King’s Aine Drury just worries about getting better at wrestling and having some fun with it

The National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships has been a showcase of great women’s wrestling talents, many who made their name in youth and high school wrestling before pursuing the next level at an NCAA college.

Aine Drury of King, a NCWWC national runner-up last year, has taken a different path than many of top athletes in this year’s national championships, which will be held in Coralville, Iowa on Friday and Saturday. She had a chance to tell a bit about her story and share some of her life perspectives during the pre-event press conference today.

Drury is a native of Westminster High School in California, where she won a state title and was a multiple-time finalist. She also reached the Junior National finals. While clearly a top college prospect, Drury did not immediately attend one of the well-known college programs. She decided to stay near home, attend a junior college, while still having high goals for her wrestling career.  

“I love talking about my junior college. I went to Cerritos College. It’s free for California residents, so you get two free years. It is a really good opportunity, because if you are from a low-income family, going to the NCAA right away might not be the financially best option for you. If you get to go two years in JC and make a name for yourself, then you can go into a four-year school. The junior college scene is growing. We have some of the best coaches out there. He had Dustin Kirk, who is one of the best coaches ever. He coaches there. He developed me a bunch. It’s great. I loved it. It was a great experience and I believe more people should do it.”

Drury was a state champion in the California Community College Athletic Association (now known as 3C2A), which was a stepping stone to move on to King University, one of the most successful women’s college programs in the nation. She not only had the chance to take her wrestling to another level at King, but also experience a new environment with a successful all-women’s program.

“It is really nice. I was on all boys teams growing up. I was on a girls team at Cerritos, but this is the first time I have been on a big team with a huge desire to win. So, it was like the best thing in the world. Everyone works hard together. Everybody wants to support each other and figure out how to win together,” she said.

Drury had a great 2023-24 season, capped off with her second place finish at 143 pounds, losing in the finals to Iowa’s Reese Larramendy. This year, she comes into the NCWWC as a No. 4 seed, with Larramendy back, as well as another Iowa star, two-time Senior World medalist Macey Kilty, in a very loaded weight class. Drury loves the challenge of having high-level competition.

“It is better when you have a bigger uphill battle. It is more fun that way. I don’t think it is fun unless it is hard. I want it to be as hard as you can make it,” said Drury.

Drury has never shied away from wrestling against the best. Since she was young, she always entered the major USA Wrestling competitions and tried out for U.S. World-level teams. Last summer, Drury won a U23 Pan American gold medal for Team USA. She takes a unique approach, by wrestling as much as she can.

“Wrestling is not a seasonal sport for me. It is a lifestyle. It is what I do. I don’t worry too much about winning this tournament, or winning that tournament or the NCAAs, whatever division it is. I just worry about getting better at wrestling. That’s how you do it, going year round,” she said.

For Drury, it is all about working hard, and then laying it on the line, as a way to measure how much she has improved. Major competitions, like the NCWWC, allows her to measure her progress.

“I see it as a nice gift, the fruit of my labor kind of thing. I work hard all season. I put my head down and just work, and I get to see how far I got,” she said.

All of the star college wrestlers at today’s press conference were asked what they thought about the NCAA deciding to make women’s wrestling the 91^st NCAA Championships. Drury’s answer was a bit different than some of her peers.

“I think it is super sick because there are a lot of cool personalities and fun wrestling that happens on the girls teams. The bigger platform you give us, the more exciting wrestling and more exciting personalities you will get to see in women’s wrestling,” she said.

Drury got a chance to show some of her own cool personality when a reporter asked who owned the hat on the podium that said ‘You’re a dog.’

“That is mine. My roommate Izzy got this for me. It says ‘you’re a dog.’ JM (Jason Moorman), my coach, used to tell me that all the time. In my 30-second break, I tend to freak out a little bit. He would come up to me, give me a handshake and say ‘you’re a dog!’ I’d say, ‘you’re right. I am a dog.’ I like to remember that, so there is a picture of JM and of Claire (Dicugno), who is one of the best training partners I’ve had,” she said.

It wasn’t just a hat that had a message. Her t-shirt said Dicugno on it and had an image of her teammate and close friend.

“This is Claire (Dicugno). She is my training partner. She is out this season, luckily for the rest of the competition. Me and Claire are winning together. She is beside me like a shadow when I am wrestling,” she said about her shirt.

It has been an interesting season for the athletes on the King team. Longtime coach Jason Moorman left the program in the early season, and the team has been led by their young assistant coach, Gracie Figueroa, who has been interim coach. The coaching change helped Drury take a new perspective to her wrestling, which she hopes will pay off this weekend.

“I lost my coach this year. That was big. I really had to focus on what makes me good as a wrestler. And what makes me confident in myself. I was able to see what things I could improve on and dial in on those. I got a handle on my own wrestling, and I had guidance from Gracie. I have a really good shot this time. My confidence is high and that’s a big change,” she said.

Drury has goals and dreams beyond college wrestling, and it will include setting higher goals and staying involved in the sport that she loves.

“For wrestling, the only goal is the Olympics. I want to make the LA Olympics. It would be nice to win in my hometown. And obviously to get better in wrestling is the goal. After wrestling, I don’t know, I’ll probably coach. I have had great coaches in the past and they made a great impact on my life in and outside of wrestling,” she said.