It can happen just like this, Shawnee Wallace gets you on your back and pins you and the state title match is over. Wallace says “my first state match was like 30 seconds…the next years was like 20 seconds..and last year was like 5 sec.” Before she started winning state titles against the girls, it all started by wrestling boys.
In the 4th grade that meant her cousins. She says “it started in the living room, i could beat them and if they did the sport I figured I could do it as well” Wallace officially joined the mat club, beating many of the boys she faced and a year later when she went up against the best girls in the nation..”In 5th grade…I took 1st place in nationals, winning a national title was awesome” In high school competition Shawnee wrestled the boys during the regular season, then moved on to girls in districts and state, where she dominated winning 4 straight state titles. Wallace says “I love the feeling when i win…the practices sucks the running dieting a women in a man’s sport.” The state of Oregon has never seen a wrestler like Shawnee…she lost just once and that was in this year’s district title, she later beat that same girl to claim her 4th title. She says “it made me hungry, I practiced harder, i never wanted anything more, headed into the state tournament” Despite all the trophies she always felt like she had to fight for respect, but she hopes she paved the way for other female athletes. “Don’t let the boys or anybody discourage you, you have to ignore it because you never know how could you can be.” She might be the one to show them how good they can be as Shawnee definitely wants to coach one or more sports after college.
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