Saturday, January 29, 2022, is a day that will go down in sports history for the WIAA and Whitewater’s Ashly Xochipa had the opportunity to be a part of this historic day! For the first time ever, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, the Governing Body of Wisconsin High School Sports, sponsored the Women’s State Wrestling Championships in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Twelve weight classes, with over 220 girls, participated in this first ever sanctioned state tournament, with our first 12 ladies being able to say they were the first Woman State Champion in Wisconsin.
Ashly Xochipa participated in the 132-pound weight class that had 27 ladies looking to be named the first 132-pound state champion. Ashly represented her family, school, and community very well throughout the day. She started off the tournament with a quick first period pin of a young lady from Holmen. This pitted her against a very good freshman from Bonduel. She came up on the short side of this match. This girl did advance to the state championship match only to come in runner-up against a young girl who travels worldwide to compete.
Ashly did not let the loss get her down as she came back and secured two more pins in the consolation bracket. Both of these matches were extremely well wrestled and she used excellent technique to come out on top in each of these matches. Ashly saw her first state tournament come to an end with a tough loss to a very strong girl from West Salem. Once in the consolation bracket each match is a must win scenario to reach the podium, and Ashly did well for herself, placing in the top 12 in her weight class.
Whitewater is proud of the performance on the day going 3-2 in our first Women’s State Wrestling Tournament. This is just the first of what we are hoping will be many trips to this tournament for our ladies in Whitewater. The atmosphere was outstanding all day, and the excitement was excellent throughout the day watching some very good young ladies display their hard work in the sport of wrestling. We should all be thankful that the WIAA has joined others in providing these opportunities to the young women in our state.
Ashly and the rest of the Whippet Wrestling team will be in action on Tuesday night, February 1, when they host Janesville Craig in their final dual meet of the season. Wrestling with JV begins at 6 and Varsity begins at 7:00.
Article and Photo Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org
