Page 13 - All Arkansas Preps 2020

Advertising Supplement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | All-Arkansas Preps | Sunday, June 28, 2020 13M OUTSTANDING PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
MATY LINCOLN SENIOR / SEARCY HIGH SCHOOL
SUBMITTED PHOTO
>> WHY SHE WON
e first season of sanctioned girls wrestling in Arkansas
was especially important for Searcy High School senior
Maty Lincoln, who ended the season with a 28-0 record, the 116-pound-weight-class girls state championship and the title
of the first All-Arkansas Preps Outstanding Player of the Year
for Girls Wrestling. “ at’s so cool. I’m very happy about it,” she
said. “I was really surprised, but it was a good surprised.” She said
the first person she told was her father, Nathan Lincoln, who has
been her biggest supporter since she joined the school wrestling team her sophomore year to support a friend who did not want to be the only girl on the coed team. Although her friend quit the following year, Maty Lincoln said she fell in love with the sport because of the close bonds it fosters among teammates. During her junior year, she was one of three girls on the team, and her father said she took an active role in recruiting nine more female wrestlers so the school could have a full girls team her senior year. “She would also wrestle with girls out of her weight class and teach them stuff and just be that mentor if they had questionsorconcerns,”hesaid.“WhatMatywoulddoistakethosegirls and calm their fears and pump them up and keep them encouraged.” Lincoln added that because she wrestled coed for two years, she felt she needed to be a strong team captain and a friend to her teammates to build up the confidence of players who were new to the sport. Jerry Evans, head wrestling coach at Searcy High School, said Lincoln has grown tremendously as a wrestler over the years. “She was really able to show what she can do this year, though,” he said. “She had to wrestle against the boys in the past. She held her own but was able to show her real dominance this season, going against the girls.” is fall, Lincoln will continue her wrestling career at Lyon College in Batesville, one of the first collegiate wrestling programs she became interested in. She added that she selected the program because of its tight-knit team atmosphere.
GIRLS WRESTLING
MATY’S
■ 2020 record: 28-0
■ 2020 116-pound- weight-class state champion
■ Lincoln helped lead Searcy High School to the team title at the 2020 State Championships.
■ She participated in pole vaulting her fresh- man and sophomore years.
■ GPA: 3.87
■ Height: 5-3
■ FUTURE PLANS:
To wrestle at Lyon College in Batesville, where she will study business in hopes of joining her father’s business, Lincoln Lawn and Garden in Searcy.
IT’S REALLY COOL [that there is now a girls
wrestling division], and I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for a lot of girls. ... I am super excited for women’s wrestling to grow.”
— Maty Lincoln, OUTSTANDING PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR GIRLS WRESTLING