Three years into being a sanctioned sport, Westside girls wrestling is already making history across the state. The team just won its first State Championship , but Regan Rosseter might just be the biggest part of the history made. The senior became the first four-time gold medalist in the state of Nebraska. The official record books only have three sanctioned gold medals, but the media and fans across the state recognize her as the first wrestler to win four state titles. To Rosseter it’s all about what she has done for the future of the sport.
“Honestly I never thought I was going to be a full timer because I thought I was gonna have to wrestle boys my whole life,” Rosseter said. “Just knowing that I was the first four timer here at Westside, and it just shows that I can be a role model.”
Being the first four-time gold medalist, still may not be her greatest accomplishment. She was a trailblazer in the world of girls wrestling and was a huge advocate to get the sport sanctioned by the NSAA. Head coach Bob Mulligan believes she set the gold standard for the new sport and helped grow the team’s roster.
“It’s been amazing. She’s been a big reason why our program has grown from three to 16 in three years,” Mulligan said. “People want to be around her. She gravitates to people that want to come here. What she’s provided for our program is second to none, not just as a wrestler, obviously as an athlete she has been amazing, but just as a leader and as a person, as a role model. She has kind of set what the standard of girls wrestling needs to be in the state and it’s going to be amazing. And then there’s going to, you know, she set a lot of records, but they’re obviously all going to be broken. But you know, to her to be able to lay that foundation for girls coming up in the future is amazing.”
Rosseter is a pioneer in the sport, who set a high bar in just the third year of girls wrestling being a sanctioned sport. Everything she has done to advocate for girls wrestling has put her on a pedestal of the sport. The 130 pound weight class state champion has a big voice across the entire sport and she uses it to help the girls that come next.
“It’s been pretty cool knowing that I am a pioneer of the sport and I can be a role model for the younger girls that look up to me,” Rosseter said. “It’s been really insane going from me being the only girl on the west side team to now it’s just the growth has been tremendous. I hope it can get its own state tournament but I also like it with it being with the boys because we get the same atmosphere, same crowd and just having them be able to achieve their goals.”
Rosseter lost the match since the sport was sanctioned. She finished her entire career at Westside 124-1 and finished her senior season with 48 wins and zero losses. Experiencing the moments with all the wrestlers is why Mulligan became a coach.
“It’s why I got into what I’m doing. You know, winning is just you know, it’s nice, but if I said that I was here to win. I’d be lying to you guys. You know, it’s that that makes your job worth it when you go in and you’ve seen you know the grind that they’ve put in for the last three to five months,” Mulligan said. “I can’t really put it into words, it still gives me chills just even when I go back and see videos. You know Reagan or Zoey winning and running over and giving me a hug or any of our girls in kind of their expressions after we found out we won the team title, that’s what makes it all worth it.”
