ROXANA - Abbrey DeWerffs was a state qualifier this past wrestling season, capturing third place at sectionals. She made history as the Shells’ first female state qualifier in girls wrestling.
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Abbrey qualified in the 190-pound weight category, although she weighs 170 pounds.
For her wrestling accomplishments, Abbrey is a Midwest Members Credit Union Female Athlete of the Month for the Shells.
This is a recap of her record with significant wins on Trackwrestling.com in her career:
She won IKWF Girls State in 2015, 2016, 2017, and placed fifth in 2018 after some tough weight changes, and won again in 2019. She made it to state in 2020 but it was canceled due to COVID. She was also a boys state qualifier in 2020 as well but it was canceled for COVID. In 2019, Abbey was also the Girls Freestyle State Champ as well. So in 2019, she won Girls Folkstyle and Freestyle Girls State Championships. In 2018 she won fifth at U.S. Marine Corps Girls Nationals.
Most of these tournaments on Trackwrestling were boys events, her father Aaron said.
Abbrey said she was grateful for the opportunity to wrestle at state and was very excited that she had qualified. She also said wrestling is her favorite sport.
“It’s a very hard, mental, and physical sport,” she said. “Ever since I was five years old I have been wrestling. Now, Im going on 10 years. My dad put my brother in the sport and I felt left out wondering why I couldn’t do it. At first, my dad didn’t want his little girl in a physical sport with boys. Then he thought why not.
“My journey has started from crying my first match, quitting in middle school to try new sports (landed back with wrestling) and now going to state in high school as the first girl in RHS. I wouldn’t be in the situation I am in without my parents, grandparents, siblings, and coaches. A message I would like to tell every girl out there is girls can do as much as boys can do so keep at it!”
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