LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Going into this school year, Sam Roberts knew there would be a lot of unknowns, but he was absolutely sure about one thing: he needed to recruit some wrestlers.
Roberts may not have had a lot of head coaching experience in his first year as Western High School’s wrestling coach, but he was ready to jump into the role.
"I let my principal make an announcement that we were having open practices for a few weeks,” Roberts said.
After hearing the announcement over the school’s intercom, and with the prodding of a friend, sophomore Tameria Edwards was interested.
"I said 'I'd do it,” Edwards said.
Edwards decided to convince her friend, senior Malasha Lokey, to join her.
"I joined the team because my friend didn't want to be the only girl on the team,” Lokey said.
So on the first day of practice, Roberts had two girls who had never wrestled before walk into his gym.
"The first thing I said was, ‘Are you guys scared of hard work?’ And they said no,” he said.
The girls dove right in, saying that first day of practice was one of the hardest things they’ve ever done. It was instantly apparent that both had talent, particularly soft-spoken Lokey.
"She just has this drive,” Roberts said. “Whenever she gets into competition mode, she goes from smiling, happy, to she's got her game face on."
Girls participating in high school wrestling in Kentucky is nothing new. High schools have had girls on the wrestling team for years, however there are not separate divisions for boys and girls in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. To compete in KHSAA competition, girls had to wrestle boys in their weight class.
This year, the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association decided to change things, sponsoring the first ever Kentucky high school girls state wrestling championships at the beginning of February.
Despite stepping onto a wrestling mat for the first time just months before, Lokey found herself in the finals of her weight class.
"During the match, I did doubt myself a little bit,” Lokey said. “But when [my opponent] was on bottom and I was on top, I was like I got it."
To make things even more impressive, Lokey was placed in the wrong class, meaning she was having to wrestle against girls in the weight group above her. It didn’t matter: Lokey became the first ever Kentucky girls state wrestling champion for the 285 lbs. weight class.
Roberts was on a bus with the boys coming back from their own competition when he got the text message.
“[It] says, ‘And we've got a state champion.' And I told the bus, and the boys just went nuts," Robert said.
“I like to see her be great at anything she do,” Edwards said. “Especially since she’s a senior and she got to get first place in her last year. It’s good.”
Now back at school, Lokey is a champion and a trailblazer as more girls are showing interest in joining the Western wrestling team.
"I just think that everybody has been afraid to put their toe in the water,” Roberts said. “I think whenever they hear those names over the announcements, they hear all of this praise coming from this group of kids, and Malasha, they realize, ‘Oh! I wanna do this! This sounds like fun! This sounds like something that’s different!"
Edwards said girls should not fear jumping into wrestling. She said the initial fright of being a girl training with guys wears off fast.
"When you train with boys and work with boys all the time, you get over it,” Edwards said.
And what’s the one piece of advice Lokey has for other girls who want to give wrestling a try?
"Don't give up,” she said. “Just keep going for it even when you lose."
Lokey wasn’t the only wrestler from Louisville to win a state title at the inaugural girls wrestling championships. Central High School’s Jaidyn Logan took gold in 182 lbs. weight class. Plus, the Yellow Jackets finished third in the team competition.