The sound of the referee’s hand smacking the mat is already familiar to junior Timiah Denboer. This winter she heads into her third season on the varsity wrestling team.
Denboer wrestles through Northview and Michigan Youth Wrestling Association (MYWAY Wrestling). Denboer placed eighth in the state tournament her freshman year and qualified for the state tournament as a sophomore. Impressively, Denboer placed fourth in the state this past season through MYWAY wrestling.
Denboer started wrestling in seventh grade and has been competing for four seasons for the Wildcats.
“I wrestled for the middle school team starting in seventh grade and then the [varsity] high school wrestling team,” Denboer said.
This year, Denboer is trying a new strategy to find even more success. Denboer is planning to move up three weight classes this year, which are set by every five pounds. She’s going to try to improve her skills with the move.
“I’m going to try and wrestle at 145 [pounds] this year,” Denboer said. “Last year I was wrestling at 130 [pounds].”
Throughout her career, wrestling has not been an easy sport for Denboer, especially when she first started as a freshman.
“At first it was challenging. It was hard, because there were not that many girls [on the team], and it was difficult to keep up with everyone,” Denboer said. “[But] everyone encouraged me to keep going. I like it now, and I try to do my best.”
Denboer wants to continue wrestling after high school but deciding on a school has been a difficult decision due to her desire to become an automotive engineer.
“There are a lot of good wrestling colleges,” Denboer said. “It’s hard to find a college that has both.”
Along with becoming an automotive engineer, Denboer is passionate about coaching wrestling in the future.
“I especially want to coach little kids,” Denboer said. “I really look up to them.”
Junior wrestler Paige Vansetters is one of Denboer’s teammates. She has been wrestling with Denboer since seventh grade.
“She’s truly a hard worker,” Vansetters said. “She puts everything she has into every match she wrestles.”
Assistant coach Carl Bowerman coached for nine years at Northview and has been substitute teaching for six years. He has had the chance to see what type of person Denboer is both on and off the wrestling mat.
“[Denboer] is very quiet, focused and disciplined,” Bowerman said. “She will be a good teammate when we are at an event, but around school she’s definitely quiet, totally opposite of what she is as a wrestler.”
Coaches and teammates of Denboer from school, think she’s unrecognizable on the mat.
“[Denboer] is very aggressive. She doesn’t hold back, she’s ready to attack at all times,” Bowerman said. “She’s very outgoing during practice, she is very communicative, she helps coach other kids, and she talks a lot.”
