Standing atop the podium

MARSHFIELD, Wis. — For what felt like the longest three seconds of her life, Erika Sleznikow tried not to let herself become distracted by the notion she was likely going to become a state wrestling champion.

“We were on the edge of the mat and I looked up and saw the clock hit three seconds,” Sleznikow said. “That was when I knew, as long as I didn’t let anything (go) in the those last three seconds, it was mine — that I had already won.”

Sleznikow captured the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association’s Girls Wrestling Championship in the 138-pound division Feb. 28 at the Kohl Center in Madison.

“(I was) thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, what just happened?’” Sleznikow said. “I was definitely in my own little world at the time. I knew what happened, but I was just trying to comprehend, to process it through all the emotion.”

The Marshfield junior said she felt confident in her abilities heading into the early qualifying rounds of the tournament. However, the closer she got to the final bracket, the more her nerves began to tingle.

“Once I got to the semi-final round, my nerves were a little higher,” Sleznikow said. “I had beaten (Stella Pettitt of Freedom) a handful of times before, including once this season. I just knew I had to keep my focus and not let anything happen to take me off my game.”

Sleznikow dominated her semi-final match, defeating Pettitt by a 13-2 major decision, setting her to come face-to-face with Badger High School senior Carley Ceshker, who had stood on the state tournament’s podium three times previously — twice as a champion, and once as a runner-up. Ceshker entered the tournament’s final match undefeated on the season. Her wins included one over Sleznikow.

“I was definitely nervous leading up to the match,” Sleznikow said. “The first time we wrestled this season, it was a 5-4 match. This time I had an idea (how she wrestled). I think having that experience wrestling her before gave me some confidence.”

Ceshker scored a takedown in the first period of the bout, leaving Sleznikow trailing.

“It was towards the end of the period, so I tried to get escapes, but I kind of just rode it out on the bottom, trying not to get turned,” Sleznikow said. “In the second period, I got my takedown and I ended up riding her out the rest of the period.”

Leaving the second period tied, Sleznikow said she felt determined going into the final period.

“The third period I chose bottom and she chose to let me up,” Sleznikow said. “So, she gave me a point and we started on our feet. That’s how I got my fourth point. I just decided there would be no takedowns; I’d give up nothing in the third.”

Sleznikow won the match with a 4-3 decision, capping her junior year off with a record of 53-2.

The title is a major accomplishment for her, Sleznikow said. She said she has become successful through a refusal to give up.

“I started wrestling at the very end of the season when I was in third grade,” Sleznikow said. “My younger brothers had started before me, but since I had to go to all the tournaments and practices with them, I thought I could just try it and see what happened. And I definitely wasn’t good at it.”

Trying to gain experience, wrestling boys with more experience and more strength, Sleznikow said once or twice she considered quitting.

“I was getting my butt kicked, but my dad told me that if I was going to do it, I couldn’t quit,” Sleznikow said. “I’m glad he did, because obviously I wouldn’t be here if I had quit.”

This year marks the first year Sleznikow has not had to wrestle any boys during the season.

“In high school my coaches started putting me in a lot more girls-only tournaments, and I was seeing more girls as we traveled around the state,” Sleznikow said. “I was still wrestling boys in dual meets last year.”

Despite physical differences in strength, Sleznikow said girls had to wrestle boys in the same weight class.

“This was the first year they completely split it for the whole state, that you had to wrestle girls only; and if you decided to wrestle boys at the beginning of the season, you were ineligible for the girls’ state tournament.”

While she has not grown up on a dairy farm, Sleznikow said she found an affinity for showing dairy cattle around the same time she became interested in wrestling. For several years, she has worked on the farm where her Jersey cattle are housed.

“I would say working with cattle has definitely toughened me up, not just physically, but mentally, too,” she said.

That mental strength factors into Sleznikow’s performance on the mat she said.

“I definitely can’t get in my own head, especially in big matches,” Sleznikow said. “I had to stay focused. If I had let myself dwell on being down by a point, I wouldn’t have been able to get back into the match.”

Sleznikow said she had to develop a new mentality for the practice mat this year, too.

“This was the first year we had a girls-only high school team,” Sleznikow said. “At the beginning of the season that was kind of a struggle for me. I wasn’t just focused on myself, but on everyone else on the team, trying to help them get better. It put me into the role of being a leader and a mentor.”

Wrestling has become a year-round endeavor for Sleznikow, who travels to tournaments around the country, including the Junior Women’s National Freestyle Tournament held annually in Fargo, North Dakota. Last year, Sleznikow achieved All-American status, which automatically qualifies her for this year’s tournament. Looking toward the future, she said she has been contacted by several colleges about potentially wrestling at the collegiate level.

As girls’ wrestling grows, Sleznikow said she encourages girls to take a chance and see what they can accomplish.

“Go to some camps and fun girls-only tournaments,” Sleznikow said. “I’ve been kind of surprised by the friends I’ve made. … It’s a lot like showing cows, that way. The friends you make makes it more enjoyable as a sport. And above all, I would tell them to never give up and to never quit, because you never know just how far you can go.”