Stepping on the Mat

Meet Erin Lujan, a wrestling official and coach from Lincoln, Nebraska.

Being in a male-dominated world as a female, and you’re not quite sure what to expect–it can be scary. But if you hold your head high, be yourself, and stay confident, you can gain the respect you deserve.

Until a few years ago, Nebraska offered two NSAA-sanctioned Winter sports for girls: basketball and swimming & diving. But out of the over 300 schools in Nebraska, only around 50 offered the latter sport.

So it was an exciting shift when girls wrestling was approved as an additional option for girls in 2021¹. Ron Higdon, an assistant director with the NSAA and in charge of wrestling, said the numbers have skyrocketed quickly.

“In 2021-22, 711 girls were wrestling at the high school level in Nebraska. Now there are over 2000 and counting, just four years later.”

This 186% increase is incredible, but girls have wrestled in Nebraska well before the NSAA held its first girls’ state wrestling championship in 2022.

“In the few years before the sport became sanctioned, the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association organized a girls’ state championship in York, Nebraska. During those years the number of girls wrestling ranged from 120 to a few shy of 300,” said Higdon.

To Erin Lujan, a wrestling official and coach from Lincoln, Nebraska, even these numbers are eye-popping.

“When I wrestled in high school, 6 girls were wrestling in Nebraska”, said Lujan.

Lujan became a part of the wrestling family at the age of six, when her dad became a wrestling coach in Harvard, Nebraska.

“As kids, as soon as school got out, we would hop in the Suburban with my dad to head to the neighboring town for practice. We’d be on the wrestling mats practicing with the high schoolers. It was a family thing. We grew up together on the mat.”

In 6th grade, Erin decided she was ready to compete in the sport. There was an all-girls tournament in the Eastern part of the state her parents encouraged her to enter.

“They told me to get my wrestling shoes, I would have to wrestle during my 7th-grade year of middle school. I was okay with that, but unfortunately, at the time, the girls had to wrestle the boys. So, I stepped out on the mat, and I wrestled the boys I was the only girl on the boys' wrestling team for the next four years.”

Erin as a wrestler in high school.

Erin says one of the major challenges for female wrestlers when she started was the rule that the grapplers had to weigh-in in their under-clothing before their meets. (Higdon said this rule was changed in 2018²).

After her sophomore year, her dad took a teaching job in Brady, Nebraska. The school didn't have wrestling, but the school promised that they would make every effort to start a program by Erin’s senior year. Erin continued to wrestle in a club program, waiting for her chance to compete again at the high school level.

“Unfortunately, the school did not pass the bond to allow wrestling as a sport during my senior year of high school. So, my career was cut short. It was heart-breaking.”

After graduating high school, Erin saw an opportunity to remain in the sport she loved by officiating.

“I told myself back in 2013 that I was going to start officiating. Because of the weigh-in rule at the time, to work matches, I would have had to have a male official that I could shadow so he could take care of weigh-ins.”

This official was more than happy to help Lujan, but in December of that year, she became pregnant with her first child and had to forego her plans.

She stayed connected to the sport by going back to her roots.

“Instead of going back to where I graduated from high school, I'd go back to the school that I wrestled for, as I consider that my hometown. That's where I got to do everything that I love to do. Every year, my mom, dad, husband, and my kids go back to Harvard and help them run their wrestling tournament. That allowed me to stay a part of the wrestling community.”

And then two years ago, Lujan decided it was time to try her hand at officiating again.

“I decided, you know what, I'm actually going to try this. I'm going to step out on the mat, and I'm going to officiate. Girls wrestling was becoming a really big thing and I wanted to be a part of it. It continues to grow every single year, and it gets more and more exciting.”

Erin Lujan in action.

Because of the growth of girls wrestling in Nebraska, there will be two classes (A and B) for girls this year. And the girls will get their own championship.

“The crowds were busting at the seams during last year’s state wrestling championships,” Higdon said. “So the girls will have their own championship this year. They will compete at the same venue (the CHI Center in Omaha) on Tuesday and Wednesday of the championship week, and the girls’ finals will be televised on Wednesday night.”

Lujan has had a great experience in the two years she has officiated. Last year, she was chosen to officiate a sub-district competition, a post-season nod that many officials aspire toward. Even more, she was the first female to officiate a post-season wrestling tournament in Nebraska. But this year, she has taken on a coaching role that will keep her from the officiating ranks.

“In October, Harvard's assistant wrestling coach passed away in a car accident. The school made the decision not to replace his position this year. So I’ve decided to take a step back from officiating so that I can be available to help coach where necessary for the Harvard team. It is a temporary move. But this season my knowledge and my understanding of the sport is needed elsewhere. The goal is to get back into officiating within the next year.”

Erin, with her former coach, Terry Owens, and the only other female he had coached as of 2023, Maria Perez. Perez was a state qualifier in 2022.

Either way, Lujan is excited about the future of girls wrestling.

“What I love the most is that I get to watch how these girls are making the sport so fantastic. The thing that we all knew it could be is now coming to fruition. They're wrestling hard, and some of these girls could probably beat up on the guys–they're just that talented. Watching these girls grow each year–to officiate that is a lot of fun.”

Watch as Erin talks about how she got started, what her mentors have meant to her, what she would say to new officials, and more!

1. The NSAA also sanctioned bowling in 2021. Bowling has both boys and girls divisions.

2. Way back in the day, wrestlers would weigh-in in the nude. When Lujan was wrestling the rule had changed to weighing-in in under-clothing. In 2018, the rule changed to weighing-in in an approved singlet.