NEW ULM — As more and more high school girls take to the sport of wrestling across the country, New Ulm Area’s Ellie Dake has continued to command attention in Minnesota during her sophomore year.
She’s already competed in two state girls wrestling tournaments and won a share of medals during her young career with the Eagles.
The bad news for her opponents, however, is that she’s just getting started.
Dake has also been the goalie for the Eagles varsity girls soccer team over the last three years. Soccer and wrestling may be vastly different, but nobody can say it hasn’t worked out well for Dake so far.
Her first love was soccer, but Dake said she got interested in wrestling after her older brother, Ethan, told her she should join him in the sport.
By Travis Rosenau
Journal Sports Editor
NEW ULM — As more and more high school girls take to the sport of wrestling across the country, New Ulm Area’s Ellie Dake has continued to command attention in Minnesota during her sophomore year.
She’s already competed in two state girls wrestling tournaments and won a share of medals during her young career with the Eagles.
The bad news for her opponents, however, is that she’s just getting started.
Dake has also been the goalie for the Eagles varsity girls soccer team over the last three years. Soccer and wrestling may be vastly different, but nobody can say it hasn’t worked out well for Dake so far.
Her first love was soccer, but Dake said she got interested in wrestling after her older brother, Ethan, told her she should join him in the sport.
After agreeing to dive into the world of wrestling, Dake spent most of her years competing with boys on the mat. While she’s handled herself well and defeated several boys wrestlers during her career, Dake has been able to exclusively compete in girls tournaments since the Minnesota State High School League officially sanctioned girls wrestling in Minnesota during the 2021-22 winter season.
Dake competed in the first-ever state girls wrestling tournament two years ago as a 152-pound eighth-grader, finishing second that year. Last year she took fourth in the girls state tourney at 152.
Now early into her sophomore season of wrestling, Dake finished the Buffalo Wild Wings Hutchinson Girls Invitational this past Saturday with a perfect 5-0 finish at 148 pounds, taking home a Buffalo Wild Wings-sponsored title belt for her efforts.
For many competitors, five matches in a day might make for a lot of time spent on the mat.
Not for Dake.
Dake ended her matches Saturday by pinning all of five of her opponents in a combined three minutes and 10 seconds, defeating Redwood Valley’s Addison Schmidt in the championship match in 40 seconds.
“I like to psych myself out a lot and think that people are better than me,” Dake said. “I often don’t remember I’ve been to state twice, I made it to state as an eighth-grader, I tend to forget how good I am. So, the real competition is just against me. When I’m on the mat, everything clears up and I’m only focused on wrestling.”
Despite continuing to win and get better, Dake isn’t afraid to admit that nerves get to her ahead of big tournaments. And those nerves were there going into this past Saturday’s tourney.
“It was really a, ‘Fake it till you make it,’” Dake said. “Because I came in and I was really scared, but as soon as I kept approaching the mat, approaching my matches, everything turned to confidence. I was no longer nervous and I was pretty confident that I was going to win.”
Dake also joked that she was motivated by food before the tournament after being told Buffalo Wild Wings coupons would be given to the Top 6 finishers.
One welcome change this year for NUA is that Dake is no longer the lone girls wrestler competing on the team. Sleepy Eye’s Anna Pollard is a seventh-grader that was also representing NUA at the Hutchinson tourney on Saturday, finishing fourth at 106 pounds.
There’s an obvious weight class gap between Dake and Pollard, but Dake has happily welcomed the young Pollard to the NUA mats and is happy to share advice.
“I teach her some moves and I teach her how to set up shots and stuff, but mostly it’s the mental part of it,” Dake said. “Since she’s so young, she’s not used to all the what-ifs and worries. I try to give her confidence because wrestling will really show you who you are as a person, and I try to help her build that confidence to become a better wrestler.”
As of Wednesday, Dake was the No. 3-ranked girls wrestler in the state at 155 pounds.
As the season continues, Dake will look to make a third consecutive state tournament appearance while bettering herself in the process.
“When I go into a match, I never think of me versus the person, I think of me versus myself because I want to be the best person I can be,” she said.
After agreeing to dive into the world of wrestling, Dake spent most of her years competing with boys on the mat. While she’s handled herself well and defeated several boys wrestlers during her career, Dake has been able to exclusively compete in girls tournaments since the Minnesota State High School League officially sanctioned girls wrestling in Minnesota during the 2021-22 winter season.
Dake competed in the first-ever state girls wrestling tournament two years ago as a 152-pound eighth-grader, finishing second that year. Last year she took fourth in the girls state tourney at 152.
Now early into her sophomore season of wrestling, Dake finished the Buffalo Wild Wings Hutchinson Girls Invitational this past Saturday with a perfect 5-0 finish at 148 pounds, taking home a Buffalo Wild Wings-sponsored title belt for her efforts.
For many competitors, five matches in a day might make for a lot of time spent on the mat.
Not for Dake.
Dake ended her matches Saturday by pinning all of five of her opponents in a combined three minutes and 10 seconds, defeating Redwood Valley’s Addison Schmidt in the championship match in 40 seconds.
“I like to psych myself out a lot and think that people are better than me,” Dake said. “I often don’t remember I’ve been to state twice, I made it to state as an eighth-grader, I tend to forget how good I am. So, the real competition is just against me. When I’m on the mat, everything clears up and I’m only focused on wrestling.”
Despite continuing to win and get better, Dake isn’t afraid to admit that nerves get to her ahead of big tournaments. And those nerves were there going into this past Saturday’s tourney.
“It was really a, ‘Fake it till you make it,’” Dake said. “Because I came in and I was really scared, but as soon as I kept approaching the mat, approaching my matches, everything turned to confidence. I was no longer nervous and I was pretty confident that I was going to win.”
Dake also joked that she was motivated by food before the tournament after being told Buffalo Wild Wings coupons would be given to the Top 6 finishers.
One welcome change this year for NUA is that Dake is no longer the lone girls wrestler competing on the team. Sleepy Eye’s Anna Pollard is a seventh-grader that was also representing NUA at the Hutchinson tourney on Saturday, finishing fourth at 106 pounds.
There’s an obvious weight class gap between Dake and Pollard, but Dake has happily welcomed the young Pollard to the NUA mats and is happy to share advice.
“I teach her some moves and I teach her how to set up shots and stuff, but mostly it’s the mental part of it,” Dake said. “Since she’s so young, she’s not used to all the what-ifs and worries. I try to give her confidence because wrestling will really show you who you are as a person, and I try to help her build that confidence to become a better wrestler.”
As of Wednesday, Dake was the No. 3-ranked girls wrestler in the state at 155 pounds.
As the season continues, Dake will look to make a third consecutive state tournament appearance while bettering herself in the process.
“When I go into a match, I never think of me versus the person, I think of me versus myself because I want to be the best person I can be,” she said.