History is always made to be broken. And that will certainly be the case this winter for Wawasee girls wrestling.

The first season of girls wrestling opened in earnest Saturday morning at the Whitko Girls Wrestling Invite, where Wawasee sent 15 athletes into battle and worked up to a second-place team finish. The Invite listed 23 teams on the docket, with just Western outdoing Wawasee in the standings, 174-144, to earn the team title. In all, the 23 teams sent 179 athletes to the mats, signifying the first running of the Whitko Invite, and the first weekend of girls wrestling as an IHSAA sanctioned sport.

Wawasee’s runner-up spot featured three second-place finishes, three third-place finishes and two fourth-place finishes. The Lady Warriors won 27 of 49 dual matches, 25 of those coming by pin. Six of the wrestlers finished with just one loss.

Making history for the Lady Warriors was 115-pounder Lydia LaBarbera, who scored a pin in the second period of her match against Manchester’s Colson Beart to become the first Wawasee girls wrestler to earn an IHSAA win and pin. LaBarbera finished 3-1 on the day and in second place in her bracket. Also finishing second were Karlee Clevenger in the 100-pound bracket, and Hadley Faroute was second in the 120-B bracket, both going 2-1 overall.

Sylvia Dixon was 4-1 and third in 120-A with four pins, rallying from a first-round loss to win her final four matches. Katie Sigsbee at 125 and Kenidi Nine at 135 each had semi-final losses, but both rallied for third place and 4-1 days. Cyanna Leon at 140 and Naviya Leon at 145 each finished in fourth place, combining for five wins.

Nine joined the record books with the fastest pin for Wawasee, scoring a 10-second slap over Culver’s Brena Hamilton.

Wawasee will host its first-ever official IHSAA dual match this Wednesday when John Glenn comes to Syracuse for a 6:45 p.m. start at the Hardwood Teepee. Glenn and Wawasee competed in a dual in Walkerton last December as the first dual match recorded, but still under the umbrella of the Indiana High School Girls Wrestling Association.

At Whitko Girls Wrestling Invite

1. Western 174
2. Wawasee 144
3. Garrett 125.5
4. Lakeland 117
5. Rochester 115
6. Mishawaka 113
7. West Noble 104
7. Northfield 104
9. Penn 89
10. Fort Wayne North Side 68

Wawasee Wrestlers
100 – Karlee Clevenger 2-1, 2nd
115 – Lydia LaBarbera 3-1, 2nd
120A – Sylvia Dixon 4-1, 3rd
120B – Hadley Faroute 2-1, 2nd
125A – Evalyn Blanco 0-2
125B – Evelyn Tinkey 1-2
125B – Katie Sigsbee 4-1, 3rd
130 – Nayli Bautista 1-2
135 – Kenidi Nine 4-1, 3rd
140 – Cyanna Leon 3-2, 4th
140 – Peyton Hohman 0-2
145 – Makenna Makunenge 1-2
145 – Naviya Leon 2-2, 4th
190 – Isabelle Brown 0-2
190 – Tiana Senders 0-2