LHS's role in growing popularity of high school and collegiate girls wrestling

• The following is part of an ongoing series of articles in celebration of Libertyville High School's 100th anniversary.

Girls Wrestling is a rapidly growing sport in our country. Forty-five colleges have women's teams, up from 29 a year ago. Although LHS hasn't had a girl involved with our wrestling program for over 15 years, the program has a storied history in the foundation of Illinois Girls Wrestling. A few girls were wrestling in the Illinois Kids Wrestling level in 1991, but there were none at the high school level. That year an LHS freshman girl, Margaret LeGates, wanted to give wrestling a try. She was told "no," that girls didn't wrestle with the boys. She became the team manager. Before the wrestling season began her sophomore year, LeGates again asked to join the team. This time she followed up her request by saying she was in touch with USA Women's Wrestling. USA Women's Wrestling had told LeGates LHS couldn't legally keep her from being on the team, that they would provide legal counsel to get her on the team. When the LHS administrators checked with the district lawyer, the response came back: "Save your money, this is a case you can't win." So Margaret LeGates has the distinction of being the first IHSA female wrestler. The primary concern of finding a workout partner for her was quickly solved. More than a few team members were willing to be her workout partner. She got a JV pin her first year at 103. Her junior year she got several varsity starts at 103 and pinned her opponent in the finals of the Stagg Tournament consolation bracket. Her senior year she didn't break the varsity lineup but won numerous JV matches. In 1994, the summer after her senior year, LeGates entered the USA Women's National Freestyle Tournament and placed second. When her weight class champion wasn't able to compete in the World Championships, LeGates got to travel to Bulgaria to represent the USA. At the world championships, she pinned wrestlers from Kazakhstan and Bulgaria to reach the finals, losing to the Japanese wrestler, and finishing second. While LeGates was wrestling for LHS, Highland Middle School had a female wrestler of their own. With male cousins wrestling for Highland, Mandy Thompson wanted to try it herself. She had several years experience by the time she joined LHS Wrestling. She went 12-5 on the freshmen level and placed second in the JV Conference at 103. Her sophomore year she was 10-2 on the JV level and won the JV conference title. By her junior year, Thompson was the full-time varsity starter at 103. In placing second in the regionals and qualifying for sectionals her junior year she became the first female wrestler in Illinois to achieve that feat. She earned All-Conference honors her junior and senior year and qualified for sectionals a second time her senior year, finishing with a career varsity record of 56-37. Thompson never wrestled after high school. LeGates wrestled for part of the season her freshman year in college, then appeared to be done with the sport. However, she married Dave Lehr, a former Conant wrestler. Their freshman son, Tommy, earned a varsity wrestling letter this past season for Normal West H.S. Their daughter, Sammy, will not be following in her mom's footsteps.