PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Tor’Rina Rushing has wrestled for only two years, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t caught up with her competition just as fast. Tor’Rina had never thought about wrestling until one day when she happened to see some of Coach Jeremiah LaFountain’s practice.
“I used to like walk by for weightlifting practice, and I would see them flipping and stuff. And I also did gymnastics and stuff, and I was like, oh yeah, I can do that too. So I just decided to try it out.” Rushing said.
And Tor’Rina has proven to be one of the best wrestlers in the area. In her second trip to the USA Wrestling Nationals in Fargo in July, Tor’Rina had high expectations to beat her previous year’s record. But in her first match, disaster struck when she sprained her ankle.
“From my vantage point, it looked like she might have tweaked the knee. After being able to watch the replay, you see it was purely the ankle. Got out there with medical and saw it was purely the ankle, so I told her, look, we’re going to have to push through it, you’ve got to fight, we’ve got to get through this match.” Coach LaFountain said.
“I kind of felt a little defeated, like I can’t do this, I shouldn’t be here, I don’t want to be here, it’s just too hard.” Rushing said.
But even on a bad ankle, Tor’Rina pushed through her next eight matches, winning them all. That helped clinch All-American status.
“The more I started winning, the more I was like, okay, I want to keep trying, keep going, I want to win.” Rushing said.
“She was starting to understand and believe that when we tell her we believe in her, she knows she can dig deep and has the courage and power to will through it.” Coach LaFountain said.
As Tor’Rina gets ready to enter her junior season, there’s no telling how high she can go.
“I mean, among anything, she is a coachable athlete, which is—what I’d say as a coach—one of the best things in the world you can ask for. She pushes when you ask her to push, she listens when you ask her to listen, you can see it when it hurts, you can tell when she’s upset, and she’s consolable. She’s easy to approach and listen to, and she just wants to get better each time you talk to her.” Coach LaFountain said.
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