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Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Floyd County High School Wrestling senior Shannon McDaniel is considering a walk-on offer for women’s wrestling from the University of the Cumberlands.

Shannon McDaniel, girl athlete, was once talked into going out for the Floyd County High wrestling team. It seemed like something of a lark at first.

"One of my friends, Angie Moses, went out, but she said the guys had been kind of rough on her and she wanted somebody she could practice with," McDaniel said.

The girls were freshmen then. Not long into the season, Moses hurt her back and couldn't continue. McDaniel stayed with it.

"I found out I liked it," she said.

Wrestling is a sport that is by no means easy. Not a victory had she her whole freshman year. She was discouraged.

"Losing isn't much fun," she said.

Her outlook changed in the postseason that year when she went to the United States Girls' Wrestling Association state tournament and won her weight class. With that boost to her confidence, she decided she was going to stay with it.

Since then, there have been a couple of other girls in the Floyd County program. One thing or another caused them to drop out. McDaniel stayed with it.

She's seen other girls wrestling on guys' teams from time to time. Grayson County has a couple of girls, as does Lebanon. Another girl wrestles for Franklin County's B team. Only twice has she wrestled a girl in high school competition.

Now a senior, she's making her plans for next week's Group A Region C tournament. Her aim is for the first time to make it through regionals and qualify for the state tournament.

That she's the only girl wrestling for the Buffaloes has long since worn off as a novelty.

"I don't even think about her as a girl wrestler anymore," said Floyd County coach Mike Murphy, in his first season as head coach but his third with the team. "I just think of her as a wrestler."

She's developed into a pretty good one, too. Included in her 38-69 career record is 13-11 this year with four pins. She was the second seed in the three-team Three Rivers District meet Thursday night.

McDaniel has had her mat moments. One of them came this year when she beat Radford's Jacob Sheppard in a two-point thriller that earned her that second seed at district.

Bobcats coach Chris Vicars conferred with Sheppard recently as they discussed a potential rematch.

"I told him, don't look at her as a girl wrestler this time; just look at her as a wrestler and wrestle her the same way you would anybody else," Vicars said.

Vicars has been around the sport long enough to have seen other matches between girls and boys. His observation is that often you'll notice that the boy seems to be holding back in some respects. The coach suspects that a boy's natural reluctance to engage in contact with a girl that could be somehow be regarded as impolite or improper might be a factor.

You can't approach it that way, Vicars said.

Never mind the goofballs among your teammates and friends who would try to find humor in the situation.

"Look," Vicars told somebody when he heard some snickers in practice while he was discussing Sheppard's match with McDaniel, "none of you have anything to laugh at. She could have beat you, too."

Vicars has watched her a couple of years and says he's seen her improve substantially.

"She's a right solid wrestler," he said. "She's really gotten better this year as she's gotten stronger."

Twice she's won the girls' state tournament and once was runner-up. Last spring as a junior, she wrestled her way to a 10th-place finish at girls' nationals in Michigan.

Among the bigger thrills was her first victory over a guy. She was a sophomore and the guy was from Chatham. They tangled at the Staunton River tournament. When her hand was raised by the referee to announce her victory, she really got a charge.

"I've never heard a gym get so lound in my entire life," she said.

She's had plenty of success since. Not all of it has been entirely enjoyable.

"Usually, when I beat a guy, he doesn't take it too well and can be pretty unsportsmanlike," she said. "That gets old."

McDaniel also plays volleyball and soccer and runs track. When she graduates, she'll have earned 12 varsity letters including four in wrestling. She's thinking about accepting a walk-on offer for women's wrestling from the University of the Cumberlands, a NAIA school in Kentucky.

No short-term sporting lark this.

"It's been a whole lot of fun."