Wrestling Champion Mateah Roehl
Mateah Roehl is a collegiate women’s wrestling champion. Mateah’s accolades include being a 2x NCWWC All-American and 2X Scholar All-American. Additionally, she is a Team Wisconsin women’s coach and has coached at Fargo nationals, Senior nationals, U17, and U20 World Team Trials. Mateah began her wrestling career in Wisconsin through wrestling youth clubs and high school wrestling. After that, she wrestled at Illinois’ North Central College (where she was a 2x All-American). Then she returned to Wisconsin and began coaching and training at Askren Wrestling Academy (AWA).
The Historic Growth of Women’s Wrestling
Mateah has been a part of the historic participation growth of women in wrestling. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the number of high school girls competing in wrestling has grown by over 4x since 2013. Additionally, USA Today reports that in 2023, Iowa State became the first Power Five school to start a women’s wrestling program. And, in 2026, the NCAA plans to elevate women’s wrestling to a championship sport.
So, to help learn about the changes happening today in wrestling, we sat down with Mateah. She met up with us in between her classes, coaching, and training. Through our conversation, she talks about her journey, her advice for girls in wrestling today, and her outlook on life.
What is it about wrestling that made you commit to it over other sports?
Track and cross country are cool, but it’s just not the same as wrestling. You don’t have to have the same grit and strength, and there aren’t as many challenges you have to overcome. And I love overcoming challenges so that’s why I love wrestling.
What drives you to keep pushing yourself through wrestling?
When you do the hard things, you can find a version of yourself that you never knew possible. I always say you have to go into the woods to find the gems. You have to do the hard things and overcome the difficult things and face your fears in order to find the most beautiful version of yourself.
How did you get your start in wrestling, where did it all begin?
Yeah, I was actually really good as a youth wrestler. I was just kind of feisty and aggressive like I used to stare down my opponents. I used to scare a lot of young boys.
My dad was actually the wrestling coach. He got my brother into it. And so I would always go to the youth practices and I would be like the sister on the mat that’s rolling around doing the cartwheels.
One day I asked my parents if I could join, and at that point, it was all boys on the team. There wasn’t really much female wrestling. So, my parents thought that I would, you know, join and get my butt kicked out of competition and leave wrestling. And that’s why they let me do it. But I ended up winning my first competition.
How has wrestling changed since you first began your athletic journey?
I have noticed that there are so many more female wrestlers. I think kind of what happened is that people like me got older. Then the younger girls saw the older girls doing the thing, doing the wrestling, and they had something to look up to. They also had female coaches that were encouraging them. So I think when girls see that there are older females in wrestling that makes more of them want to join.
What do you enjoy doing when you are off the mat?
I love to go to church and to church events. Just spend time outside. I love to hike and explore. We have seven acres at my house with woods, so I like to go into the woods. I love to learn about nutrition. That’s something that is really cool to me. I love shopping. I love fashion and thrifting. And I’m still in school, so I have a lot of college work right now. This is my last semester.
What would you say is your favorite movie?
I don’t really watch movies, so I don’t really have a favorite movie. But a couple of years ago, I told myself that if someone asked that I was just gonna say Bright by Will Smith because I love Will Smith. And that’s just my answer. It’s gonna be my answer probably for the rest of my life.
Have you noticed any changes in the wrestling community when it comes to female participation?
I run a girls club with my teammate Lauren. We’ve had a lot of girls just jump straight into wrestling, and they’ve told me that the only reason they joined is because they saw a bunch of girls doing it. So I think that some girls have trouble just wanting to jump into an all-boys team, which I understand. So I think, once the momentum started, I think that a lot more girls started to join because they saw that growth.
How have your personal experiences influenced how you approach coaching?
I just want the girls that I coach to know that just because you’ve been in one dark place, it doesn’t mean that you have to stay there. And you can always continue to grow, and you can grow out of that and change and just find the right community for you.
What led you to coaching?
A little bit of backstory. I wrestled in college for two years, and then I left wrestling as a whole because I was cutting a lot of weight and I was burnt out and injured. And at that point, I had just stopped loving wrestling. I actually, like, hated wrestling at that point (“hate” is kind of a harsh word, but it’s true).
Then, I was coaching at AWA, at Askrens, and Ben kind of helped me find my love for wrestling again. So now, when I’m competing, I remember the feeling of when I quit wrestling and how I just wanted to be back on the mat and how I just wish that I could find that spark for wrestling again.
And so now, I’m just so grateful to be even out there competing because I remember what it felt like to not be a wrestler for a little bit of time.
What sets AWA apart from other wrestling clubs?
We kind of do things differently at AWA. Ben Askren has been a big part of that, just his relaxed mindset around wrestling. I think there are a lot of wrestling clubs and schools that just want to go super hard all the time and kill each other. But Ben has more of a technical approach to it.
What goes through your mind as you prepare to compete?
Because I already know that I’m worthy. I already know I’m a good wrestler. That’s all established. And so when you’re that secure in yourself, like, in what you do, it’s easy to want to just go out there and have fun, because it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean I need to win this to prove that I’m worthy to myself or anyone. I just do it because it’s fun to go out there and scrap hard and wrestle hard.
What is your message to those just beginning their wrestling journey?
Keep pushing through the adversity. Keep doing the hard things even though you can’t really see the clear-cut path to get there. Just know that, if you do all those right things, you will get there. Always eat the rocks. Do the hard things. Don’t run away from challenges.
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