Lee County’s Leah Dooley signs college wrestling scholarship

By David Mundee, Special to the Herald

LEESBURG – After watching her brother wrestle for more than six years, Leah Dooley decided to give the sport a try as a sophomore as girls wrestling became more of a sport in the state Georgia.

After three years of wrestling for Lee County High School, the Trojans senior is now continuing the sport next year at the collegiate level after signing a scholarship to wrestle for the Brewton-Parker College women’s wrestling team.

She held a signing ceremony on Wednesday at the Lee County High School multi-purpose gym with family, coaches, friends and members of both the girls and boys Trojan wrestling teams.

In signing with Brewton-Parker, an NAIA program in Mount Vernon, Ga., near Vidalia in east Georgia, Dooley made history as the first Lee County girls wrestler to sign to wrestle in college.

“I am very excited,” Dooley said of continuing the sport in college.

Dooley has been part of Lee County’s wrestling program since her sixth-grade year, first serving as a team mat girl for four seasons before beginning her competitive career on the mat her sophomore year. As a mat girl, she helped the boys team with keeping scorebooks, videoing matches, working the tables at meets and helping set up and break down the gym for home meets, while also cheering on Trojan wrestlers.

Among those she cheered on was her brother, Ethan, a two-time state placer for the Trojans who graduated from LCHS in 2020 and wrestled in college at Life University near Atlanta.

“I was mostly wanting to come out (for wrestling) because my brother inspired me,” Dooley said. “He wrestled since the sixth grade and continued to wrestle in high school and through college. I wanted to be like him.”

Dooley also had wrestling interest from Central Christian College in Kansas but felt comfortable with team members and head coach Josh Sturgill at Brewton-Parker.

“When I went to their practice when I toured the campus, everyone was so friendly and everyone was nice and welcoming,” Dooley said. “Coach Sturgill was especially nice.”

This past season as a Lee County senior, Dooley started out the year wrestling in the 135-pound weight class before dropping down to the 130-weight division. She finished the season with a 32-16 record.

“Leah started off as mat girl and as soon as girls wrestling became a sport, wrestling was a thing for her,” Lee County head coach Chris Morton said. “She jumped on the mat and was all in. She has done a fantastic job for us. She is tough and I think she will be an asset for Brewton-Parker.

“I look forward to seeing what she will do over there. The next level will be a challenge as she is going to have to work, but she can do it. When she sets her mind to it, she is really on.”

At Brewton-Parker, Dooley figures she will wrestle in either the 131 or the 138-pound weight class.

Sturgill, who attended Wednesday’s signing ceremony, said one trait caught his eye when he first saw Dooley compete early this past season back in late November/early December.

“I saw a passion when I started looking and seeing what she was doing wrestling wise,” Sturgill said. “In getting to talk to her more, I saw a good person.”

The Barons head coach also saw an ability from Dooley to rebound after disappointments that was impressive to him.

“I know she didn’t have a completely successful season, but seeing how she handles herself through her struggles and bounces back to have more success later on is something more important to me than winning every time and being undefeated,” Sturgill said.