File photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Area’s Ellie Dake works for a pin against Roseville Area’s Alyssa Diedrich during the Girls State Individual Wrestling Tournament Friday at Grand Casino Arena. Dake was named the All-Journal Co-Wrestler of the Year on Thursday.

NEW ULM — After qualifying for the state tournament in 2022 and 2023, New Ulm Area’s Ellie Dake had to wait her time for her next chance.

Dake just missed the state tournament in 2024, and her 2025 season was lost to injury. Now in her senior year, Dake had just one more shot to make it back to the tourney.

“It was a lot of hard work,” Dake said. “Every single day, no matter how I was feeling, if I didn’t feel like going to practice, or if I didn’t feel like putting in the extra work because I missed out so much on last year, It was really a mental battle more. I knew I had the technique to pull it off, it was more the conditioning because I didn’t get to wrestle last year, I really had to put in extra work to get up to where I needed to be to be able to wrestle at the state tournament. It was a lot of extra effort, and I had to really work on my conditioning.”

This season, Dake went 25-1 overall at 170, winning the Buffalo Wild Wings Hutchinson Girls Invitational, the Hopkins Athena Invitational, the Tom Keating Invitational, the Big South Conference Tournament, the Rochester Century Girls Invitational and the Section 3AA Tournament. Dake won her first two matches of the state tournament before falling in the semifinals, but she rebounded with a pair of pins to place third in the expanded 16-girl state tournament.

“When I lost in the semifinals, I was really bummed,” Dake said. “I really wanted first, but I had to shift mentalities. I was like, ‘OK, that match is over with, there’s nothing I can do about it. So let’s wrestle back for third.’ My entire mentality was, ‘I’m just going to take it one match at a time. I don’t care how many more matches I have to wrestle as long as I end my season on a win, whether that was getting fifth place or third place.’

“As long as I ended my career on a win, I would be happy. When I finally managed to pin my third-place match, I was pretty happy. Still very bummed, but I was happy I managed to close my high school career with a win.”

For her season, her achievements, and the leadership Dake has provided to the NUA wrestling team, Dake has been selected as the first-ever girl to be All-Journal Co-Wrestler of the Year.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” Dake said. “I’m glad that I’ve been able to pave the way for other girls wrestlers and I know that a lot of the younger girls wrestlers in the Rolling Thunder Association look up to me. For them to see me get this title is really a good way to keep growing the sport of women’s wrestling and growing more interest.”

Looking back on the season, Dake said her conference title and the Buffalo Wild Wings invitational win were some of her favorite moments.

“Winning that Big South Conference title was a pretty nice feeling,” Dake said. “I won it last year and I think the year before, but winning it in my senior year meant more to me. I had a pretty good opponent in the finals match, and I give her credit, but winning that Big South Conference match was pretty significant to me.

“Then winning that Hutchinson tournament at the very beginning of the season — I had won that tournament two years ago, and unfortunately last year I was unable to participate. But this year I was finally able to go back. I really like that tournament because the first-place winner gets a belt and free chicken wings or something at Buffalo Wild Wings. That’s why I like that tournament.”

For her career, Dake finishes with a 73-13 record, recording 59 pins. Dake said her favorite pin was against top-ranked Sarah Pulk in the 2023 season.

“My sophomore year I ended up pinning the number-one ranked girl in the state who ended up being a four-time state champion,” Dake said. “I pinned her with seconds to spare in the third period and I was down by 5 points, so that was one of the biggest matches I look back to. If I am struggling with worrying about the skill level of another opponent, I just look back at that match and I’m like, ‘If I can pin her, I can pin anyone.’ That’s the big highlight of my career I believe.”

While Dake doesn’t wrestle with the boys as a team at NUA, her presence in the locker room, experience and leadership has been undoubtedly felt as the Eagles experienced their best-ever season, placing second at the state team tournament and finishing with a program-best 26 wins.

“It was a lot of hard work,” Dake said. “There were times in the wrestling room where we were pushed hard, and I understand why we were pushed hard. Without those hard practices where it was nonstop wrestling, or the early mornings where we had to get up and run — in the moment, they really suck. There’s no other way around it. But without those early mornings and without the challenging practices, I don’t believe we would have gotten to the state tournament.

“Everybody in the wrestling room, they rely on each other and they push each other. It’s a camaraderie — no other team would be able to experience that camaraderie that we had. Everybody in the room, every day. Whether we wanted to be there or not, we still pushed each other. It’s a family.”

Dake will continue to wrestle at the next level at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota.

“Women’s wrestling in college is freestyle instead of folkstyle,” Dake said. “So I’ll be looking forward to that … It would be very nice if I could make the Nationals one year, but for right now, my mentality is just taking it one match at a time and pushing myself to be the best I can.”