Depinet earns All-American status, all 4 grapplers earn valuable experience

FARGO, ND – Champions were built this summer.Four local girls wrestled in the nation's toughest and largest wrestling tournament: the U.S Marine Junior Nationals. Known to many as simply Fargo, the girls freestyle was held July 11-14 at the Fargodome at North Dakota State University.One brought back hardware, but all four brought back memories and experiences that will help them in the upcoming wrestling season.The hardware winner was none other than Seneca East junior Kiera Depinet. She came in seventh place in the nation and earned All-American status."I believed I could be an All-American after coming so close last year," Depinet said.It wasn't an easy road to get to the parade of champions. She won her first two matches, but lost her third. The loss came on a tie with the criteria. Depinet then battled back to win three more matches to get to the All-American round. She then lost another match before winning the final match for the seventh place finish.Her record was 6-2, which improved her record from last year which was 4-2."My hip and shoulder were hurting before I went into the AA round," Depinet said. "I knew that I could do better and work harder, but I'm very excited and proud of myself for making it as far as I did."The biggest takeaway that Depinet had from the experience was not to be nervous, take it one match at a time, and to let her body rest between matches to avoid injury.Kendyll Salyer, the other junior at SE, only wrestled two matches at Fargo and went 0-2."It was nothing like I expected," Salyer said. "I learned that I need to believe in myself more when I wrestle and to trust in my training."While Salyer enjoyed the experience for it being her first time, she is making it a goal to make it back to Fargo next year.Depinet and Salyer are both thankful for the community support of Tiger Nation, as well as other sponsors that helped get them to Fargo.Clyde's Avery Gaskalla, the lone senior out of the four girl wrestlers went 1-2 at Fargo. She lost her first match, won by pin for the second match, and lost in the third match.She isn't letting that stop her from setting her goal high for the season however."It has motivated me more than ever," Gaskalla said. "To prepare not only for the upcoming season, but to go back to Fargo as well. I could have won both matches that I lost, but I'm going to let it be the motivation I need to train."Gaskalla is thankful for the opportunity to have gone and has a message for her supporters."I want to thank everyone for the support and encouragement. I did what I could do, this time, but I'm hoping for a better outcome next year."The youngest member of the group, sophomore Meredith "Mimi" Greenslade went 2-2 in four matches, but her bracket was the largest she has ever competed in. It had 83 girls in it."My coaches always tell me to push myself and go up against the toughest competition, because that's how you get better," Greenslade said. "The bracket was insanely big; I have been to national tournaments before, but never had that many in a bracket before."Greenslade is excited for next year, as she has made it her goal as well to get back to Fargo, but isn't looking forward to the long drive. As long as she has her Team Ohio friends to pass the time, it makes the trip all the sweeter. She also wanted to thank the Clyde-Green Springs community for the support she and Gaskalla received, as well as Coach Chris Phillips at Phillips Trained Wrestling in Norwalk, as well as the Barn Athletics located in Findlay. At The Barn, she has been training under Findlay High School girls wrestling coach Ben Kirian. She also wanted to thank her parents and other coaches as well."You won't find any tougher competition than Fargo," Greenslade said. "I learned so much and I know it's going to help me a ton during the high school season."What is next for these four?As for Greenslade, just to make summer more complicated, she participated in soccer as well as wrestling. She is playing soccer for the Lady Fliers this fall, and plans on making that her main focus, but no one should think she will be completely done with wrestling."I will be competing in the War of the Roses Midwest National Tournament," Greenslade said.That competition will be held at the Circle K Fieldhouse in Columbus, Indiana on October 4th and 5th.For Gaskalla, she is undecided currently for fall sports, and may just focus on training hard for the upcoming wrestling season.While taking a break from wrestling workouts is in the cards for Depinet, she will be in volleyball for the fall for the Tigers, and will still do wrestling as well to keep in shape. She plans on attending the Ohio State Fair Wrestling Tournament.Joining in the volleyball program at SE this season will be Salyer, but she too will be heading into a few more wrestling tournaments between now and the official start of wrestling season. To prepare for those tournaments, she plans on continuing her training at Phillips Trained Wrestling in Norwalk with Phillips, and The Barn with Kirian.Whether her and Greenslade will be primary drill partners remains to be seen. They have been drill partners for the summer at Phillips.The other life lesson that Depinet had to offer, and can be applied to any sport: don't give up, even if you are losing."No matter how sore or tired you are," Depinet said. "You have to keep wrestling until the whistle blows, because anything can happen."