GREENSBORO, NC - The Greensboro Coliseum was loud, but for a moment Southern Lee High junior wrestler Nevaeh Williamson heard almost nothing.
Waiting around all day for her Friday night Championship Final against Alyvia Hawkins from Seventy-First High School, the nervous anticipation started to build. Standing on the edge of the mat at the state championships, she shifted her weight from foot to foot, pacing slightly, her mind racing through every practice, every match, every long summer workout that had led her here. The wait before the final match felt longer than any practice she had endured.
“I definitely had to wait a long time, and I did start to get a little nervous and pacing around before the Finals,” she later recalled. “I just tried to remember my capability. I tried to remember how hard I worked all throughout the summer. I am a year-round wrestler, so I work throughout the summer, all over the off-season. I just had to remember that I put the work in and I deserved it.”
For Nevaeh, the moment wasn’t just about one match. It was about a journey that had started only a few years earlier when she first stepped on a wrestling mat during her freshman year at Southern Lee High School.
“I didn’t wrestle at all in middle school,” she said. “I did not even know wrestling was a thing until I came to high school. I had played a little volleyball, but I didn’t really do sports until my eighth grade year.”
Before high school, most of her athletic experience had been on an all-girls team. Walking into a wrestling practice filled almost entirely with boys was a completely different world.
“The transition from an all-girls team to almost an all boys team was really strong,” she said. “The training was different. The style was different. Working with the guys definitely pushed me harder. I think that is really what helped me get to where I am. I praise my coaches and the guys on the team for that. They pushed me to my limits and knew how far I needed to go to get to be my best.”
The early days weren’t easy.
“When I first started, the guys were all just beating me, and it did impact my confidence,” she admitted. “But I used it as my motivation and my mindset was like, ‘I’m going to beat these guys up,’” she said with a laugh.
Somewhere in those early practices, wrestling became more than just something new to try.
“I’ve been wrestling since my freshman year, so three years now. I don’t really know what made me stick with wrestling. Maybe just because it was something different. There were not a lot of people doing it, especially not a lot of females.”
But the deeper she got into the sport, the more she realized what kept pulling her back to the mat.
“I think the grind is what drew me to wrestling. The grit, the determination it takes, both mentally and physically. You second guess yourself a lot, and you just really have to push yourself to be the best.”
That mindset began to show in the results.
Her sophomore season ended with a 41-7 record and a trip to the state tournament. That experience was eye-opening.
“I felt much better this year walking into the tournament,” she said. “I was able to get the nerves out last year. It felt a little easier this year, like I knew what I came there for and I knew what to expect. I saw my goal and chased it.”
That goal was simple.
“My goal was to become a state champion. That was the only goal all year, because I always want to make improvements.”
Improve she did.
Her junior season record climbed to 49-2, including a 15-2 major decision win over her opponent, Hawkins, in the finals. Her record and championship a reflection of the countless hours she had spent on the wrestling mat and in training while others rested during the offseason. Wrestling demanded more than just effort on the mat. It shaped nearly every part of her life.
“I think wrestling impacts my life in other areas,” she explained. “I don’t do a lot extra outside of wrestling. I do work and a few other things, but in-season, it was school work, wrestling, and just dedication to be the best I can in-season. The sacrifice and dedication is real. It take up your weekends, your evenings.”
Even with that commitment, she never lost sight of what came first.
“I still focus on my academics. I can’t put the ‘athlete’ in front of ‘student’ in ‘student-athlete.’”
Then came the final whistle. The match was over. The referee raised her hand.
Nevaeh Williamson had just made history as Southern Lee High School’s first female individual wrestling state champion.
For a moment she stood there, trying to process it.
“It really felt like a relief,” she said. “I just felt that I had done what I came there to do, and I was relieved so I basically started to ‘ugly cry.’ There were just a lot of emotions that came out.”
Years of effort, doubt, and determination had all come together in one instant.
“You see the goal in front of you, but sometimes you just can’t really imagine what it will be like when it actually happens,” she said. “There were just no words coming out.”
But her journey isn’t finished yet. She is already making preparations for her senior season, building towards what she hopes is a collegiate wrestling career.
“I am hoping to go to college and wrestle,” she said. “I would love to get a scholarship to help me pursue my dream of being a physical therapist.”
The state title may have been the goal for this season, but for a champion forged through sacrifice like Nevaeh Williamson, it is only the beginning of the next match.