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Last weekend, Schlabach — who is the Rams’ captain and a top-level student — became the first female to win a Greater Catholic League Co-Ed wrestling title, taking first place at 120 pounds with a 3-0 record. She is 28-9 going into Friday’s sectional tournament with an eye on a top-four placement to get to districts.
“It’s definitely different going against the opposite gender, but the boys on my team are just like my brothers now,” Schlabach said. “We have one other girl on our team too (106-pound sophomore Samantha Caballero), so we all get along, like a family, but other teams, sometimes I will run into people who really don’t like me wrestling. Some don’t want me out there, but I’m still going to do it. It’s a lot of fun, and I just want to keep getting better.”
This is Schlabach’s third season wrestling and her first with a winning record after going 19-21 last year.
She never really intended to compete, though. Schlabach joined the team her freshman year as a way to condition for Judo, which she has been doing since she was 7. However, she just thought she would train with the Rams.
Badin coach Dexter Carpenter saw some potential and convinced her to go to a meet. She won the first match she competed in, at Deer Park, and has been hooked since.
“It’s a really hard sport,” Schlabach said. “We practice in an 80-degree room every day, and it’s super intense. I love working out so wrestling is great, plus, it’s kind of nice to say you beat a boy.”
Her male competitors don’t always take losing to a girl so well, Carpenter said, but Schlabach gets a greater sense of satisfaction from it because of how strong the boys are. She enjoys the challenge.
“It’s rough on a young man,” Carpenter said. “She and Samantha have been dumping on some guys. Andrea beat a senior on his Senior Night, and he was very distraught. I can understand that it’s embarrassing to lose to a girl, but I’m obligated to get the best out of all my wrestlers. If they share that passion, it doesn’t matter if they are male or female.”
The wins have come easier for Schlabach this season as she has built up confidence.
Schlabach won a state wrestling championship in a competition sponsored by the Ohio Wrestling Association for Youth last spring in Marion, competing in the girls’ bracket, and attended some camps over the summer. In turn, her technique has improved, she is able to do more moves and she is stronger.
“She’s outstanding,” Carpenter said. “She works hard and she’s real dependable and very courageous. Anyone that comes out for wrestling is, but we have two ladies, both with winning records, and it just shows spirit that she can hold her own. Her strength and awareness have really improved, and Judo helps with that. She’s got good reaction time and balance, and probably the most important thing is she is psychologically strong. Nothing shakes her.”
Being mentally tough is a must for a female competing in a male-dominated sport.
Schlabach said at one tournament last year, a coach purposely told her competitor to cross-face her, so he punched her across the face and gave her a bloody nose. That didn’t stop her.
“Some people do purposely try to hurt her, but that makes her meaner,” Carpenter said. “People have asked, ‘What are you feeding her?’ I joke that I think she puts gun powder in her food. It’s hard to join a man’s group like that, but I’ve been very impressed.”
It helps having another girl on the team for support, and she is trying to get more involved next year.
But first, Schlabach is focused on trying to make it to districts. She finished sixth at sectionals last year but could be seeded as high as second this year. The top four advance to the district tournament, and according to Carpenter about five or six females have qualified for districts in past years.
“I didn’t make it last year, but I really want to get to districts this year,” Schlabach said. “There will be some really good competition, but it would be awesome to finish in the top four.”
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