Meet the seventh grade wrestler who became the first to win a state match

By Mick Garry, for Pigeon605

Darla Barnes is a seventh grade wrestler who made history this year in Rapid City by becoming the first competitor to win a match at the inaugural girls high school state meet.

She’s always going to be the answer to a trivia question involving high school sports. She’s comfortable with that, but it has almost nothing to do with her own personal decision to decide to become a wrestler.

That decision has its own history and it has its own kind of charm, much like Barnes.

She began wrestling in second grade but admits now it was probably for the wrong reasons.

“I wanted to be as tough as any of the boys in my class,” she said. “But that didn’t really work out so well.”

She talked her friend Quinn Butler into going out for the sport back then. Butler made the effort but didn’t like it and quit. Then Barnes took a few years off herself, but when Butler started up again in middle school, she talked Barnes into coming back out.

Butler ended up in third place at 112 pounds at the same state meet where Barnes made history. She went 3-1 in her matches and finished third. Barnes went 2-2 at the same weight class and finished seventh.

“We were a little bit apprehensive because of the difference at that age between boys and girls, but everybody has been really good about it,” said Barnes’ mother, Dottie. “The coaches and parents have been very encouraging and respectful.”

It’s a question that someday no longer will be worth asking, but you have to ask: Barnes, do people think girls are weird for wanting to participate in high school wrestling and practicing every day with the boys team?

“I don’t care if people think it’s weird,” she said. “I’ve been weird a lot in my life. There’s no better feeling than beating a boy in a match because then they get picked on by the other boys.”

Barnes’ family has a wrestling background. Her father, Mike, wrestled from the time he was 4 years old through high school. Her mom kept stats for the wrestling team.

“We told Darla if she started the season, she had to finish it, and we’d support her,” Dottie Barnes said. “It was great to have other girls on the team to practice with and encourage each other.”

Barnes, who has two younger sisters, has never been the sit-in-the-house type up to this point in her life. Not surprisingly, she brings the appropriate attitude to the challenges of this sport.

“She’s always been a bit of a tomboy,” Dottie Barnes said. “We live on a farm and ranch, and she’s always been hands-on doing a lot outdoors. It’s a little surprising because she doesn’t have any brothers, but she’s always been rough-and-tumble.”

After a South Dakota State High School Activities Association advisory committee recommended sanctioning girls wrestling, the SDHSAA board approved it, and South Dakota became the 25th state in the nation to make it an official sport this past summer. In this first season, there were just four weight classes, but if the numbers increase, there will be more in the future. The state tournament drew 88 female wrestlers.

Looking back a little, South Dakota does have its own history of accepting girls as wrestlers. In 2015, Ronna Heaton of Brookings qualified for the boys state meet and finished fourth at 113 pounds.

Heaton has since continued on in the sport, winning a U-23 national title in 2020.

With the sport now sanctioned for girls, the number of competitors promises to increase. Part of that growth will need to include strong support from coaches in the state.

In Barnes’ case, she’s appreciative of the staff at Lemmon/McIntosh. Head coach Weston Ginther and assistant coach Jack Anderson sold her on coming out for the team.

“Coach Weston and Coach Jack are really nice — they’ve helped me a lot,” Barnes said. “Coach Weston really wanted me to go out for wrestling. It was like ‘Darla, Darla, we need you!’ He encouraged me to go out every time I saw him.”

It’s not all about wrestling, of course. Barnes loves country living and is a big fan of life on the ranch.

“It’s almost calving season,” she said. “I get to play with all the little baby calves if something is wrong with their moms. They’re super cute. And we’re thinking about getting some bunnies, so that’s going to be fun. I show cows, too, so that’s fun. And we have a bunch of dogs and chickens — and lots and lots of cows.”

Super cute calves and bunnies and wrestling. It’s a winning combination for this seventh grader.

“I’d like to thank my coaches and my friends and my sparring partners,” she said. “And I like how the tournament was set up. I couldn’t do it without them.”