In the first year of the Kearney High girls wrestling team, the Bearcats needed a strong foundation on which to build the program.
They found just that in Carsyn McBride.
The sophomore wrestler earned third place at the state tournament, and provided valuable leadership to a team filled with newcomers.
"She's somebody you can relate back to for the next 10 or 15 years and talk about her as the one that started it," Kearney head coach Trey Schlender said. "Our first-ever state medalist is one you can always look back to. She helps out with our youth program, and the girls look up to her already,"
Wrestling had always been a part of McBride's life.
Her older brother, Gauge McBride, was the 2020 Kearney Hub Wrestler of the Year.
Going to his meets when she was young, she would mess around by wrestling her brother and his friends, who encouraged her to take up the sport.
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"I went up to my parents and I asked 'Hey, can I wrestle?' but they said no since there's no girls wrestling and they didn't want me wrestling boys," McBride said. "I was fine with wrestling boys, it'd help me, but they were like no,"
McBride didn't wrestle until her eighth grade year, doing the Kearney Mat Cats camp, being the only girl at the camp.
She performed well against the boys, but didn't have a place to wrestle quite yet since Kearney High didn't have a girls wrestling team, although plans for one were beginning to take shape.
Later during her eighth grade year, she saw a flyer for the girls wrestling team at Amherst High School, and she found her first home.
The Broncos' wrestling team was small, but tight-knit, with leadership in the room coming from four-time state champion Reagen Galloway.
"My eighth grade year I was walking around on a mat hoping something would go good," McBride said. "Then I got with Reagen, and she showed me how to wrestle better. She absolutely beat me every day, but that really helped me improve,"
In her freshman season, McBride's improvement showed on the mat, finishing third in the inaugural NSAA Girls Wrestling Championships.
After Amherst put its mark on the state stage, the team went through major changes. Two of her teammates graduated, and another left for Kearney High.
Not wanting to be the only member of the team, McBride also transferred to KHS, which had just began its girls wrestling team.
McBride was nervous at first, but after meeting the girls and the coaches, saw the light.
Coaches and players were always ready to help each other, and the team grew closer as they learned to love the sport.
After practice, they sat in a circle and talked about wrestling, with a focus on the life lessons gained through the sport.
"If we didn't have those little talks, some girls might not have enjoyed it, or not felt a connection to the coaches," McBride said.
McBride, although only a sophomore, embraced her leadership role, with many girls being completely new to the sport of wrestling.
"She is someone we can count on to tell the other girls what to do and be a good example for our team," Schlender said. "That's what you look for in a leader, someone who's always a good example,"
McBride made her mark early in the year, with a big second-place finish at the Council Bluffs Wrestling Classic, beating tough opponents from Nebraska and Iowa.
After falling in the final in Council Bluffs, McBride would only lose one more regular-season match the rest of the way.
She credits her success to her coaches and family, with her dad and brother always ready to help with moves and work through matches on the mat in their basement.
McBride entered the state championships on a 23-match winning streak, winning her way to the semifinals where she faced Raymond Central's 31-0 wrestler Sophia Shultz.
Shultz got off to a big advantage, but McBride closed the gap late, just needing one more takedown to gain the lead.
That big shot never came, and Shultz ran out the time to make the final. McBride's match was the closest match against Shultz all season.
"I think I could have won it, but I was in my head so much that I didn't listen to what my coaches were telling me," McBride said. "I didn't do something I should have done, and it cost me the match. All the matches I've lost teach me more than wining would have taught me, and motivate me to make it through my season,"
Initially after the semifinal loss, McBride was upset at the missed opportunity, telling Schlender she didn't want to wrestle the next day, but Schlender was able to quickly steer her back on the right track.
"We care about third, you need to care about third, when you get knocked down, you need to get back up and keep fighting," Schlender said. "If something doesn't go your way, you can't give up, and that's something we talk about all the time with wrestling and life,"
On Championship Saturday, McBride bounced back with her best wrestling of the season.
She earned two victories to get the third-place finish, including pinning her final opponent in the second period.
Now, McBride and Schlender look to take that next step and give Kearney High its first state champion.
"She knows what it takes to go get first now," Schlender said. "The possibilities are endless for her. Where we're at right now is fine-tuning things and cleaning up some things she did this year to make her almost bulletproof."