High school girls wrestling is relatively new in Minnesota.
The Minnesota State High School League sanctioned the sport for the 2021-22 season and 44 girls qualified for the first girls individual state tournament. Twelve of them became the first set of girls state champions.
Last year, more than 1,500 girls competed at the high school level in Minnesota, more than double the number of participants in the 2022-23 season, and 104 qualified for the individual tournament. Official numbers for the 2024-25 season are not yet available but are expected to reflect a similar growth.
In just a few years, three wrestlers — Northfield’s Caley Graber, Simley’s Charli Raymond and Anoka’s Gigi Bragg — have emerged as the top girls wrestlers in Minnesota. Interestingly, all wrestle around the same weight class.
All three have developed a different barometer for individual success, but each recognize they’re more than just wrestlers. They are trailblazers in Minnesota.
“I definitely think I’m helping girls wrestling,” said Raymond, who in 2022 became Minnesota’s first girls wrestling state champion. At the time, she was a seventh-grader in the 100-pound division. Now a sophomore, she ranks second in the 118-pound class for girls behind Graber.
“I like to think some of those younger girls look up to me,” Raymond said.
In 2024, Graber, a junior, became the first girl to win a match in the Minnesota boys wrestling individual state tournament. She won three times on the way to a fifth-place finish in Class 3A’s 107-pound division.