FRUITPORT – In a gut-wrenching, sometimes painful sport like wrestling, determination can go a very long way.
It can even propel a freshman, brand new to varsity wrestling, all the way to the individual state finals.
That was the case for Fruitport’s Bryelle Hirdes, a 15-year-old ninth-grader, who is the first female wrestler from her school to qualify for the finals.
She will compete this weekend in the MHAAA girls Division 2 category at Detroit’s Ford Field.
Hirdes has become a good wrestler over the past few years, and improved a great deal in middle school, but did not seem like a strong bet to make the state finals this year, by any means.
She placed third in the 125-pound division at districts, which was good enough to qualify for regionals, since the top four in each weight class advance.
She got off to a rough start at regionals, moving quickly to the losers bracket after she was pinned in her first match by Charlotte’s Katherine Matter.
But Hirdes obviously does not give up easy. She bounced back in her next match and pinned Traverse City West’s Audrina Redmond after trailing in the early minutes. Then she kept rolling in her third match, pinning Emma Miller from Hart.
She lost the third place match, her final challenge of the day, but still took fourth place, which was enough to make her a state qualifier.
“Both of her (wins at regionals) went back and forth until she sealed victories by pin,” said Fruitport girls wrestling coach Harold Thommen. “It would have been easy for her to let the first round loss cause her her to lose focus and confidence, but her grit and determination is truly unmatched.
“She shows maturity that I would expect an upperclassman to possess.”
Hirdes, now 35-13 on the season, said she definitely wanted to make school history, and that helped to keep her mentally focused at regionals.
“Honestly I kept telling myself, I have to win,” said Hirdes, who also won the 125-pound title this year at the GMAA City Tournament. “I reminded myself that I could be the first girl from Fruitport to make it, and that gave me the motivation.”
Hirdes started wrestling in the third grade, just because her brother went out for the sport. Ironically he ended up dropping out, but she fell in love with it and kept going.
“I have always just loved the bonds I formed with my coaches, and I love the aggression of the sport,” she said. “I love that it’s hands-on. Plus I have no hand-eye coordination at all, so I can’t do any sport that uses a ball!”
Hirdes said she wasn’t very good for several years, but started figuring out how to win in middle school, and has gained a lot of confidence along the way.
“This was definitely my best season,” she said. “I started to get better around seventh grade. The first few years I was really bad.”
Now Hirdes can’t wait to get to Detroit to test herself against other top female wrestlers from throughout Michigan.
She knows it will be tough to win a medal and earn All-State honors, since only the top eight in each weight class get that distinction, but she’s definitely not ruling out the possibility.
“I’m just happy that I’m going, but I still want to try my best best to earn a medal if I can,” she said.
Hirdes will be cheered on in Detroit by several of her teammates from the Fruitport girls wrestling team, a second-year squad that is growing by leaps and bounds. There were eight girls on the team this year, and they traveled every weekend throughout the season to compete in tournaments.
This was the first year that any of the female Trojans advanced beyond individual districts. Besides Hirdes, sophomore Bailey Garner (105 pounds) and junior Audrey Hinton (110) also qualified for regionals,
Hinton won her weight class as this year’s O-K Conference tournament, becoming the first female conference champion wrestler at Fruitport.
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