Rickter wrestling for Team Idaho

BONNERS FERRY — Traveling to national competitions cost money and local Badger and Bonners Ferry Wrestling Club member Savannah Rickter is hoping the community can help.

Last week, Rickter flew down to Bosie to train with Team Idaho junior girls national team. She will be competing in the national competition this week in Tulsa, Okla. In July, Rickter will compete at the USA freestyle wrestling national championships cadet division in Fargo, N.D.

Rickter qualified for nationals winning her bracket at the first Idaho state girls wrestling tournament and took third in the Holt Arena at Idaho State University on Feb. 26.

To fundraise, Team Idaho girls are holding a gun raffle for “his and hers” handguns. This will help support and offset travel expenses for all of the Idaho girl wrestlers this season at the national level.

Those who choose to participate and wish to support Savannah, need to make sure to add her name to the ticket. Tickets are $20 each and $10 goes to help with the wrestler selected with tournament registration fees, traveling and hotel accommodations. Of the remaining, $5 goes to help all of the girls and $5 goes to the purchase of the guns that are being raffled.

To purchase a raffle ticket, visit https://bit.ly/3xw5199. To win the guns the winner must be 21 years old and pass a background check.

Idaho wrestling has been fighting to achieve a sanctioned girl’s wrestling division for a very long time. The community’s support will assist in building the girls division.

Last season, the Badger girls wrestling were the first District I-II wrestling champions.

For the first girls Idaho state wrestling tournament there was no class division based on school size, so the Badgers girl wrestlers faced off against all schools from Grangeville to Bonners Ferry, head coach Kevin Campbell said. The hope is to expand brackets and add classification of big school and little schools in the next few years as girls wrestling grows in Idaho.