The power of never giving up: North girls wrestler rewarded for perseverance with title
It wasn’t that long ago when Dialeen French used to come home from wrestling practice, battered and bruised, and throw up.
None of it made sense to her mother, Dianna Robol, who knew her daughter to care more about her school work than athletics. Before trying out for the North High wrestling team as a freshman, Dialeen had never shown an interest in any sport in her life.
Because she was the only 113-pound wrestler in the program, Dialeen was North’s varsity wrestler on the boys wrestling team, despite never having wrestled before in her life. Looking back, it was three straight months of Dialeen subjecting herself to the pain and humiliation of being clobbered on a daily basis.
“I was begging with her, ‘No, no, I don’t want you wrestling boys,’” said Dianna Robol, her mother. “But she did it anyway.”
Dialeen endured the suffering, she persevered through the pain and the struggle with the belief that if she continued to work hard, good things would happen in the end. On Thursday, her journey concluded not just with a good thing — but with the best thing.
French won the 109-pound Division I girls wrestling Kansas high school state championship at Hartman Arena on Thursday, tears of disbelief streaming down her face as soon as her 8-5 decision victory over Hays’ Sarah Zimmerman became final.
“It feels amazing because I feel like all of my hard work for the past four years has paid off,” French said. “I wouldn’t change anything that happened along the way. I was able to stand on top of that podium with no regrets. I went out today and wrestled as hard as I could and my hardest just so happened to be better than everyone else. And that’s an amazing feeling.”
North coach Quinton Burgess believes French’s story can serve as motivation not only for his other wrestlers at North, but for any wrestler anywhere who feels like giving up.
“I’ve been coaching for 15 years now and there’s not a story I can think of that is more motivational or encouraging as hers,” Burgess said. “I tell our girls all the time, ‘There’s not a single person in this room that is as bad as Dialeen was as a freshman and now she’s going to win a state championship this year.’
“Her story gives you the best lesson that wrestling can teach you. Dialeen is the perfect example of if you work hard enough, long enough, then good things will happen to you. She’s the type of kid who is going to have a lasting impact on our program.”
The story-book ending almost never happened, though.
After her first year wrestling, French was convinced she was going to quit the sport. In an ideal world, French would have started wrestling girls at the junior varsity level as she learned the fundamentals of the sport. Instead, North needed her at varsity wrestling boys. Being physically dominated and losing every match that first year wore on French.
“I questioned myself on that one a lot that year,” Burgess said. “She almost didn’t come back out because of it.”
“It was hard losing all the time,” French admitted. “I was constantly getting thrown around. I had bruises all over my legs and arms. I kept throwing up after every practice. It was this constant feeling of, ‘I can’t do this’ and then forcing myself to keep going. It turns out my body is capable of more things than I thought.”
It begged the question — why did someone who hadn’t played a single sport in her entire life decide all of a sudden to pick up perhaps the most physically demanding sport of them all?
“I wanted to try a sport when I got to high school,” French said. “So I said, ‘What’s the hardest sport and most interesting sport?’ Well, wrestling sounded interesting. So that’s what I picked.”
That need to challenge herself is exactly how French is when it comes to academics. When other girls were wrestling at kids state, French was competing in America’s Battle of the Books. Instead of looking forward to wrestling tournaments, she couldn’t wait for the next History Day project.
French is now enrolled in North’s Bio-Med program, takes advanced classes and maintains a 4.0 grade-point average while juggling homework with wrestling practice. Her tenacity in the classroom has earned her a full-ride scholarship to attend the University of Chicago and become a pre-med student.
“That’s why (her wrestling success) is so crazy because she was never really athletic at all,” Robol, her mother said. “You have to really work at this sport. It’s not easy at all. She never gave up. She always pushed through, even when I told her not to, she never listened to me. I’m glad she didn’t.”
The way French’s mind works, she doesn’t stop until she finds a solution to the problem. After that first year of wrestling, she began wrestling year-round and quickly developed the technical skill needed to hold her own with the boys. In her sophomore season, French won her first tournament and even pinned a boy — quite the turnaround from the previous year’s experience.
“The best way I can describe it is that when you’re starting out in a sport, there’s usually a special moment where everything clicks and you just want to keep doing it,” French said. “When I won my first tournament as a sophomore, that’s when it all clicked for me. That’s when I knew I had to keep going.”
Last season, the first year where the state sanctioned girls wrestling, French was the co-City League wrestler of the year and finished one win away from qualifying for the inaugural state tournament. That provided all the motivation she needed for what has become a standout senior season where she finished with a 31-5 record.
“We’re the ones who have to wrestle Dialeen at practice and it’s like, ‘Oh no, we’re scared of her,’” said North sophomore Larissa Garcia, who won the Division I state title at 106 pounds on Thursday. “We look up to her so much. She’s like an idol to us.”
French’s mother could not bring herself to watch her daughter’s state championship match. The nerves were too much, as Robol bowed her head in the stands and instead watched the live scoring summary on TrackWrestling.com.
She looked up just in time to see the official raise her daughter’s arm in victory. She cried tears of joy, as she watched French sprint across the mat, tears streaming down her own face, and jump into the arms of the coach who convinced her to give wrestling a second chance.
“All of those emotions just came up because we finally did what we wanted to do,” French said. “Everything just became overwhelming.”
Within minutes, Robol was allowed down on the floor at Hartman Arena where the mother was finally able to find her daughter and wrap her in a hug that was four years in the making. The two cried and told each other they loved one another and embraced for more than a minute.
It wasn’t just a celebration of French achieving the pinnacle of her sport — her victory signified so much more. It was a lesson in the power of never giving up, no matter how tough things get.
