When she was 11 years old, Josh Rogers recommended to her daughter Mabel to try out the sport of wrestling.
In fact, Josh convinced Mabel and her younger brother to compete in the sport. It ended up turning out well for the 15-year old sophomore at Republic High School.
“He fizzled out and I stayed in it,” Rogers said. “It was pretty cool.”
After just four years, Rogers has established herself as one of the top girls wrestlers in Missouri. She displayed that in the U.S. Marines Corps Junior Nationals tournament, arguably the biggest high school level freestyle tournament in the United States, in July at the FARGODOME in Fargo, N.D.
She finished fifth to earn All-American honors in the 115-pound cadet (16 and under) weight division during the same year she won a state championship and finished 42-0 as a freshman at the Missouri State High School Wrestling Championships.
Rogers had a goal of being an All-American and a national champion. She accomplished the former after earning a 6-2 record in her bracket.
The sophomore won her first three matches, all by tech fall, including her 11-0 victory against Arizona’s Apphia Gutierrez in the quarterfinals. The win clinched her All-American status.
“I’d say I was very excited,” Rogers said to her reaction of securing a top eight finish. “I knew, like, at the end of the day, I was going to be an All-American no matter what the outcome was. And after the loss, I was like, dang, I just lost. But then I realized I was an All-American in the biggest tournament in the country, so I was pretty happy about that.
“(Gutierrez) had a world champion in her corner and I thought I was going to get absolutely smoked, but I ended up teching her. She was taking bad shots and I was able to counter those really well.”
She was referring to the semifinal loss to eventual national champion Kaylee Vera of Ohio, who won by pin in. After Rogers dropped to the consolation bracket, she fell to New Jersey’s Alexandria Barskiy by an 8-2 decision before winning against California’s Lillian Fonceca by injury forfeit.
“She was pretty good, but I think I could beat her,” Rogers said of her match with Vera. “I think I struggled confidence wise. In the first period, we were neck and neck. Then when she took me down again, my confidence disappeared. I mentally gave up.
Rogers said she was able to accomplish a lot despite not being on her A game at the tournament. She said she could have done better if she was more patient.
“I feel like I could have won that bracket if I was smarter,” Rogers said. “I think if I stayed back more I could have hit all my moves. I just didn’t really work my best, but it was decent.”
The tournament was her first since she tore her pectoral muscle in the Women’s Nationals Tournament in April.
She had to rehab from the injury for a few months but she said she felt 100 percent going into Junior Nationals.
“It was difficult to get through that, but it’s pretty good now,” she said. “Sometimes you feel like you’re going to tear it again. You got to be easy on it and it’s scary, but it didn’t affect my wrestling, though.
The sophomore said she plans on competing in the War of the Roses Tournament in Oct. in Columbus, Indiana; and in the Super 32 Tournament in the same month at Greensboro, N.C. She said her goal is to go undefeated at War of the Roses and place in the top three at the Super 32 event.
Then for the high school season, she will be working to earn her second state championship, and her long term goal is to accomplish the rare feat of being a four-time state champion.
“Before my freshman season, I had a goal list and my goal was to play top three at state,” Rogers said, “and then I realized I wanted to be a state champion and go undefeated. After doing that, I think being a four-time state champion is something I can accomplish.”