By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After winning the 235-pound championship for team champion Washburn Rural in last season’s inaugural KSHSAA girls state wrestling tournament, Dajia Anderson was ready to take on a new challenge.
Once she made her decision the Rural senior approached that quest with the same determination that helped her become the city’s first official girls state champ, shedding some 40 pounds so she could compete this season at 191 pounds.
“Last summer I came up for one of the workouts and it was the first one after the (COVID-19) shutdown,’’ Washburn Rural coach Damon Parker said. “I get out of my car and go over to the football field where we were working out and was like, ‘Oh yea, Dajia’s got a little sister!’
“I thought it was a sibling I didn’t know about, and I get up there and I was like, ‘Dajia?’ I didn’t know it was the same person.’’
Washburn Rural senior Dajia Anderson (top) battles Shawnee Heights junior Maranda Bell in last Saturday's Division I regional wrestling tournament at Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And as proud as Parker was of Anderson last season, he’s even prouder of what his star achieved over the offseason.
“She changed the way she does her life and honestly it will pay dividends way beyond wrestling,’’ Parker said. “It teaches her how to manage everything.
“People have this stereotype of what cutting weight is for wrestling and dropping a couple of pounds through the course of a week is a pretty common thing for guys and for a couple of girls. Dejia didn’t do that. She didn’t cut weight, she made a lifestyle change. She changed who she is as a person.’’
Anderson said that by the end of the 2019-20 season, she knew she wanted to drop down in weight class for her senior year.
“It was a plan since the end of last season,’’ Anderson said after winning the Division I regional title last Saturday in Emporia. “I wanted to have more challenges and when you go down there’s more people in those weight classes sometimes so that’s what I was looking for.
“I feel like this is my weight class. I probably will stick with it after high school because I’m going to wrestle in college. I’m not sure which college exactly yet, but I know I’m going to wrestle in college.’’
Anderson would have entered the current season as the odds on favorite to repeat in the 235-pound class, but has a far tougher road in a 191 division that includes Shawnee Heights junior standout Maranda Bell and Emporia senior Trinity Ervin.
In some ways, Anderson has had to learn how to wrestle all over again this winter.
“It’s a different style of wrestling,’’ Parker said. “Wrestling at heavyweight is almost a different sport because you almost never see a takedown, like shots, and you don’t see the same techniques that there are in all the other weight classes.
“She’s learning how to wrestle a different style. She took a couple of losses at the beginning of the year, which I’m sure was tough for her, but she’s evolving and learning how to do this thing in a different way.’’
That is exactly what Anderson was looking for.
“With 235 I could probably get by with pure strength but in this division I have to focus more on technique and speed so I’ve had to work on applying that and also work on putting more than one move together,’’ she said.
“So I feel like this year has been a really good year for me to actually grow as a wrestler.’’
Anderson is currently 24-4 on the season heading into Friday’s Division I sub-state at Leavenworth and is ranked No. 1 by the KWCA at 191, but is likely to face Ervin and Bell again this week as well as in next week’s state tournament at Park City's Hartman Arena after taking a 4-0 semifinal win over Ervin and rallying for a 4-2 decision over Bell at regionals.
Anderson knows that both 26-3 Bell, No. 2 at 191, and third-ranked Ervin (11-3), are both capable of beating her, but is ready for whatever may come.
“My coach constantly reminds me that it’s not about winning and it’s not about getting pins,’’ Anderson said. “It’s about improving as a wrestler, so even though I may lose I try to keep that in my mind and it helps a lot actually.’’
