‘Ms. Molly’ may not be the most intimidating nickname for a wrestler, but Molly Allen‘s opponents would like to disagree. And now, Iowa’s Allen has forever etched Riverside’s name in the girl’s high school wrestling championships history. After winning the state title thrice in the last three years, Allen took a shot at making history at this year’s state championship.

The Riverside senior wrestler came into the tournament with an unblemished record and steamrolled the competition at Xtream Arena. When the dust settled, the high school wrestler emerged with her undefeated record intact at 103 wins to no losses and a historic fourth 1A state title. The monumental feat made her the second champion to do so, after Naomi Simon of Decorah.

While Naomi Simon was also undefeated when she set the record, there was more to Molly Allen’s dominance than never losing a wrestling match. Ms. Molly won four bouts in the tournament and won each one of them dominantly. In fact, Allen’s opponent Ellexis Stephens, a freshman at Harlan Community, could only score two points against the three-time champion in the final.

The high school wrestler was equally dominant in the qualifying rounds as she dispatched every opponent within 1:44 min on the mat. The Iowa wrestler didn’t show any signs of celebration or emotion as she ran through each opponent as if the tournament was just another day on the wrestling mat. However, those emotions finally overflowed as the referee raised her hand for the final time.

Tears of joy streamed down Molly Allen’s face as she walked over to her coach, who embraced her. The champion later spoke about her historic fourth state championship title. “It makes me think of all the time and the hours I’ve spent in the wrestling room… The journey… it’s been real,” Allen said, as per local news outlet The Des Moines Register. In fact, the Iowa wrestler’s journey to becoming champion started when she was just four.

Molly Allen grew up wrestling with the boys

The four-time state champion is the middle child and only sister to four brothers, and it was her elder siblings who got Allen into wrestling. Watching her elders bother Blake and Westin Allen scrap on the wrestling mat inspired the undefeated wrestler to join in. They even had a pair of wrestling mats at home that they would roll out on the living room floor to practice.

The memories of those living room scraps with her brothers are still fresh in Molly Allen’s memories. “There’s been some tough fights, but it’s definitely made us who we are,” recalled Allen. The high school wrestler is especially thankful for her brothers’ giving her a space to practice, and their initial guidance, as girls’ wrestling was overlooked when she was a kid.

The IGHSAU hadn’t sanctioned girls’ wrestling even when Allen joined Underwood as a freshman. So, Allen had to wrestle with the boys. Thankfully, it was nothing new to Allen, who had grown up wrestling two elite high school wrestlers in her brothers. So when Allen defeated boys on the wrestling mat in high school, many of them never saw it coming.

“You can just see it (shock) on the guy’s face after the defeat,” Westin Allen recalled observing every time his sister defeated one of the boys. The champion wrestler held an impressive 29-7 record against boys in her freshman season. However, Molly Allen transferred to Riverside when the IGHSAU finally stationed girls wrestling, and the rest is history, literally.

The Allen siblings also came full circle in high school. Blake and Molly Allen had dreamed of winning state championships together as kids. However, the siblings surpassed their own goals. Mr. Molly and Blake Allen won back-to-back state titles in 2023 and 2024. Unfortunately, they couldn’t go for the hat trick as Blake Allen graduated in 2024. However, with the NCAA introducing women’s wrestling, it’s safe to assume that the four-time state champ has a bright future.