BVU Student’s Documentary on Girls’ Wrestling Premieres July 14
‘Unsanctioned’ examines growth, challenges of a sport once reserved for boys
Buena Vista University student Clayton Van Horn spent much of his senior year conducting interviews, videoing, editing, and scoring film for a six-part documentary on the emergence of high school girls’ wrestling. “Unsanctioned” premieres at rokfin.com, a site for wrestling enthusiasts across the country.
Throughout each part of the documentary, Van Horn follows the coaches, girls, and officials involved in lifting a sport from the mat in their home Iowa.
“We call it ‘Unsanctioned’ because girls’ wrestling wasn’t a sanctioned sport until the completion of the 2021-22 season,” says Van Horn, who graduated from BVU in May with a degree in digital media. “Girls had to wrestle the boys if they wanted to compete for a state championship.”
That changed to a degree during the past season as a state tournament was held in Iowa City. However, there were no qualifiers for the event. If a young woman wished to vie for a state title, she could.
Izzy Deeds, of Correctionville, earned a championship with her first-place finish. Van Horn chronicled her journey as she wrestled for the Ridge View High School Raptors, a program he followed from the outset.
“Technically, ‘Unsanctioned’ is one of the best capstones I’ve ever advised or seen. Clayton used all the right equipment, he followed the proper production processes, and he’s executed the story. I’m incredibly proud of him.”
Jerry Johnson, BVU Assistant Professor of Digital Media
“The biggest thing I learned in all of this was that these are student-athletes who can inspire others in so many ways,” Van Horn says. “They’ve had to persevere to get to this point.”
Van Horn, who earned a state wrestling tournament bid as a senior at Crete High School in Crete, Neb., four years ago, became interested in girls’ high school wrestling in Iowa after speaking with Dr. Jason Shepherd, BVU Professor of Computer Science. Shepherd, who wrestled during his undergraduate days at BVU, volunteers as an assistant wrestling coach at Ridge View High School, a school whose wrestling room has about the same number of boys and girls.
“I got the idea to create ‘hype’ videos for each team (boys and girls),” says Shepherd, whose daughter, Tatum, finished seventh at the girls’ state meet. “I knew Clayton was a good videographer, and I thought it would be a cool opportunity for him to expand his portfolio.”
Van Horn immersed himself in the experience, eventually recording 22 interviews, each lasting an hour or so. He filmed practice sessions, motivational talks, training, and live competition. He recorded on 27 different days, gaining more than a foothold in this documentary genre.
“I learned to sit and watch subjects in real time as storylines would unfold,” says Van Horn, who was advised by Dr. Andrea Frantz, Professor of Digital Media, and Jerry Johnson, Assistant Professor of Digital Media. “I’d never done long-form content before. I’m so thankful I could always go to Andrea and Jerry for advice.”
Johnson, a BVU alum, had overseen Van Horn’s collegiate arc for four years, watching as he rose from an eager freshman pitching in on all sorts of BVTV efforts to an experienced voice as cinematographer and co-producer on “Date Night,” a short film by BVU digital media students that was recently chosen as a semifinalist in the Student Los Angeles Film Awards. The film was produced by 2021 BVU graduate Zach Hess, one of Van Horn’s peers.
“Technically, ‘Unsanctioned’ is one of the best capstones I’ve ever advised or seen,” Johnson says. “Clayton used all the right equipment, he followed the proper production processes, and he’s executed the story. I’m incredibly proud of him.”
The same goes for Shepherd, who screened the first two parts and came away thinking he’d just watched something along the ESPN “30 for 30” line. “Working with Clayton has been one of the great joys of my professional career,” Shepherd says. “One can tell Clayton is very interested in revealing what motivates others towards excellence, perhaps because he continually seeks—and achieves—excellence in his own work.”
Shepherd says the Raptors girls and their coaches will miss having their BVU videographer/storyteller around next season. After all, he’d become a part of their historic team.
Van Horn, who is now working for the Bismarck (N.D.) Larks in professional baseball, reserves most of his pride for the subjects who allowed him to cover their every move as their passion, girls’ wrestling, finally moved from backstage to centerstage.
“Girls’ wrestling is a tight-knit community that’s come together to persevere,” he says. “They’ve earned this.”
As for any outcomes from the documentary, Van Horn says he wouldn’t mind hearing from some folks in other collegiate or professional sports, those who may have an opportunity for him. Johnson believes those are coming.
“In our digital media program at BVU, it’s not what you CAN do, but what you HAVE DONE,” Johnson says. “Clayton worked on a short film, on a Disney documentary we did; he did internships, filmed collegiate wrestling, other sports, was a KTIV GameBreaker and much more. The outcome, a project like ‘Unsanctioned,’ allows a student like Clayton to show future employers all that he’s done already because of the opportunities we present all our students at BVU.”
Then, of course, there are the opportunities for the student-athletes in this emerging sport.
“My ultimate goal in making ‘Unsanctioned’ was having someone reach out and say they’ve got a middle school girl who is now inspired,” Van Horn says. “Inspired to give wrestling a try.”