Kaylee Ramsey is the first female in Clinton County history to qualify for the OHSAA Girls Wrestling Championship tournament.

The event begins Friday and runs through Sunday, as does the boys individual tournaments at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center.

“When I signed up for this (last season), I had never seen a wrestling match in my life,” said Ramsey.

A junior at Clinton-Massie, Ramsey sports a 13-4 record. She’ll meet Lauryn Davis of Hillsdale in the opening round Friday evening. Davis is 16-4.

Ramsey just started wrestling last year as a sophomore. She took part in duals and tournaments as a member of the CMHS boys team.

“It was my first school sport that I’ve ever done,” she said. “My dad wrestled.”

Ramsey was a high-level gymnast for 10 years. In 2019, as a member of Queen City Gymnastics, Ramsey was the Level 5 state champion, sweeping first place honors in vault, beam, bars, floor exercise and all-around.

But something was missing.

“I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and try something else,” she said, noting the overwhelming amount of time gymnastics took out of her personal life. “(Gymnastics) gets very mundane after a certain amount of time. There are so many other possibilities out there I wasn’t involved with. I felt like I wasn’t able to grow to my full potential. When I quit, I wanted to involve myself in more school activities. Boxing was on the table, but they don’t have that here.”

And despite having never seen a match, wrestling was Ramsey’s choice. She also was a member of the track and field team last spring.

“I just threw myself into it,” she said of wrestling. “I’m more of a trial and error person. I just throw myself in to something and see if I like it.”

Ramsey ran track in eighth grade then when she returned to gymnastics as a freshman she fractured her back. Though dealing with a major injury was rough, the down time was something the ever-busy Ramsey was happy to have. “It did give me a little break; it was kind of relaxing,” she said.

Ramsey said being in a big arena like the Schott won’t be intimidating.

“Being nervous is something that will always be there, you just have to get in to the zone and find your safe place, your mental state that’s going to get you where you need to be,” she said. “In gymnastics, you are in stadiums just as big as (the Schott) every meet, so you always have the pressure of like a thousand eyes on you.”