Bresa Coan
Harlie Winningham was a manager for the Jennings County boys wrestling team last year, but with the Panthers expanding their girls wrestling program this year, she decided to give the sport a try.
Now, Winningham and fellow sophomore Bresa Coan are headed to state. They’ll compete in the Girls Wrestling State Finals Friday at Mooresville.
“I really expected Bresa to go,” Jennings coach Jeff Morrison said. “She had done really well and beat a couple of ranked girls and was even ranked herself. Harlie has really just been coming on strong. She actually started the season as our No. 2 wrestler there (at 195 pounds) and worked her way up. She took that varsity spot and just had a heck of a regional and beat one of the top girls in the state to get there.”
Both Winningham at 195 and Coan at 250 finished fourth in their respective weight classes in Friday’s Franklin Regional.
“I was more surprised about it,” Winningham said. “I was excited to place, but I did not expect it at all. I definitely had hopes for it, but I didn’t know if it would come true.”
“I guess I was more relieved about making it through,” Coan added. “That was my main goal — to make it to state.”
Harlie Winningham
Winningham and Coan are the Panthers’ second and third girls to qualify for state after Lexi Giltner finished fifth at 126 last year.
Giltner was the only girl on last year’s team. This season, the Panthers had 13 girls, and 10 competed in the regional.
“It definitely helped me want to do it even more, knowing that I would make friends, and I would have new friends on the team,” Winningham said.
Both Winningham and Coan did archery and played softball while growing up. Coan also played soccer and basketball, and both girls wrestled in elementary school.
“Harlie kind of talked me into it because we’ve been friends for awhile, so we kind of worked through this together,” Coan said.
Winningham will wrestle Kyndal Mellady of Westfield in the Round of 16 on Friday. Coan will square off against Thaini Pearson of Tri-County.
“I’m definitely going to try to get first or second, but I think more of a reality for me is third or fourth,” Winningham said.
“My goals for state are also first or state, but I think I can most likely make it in the top five,” Coan added.
