Fahey Bank Athlete of the Month: River Valley's Lila Mencer caps wrestling career
CALEDONIA — None other than Hadyn Danals had Lila Mencer pegged for greatness.
Danals was a four-time Fahey Bank Athlete of the Month award winner and a state runner-up when he was a senior wrestler at River Valley.
But when Mencer was a sophomore and still learning the sport, Danals as a senior captain had a talk with her.
"I remember Hadyn telling me he knew I was going to win it," she said of the Fahey Bank award. "You are a girl wrestler and that’s amazing. He really talked it up. I know he won it a couple times, so getting that from him always made me smile. It was cool to think it eventually came true."
Indeed it did come true.
Mencer earned the Fahey Bank honor for Marion County girls in March.
"It’s really cool honestly because all the winners of the award get plaques at RV and they line the walls of the cafeteria so people can look at them every day. It’s really cool to think I’m up there with them now. It’s a good honor," she said.
Mencer earned her plaque and a place in River Valley athletics lore, going 35-9 as a senior wrestler and finishing fifth in the state in the girls first foray into the state wrestling tournament alongside the boys at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center.
It's heady stuff for sure, especially being a part of the first girls tourney at the Schott.
"The first thing that comes to mind is looking out over all the mats. It’s surreal in a sense," she said of competing in the big venue in the state's biggest wrestling meet. "It’s crazy that I was there. Looking back, four years ago as a freshman, I would have never thought I would have made it there. I was thrown into wrestling as a joke with one of my friends who said let’s do it and I said okay."
Mencer competed as a freshman in the first season girls wrestling was offered as a sport onto itself with a girls-specific tournament organized by the state coaches association. She even placed sixth in her weight class in 2021, but those state tourneys were held in February and in high school gyms.
This winter was the first time the Ohio High School Athletic Association officially recognized girls wrestling and made it a part of its state tournament in March.
"I never thought I would get to be standing there in the Schott overlooking all those mats and actually get to and wrestle and place," she said.
Mencer made the most of her final high school season.
Of her 44 matches, she faced 16 state-ranked or state-placing wrestlers at 135 pounds. She placed in all nine tournaments she competed in, winning championships at Ridgedale, Rossford and the OHSAA regional in Marysville at 135 pounds.
She was a runner-up at Hamilton Township with her only loss coming to the eventual 140-pound state champion Eve Matt of Greeneview. At Mechanicsburg, she beat the defending state runner-up Lilly Kinsel of Harrison at 135 pounds and ended as a runner-up there, too.
Mencer also placed at big meets at Toledo Start, Olentangy Orange and Watkins Memorial.
To do all she did, it was about enhancing her strengths and limiting her weaknesses.
"Her abilities on the mat are absolutely amazing," said River Valley assistant coach Jason Nutbrown, who oversaw the girls for head coach Mark McGuire. "The point where we struggle is on our feet. We tell her every day don’t worry about what happens in the first (period), worry about what happens in the second and the third (periods), and we’re always going to be in the third if we need to."
That's exactly how it played on during the final weekend of her career.
"Over the years in the wrestling room, they teach you to take your shots. I’m horrible at taking shots. Don’t do it. I’m not good at it," Mencer admitted. "I’m really good at working from bottom, though, and my coach was really good with that, and he showed me how to use that to my advantage.
"This past year I spent a lot of time working there and trying to figure out how to get reversals. Nine times out of 10 I knew I was going to be taken down first in the match, and nine times out of 10 it happened. I had to know how to get out of that situation. That was a lot of this year’s training."
Mencer started her state experience in the Schott with a pin in just 2:41, but she was beaten 9-0 in her next match. Battling in the consolation brackets, she earned two more pins in three minutes and 3:46, the last one coming while she trailed badly in the match.
"When she ended that match, she told me she was watching myself on the screen as she was on her back," Nutbrown said of her bout with Kelsey King of Lakota West. "Of course, I’m sitting there half-scared to death because I thought she was over. She kept letting it get real close, and it turns out she was calculating it. She knew exactly what she was doing.
"To get the pin like that, too, she’s never hit a cradle. Never hit a cradle, and she hits a cradle. She said her hands broke the second they called the pin."
Mencer then lost a tough one 5-2 to Liberty Center's Alexus Shaneyfelt, but yet again she had a bounce back effort. In her final match, she won fifth place with a dominating 10-1 performance over Rylee Gust of Springboro. Both Shaneyfelt and Gust were two-time state placers before 2023.
"The heart from freshman year on, it was always get to the end and give yourself a shot," Nutbrown said. "We had to keep reminding her all year to get to the end and give yourself a shot."
Looking back, Mencer is glad she gave herself a shot by taking up wrestling in the first place.
"I honestly have no idea where I would be if I hadn’t gotten into wrestling," she said. "I wouldn’t have met a lot of the people I talk to now. I probably wouldn’t have gotten into track because Shayla (Pappert) also talked me into track. I wouldn’t have done that either, so I would have just stuck with soccer and had a lot of free time."
The lessons she learned through the sport are immeasurable. She said she learned how to listen, but she also learned about accountability and responsibility.
"You have to make sure you are on weight, and you have to make sure you win your matches," she said. "You still have to be part of the team. It’s just a really good experience overall. You get that great team experience, but you have to be accountable for your actions so you don’t (sidetrack yourself). You have to be in change because no one is there to back you up."
As a senior, she was named River Valley's most valuable wrestler, earning the team's most pins with 29, most near-falls with 25 and most reversals with 22. She was an Academic All-Ohioan with her 3.5-grade point average as well as a two-time state placer and a Fahey Bank Athlete of the Month award winner. It was quite a capper to an outstanding career.
"It’s amazing," she said.
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Fahey Bank Athlete of the Month
March girls nominees:
Winner: Lila Mencer, senior, River Valley wrestling.
Aubrie Smith, junior, Ridgedale bowling.
Autumn Fitzgerald, junior, Marion Harding gymnastics.
Hallie Winslow, freshman, Elgin wrestling.
Avah Steele, sophomore, Pleasant basketball.
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Fahey Bank Award: River Valley's Lila Mencer caps wrestling career
