Making History: Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Lyndsey Stark wins inaugural girls state wrestling championship, Haeli Casey fifth

By Reagan Hoverman

On Saturday, Jan. 29, Lyndsey Stark and Haeli Casey of the Spring Valley/Elmwood wrestling team cemented themselves in history as two of the many girls who competed in the inaugural WIAA girls state wrestling championships in La Crosse.

For Stark, the weekend in La Crosse will likely be something she remembers for the rest of her life, as she won the first-ever 185-pound girls wrestling state title. Stark has been a great wrestler this season and has more than held her own while wrestling against boys all season.

When she got a chance to compete in the girls tournament, she took advantage and put her wrestling talent on display for all to see. Spring Valley/ Elmwood wrestling head coach Gable Frandsen spoke about Stark and her historic accomplishment.

“We knew Lyndsey Stark’s capabilities, I figured that she would do very well wrestling girls,” Frandsen said. “In the rankings, she was ranked second in the state, so she was projected to do well. She went out there and performed great.”

As Frandsen alluded to, going into the tournament, Stark was regarded as one of the best female wrestlers in the state of Wisconsin. Throughout the season she has defeated many boys with ease and has proved that the narrative that girls can’t compete with boys in wrestling is shoddy at best. Frandsen spoke about Stark as a student of the game, some of the highest praise that a coach can give any student-athlete.

“Lyndsey (Stark) is a true student of the sport,” Frandsen said. “Win or lose, she walks off of the mat with a positive mindset and she’s always looking to improve her technique every single day. Especially wrestling at an upper weight class like that, and wrestling boys (throughout the season), that’s no easy task.”

For as much as winning the 185-pound bracket in the inaugural state championship meant to Stark, she said in an interview with WQOW News out of Eau Claire that the victory means just as much to her coaches and her parents.

“I’m really proud of myself for all the hard work I put in throughout the season,” Stark told Nick Tabbert of WQOW. “I know that my coach is really happy, and my parents are really proud.”

For Stark, it’s a historic event and she etched her place in history as one of the best female wrestlers in Wisconsin with her win in the 185-pound bracket. But the success for girls from Spring Valley/Elmwood didn’t end there.

Stark’s teammate Haeli Casey finished in fifth place in the 100-pound bracket at the girls state wrestling championships. Which, based on how many girls were at the events, was no easy task. Frandsen spoke about Casey and her experience at state in La Crosse.

“We knew she was going to be able to compete, she was definitely in the running for the state title,” Frandsen said. “Both of the girls are very technically sound; it just doesn’t show all the time wrestling the boys because of a strength difference.”

For Frandsen and the Spring Valley/Elmwood coaching staff, he knew what Stark and Casey were capable of and them having such a large stage to prove to people how great they are was a fantastic opportunity for the girls, the school and the Spring Valley and Elmwood communities.

“I thought it was awesome that they were able to show people what they can accomplish wrestling girls and just how dominant they can be,” Frandsen said. He also spoke about the kind of impact that this event could have on wrestling moving forward. “It can absolutely (get more girls to start wrestling in the future). Girls wrestling is continuing to grow every year and it’s great that we had a couple of girls that did so well at the state tournament for our program.”

What Stark and Casey did at the state tournament in La Crosse will almost certainly impact the growth of girls wrestling in western Wisconsin for years to come. As Frandsen stated, the girls wrestling program has already begun growing, and Stark and Casey give young female wrestlers role models to look up to.

“Our youth program already has 13 girls,” Frandsen said. “Lyndsey (Stark) and Haeli (Casey) are great representatives to promote girls wrestling for our wrestling program. I’ve never seen numbers like that for Spring Valley. I would say (13) is a high number for any school our size that doesn’t already have a wellknown girls program.”

Stark and Casey not only have respect from the coaching staff and community, but the boys on the roster look at them as equals in everything they do.

“In practice, everyone is the same and everyone is trying to get better,” Frandsen said. “Nobody looks at them as different and they go out and bust their butts in practice every day. They work just as hard and put in the same amount of work as everyone else.”

While Stark and Casey have had ample success on the wrestling mat – both against boys and girls – Frandsen is just as proud of the young adults they are becoming outside of their wrestling activities.

“They are great representatives for the wrestling program, the school and the community as a whole,” Frandsen said in his closing thoughts. “Overall, they’re just fantastic human beings. They’re doing well in the classroom; they’re doing well on and off the mat.”

Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Haeli Casey finished in fifth place of the 100-pound bracket at the inaugural WIAA girls state wrestling championships on Saturday, Jan. 29. Coach Frandsen described both Casey and Stark as great ambassadors of the wrestling program and the sport. Photo courtesy of Spring Valley/Elmwood wrestling