Knox Pages will select one student athlete to be recognized as the Park National Bank Athlete of the Month during the 2023-24 school year. Nominations for Athlete of the Month are accepted from Athletic Directors and Coaches, but are ultimately chosen by Knox Pages and are based on the student’s exceptional athletic performance, effective teamwork and achievement in their communities. Park National Bank is proud to support this initiative and is giving the athletic department of each school $1,000 in honor of each athlete chosen.
MOUNT VERNON — No matter the metric, Ashlynn Brokaw exceeded expectations — and she’s just getting started.
Mount Vernon’s freshman phenom placed third in the 105-pound weight class at last month’s girls state wrestling tournament. The podium finish capped a campaign in which Brokaw went 41-4.
“Corey Firebaugh, Mount Vernon’s head wrestling coach, had all the kids write down their goals for the year at the start of the season and her goal was to beat one ranked wrestler this year,” said her father and coach Jay DePolo. “We had a list of preseason girls rankings and she just started picking them off one at a time.
“I told her, ‘You are the ranked opponent the other girls are trying to pick off.’ ”
A multi-time junior high state champ, Brokaw began her assault on some of the top 105-pounders in the state at the Olentangy Orange regional.
Brokaw, who was ranked second in the weight class by the time the final rankings before the state tournament were released, knocked off third-ranked Cecelia Reitter of Columbus Academy 8-4 in the semifinals and captured the regional title with a default win over 12th-ranked Emily Leeseberg of Gahanna Lincoln.
She opened action at the state tournament with a pin of eighth-ranked Scotlyn Adams of West Union and followed with a pin of fourth-ranked Nikera Johnson of Sandusky in the semifinals.
That set up a showdown with senior and returning state champ Chloe Dearwester of Harrison in the semifinals.
The top-ranked Dearwester won the match via first-period pin on her way to another state title. Brokaw, meanwhile, beat 10th-ranked Leah Marine of Washington Court House 6-0 in the consolation semifinals and knocked off Reitter for the second time in as many weeks in the third-place match.
“In the beginning I was thinking if I qualify, that would be great and if I finished in the top eight, that would be awesome,” Brokaw said. “To get third was sort of a stretch, but after I was there the goal was to (finish in the top three).”
Brokaw was one of 44 freshman state qualifiers and 20 freshman state placers. That list includes 110-pound state champ Talea Guntrum of Steubenville and 120-pound state champ Kayla Moroschan of Chippewa.
“There were a lot of strong freshman, especially in the lower weight classes,” DePolo said. “I think it is a testament to the growing popularity of the sport.
“Girls wrestling has just exploded. I’ve heard it’s the fastest growing sport in the nation.”
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 in 2023.
The state’s high school wrestling coaches association conducted the girls state tournament during its first three years of existence from 2020 to 2022.
“I’ve never seen a sport that has grown so quickly,” longtime Mount Vernon athletic director Justin Sanford said.
“For us at Mount Vernon, we’re proud of that because (Mount Vernon graduate and Olentangy Orange coach) Vanessa Oswalt has been a pioneer for this in the state of Ohio.”
Oswalt enjoyed a distinguished wrestling career after graduating from Mount Vernon in the mid 2000s. She was a member of the women’s U.S. National team and competed for the Army team before returning to her alma mater to help coach the boys program in 2017.
Her presence sparked an interest in girls wrestling in Mount Vernon. The Yellow Jackets had six wrestlers compete at the Claymont pre-regional tournament this year.
Brokaw was joined at the state tournament by senior teammate Emma Rinehart, a seventh-place finisher at state in the 115-pound weight class in 2023. Rinehart finished one win shy of a second podium finish last month.
“Between Vanessa and now Emma and Ashlynn, they have been instrumental in growing the program,” Sanford said. “We had six girls on the varsity roster and eight down in the middle school.
“We’re looking to build this program and eventually get to a point where we can field a wrestler in every weight class. That’s the ultimate goal.”
That time might come sooner than later.
“I think we can have a full roster by the time I’m a junior,” Brokaw said. “We have one of the bigger programs in the area and it’s going to keep growing. We take a lot of pride in that.”
The sport’s growth at the grassroots level has led to more opportunities for women’s wrestlers at the collegiate level. The NCAA announced in February that women’s wrestling will likely become a championship sport in the winter of 2026.
That fact has Brokaw re-considering her athletic future. She plays on a national-level club team based in Dublin and was an Ohio Cardinal Conference honorable-mention selection last fall.
“My first thought was that I wanted to play soccer in college but now I’m gradually moving toward wrestling more,” said Brokaw, a Merit Roll student. “There’s more available now than before and I wouldn’t mind doing it in college.
“I really like the environment in wrestling. It’s very welcoming.”
For now Brokaw will continue to pursue both sports.
“That’s the thing about Ash. I don’t really have to push her,” DePolo said. “It’s kind of the opposite. I have to pull her back a little bit because she wants to go to everything.
“She’ll go to wrestling club practice in Delaware, then go straight to Dublin for soccer practice. She wants to do that four or five days a week.”
Mount Vernon couldn’t ask for a better ambassador.
“She’s just a tremendous student-athlete and a great representative for our school and our community,” Sanford said. “She has a high ceiling in terms of what she wants to accomplish as an athlete and for her to get on the state podium as a freshman is a great achievement.”
