By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

A lot in wrestling has changed for Paige Nemec.

Paige Nemec (right) celebrates her win at the 2010 OHSAA state championships with head coach Dave Wrobel. Nemec was the first female wrestlers to ever win a meet at the state tournament.

There was a time when it was common for her to be the only girl in the wrestling room.

A few weeks back, coaching at a girls clinic near Columbus, Nemec helped instruct about 80 girls all specifically there because of their passion for wrestling.

Girls wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports in Ohio.

Its progression to get to that point may have had its own inevitable trajectory, but everything always has a starting point.

For girls wrestling in Portage County, that person was Paige Nemec.

Her legendary place in the sport, her historic accomplishments and her generational impact throughout Northeast Ohio still boom a little more than a decade since her graduation from Crestwood High School in 2010.

The numbers tell part of her story: 115 career wins (still 42nd all-time in Portage County history), 192 takedowns, 49 pins and 20 tournament placements.

The history tells another part of her story: In 2010, Nemec became the first female in Ohio history, encompassing 79 years of competition, to win a match at the OHSAA’s state championship tournament. She defeated Wapakoneta’s John Martin in a Division II consolation match at 103 pounds, earning a 3-0 decision. She narrowly missed a spot as an All-Ohioan, losing a 3-1 decision to Mentor Lake Catholic’s Sean Fee.

The understanding of her unrelenting love for the sport and the tireless work to get there, ignoring anyone that thought she should be there, tells the rest of her story.

A story that started when she was just a young toddler, traveling around to various tournaments with her dad and uncle to watch her two cousins, who eventually went on to wrestle at Ohio State University and Ohio University.

She wanted to wrestle even then, but her father Gary told her, “You can wrestle when you turn 5.”

She didn’t forget that imposed timeline.

When she turned 5, she asked her father the question: “Can I wrestle now?”

Admittedly, Nemec said she remembers that her dad thought her interest in the sport would quickly wear off.

“He said that he thought that once I started, I would get beat up, cry and quit,” Nemec said. “He was partially right. I got beat up, and I remember crying, but I never quit. I kept coming back. I liked it so much, and I would just say to myself that I would beat them next time.”

And each time she came back, she remained the only girl.

A one of one.

Soon, though, the novelty that there was a girl wrestling was forgotten, especially when her work ethic, strength and technique began to become standard in the room.

Eventually, it became a standard at tournaments, too, even when Nemec was not warmly welcomed.

“My dad had some challenges getting me into tournaments,” said Nemec, who remembers back to when she first started competing in 1998. “It was not uncommon for a tournament director to say that a girl was not allowed to compete, but my dad kept fighting for me to be allowed to enter. He was always my biggest advocate and biggest fan.”

As a young athlete, Nemec said she never fully understood why she was met with so much resistance, while also not having a full grasp on how significant of a role she had in advancing girls wrestling.

“When I was young, I didn’t know all of the details of what it meant for me to be wrestling in the tournaments. I know my dad probably dealt with more than I ever knew about, but all I remember is that I didn’t understand why everything was such a big deal. I remember thinking that it was weird, because I saw myself like I was just like everyone else. The boys wanted to wrestle, and I wanted to wrestle. To me, we were the same.”

By the time Nemec was preparing to enter middle school, it started to sink in that things were different for her. Notably, she remembers being at the youth state tournament and hearing some of the chatter mat-side.

“There’s a girl wrestling.”

People would talk, point and question.

Not all of it was always negative, but it was clear that Paige Nemec had people’s attention.

If that attention was initially because she was a girl wrestling in a boy-dominated sport, the same attention quickly shifted to marveling about her near-flawless technique, skill and competitive spirit.

“From the very beginning, you could tell that she was something special. She was very, very tough, and she dominated all of the boys,” said Dean Olson, who was Nemec’s youth coach at the Ohio State Girls Wrestling Club. “I think she really had a big part in getting the sport going locally because of her success.

“Paige was someone that always wanted to do everything right. She would never want to cut anything short,” Olson added. “If I told the group to do 25 pushups, she had to do them all and she had to do them all right. That was her personality. She wanted to be the best and she would not allow herself to quit. I remember that she worked so incredibly hard and never complained about anything. She just did it, then sought out more.”

She showcased the same determination throughout her middle-school years, then into high school for longtime Crestwood coach Dave Wrobel. All of whom Nemec appreciates to this day for how supportive they were during her career.

“They were a great support system for me. They protected me, they advocated for me, they respected me and they challenged me to be the best I could be,” Nemec said.

That quest ended on the same weekend that Nemec made history by becoming the first female to win a match at the OHSAA state championship back in 2010.

Paige Nemec (right) stands with her coach Dave Wrobel before a match at the 2010 OHSAA state championships.

Nemec, now 32, still considers her decision to leave wrestling as one of the most difficult decisions of her life.

Large Division-I colleges had scholarship offers on the table for Nemec and she received special invitations to some of the most prestigious Olympic training centers in the country.

She declined and instead accepted a soccer scholarship to Lake Erie College.

“I can still remember those few weeks, when I was trying to make my decision, like it was yesterday because it was such a traumatic thing for me,” Nemec said. “I knew that the decision was going to change the trajectory of my life and it came down to a few things. There was a lot of pressure on me to push for a chance at the Olympics, but I was at a point that I loved the sport, was at my peak, the best I had ever been, but my heart was not there to be committed completely to that level of training. I was a little burned out with the sport. I was definitely a better wrestler than I was a soccer player, but I was ready for something different. The opportunities I had for wrestling, I know they were amazing and they were all crazy to turn down. People dream of those opportunities. I dreamed of them, too. For me, though, at that time, I wasn’t ready and looking back, I still feel like I made the right decision.”

Nemec, who has her doctorate degree, works at BridgeBio, which is located in Raleigh, N.C. She works in the research and development department, designing transformative medicines for patients with genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers.

She also recently started her coaching career.

Nemec is the girls wrestling coach at Apex High School (Apex, N.C.), which just introduced girls wrestling for the first time for the 2023-24 season.

Remember, a lot has changed for Paige Nemec.

From being the one and only girl to now coaching a room full of them.

Her excitement is understandable and also recognizable in her voice when she talks about it.

But the message she shares is for more than just her team, it is for any girl that has an interest in the sport.

“If you are a girl and you want to try wrestling, you should do it and you should not give up on yourself for any outside reason. Don’t let anyone else’s voice get in your head or make you question yourself. You are there to wrestle, succeed and win. Just focus on that and not what everyone else says. Don’t be influenced by social media. Believe in yourself.”

Nemec believed and her story is now one for the history books.