At 12:15 AM on February 21, Millbrook junior Lisa-Jean Foley took down her opponent by fall to win the 8A 120 Girls Wrestling State Championship. Foley’s win was full of remarkable odds; she was battling fatigue as her match was the very last of the night, she had once been beaten by her opponent, and she had returned from injury just a few weeks prior. Still, she ultimately let none of it affect her mindset and wrestled her way to victory.
A member of Millbrook Girls Wrestling since her freshman year, that resilience is something Foley has demonstrated throughout her entire wrestling career at Millbrook, and as she wrestles for club with Capital City. Millbrook Wrestling Head Coach Scott Saby described Foley as determined and constantly wanting to improve, compete at the top level, and lead the team. After placing sixth at States last year, Foley was determined to do better and found herself at the State Championship finals match.
However, she didn’t reach this milestone as she may have anticipated. On Sept. 23, 2025, Foley sustained an anterior tibial fracture. She was out for the first half of the season, and States was her fourth tournament all year.
“It was really hard to gain confidence and know that I had what it took and was physically capable of [wrestling]. My first match was really hard and I was getting really tired a lot sooner than I thought I would. But, after that first match I gained back all the confidence I had from the last season,” Foley said.
Nonetheless, she found herself back out there in Greensboro, preparing for a shot to be a champion.
Foley narrated, “Coach Beach told me before the match that I’ve never been a technician and that I don’t need to worry about being technical, I just need to go out there and be my cowgirl self and do it the way that I’ve always done it, and also not to get headlocked. And, I go out there, and I get headlocked… But I was my cowgirl self and was able to roll out of it and get the takedown.”
Foley is confident in her skills on top and was able to work her opponent through this position, but the period ended with her opponent in the lead. She went back into the match with more words of encouragement from Coach Beech, and her opponent chose to wrestle from the bottom, to which Foley said she was instantly confident.
Foley continued, “We’re scrambling. Then she grabs my leg, and I know immediately what to do. I throw the Mills-half. Then, the ref raises his hand to call the pin and I let go. I was so happy. I couldn’t believe that I won, I wasn’t expecting it. She beat me last year in the first period. During that match I was so in my head, so I was trying not to be in my head for this match. I knew that she was good at her cradles and her headlocks, and she did both of them on me, but I was able to get out of them. I just knew I needed to finish this and do it how I’ve been doing it.”
Throughout her recovery and return to the mat, Foley had a unique source of support on the Millbrook sidelines: her father, who serves as an assistant coach for the team.
Foley shared, “Having [my dad] as one of the coaches is amazing. I don’t allow him to corner me though. For me, he’s a spectator, but for everybody else he’s a coach. Being able to go home after practice and matches and working out questions is amazing and I love it. [After winning the championship] getting to celebrate and give him a hug before anyone else was just absolutely amazing.”
Wrestling is a sport that demands not just physical strength, but also control and discipline, especially when it comes to maintaining weight. But once you’re a state champion and the season is over, you don’t really have to worry about that for the time being. To celebrate her season, Foley’s dad has promised her a no-budget trip to Angus Grill!
Foley ended the season with a 25-6 record. Aside from winning States, Foley also accomplished becoming the first Millbrook junior girls wrestler to reach 100 wins this season. Her goal for next season is to move up to the 126 weight class and win States again, and if you know Foley’s work ethic, you’ll have no doubt she will do just that.
Coach Saby spoke to Foley’s impact on the future of Millbrook girls’ wrestling, saying, “If you work hard, and you put in time, you can compete at that high level, and you can win. Lisa being a state champ just shows ‘Hey, I can be the next one’ and that’s cool. I mean, we want to compete, we want to have fun. But we also want to try to be the best. And she’s shown that there’s a path to that.”