“She is just so amazing to me,” Robol said. “She works so hard and she’s sacrificed so much. All of those feelings just came rushing down. I’m just so proud. There’s no other feeling like it.”
Area recap for Division I girls state
After not having a single state medalist in last season’s inaugural state tournament, the City League produced three individual state champions, nine state medalists and the second-place team (North) at the Division I tournament on Thursday.
After North’s duo won titles in back-to-back weight classes, West senior Ryasia McDougle finished off her own incredible journey to become a state champion by winning the 115-pound title match with a 7-6 decision over Goddard freshman Audrie Felkins.
The other area champion was Goddard sophomore Ashlynn Goodwin, who won a 7-3 decision over Dodge City’s Autumn Perez in the 143-pound finals to become the first girls wrestling state champion at Goddard.
Andover Central’s Xara Bacci (138), North’s Meya Howell (191) and West’s Dru Johnson (235) all reached title matches in their respective weight classes and finished runner-up. Other area medalists included Valley Center’s Grace Timmons (third at 155), Eisenhower’s Lainie Burkhart (fourth at 109), North’s Rodah Bengi (fourth at 115), Derby’s Amara Ehsa (fifth at 101), Campus’ Erin Jackson (fifth at 115), South’s Alexandra LaForge (fifth at 132), South’s Trinity Williams (fifth at 170), South’s Delilah Sherbin (sixth at 143) and Newton’s Jaymie Murry (sixth at 155).
GIRLS DIVISION I RESULTS
at Hartman Arena (Thursday)
Team scores: 1. Washburn Rural, 100; 2. Wichita North, 74; 3. Garden City, 71; 4. Dodge City, 69; 5. Emporia, 51; 6. Olathe West, 50; T7. Gardner Edgerton, 44; T7. Goddard, 44; 9. Wichita West, 42; 10. Olathe East, 30; T11. Great Bend, 29; T11. Salina Central, 29; T11. Shawnee Heights, 29; 14. Basehor-Linwood, 27; T15. Piper, 26; T15. Lawrence Free State, 26; 17. Wichita South, 25; 18. Olathe South, 24.5; 19. Bonner Springs, 24; 20. Olathe North, 21; T21. Hays, 20; T21. Leavenworth, 20; 23. Andover Central, 19; T24. Sumner Academy, 18; T24. Valley Center, 18; T26. Shawnee Mission West, 16; T26. Junction City, 16; 28. Blue Valley Southwest, 14; 29. Eisenhower, 12.5; 30. Turner, 11; 31. Derby, 10; T32. Campus, 6; T32. Pittsburg, 6; T34. Newton, 4; T34. Spring Hill, 4; T36. Liberal, 0; T36. Olathe Northwest, 0; T36. Wichita Heights, 0; T36. Wichita Southeast, 0.
101—1. Garcia, Wichita North, d. Wetterstrom, Olathe East, SV-1 8-3; 3. Sullivan, Garden City, d. Ortiz, Turner, 5-4; 5. Ehsa, Derby, d. Elliott, Great Bend, forf. 109—1. French, Wichita North, d. Zimmerman, Hays, 8-5; 3. O’Donnell, Basehor-Linwood, d. Burkhart, Eisenhower, 4-0; 5. Lesher, Junction City, p. Yoder, Spring Hill, 5:00. 115—1. McDougle, Wichita West, d. Felkins, Goddard, 7-6; 3. Johnston, SM West, d. Bengi, Wichita North, 7-1. 5; Jackson, Campus, d. Miles, Washburn Rural, 7-4. 120—1. Redmond, Olathe South, m.d. Broxterman, Washburn Rural, 11-0; 3. Kepler, Gardner Edgerton, p. DeLaRosa, Dodge City, 4:13; 5. Thompson, Shawnee Heights, d. Jennings, Salina Central, forf. 126—1. Ridgeway, Great Bend, d. Hernandez, Garden City, 6-0; 3. Griffin, Emporia, p. Glynn, BV Southwest, 3:39; 5. Fredrickson, Washburn Rural, p. Dong, Salina Central, 2:54. 132—1. Gray, Lawrence Free State, p. Serrano, Garden City, 2:37; 3. Bond, Sumner Academy, p. Fishburn, Olathe West, 0:58; 5. LaForge, Wichita South, p. Garcia, Dodge City, 1:28. 138—1. Lake, Piper, p, Bacci, Andover Central, 3:17; 3. Davis, Gardner Edgerton, p. Munoz, Emporia, 3:17; 5. Cruz, Garden City, m.d. Swango, Junction City, 12-2. 143—1. Goodwin, Goddard, d. Perez, Dodge City, 7-3; 3. Christenson, Basehor-Linwood, d. Konzem, Gardner Edgerton, 12-8; 5. Boa, Emporia, p. Sherbin, Wichita South, 3:29. 155—1. Smith, Washburn Rural, p. Arroyo, Dodge City, 1:48; 3. Timmons, Valley Center, p. Finazzo, Olathe West, 3:22; 5. Guzman, Garden City, p. Murry, Newton, 4:29. 170—1. Stean, Bonner Springs, p. Jackson, Leavenworth, 2:22; 3. Johnson, Washburn Rural, d. Almaraz, Dodge City, 4-2; 5. Williams, Wichita South, p. Angeles, Pittsburg, 2:34. 191—1. Anderson, Washburn Rural, p. Howell, Wichita North, 2:44; 3. Bell, Shawnee Heights, p. Ruggles, Olathe North, 1:36; 5. Ervin, Emporia, d. Martinez, Dodge City, 5-4. 235—1. Rivera, Olathe West, p. Johnson, Wichita West, 4:00; 3. Franklin, Salina Central, p. Tinsley, Olathe East, 4:31; 5. Conley, Olathe North, d. Olson, Emporia, 2-0.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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