Hamilton Southeastern’s Lindsey Lannen was the first girls wrestler to qualify for the IHSAA-sanctioned state finals on Jan. 16. (Photo courtesty HSE Athletics)
By RICHIE HALL
At last week’s Hamilton Southeastern boys wrestling meet, the Royals stopped for a moment to congratulate one of their girls wrestlers.
The congratulations were well-deserved, as Lindsey Lannen was the first HSE girl to qualify for an IHSAA-sanctioned state tournament. Lannen was in attendance watching the boys and she took a few minutes to speak to The Reporter about her accomplishments.
(HSE Athletics)
A 120-pound senior, Lannen began her run at the Muncie Central sectional on Jan. 2. She cruised through the bracket, making two pins to reach the final, which she won by a 6-0 decision. Lannen also helped Southeastern win the team championships, its first ever.
The Royals went back to Muncie Central on Jan. 10 for the regional. Lannen received a forfeit in the first round, which sent her to the quarterfinals, or the “ticket round,” as the winner is guaranteed a top-four finish and a place at the state meet.
Lannen easily punched her ticket to state: she pinned Perry Meridian’s Valeria Velez in the first round.
“It was unreal,” said Lannen. “I remember getting my hand raised and just running off the mat, hugging my coaches. It was just unreal.”
Lannen toughed out a 15-12 decision over Franklin Central’s Madison Mink to reach the championship match, where she fell to Richmond’s Claire Abbitt in a first-period pin. But she was on her way to the state meet, which took place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum on Jan. 16.
Right before wrestling begins, all of the state qualifiers lineup for the Parade of Champions, which Lannen called “really cool.” She noted the bright lights at the Coliseum as wrestlers walk out on to the floor.
“There’s no way to really describe how it exactly feels, but it’s such a neat experience to have been able to go state, the Parade of Champions and just be recognized for what I accomplished this season,” said Lannen.
Lannen competed for the Royals wrestling team three years, beginning with her sophomore year. That was the last season girls wrestling in Indiana was a club sport; it became sanctioned by the IHSAA beginning with the 2024-25 season. As a result, Lannen got to see the changes that come with sanctioning the tournament up close.
“I think there’s more recognition now,” said Lannen. “I think people really see that this is an evolving sport, the fastest-growing sport in the country for high schoolers.”
“As a club sport, it was more like something for people to do. It wasn’t really taken seriously, even in practices and stuff. But now that we’ve been sanctioned, we now have individual practices from the boys. We used to practice with the boys. Now we have our own individual practices, different locations, so it’s been really great.”
Lannen is undecided about which college she will attend and was open to continuing to wrestle in college. She said she would “love to see more college teams have girls wrestling.” As for high school, Lannen said she hopes to see more girls get into wrestling as well, with the girls eventually having “teams the size of the guys teams right now.”
“With it being a growing sport, you have teams ranging from 20 people to a handful of girls,” said Lannen. “Having more consistent-size teams for duals and stuff like that, I think would be really cool to see in the next five to 10 years.”
