This first-time Kapaun girls wrestler almost quit. Now she’s a Kansas state champion
By Christmas break, Courtney Nye was about done with the wrestling experiment.
She was a runner, not a wrestler, but had been persuaded to try a new sport by a fellow runner already on the Kapaun Mt. Carmel girls wrestling team. Nye was pinned in the first minute of her first two matches and had a losing record when the first semester ended.
“I was really thinking hard about quitting,” Nye said.
A journey that began with Nye wishing she could win just one match ended with the junior winning the match to become the 125-pound state champion at the Class 5A tournament at Park City Arena this past Saturday.
To top it off, Nye’s improbable run to the title as a No. 5 seed also helped secure the first team championship for the Crusaders in program history.
“It’s actually insane to me,” Nye said. “Being a first-time wrestler, I look back on all of my progress and everything I’ve done and I have to thank my team for that. My coaches and my teammates pushed me and I know I wouldn’t be here without them. I’m just really proud of everything we accomplished together.”
Growing up with a brother, Nye was no stranger to grappling, which gave her an open mind to trying a winter sport in between running seasons.
But there is a wide gap between roughhousing with your brother and the technical skill required to compete in wrestling. Nye was taught that lesson the hard way in December.
“I remember thinking, ‘I hope she doesn’t get discouraged,’” Kapaun coach Quinton Burgess said. “Because you could tell early on that she was going to be good.
“She’s just a really smart kid. In my experience with wrestling over the years, smart kids learn fast and they become good wrestlers in a hurry. But even more than that, it was her mentality. She is a battler, she is a warrior and she is never going to count herself out.”
After some thought, Nye’s determination to finish what she started won out over her impulse to give up. And as her experience grew, she began stacking wins. But the best competition in the 5A 125 division was considered to be in the East region, which is why Nye didn’t make her first appearance in the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association rankings until the final week of the season — and even then as the No. 6 wrestler.
In her first crack at the elite, Nye scored a takedown in overtime to prevail over top-seeded Reece Taylor of Shawnee Heights, who had spent the entire season ranked No. 1 in the division.
“She gets to the final and I’m telling her what an honor it is just to be here and what a privilege,” Burgess said. “But the thing about Courtney is that she doesn’t know how to not go. She’s going and she’s going hard.”
In a way, Nye’s inexperience likely helped her in the final against Topeka Seaman senior Koti Best because she didn’t understand just how much the odds were stacked against her when she trailed 10-4 in bottom position with less than 30 seconds left in the third period.
The comeback began with a 2-point reversal, then with time running out and a cradle attempt stalling out, Nye said she gained clarity in the most chaotic moment of the season.
“I was freaking out in my head and I could not focus at all,” Nye said. “I looked at the score and was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?’ And then this voice in my head just said, ‘Don’t give up.’ I don’t know who said it, but I heard it loud and clear and I never hear anything clear in my matches. But once I heard that, I just pushed as hard as I could.”
In the final 10 seconds, Nye executed the high-risk, high-reward somersault cradle where she rolled on her back and used her strength to flip Best over the top of her with Best’s head and leg locked.
Another two seconds and Nye likely would have finished the pin. Instead she settled for a 4-point nearfall — in this season’s new scoring — with the execution of a skilled veteran of the sport, not a novice who only began wrestling four months ago.
“If anybody asks me now about the new 4-point nearfall, I’m going to tell them it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to wrestling,” said Burgess with a laugh. “That was probably one of the wildest comebacks I’ve been a part of in my 15 years of coaching.”
Best appeared to re-injure her shoulder during the match and in the overtime period, she was given an early stalling warning. When Nye was awarded bottom position with 41 seconds left, Best steered her straight out of play and was hit with a second stalling warning, which resulted in a sudden-death victory for Nye.
After the rough start to the season, Nye won 31 of her final 35 matches. Most importantly, she scored a team-high 28 points at the state tournament to help Kapaun (157 points) edge Basehor-Linwood (150 points) in the team standings.
Nye was joined in the finals by junior Bella Green (140) and senior Gianna Redcorn (235), who both finished with the silver medal. Other medalists included senior Aalyra Arguelles (130, third), freshman Olyvia Besco (170, fourth), sophomore Grace Hare (135, fourth) and junior Taylor Barringer (110, sixth). Other state qualifiers for Kapaun included freshman Isabella Brotemarkle (100), sophomore Caitlyn Bruening (115), sophomore Lizzie O’Malley (120) and freshman Ayva Besco (155).
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 5:01 AM.
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