It started as a joke.

During her sophomore year lifeguarding course, senior Naomi Miles enjoyed listening to her teacher, Mr. Fiordirosa, tell stories about his wrestling days and his experience as a pro MMA fighter. 

Then one day, Fiordirosa, more commonly referred to by his MMA nickname “Sunshine,” proposed to Miles and one of her friends in the class, Lexi Valley, that they try out for the wrestling team. In response, Miles turned to Valley with a challenge. “I’ll do it if you do it,” she said.

And so, they did.

Fast forward two years, and Miles has not only broken gender barriers in the sport but has also broken records, earning herself the nickname Naomi “first-ever” Miles. 

Three weeks ago, Miles defended this name by making school history as the first female wrestler to qualify for state. Two weeks ago, Miles made school history again as the “first-ever” all-state girls wrestler, breaking a record she had set just a week earlier.

But the road to this achievement was not without difficulties. As a girl in a notoriously male-dominated sport, Miles faced a unique set of challenges in addition to the challenges of any other athlete.

When Miles and Valley first joined the team, there hadn’t been a girl on the team in four years. This change wasn’t only awkward for them, but for the boys who had gotten used to an all-boys team as well.

“I could tell they were probably wondering, ‘Why is a girl in this room?,’” Miles said. “But then now we’re a part of the team.”

By her final season, Miles feels as though she has “been accepted finally,” she said, and “can definitely count on” her teammates. Despite overcoming the gender divide off the mat, an injury threatened Miles’ entire senior season.

Entering sectionals, where she later earned her place in the State tournament, Miles hadn’t wrestled in three months after tearing the labrum in her shoulder during her second match of the season when her opponent pulled an illegal move.

Having been sidelined for nearly the entire season, “I went into it thinking I would not get very far at all,” Miles said. “It was very intense going from not wrestling at all to wrestling six matches in a row to qualify for State.”

Despite her disadvantages, Miles clinched her spot at State and headed to Bloomington the following week.

On the first day of the tournament, Miles won her first match but lost her second, forcing her into a “wrestle-back” match to ensure she would advance to the second day. Miles won this match and secured her place for day two. 

In her first match of the second day, Miles had her opponent pinned when suddenly she heard a snap. Miles’ opponent had pulled back on her finger in an attempt to escape the pin, breaking her hand, as Miles would later discover.

“I could have let go but I really was so close that I just didn’t,” Miles said. “My hand was just going to have to wait a little bit.”

Employing this mentality in combination with “so much adrenaline,” Miles said, she blocked out the pain, got her hand taped, and returned to the mat, eventually overcoming her opponent to win the match. 

“Naomi may be one of the toughest individuals I have coached, not just this season but since I started coaching four seasons ago,” Head Varsity Wrestling Coach Nick Kramer said.

But Miles still had two more matches ahead of her against her toughest competitors yet, and had to face them with a broken hand. Having also sprained her ankle in an earlier match at State, Miles was battling three injuries that each on their own had the ability to end her season. 

“She wrestled hard with a torn labrum, broken hand, and severely sprained ankle,” Kramer said. “I think becoming an all-state wrestler is a tremendously special thing to do, especially with one injury, but to do it with all three of these, makes her a remarkably tough individual.” 

Miles lost her final two matches, but still managed to place sixth. Reaching the podium, despite her unexpected injury and still coming off of another injury that had sidelined her for the majority of the regular season, was “all that I could ask for,” Miles said.

Miles, who also competes on the Girls Varsity Volleyball team in the fall, displays not only the physical strength of an athlete, but the mental strength of a champion. 

“For me, the traits that stick out most about Naomi are her dedication, work ethic, and toughness,” Kramer said. “Wrestling is not typically a sport that you can just pick up and earn all-state status by the time you graduate, but she did just that by instilling all three of these values within herself and within the program.”

Miles is also the only girl in LF history to become an all-conference wrestler, which is an award that is voted on by all of the coaches in the conference. With Miles set to graduate at the end of this year, “She is leaving some big shoes to fill,” Kramer said. 

Miles is leaving behind a legacy that is more than just records. “She has been a great role model and has shown what it is like to be a leader and truly tough,” Kramer said.

For Miles, her greatest wrestling memories are not her wins or titles, but rather the fun of everyday practices and the people, especially her “incredible” coaches. Above all, Miles is grateful for the dare she took during her sophomore year, and encourages others to take risks in their own lives. 

“It’s so cheesy, but don’t be afraid to join something you’re a little scared of or make spontaneous decisions because I started [wrestling] as a total joke and it ended up being the best decision of my life,” Miles said.