Meet Kayleigh Milam: Jackson girls' wrestling’s next big thing

Kayleigh Milam brings an “anyone, anytime, anywhere” mentality to the wrestling mat.

It's that type of approach that cements her as one of the brightest 110-pounders in the state of Missouri.

Following in the footsteps of former Jackson girls’ wrestling standouts Kayla Hodges and the Metzger sisters — Gracie and Mallorie — the junior is now carrying the Lady Indian torch for one of the top programs in the Bootheel. Last season, Milam was a Class 2 state qualifier and tallied the second-most single-season wins (32) in team history as just a sophomore.

This season she is bound to take a step forward.

Milam is currently 23-8 on the year, placing second at the Kansas City Invitational and eighth at the Wonder Woman Tournament in Columbia — two of the toughest tournaments in the entire state. Those results serve as a big-time demonstration on how good she is now and how much better she will get.

What’s an even scarier thought is that Milam’s only been wrestling for two years.

“I started in the middle of the season my freshman year,” said Milam, who used to play soccer and cheer. “I watched practice for like a week or two and then I kind of started practicing.

“My brother started wrestling, and then I talked to my dad about it and soon after my coach talked to me about it. Then I started wrestling. I didn't even think I was gonna like it, but then I fell in love with it. Now my two little siblings wrestle too.”

Jackson girls' wrestling's Kayleigh Milam cross-wrist tilts McCracken's Jillian Conn in a match at the Cape Central Quad Meet on Wednesday, Jan. 8.Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

The beauty of her newness to the sport is that this level of winning has quickly become an expectation for the promising lightweight. Coaches, teammates, and opponents alike were quick to notice her competitive nature, talent, and work ethic — three key ingredients to success in the sport.

“Ever since she started she’s done a really good job,” Jackson boys' wrestling head coach Steven Wachter said. “She's a really hard worker. Coach (Cody) Rouse is our girls coach and he’s spent a lot of time with her. She works as hard as any boy we have in the room. I mean, she's very physical and she's a very good technician… a really good technician. She keeps getting better and we’ve been really proud of her.”

While it didn’t take Milam long to ingratiate herself in the room, she put her nose to the grindstone in the offseason in pursuit of becoming a cut above the rest.

“I wrestled in our room and then I did camps all offseason,” Milam said. “I went to the Purler Wrestling Girls camp and that was really good. It was a week long, and then we had like three sessions a day. That was one of my favorite camps I've been to. And then we went to a couple other camps, and we go up to TWA (Thoroughbred Wrestling Academy) sometimes too.

“I would say I’m a lot more comfortable and confident. And I've improved a lot in all three positions, but a lot of my feet. That's where I like to wrestle the most. I don't really like wrestling on top, definitely not bottom.”

Jackson girls' wrestling's Kayleigh Milam controls McCracken's Jillian Conn in a match at the Cape Central Quad Meet on Wednesday, Jan. 8.Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

Next up, she says, is training for and working towards earning a state medal. And wherever she goes from there, Milam remains a great bet to overpower whoever stands in her way down the road.

“I want to be a state placer or state champion,” said Milam, who also aims to wrestle in college someday. “That’s a really big one. I’ve written up a lot of my goals on my mirror. I've tried to place top three at every tournament, but at this recent tournament at Wonder Woman I placed eighth and didn't really accomplish my goal there. But I’m still working at it.”

Milam has another opportunity to work at it tomorrow evening when Jackson wrestling travels to Sikeston for a tri-meet against the host Bulldogs and Ste. Genevieve at 5 p.m.