Watkins Mill female wrestler stands out as one of best in the nation
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (DC News Now) — When Nebi Tsarni gets nervous before a wrestling match, she has a quick fix that erases the nerves.
“I like to say these three things. I say, ‘I’m a beast. I’m the best. I’m agressive,'” Tsarni said. “I just keep repeating that in my head over and over again until I get myself a little bit hyped up.”
Tsarni’s pre-match self motivation ritual seems to work pretty well. The Watkins Mill high school senior has risen to the status as the best female wrestler in the state of Maryland, and the best in her 144 weight class in the country.
“Her tenacity and grit is incredible. When she goes out there and she’s tossing people around, it’s incredible to watch,” Watkins Mill wrestling head coach Dan Cassini told DC News Now. “I come from an area where there’s not even a lot of girls wrestlers, let alone a girls wrestler that’s going out there and dominating on the mat, it’s amazing to see.”
Tsarni’s accolades continue to grow. She has won county titles, back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023. At the national level, she “claimed number one” in the 144 pound weight class at a wrestling meet in Wisconsin and won the national championship in the same weight class at Fargo Nationals in North Dakota.
“It’s just so happy, you get off the mat and your coach is listening his mind and you’re losing your mind and all your friends are congratulating you,” Tsarni said. “It’s one of the best feelings ever.”
Tsarni took up wrestling in 7th grade, switching from swimming – she saw it as more of a mental and strength challenge for her. Nebi followed in the footsteps of her older sister Seda Tsarni, who won a state championship for Watkins Mill in the 152 weight class in 2020.
Seda’s title came just before the program and other sports programs all around were shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nebi entered high school as a freshman that could not compete yet on the wrestling mat for her school.
As Nebi hit the mat and began enjoying success, others followed in her footsteps. Current Watkins Mill junior wrestler Jabea Ewana tells DC News Now she started seeing Nebi’s posts of her wrestling victories on Instagram and was inspired to join the team. Ewana has now also won back-to-back state titles, in 2022 and 2023.
“[Nebi] comes in the room, everybody is quiet and ready to go. It’s great having her there for that reason. She’s [an] infectious wrestler,” Cassini said. “She’s able to kind of translate her passion for wrestling to everybody else and elevates everybody to a level that maybe we wanted have if she wasn’t here.”
As the sport grows and thrives at Watkins Mills, it follows a trend all over the state and country, of more girls getting involved in wrestling at the high school level. According to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, as of the Spring of 2023, “since 1994, the number of women who wrestle in high school has grown from 804 to more than 50,000.”
“When I went to states, I saw tons of more girls. It was kind of eye opening. I was like, okay, girls in other counties do this too,” Ewana said. “So when I saw that were more girls who were brave enough to try out the sport, because at states, it was a lot of girls’ first years, so I think it was cool to see that.”
Even as the number of females in wrestling grows, and Tsarni reaches new levels of success, she still gets told that the sport isn’t for girls.
“I get that all the time by the way,” Tsarni said. “[My bus driver] overheard me talking to people, ‘oh yeah, I’m wrestling now.’ He goes, ‘you’re wrestling now? That’s a boy sport.’ I was like, ‘girls can wrestle too,’ he said, ‘no they can’t.’ I said, ‘well I’m doing it.'”
Tsarni plans to attend the Air Force Academy next year for college. While Air Force does not have a wrestling program, she hopes to continue wrestling and is still eyeing the Olympics as a possibility one day. Tsarni draws inspiration from former Olympic gold medalist, Magruder high school alum Helen Maroulis. Tsarni told DC News Now that she has met and received advice from Maroulis.
Tsarni hopes that Watkins Mills’ wrestling program will continue to thrive, and is striving for her and Ewana to both win third consecutive state titles this winter. The Wolverines also have a freshman female wrestler on the team.
Tsarni urges all females interested in wrestling, to ignore the people that they say can’t do it.
“I said this earlier. I’m going to say it again and I will say it forever and ever,” Tsarni said. “There’s always people rooting for you, there’s somebody out there rooting for you. If you feel like no one is rooting for you, I am. You can do whatever you believe you can do. Okay? You just put in the work and you’ll see the results come in. It may take days, weeks, months, but just put your mind to it and you got it.”
Jenna Sittler contributed to this report.
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