Team Indiana AAU wins national championship

Heights coach Gary Myers leads top wrestlers to AAU Scholastic Duals victory

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

Gary Myers, the man who started girls wrestling in Indiana, was part of an amazing achievement during the last week of June.

The longtime Hamilton Heights wrestling coach helped the Team Indiana AAU girls wrestling team to a national championship. Team Indiana won the AAU Scholastic Duals, which took place June 24 to 26 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Team Indiana compiled a 15-1 record at the tournament. The team was 12-1 in pool play, then won three matches in the eight-team knockout bracket to clinch the national championship.

“These girls were very good, they just needed to wrestle,” said Myers. “We just needed to convince them. They went out there and got the job done. I‘m proud of them because I know how tough that tournament is. They don’t give away national championships.”

Team Indiana was coached by Kara and Cody Younce, who are coaches at Eastbrook High School. Kara Younce said that Myers is “our team leader,” helps oversee everything with regards to the team.

“He is the big push behind everything,” said Kara Younce.

Team Indiana had no problem making it to the bracket round, although the team wasn’t happy it suffered a loss on Day 1. The team fell to MIAMI RIBS Diamond 45-29 for its only setback of the tournament.

“Each of them felt that there was something they could do better,” said Younce. She believes what made Team Indiana “an awesome team” is that the girls focused on what they could do differently after the match to wrestle their best.

“They definitely were a great group of girls to encourage one another,” said Younce. “They would hype each other up throughout the matches. The energy started from the beginning and just kept going.”

In fact, Team Indiana would not lose again. The team went 5-0 on the second day, including three-time defending champion RPA/HEAD HUNTERS. Younce said the wrestlers knew going into the tournament there would be “a lot of matches,” so there were times when they would be held out of one match “if we know we really need them in the next one,” she said.

The girls were also told to do all the necessary things off the mat: “Make sure they get rest, hydrated, eating good food, icing, taking care of injuries,” said Younce. “You got to take care of your body to last that many days. We had some bumps and bruises, but nothing major for this level.”

Bracket round

Once in the bracket round, Team Indiana took care of business. The team beat Central Florida Misfits – Black 54-26 in the quarterfinals. Next up was Team Iowa Dew Crew in the semifinals, and Team Indiana won 43-33, although it led by 43-15 at one point.

With that, Team Indiana was in the championship match, where it took on MIAMI RIBS Diamonds for a rematch. Team Indiana avenged its loss to RIBS with a 42-28 win. That included reversals of four matches that Team Indiana had lost to RIBS during pool play.

The first came at 115 pounds, where Hailey Korporal pinned her opponent after being pinned in pool play. Lanessa Ocampo flipped a 9-2 decision loss at 135 into a 1-0 decision victory for the second swing match.

“When [Ocampo] won, that really pushed the motivation,” said Younce. “That was a big one.”

The most dramatic win came from 170-pounder Kenadi Pierce. After being edged out 3-2 in pool play, she reversed that result by winning 4-0 in an ultimate tiebreaker.

“At that point, it solidified the win,” said Younce.

The final flip came from heavyweight Jasmin Enriquez. She lost by pin in pool play but returned the favor by beating her opponent with a 6-4 decision in the championship.

“They’re going to get some of us, but they can’t get all of us,” said Myers. “They won nine matches the first time, we came back and won nine of them. It was a matter of confidence and determination. They wanted revenge.”

In addition, 10 wrestlers earned All-American honors, adding to the experience.

“We go back next year as defending champs,” said Myers.