Today, state. Tomorrow, the world
Aulani Davis sparks Kokomo girls wrestling with four titles; college and national competition ahead
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When Aulani Davis began wrestling at the age of 5, no one knew where it would take her. In a sport overwhelmingly dominated by boys, she had to find a way to hold her own. But she did much more. Earlier this year, she won her fourth consecutive Indiana High School Girls Wrestling (IHSGW) state title.
According to Kokomo High School Girls Wrestling Coach Thad Tyra, Davis – a senior -- has her pick of colleges. Virtually every school that offers women’s wrestling wants her. And her success is attracting more girls to the sport, locally.
“Pretty much anyone that has college wrestling wants her to wrestle,” said Tyra. “She's that caliber of an individual. I’m not trying to give her a big head or anything. She's just that good.”
But it all started when Davis’ brothers decided to try wrestling with the Kokomo Wildkat Wrestling Club, coached by Tyra.
“I had two brothers who started wrestling, and I was cheerleading,” said Davis. “I wanted to try wrestling, so I quit cheer. Both of my brothers ended up quitting wrestling, but I just stuck with it.
“I’ve always liked contact sports. I like football, but I kind of like doing it for myself. So, wrestling is a team sport, but we're mostly individuals. I like that. And it's been an emotional outlet kind of for me.”
Davis went 10-1 heading into state competition this season. Her only loss came from Lake Central’s Elly Janovsky in her season-opening match on Nov. 5. Davis returned the favor by defeating Janovsky two weeks later. It was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season.
In fact, that was the only time Davis had been beaten in women’s wrestling in her high school career. In four years of varsity competition, her record was 74-1. She also wrestled for Kokomo’s men’s varsity team, going 20-12 in co-ed matches.
At the state finals, Davis tore through her competition, pinning all but one of her opponents. It took her just 16 seconds to pin her opponent in the final match for her fourth state title; something no one at Kokomo had accomplished before Davis. But it was her first championship that stuck with her as perhaps her greatest moment.
“The first time it was so overwhelming,” said Davis. “I had been wanting to win the state like since I learned about it, like before middle school. So that's what I that's what I wanted to do. I knew I had a really tough match for my finals match. And I didn't think I couldn't do it. I knew it was going be hard.”
The final match that year was as difficult as any she wrestled in her career. Davis stalemated her opponent in regulation. It took a sudden-death overtime for her to score the winning point with an escape. At that moment, she found the strength of will forged in 10 years of preparation to prevail.
“Well, it was bad, but there were people in the crowd chanting my name,” said Davis. “All you have to do is get up. And I was like, ‘Okay, I'm not that bad.’ I knew I could stand up. Just don't freak out. I used to really bad. I'd get mad, and then I’d just start doing whatever. But I stayed calm.”
By comparison, Davis barely remembers this year’s state run because it happened so quickly. She pinned three and earned a technical fall on a fourth. None of the matches made it to the third period. The pins all took less than two minutes. And that 16-second final match?
“I didn't think I was going to do it that fast,” said Davis. “Oh, I was nervous because I think my match before that went two periods. But when I went out there, I saw the headlock, so I got it.”
After the varsity season concluded, Davis joined Team Indiana in national competition. On March 6, she helped the team to a third-place finish at the Junior Girls Folkstyle Duals in Omaha, Neb. She was 3-2 at the event. She currently is ranked 22nd in the nation in her weight class.
For a young woman weighing in at 138 pounds, that is more than impressive. It is ground-breaking. Because of her accomplishments, women’s wrestling at Kokomo is growing and finding success. This year, Kokomo sent six women to the state finals. Kokomo’s men’s wrestling found success as well. Three members of the team went to state this year. The sport is taking hold in Kokomo, and Kokomo High School Head Wrestling Coach Jacob Bough couldn’t be happier about it.
“Three of those girls are going to graduate, but we still have more coming up,” said Bough. “It should be interesting for the years to come. The guys have a lot harder road. When you start sectionals, there are almost 300 kids in your weight class across the state. So, to make it to state, you’re in the top 16. To have two wrestlers place in the top eight, that’s pretty tough. This year was the 11th time in school history that we had multiple state finishers for the guys. Since 1952, it’s been done only 11 times.
“When it comes to the girls, Aulani’s success is huge. She's gotten other girls to wrestle. Once they start seeing that success from Aulani and the other girls, they're like, oh, wow, maybe I can do this, too.”
Bough explained that the biggest change in the sport was the separation of women’s and men’s wrestling. Once Kokomo did that, the girls started showing an interest in joining Davis on the mat.
“We didn't separate it for the longest time,” said Bough. “I think that when we did it, the girls got to be themselves. They didn't have to hide behind anyone or worry that the guys are going to talk about them at school. We tried not to make it women's or men's. We tried to make them just wrestlers. But in the grand scheme of things there are differences.”
Davis agreed. She spent time convincing other girls to join wrestling, but it was working in the same room as the boys that was the biggest obstacle.
“When I was recruiting girls, I would tell them what it’s like,” said Davis. “And they'd be like, oh, no. When I could tell them we have our own practices, that it's just girls, that's when I started being able to get them to actually come train.”
Davis will spend the summer wrestling in regional and national events. A run at the women’s national team is not out of the question, though she has a lot of work ahead of her to succeed at that level. And in the fall, she’ll go to college – where is still undecided -- to continue her wrestling and prepare for a career.
“I'm going to go to college and major in early childhood development in special education,” said Davis. “I'll teach and coach wrestling. Oh, that’s like 15 years from now, or whenever I stop wrestling after college.
“I learned everything from Coach T and Coach Bough. Whenever I'm helping to coach my teammates, everything I explain obviously comes from both of them. So probably everything I learned, I’ll teach. The one thing I learned myself is probably to not give up because it's hard. And you will want to give up. But if you stay and if you keep going, you could get a lot out of it.”