BOX ELDER - The first all -girls wrestling tournament in South Dakota will be today at Douglas High School in Box Elder.

The USGWA Wrestling Championships will host girls as young as 5 through college when the tournament gets under way at 10 a.m.

"It is an open tournament so anyone who wants to come can," said Douglas Wrestling Club girls head coach Ed Malone said. "We don't know how many girls will be there but we are hoping to have 40 of 50."

The folkstyle tournament will award medals to the top three finishers in each weight class in each division.

The tournament is hosted in association with the United States Girls Wrestling Association, which is a national organization. Volunteers will handle every thing on site including officiating the matches.

Malone said he doesn't know how many girls from the area will, but he is projecting as many as 10 from Douglas taking to the mat today.

Malone, who has a daughter who wrestles, said he believes there is a demand for this kind of tournament in the state.

"I think they want this for all the girls," he said. I know they would love to have a girls program, but because they don't that means often times they have to wrestle the boys."

Girls' wrestling has continued to grow in popularity but for girls to compete at the high school level they must wrestle boys.

Because the exact number of participants is unknown it has not been determined how many weight classes will be contested or how big the brackets will be.