MADISON TOWNSHIP — The wireless speaker perched in the corner of Madison’s overheated wrestling room booms as coach Bryan Mosier barks instructions during the final drill of the afternoon.
“Get off your backs,” Mosier shouts while wrestlers struggle to keep their shoulders off the mat.
The buzzer finally sounds, bringing an end to the grueling two-hour workout. After a couple of cool-down laps and a quick team meeting, the upperclassmen head for the locker rooms while a handful of freshmen mop sweat off the mats.
“ ‘Stel’ are you staying over?” Mosier asks Estella Koppert-Smith, already knowing the answer.
Koppert-Smith is ready to put in extra work.
A 130-pound sophomore, Koppert-Smith has emerged as one of the top female wrestlers in north central Ohio.
She is 30-6 on the season with tournament victories at Fredericktown and Tri-Valley to her credit — a testament to her hard work after an inauspicious start to her high school career.
“This is my second year wrestling. I was 4-8 as a freshman,” said the unassuming Koppert-Smith. “I put a little time into it during the off-season and I just really decided this is what I want to do. That’s when I got serious about it.
“I’m surprised at how well I’ve done. I expected to be better because of the amount of work I was putting in, but not even my coaches expected me to be this much better.”
So what has been the secret to Koppert-Smith’s success?
“There’s no magic formula,” Mosier said. “She is willing to do the work and she’s in here practicing against our boys.
“I think when the girls come in here and drill with the boys, they have to give 100 percent effort to survive. When they go wrestle other girls, they are used to giving maximum effort. They spend more time in the red because they are practicing against boys.”
Koppert-Smith agreed.
“Practicing with the boys definitely helps a lot because they are faster and stronger,” she said.
It was the same blueprint Lyndsee Young followed to win a state championship for Madison two years ago. Young won the 140-pound title in 2022, becoming the first and only (to date) female wrestler in north central Ohio to reach the top of the state podium.
“I was in eighth grade and I would see her in the locker room and every day she would tell me I should come out and wrestle,” Koppert-Smith said. “I finally did it my freshman year.”
A photo of Young hangs on Madison’s Wall of Fame. It serves as motivation for Koppert-Smith.
“Every day I walk past and see Lyndsee’s picture,” Koppert-Smith said. “It reminds me to push myself so I can get my picture on the wall.”
The girls wrestling landscape has changed dramatically in the two years since Young captured her state title. At the time, the girls state tournament was sponsored by the state’s wrestling coaches association.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced in January of 2022 it would begin sanctioning the sport and sponsored the girls state tournament for the first time last year.
The girls event ran in conjunction with the boys state tournament at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center.
“There are more tournaments available for girls,” Koppert-Smith said. “We didn’t get to go to many last year because there weren’t a whole lot.”
Likewise, the postseason for the girls has continued to expand. An extra round has been added this year. In order for a wrestler to reach the state tournament, she must survive pre-regional and regional events.
“It is basically the equivalent of the sectional and district tournament for the boys,” Mosier said. “With the OHSAA sponsoring the sport, it is growing.”
Girls wrestling still hasn’t taken root in north central Ohio.
“There aren’t a lot of girls wrestling locally, which surprises me because the boys wrestling in north central Ohio is pretty good,” Mosier said. “One of my big goals is to have a full girls team.”
The success enjoyed by Young and Koppert-Smith will only help grow the sport locally.
“I looked up to Lyndsee,” Koppert-Smith said. “Hopefully young girls will see me and then they will want to try wrestling.”
As for her expectations, Koppert-Smith would like to follow the trail Young blazed a few years ago.
“My goal it to make it to state this year,” she said. “By the time I’m a senior, I want to be a state champ.”
Given Koppert-Smith’s growth since last season, Mosier thinks his emerging star is ahead of schedule.
“Getting to state is one of her goals now. It wasn’t really on her radar at the beginning of the year and it wasn’t on our radar, either,” Mosier said. “Her success doesn’t surprise us any more. She is giving great effort and she’s getting great effort from the coaches. We’re pushing her harder and we told her she shouldn’t take it personally.
“We’re asking more of her because we have seen what she is capable of.”