One of the fastest growing sports in the country is high school girls wrestling.

Year after year, it continues to increase in popularity, with more and more girls from throughout the state taking to the mat in the winter months.

“The girls have made great strides in what they do,” said Vintage High School coach Jim Lanterman. “They have taken it to heart and they really have done well for themselves.”

“It’s amazing how tough they are,” said Shae Farace, a Vintage assistant coach whose daughter, Heather, is on the team. “They go all out and they don’t pull back. It’s a lot tougher sport than people really realize.”

Wrestlers from California, Nevada and Oregon — as many as 300 in all — will be at Vintage for the ninth annual ASICS Napa Valley Girls Classic. The two-day tournament starts Friday at noon and resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. in the school’s gym. Vintage, ranked 12th in California at the end of last year, is the host school.

“The people who watch it will just be very impressed with the skills and the agilities that these girls possess right now,” said Lanterman, the tournament director, who will have a large contingent of wrestlers from Vintage entered. “It’s amazing. They’ve come a long ways. They listen, they pay attention, and they try their hardest.”

The ASICS-sponsored tournament is one of the largest in the country, with wrestlers competing in 14 different (98, 103, 108, 114, 118, 122, 126, 132, 138, 146, 154, 165, 189 and 235) weight classes based on weight in a double-elimination format. Team scores will be kept and medals will be awarded to seventh place.

“The tournament’s always been about the girls,” said Rob Lanterman, a Vintage assistant. “I think we embraced the sport as a whole in the beginning, where a lot of people were struggling with it. Since then, it’s just grown from there.”

The tournament, the first National High School Federation event for girls in the U.S., was founded by Lanterman and Carl Murphree, a former VHS and Napa Valley Wrestling Club coach who is now the head women’s wrestling coach at Missouri Valley College.

“This is where you have to be on your game,” said the Crushers’ Audrey Garza, who has placed in five tournaments this year. “People just look forward to this tournament. I hope that everybody gets a chance to use what they’ve learned.”

College coaches and recruiters are expected to be on hand, looking for those experienced and talented wrestlers that can perform at the next level.

“The girls wrestling circuit in California just keeps getting stronger, and there are turning out to be more and more collegiate scholarship opportunities out there,” said Jim Lanterman, who is assisted by Bob Musante, Rob Lanterman, Yvonne Lanterman and Shae Farace. “There’s going to be some fantastic wrestling going on.”

Three former VHS wrestlers — Maika Watanabe, Kayla Chambers and Michele Querin — wrestle for Missouri Valley. Jessica Hsieh won a U.S. Girls Wrestling Association national title representing the Napa Valley Wrestling Club a few years ago. At least seven major colleges offer women’s wrestling as a scholarship sport.

“I think people will be surprised at the level of competition, as the girls get out there and they really battle hard,” said Rob Lanterman. “The girls are really technique oriented. You see real accurate, technical wrestling.”

Vintage will compete for the team title, with the Crushers fielding a large team, many of whom are brand new to the sport.

“All are showing real promise,” said Jim Lanterman. “We’ll get stronger as the season concludes at the end of January and surprise some people.

“The girls are really coming out in numbers. Almost all of them are at every practice. It’s a young team. They have a keen sense of what’s going on. They enjoy the tournaments that we go to. The program is getting nothing but better.”

Vintage has already been to six tournaments — often times leaving town early in the morning and arriving home late at night on the same day — and will also go to the CIF Northern California State Championships Jan. 19-20 at Liberty-Brentwood and the California Girls Invitational Jan. 26-27 at Hanford West.

“They’re excited and ready — very much so,” said Shae Farace. “They’re pumped up. They’re ready to get it going.

“They show a lot of confidence, strength and technique. Whether we come out on top or we finish in the middle, their attitude’s great. Like I say, they all stick together.”

Those going to the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association NorCal Championships (March 3-4 at Springstowne Middle School-Vallejo) and the USGWA National Championships (April 1-2 at Churchill High of Livonia, Mich.) will represent the Napa Valley Wrestling Club.