Kenya Spencer, a senior at Caro High School, displays her 2015 Junior National Championship’s Women’s Freestyle plaque, which she earned by placing first in the 172 lb. weight class in the Junior division in Fargo, North Dakota. Spencer has won national championships in Fargo the past three years, including her first Junior division championship this year. (photo by: Mike Gallagher)
By: Mike Gallagher
Sports Writer
CARO — Kenya Spencer has done it at the Cadet level, and now she is doing it at the Junior level.
For the past two years, when Spencer has gone to the Asics/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota to compete in the women’s freestyle wrestling championships, she has done it at the Cadet (15+16 year olds) level, and has taken home the championship both times.
This year, in the Junior division (17-19 year olds), Spencer was crowned National Champion, topping Sydnie Theisen, of Pacifica, California in the finals of the 172-pound, 17 woman bracket.
According to Spencer however, the biggest match of the day was in the semifinals, against Asics All-American Kendall Reusing of Riverside, California, a wrestler that she had lost to two times previously.
“In the semis I beat the girls that I usually don’t beat, so that was the big one,” said Spencer, a two-time Asics All-American herself. “I wrestled her in the Body Bar tournament (Irving, Texas), and I had never wrestled her before, and she pinned me in about ten seconds. It was best two out of three, and she beat me again after that.
“I was real nervous about facing her again in the semis, but coach Auggie (Facundo) and I went over a gameplan, because she is really tall, and big. I stuck to the gameplan, and it worked. Auggie has been my coach for six years, and he is a big part of my success, and I’ve gotten a lot better since I started working with him.”
Spencer has been competing in wrestling tournaments all summer, including stops in Oklahoma for a national tournament where she placed second, Texas for the Body Bar tournament where she finished first in the Cadet division, and then to Sweden and Canada for International tournaments, where she placed second and first respectively.
“Wrestling internationally was crazy,” said Spencer. “Sweden was a lot of fun, and we were with the girls from the US senior national team. They are the best of the best, so it was really cool.”
Spencer was honored with Asics first team All-American honors after her performances this year, and was one of only 14 girls in the country to be named to the team. She was the only girl from Michigan, and was named to the first team for the second straight season after being named honorable mention her freshman season.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it this year,” Spencer said. “Last year I found out about the All-American team, and the first team members are put on a poster, and I was really suprised to be on there to be honest. Before the finals in Fargo you get to go up on the stage, and get a plaque, so that was pretty cool.”
Spencer, who wrestles year round, is currently on her two-week break between women’s wrestling, and high school wrestling. She is on the Caro High School boy’s wrestling team, where she earned Tri-Valley Conference honors last season.
“I love wrestling year round, I love to do it,” said Spencer. “I loke wrestling with the guys a lot, and I’ve been wrestling with them since I was little, so I have a good relationship with all of the guys. I think that it makes me a lot better.”
“High school wrestling has always been a boy’s sport,” said Kenya’s mother Mona Spencer. “Kenya doesn’t wrestle 103, or 105, she wrestles heavy, 160 or even 171 sometimes, so she has had to compete in the heavier weight classes. Usually girls don’t have success in those classes — Kenya does.”
With her senior season of high school coming up, Kenya has some big decisions to make, including where she will wrestle in college. Currently she is being scouted by some of the country’s top women’s wrestling programs, including the ones at King University, Oklahoma City University, Lyon University, University of Jamestown, Campbellsville Univeristy, and Adrian University. Spencer sees King University, in Bristol, Tennessee as the front runner.
“It’s great because I was nervous that I wasn’t going to have anyone look at me,” said Kenya. “It feels good, and it’s definitely an accomplishment.”
“She doesn’t realize how good that she is,” said Mona. “She is so humble and down to Earth, and I’m glad that she is so humble, but when she said that she was worried about being scouted we were like ‘are your crazy? you are going to be scouted’.”
Spencer wanted to thank Mike Ellsworth, a former Caro wrestler, who has helped her train this summer in Colorado Springs, Wynn Michalak, another former Caro wrestler who has helped support her, and has stayed in touch with her and her success, and the community of Caro, who has helped support her with fundraisers, and at her matches, and also Sacred Heart Church in Caro who has helped her with raising money to travel around the country, and Tuckey Concrete in Cass City, who paid for over half of her expenses for her trip to Fargo.
“The community is really, really great,” said Spencer. “I wouldn’t have been going to a lot of the places without them, so it is great to have a community like that to support me.”
Mike Gallagher is a sports writer for the Advertiser, and can be reached at sports@tcadvertiser.com