PLYMOUTH — In four matches at Saturday’s IHSAA girls wrestling regional, NorthWood sophomore Onica Gradeless only wrestled for a combined seven minutes and 11 seconds. She won an individual regional championship in the 110-pound weight class by pinning La Porte senior Anastasia O’Shea in just 90 seconds.
After winning a regional championship Saturday, Gradeless said she wasn’t tired yet.
“I knew I had to dominate this match, show people what I’m made of and show the people at state to watch their backs,” Gradeless said.
Gradeless finished sixth in her weight class at the state finals last year, then representing the Mishawaka Cavemen before transferring to become a Panther.
Yancy Gradeless, Onica’s father, is a NorthWood assistant coach and has a front row seat to Onica’s work ethic that involves a schedule to which most people her age would never push themselves. She practices twice a day on the weekdays, competes on Saturdays and works on the family horse farm on Sundays.
“She is getting what she works for,” Yancy said. “She grinds at what she’s good at, and she is good at what she does.”
Such is the nature of wrestling, and to an extent, athletics as a whole. To be great, the sport must become an extension of the person and vice versa.
The Panthers’ head coach Rodney Lone certainly knows that to be true based on the success he had, his sons had, and his current duo of Gradeless and 2025 state champion Naima Ghaffar are having.
“You put in as much time as you can, and those girls have done that,” Lone said. “If you want to make it to this level, this is what you have to do. They do it on a daily basis. Not every program has that leadership.”
Ghaffar seemed on pace to win the 135-pound class regional championship Saturday, breezing into the title match by winning three matches in a combined three minutes and 46 seconds. The No. 1-ranked and undefeated Ghaffar squared off against Garrett junior Nevaeh Wilson, who is ranked second in Indiana and had been beaten by Ghaffar three times this season prior to the regional round, including in last week’s sectional title tilt.
This time, Wilson pinned Ghaffar in 69 seconds to give NorthWood’s star her first loss of the season and just her second in the past two seasons. It may be a tough pill to swallow for Ghaffar, but Lone believes it is better for her to head into the state finals having learned from a loss than to carry the pressure of being undefeated.
“This does not affect what she can do next week,” Lone said. “Respond, learn from it and go in there and be the state champ. She has always kept her head in those rough moments.”
More than meets the eye
It may not look like it while she is dancing on the sidelines listening to the “Sing 2” soundtrack on her headphones wearing a tutu and tiara, but Jimtown freshman Sophia Carper gets nervous before matches just like anyone else. She’s able to overcome that by replacing her anxiety with adrenaline.
That’s how she was able to capture a regional championship in the 105-pound weight class by winning her four matches in a combined five minutes and 51 seconds — less than the duration of a full three rounds.
“My goal from the beginning was to make it to state and win it,” Carper said. “I know the first tournaments will be a piece of cake. I know I’m good, even if I don’t think I am sometimes.”
Carper said this is her ninth year wrestling, and yes, that does mean she started as a first grader. The same is true for the fellow regional champion Gradeless.
The Jimmies’ champion will be joined by freshman teammate Khloie Smith at the state finals next Friday, as Smith finished fourth in the 100-pound class at regional. Jimtown head coach Cody Koebel said the collective poise of Carper and Smith relative to their age is refreshing, and it sets a high bar for what the future of Jimmies girls wrestling could be.
While Crown Point — a school with 2,978 students — won the meet with 163.5 team points, Jimtown — a school with 538 students — held its own by sending two wrestlers to state. To Koebel, that’s the beauty of a sport like wrestling.
“It’s all about what you put into the sport,” Koebel said. “It doesn’t matter how big, how little, everybody are equals. They breathe just like you, they go to bed just like you.”
Who else is heading to Indy?
In total, 12 girls wrestlers will represent South Bend area schools at the IHSAA State Finals Friday, January 16 at the Corveta Coliseum in Indianapolis. As for the hosting Rockies, junior Angel Smith will return to the state stage after finishing in third place last year. She finished second in the 125-pound weight class at regional.
Rockies junior Caroline Balica also made the state finals last year but lost in the first round. She’s hoping for a change of fortune next week and finished third in the 130-pound weight class Saturday.
La Porte is the third South Bend area program to send two individuals to the state finals, with seniors Anastasia O’Shea (110 pounds) and Aubrey Klettke (145 pounds) picking up second place finishes.
Bremen 140-pound senior Shumaker and Penn 235-pound senior Lily Clark (transfer from Elkhart) had the exact same fate as Balica last year and have a chance to improve upon it by returning to Indianapolis next Friday.
New Prairie senior 110-pounder Aubrey Schelstraete (fourth place) and John Glenn junior 115-pounder Britain Whitmer (second place) are set to appear in the state finals for the first time after advancing from the regional round.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleSmedley03.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: 12 South Bend area girls wrestlers advance to IHSAA state finals
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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