‘She’s like one of the guys’

Ozaukee High School freshman Mya Delleree is the only girl on the wrestling team, but that’s no big deal to her.

This isn’t her first foray into a mostly male sport. Delleree used to play on a boys’ hockey team.

Delleree said she joined wrestling because it is different than other sports.

“It’s more of an individual sport than a team sport, but at the same time it’s a team sport,” she said.

She been accepted by all her teammates, and one senior is remarkably helpful: her older brother Jaysen.

“I’ve always supported her wrestling and helped her out through the years,” Jaysen said.

“I wouldn’t do it without him,” Mya said.

While they compete in different weight classes in high school — Mya is usually at 113 pounds and Jaysen is at 145 — they get plenty of practice in the offseason at home. Who usually wins depends on who is talking.

“She’ll say it’s her but she knows,” Jaysen said.

“A couple of times I beat up on him,” Mya said.

“Gotta let her win sometimes,” Jaysen said.

He is happy to call his sister his teammate.

“I’m pretty proud, especially since primarily it’s a male sport,” Jaysen said.

Mya said Jaysen has taught her much about wrestling, but not with any moves or techniques.

“It’s nothing on the mat,” she said. “It’s my confidence, my mindset and what I should be thinking before and after a match.”

For coach Kevin Koepke, this is his first experience with a girl in wrestling.

“She’s tough. She’s like one of the guys,” he said.

Mya began wrestling in sixth grade. Her classmates supported her, she said, as well as her parents.

She and Jaysen compete at the Askren Wrestling Academy in Mequon, where there are three other girls who quickly became friends, Mya said.

“We’re pretty close,” Mya said.

The siblings, both undefeated so far this season, have a brother in fifth grade who wrestles, and their younger sister spends plenty of time moving around on the floor but has yet to take up the sport. She’s only 1.

“I want to get her into wrestling,” Mya said.