Lakes senior Zaryia Mouzon didn’t intend to become a wrestler.
A ballet dancer as a kid, Mouzon actually wanted to play football.
“But my parents weren’t too fond of me doing it,” she said. “So my mom introduced me to wrestling before middle school.”
Mouzon found her niche, according to her mother, Tiffany Sanders-Smith, and has been wrestling ever since.
“She always liked aggressive contact in general,” Sanders-Smith said. “She did ballet dancing like her sisters, but she was very aggressive doing it. As she continued to get older, she communicated she really liked contact sports.”
Mouzon (27-4) is using that inclination to her advantage this season. Competing in the 105-pound weight class, she has won tournament titles at the Lake County Invitational, the Dundee-Crown Invitational, the Waukegan Invitational and Lakes’ Sandy Gussarson Invitational this season.
The Eagles, who won the Lake County team title, have a solid core with state qualifiers Ava Babbs, Olivia Heft and Josie Larson. Lakes coach Devin Tortorice said Mouzon, known as “Z,” is showing the potential to join them in February. They will compete in the Round Lake Regional on Friday.
“She’s relentlessly aggressive,” Tortorice said. “She’s good on her feet. That’s where she’s really fast and explosive. She usually can double-leg and pick a girl off the ground.”
Mouzon said her entire family enjoys watching her grapple these days.
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“My siblings were on board that I did the sport, but they were more excited to see me trying something new,” she said. “My parents were happy that I found something I liked to do after I stopped taking dance lessons. They were a little concerned about my safety and would make me wear knee pads and mouth guards at first, but they eventually warmed up.”
Mouzon became interested in football by watching her father coach flag football and play in semipro games, according to Sanders-Smith, who offered a compromise.
“My father was a wrestler, and almost everybody in the family wrestled,” Sanders-Smith said. “We like to horse around. It’s a beautiful sport and something that’s positive and teaches discipline while getting aggression out.”
But Mouzon did get to play football eventually. She joined Lakes’ junior varsity team during her sophomore year and got varsity snaps at defensive back in each of the past two seasons.
Her wish granted, Mouzon decided to focus on wrestling.
“My senior year I only played in four games, but it was fun,” she said. “I was concerned because I didn’t want to get injured for wrestling, so I talked to the coach about not playing in so many games.”
Mouzon was determined to have a successful senior season on the mat. She said she won the majority of her matches in middle school but struggled early in her high school career.
“That ruined my confidence,” she said. “It carried from my freshman year all the way to my junior year. I think it was burnout. I didn’t want to go to practice.”
Mouzon missed the cut for state last season, but Tortorice said that wasn’t because of a lack of talent or physical preparation.
“When she thinks too much, she will get in her own way,” he said. “She would have great matches, then struggle on her bad days. She should’ve qualified for state last year. She wrestled a sloppy match at sectionals. She wasn’t in her groove.”
Mouzon, who said she also enjoys singing, dancing and playing the piano and drums, said she has changed her mindset this season. Her goal is to place at state, but she’s happy to be in the right frame of mind.
“I’m not doing the sport for everybody else but doing it for me,” she said. “I like the sport. It took me awhile to realize it. I feel way more confident.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.