07/13/2026
The Road to Fargo
One Last Practice
This morning, the Marysville wrestling room didn't feel like a team preparing for one of the biggest tournaments in the country.
It felt like home.
Before practice even began, the girls were laughing through a game of partner dodgeball. There were smiles, hugs, high-fives, and the kind of relaxed energy that only comes when you trust the work you've put in.
As coaches, that's exactly what we hoped to see.
For more than three months, these athletes have trained, traveled, competed, lifted, and challenged themselves to earn the opportunity to represent Team Ohio at the USA Wrestling Junior & 16U National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota.
This morning wasn't about squeezing in one more technique.
It was about enjoying one more practice together.
One of the things that stood out most wasn't just our Fargo qualifiers. Marysville wrestlers who aren't making the trip showed up anyway—to drill, wrestle, encourage, and help prepare their teammates.
That's what great programs do. Success is never built by the people in the spotlight alone. It's built by teammates willing to invest in one another.
Another reminder of what makes girls wrestling special was seeing athletes from different communities leading warm-ups and working together as if they'd been teammates for years.
Throughout the spring, M-POWER has become more than a club. It has become a place where girls from different schools come together with one goal—to help each other improve.
Tomorrow, we'll join more than 130 wrestlers and 30 coaches from across Ohio at Ohio Northern University for one final Team Ohio practice.
Tomorrow evening, three charter buses will begin the nearly 1,000-mile journey west.
The preparation is over.
Now they get to compete.
Long form article can be fond here https://sites.google.com/view/shawn-andrews/the-road-to-fargo