COLUMBUS — It was just three years ago when girls wrestling became an Ohio High School Athletic Association sanctioned sport.
But plenty of wrestlers had already established themselves as household names.
A pair of wrestlers from the Lakota school district fall under that category, and they recently backed it up at this year’s state tournament.
King of the mat
Kelsey King has had injuries she’s worked through in the past. That’s just her type of mentality.
The Lakota West wrestler, thankfully, had a clean bill of health for most of her junior season.
Then, boom.
“I was attacking it all week,” King said. “I was waking up and working out with the team.”
She attacked it a little too hard the Wednesday before the Division I state tournament.
“I was wrestling with one of the boys, and I kind of got caught,” King recalled. “I landed on my head. My hands were stuck, and I couldn’t really post.
“I think I was shocked more than anything. I screamed out that it hurt really bad.”
King just laid there.
She laid there long enough for the paramedics to be called and haul her away to UC Health West Chester Hospital.
“Neck injuries are pretty serious,” King said. “I spent the evening in the hospital.”
Lakota West coach Jason Dean after practice went to visit King, who was there with her family. A couple tests and a CAT scan signified nothing was fractured.
That’s when King said to her coach, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She was cleared the next day from her doctor and “was right back at it.”
“It basically became a pain tolerance thing for her,” said Dean, who further explained that King fought through the flu before districts days before.
King participated in mild conditioning prior to heading to Columbus, and her D-I state championship run was on.
“She was able to get that first win under her belt — and you could see that sigh of relief,” said Dean, who noted that King had been to state every year of her prep career.
“She just wasn’t able to catch any breaks at state before.”
That changed.
King pinned Alexander’s Jocelynn Malone in 51 seconds the opening match, and she moved on to face a two-time runner-up the previous two years in Breckville’s Anna Madi.
King got through her and then beat East Liverpool’s Paige Cowan 19-3 before pinning Miamisburg’s Lila Krull in 41 seconds to claim the 125-pound state title.
“We knew that would be a tough match and a tough hurdle,” Dean said. “She went out there and pinned her in the first period.
“We felt really good going into that final match,” Dean added. “She wrestled the girl in the district finals the week before and was pretty confident going in. That helped Kelsey stay a little more relaxed knowing the opponent.
“She was able to use the variety of tools that she has, and we try to get her to use every one of them. … I figured that she would be able to surprise people with a lot of the other things that she can do on the mat. She’s so difficult to prepare for because she has so many weapons that she can hit.”
That’s because King was introduced to the sport growing up. Both of her older brothers wrestled.
“I just loved the idea of it,” she said. “Just growing up in the room with them was fun.”
“She gets the competitiveness from her family,” Dean chimed in. “She’s got good genes from her father and her mother. It doesn’t matter what it is — if we’re doing tug-o-war games or conditioning games or relays — she’s wanting to win them.”
Fresh start, perfect season
Cam Gresham’s name will likely always come up when the Lakota East girls wrestling program is mentioned.
The sophomore is the face of the fresh Thunderhawks, who have only been on the mats for two years.
“We created a program because we knew we had a freshman that was accomplished coming to us,” Lakota East coach John Landers said. “We wanted to surround her with a team.
“That freshman who was coming to us was Cam. She had a lot of experience already.”
Landers said he welcomed in wrestlers who were brand new last season and ultimately built the program from scratch.
“It’s been amazing to watch the way they’ve found themselves surrounded by Cam,” Landers said. “It’s turning into a team together.”
The Thunderhawks won back-to-back sectional titles, had back-to-back top five finishers at districts, last year was ranked 28th in the state and this year was ranked as high as ninth in the state.
It took less than two years to accomplish all of that.
“Although Cam was responsible for a lot of it — not always — and that is what is so amazing to me with the kind of team we have built around her,” Landers said.
Gresham comes from a heritage of wrestlers. Two-time state champion Chaz Gresham from Goshen is her brother and so is Joey Ward, also a two-time state champion from Moeller, according to Landers.
“Her family values wrestling,” the coach said. “They take her to extra practices. She works in the offseason. She puts in the work that she needs to set herself apart from the rest of the competition.”
It showed during the state tournament. Gresham had been eyeing a state title since last year when she finished fifth as a freshman.
“I’ve worked my whole life for this,” she said. “It’s been one of my goals for a long time to be a state champion.”
Wait no more.
Gresham pinned Cloverleaf’s Natalie Wise in 1:08 and then Elmwood’s Lylah Green in 1:37. She finished off Sheridan’s Addyson Crane in 1:54 before facing Marysville’s Cami Leng in the championship match.
“Cam (Gresham) was able to hold position and not get nervous or concerned and just stick to her gameplan,” Landers said.
Gresham beat Leng — who came into the match at 29-0 — 4-1 to capture the 110-pound state title.
“It was a really happy thing that happened to me, and I’ve just been working really hard all year for this,” said Gresham, who finished her sophomore season a perfect 41-0.
“I’ve got a good support system around me. I have good coaches that support me. My family supports me, my parents make sacrifices — just the people around me that help me and got me to where I am today.”
Gresham said she felt like she dominated her opponents. The final was her toughest match — and her best match — of the entire season.
She said she’s going to use her state title victory as motivation for the rest of her prep career.
“I just hope this carries into next year — and the year after that.”
