles. Here, it’s just trees. Even flying in, I was like, ‘What’s up with all these trees?’ You can barely see the houses. The environment is so different and so pretty. And everyone has been so nice.”
Arens was one of 17 female high school wrestlers who made the trip to the Pine Tree State as part of the second Maine-Nebraska Girls Wrestling Exchange. Last summer was the first installment of the girls version of the goodwill dual series, featuring grapplers from both states for the past four decades. Friday was the first day of the two-day girls event, at Finley Gym in Skowhegan. The event wraps up Monday at Marshwood High School. The boys exchange took place in Kearney, Nebraska, in June.
It didn’t just stop with food. Nebraska wrestlers were also treated to whitewater rafting along the Kennebec River.
“It was super fun,” said Piper Zatechka, a recent grad of Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska, who will be wrestling for Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, next year. “None of our girls fell off (the raft). We were pros on the river, despite being tourists. But it was a crazy experience, it was so fun.”
“The water (in Nebraska) is murky, you can’t really see through it,” added Arens. “The water here is so fresh and so clean. It was such a great experience… The bugs here are bigger. I thought the bugs in Nebraska are bad, but they’re bigger here.”
The Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange was founded in 1984 by longtime Winslow coach and referee Wally LaFountain, a member of both the Maine Wrestling Hall of Fame and Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame. LaFountain, who led Winslow High School to state championships in 1958 and 1960, started the event as a goodwill series to promote and grow the sport in both states. The series flips states each year.
“It’s a blast,” said Skowhegan coach Tenney Noyes. “We always love to have (the Nebraska wrestlers) out and show them around. I know in the past, when Skowhegan boys go out, it might be the first time they’ve flown on a plane. It’s a big deal for some kids to travel, and travel that far. Last year, bringing the girls out there, it was a great experience.”
Added Skowhegan’s Sophie Noyes: “It’s so much fun, because you get to know (the Nebraska wrestlers) more. It’s nice that we actually get to know them. (Wrestling) is more than a sport… Getting to meet them and give them a great Maine experience. We fed them whoopie pies, got them Moxie. We had them do all the Maine stuff.”
Both Maine and Nebraska are experiencing booms in girls wrestling. In February, 105 grapplers participated in the Maine State Girls Wrestling Championship at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, the highest in the tournament’s history, besting last year’s mark of 97.
“Up here, (girls wrestling) is definitely growing, but (in Nebraska), it’s crazy,” said Gardiner High School’s Ciara Farias. “But it’s exciting to see it growing here. For New Englands, we’re wrestling against other states and it’s great to see how much (those states) have grown.”
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, girls wrestling continues to rise at a rapid rate, up to 64,257 participants nationwide during the 2023-24 season, a 102% increase from the 31,654 that participated during the 2021-22 season.
“It’s renewed my love for (wrestling),” said Jeff Paige, the head girls wrestling coach at Northwest High School in Grand Island, Nebraska. “For some of these girls, it’s a clean slate, they’ve never wrestled before. They’ve never competed. But to see the level of how these girls pick each other up and talk to each other, they have that commonality. They know what it takes to get in that center circle. There’s that bond that will last forever. It just exploded. I don’t think high school associations realized (girls wrestling) was going to explode like this.”
