There’s no wrestling with what he likes
Staff writer
“I used to watch WWE, and my mom told me about wrestling, and I said I would try it,” 8-year-old RyLee Stringer said. “Now I’m here.”
“Here” for RyLee meant finishing fifth in the Kansas Folkstyle Championships last weekend.
He became the first Marion junior wrestler to place in state competition in 10 years.
Jarret McLinden and Tyler Palic were the last to accomplish the feat in 2015.
RyLee competed in a 16-person bracket in an 8-and-under division.
After going 2-1 on Saturday, he won his first match Sunday to guarantee a place on the podium.
“It was instant tears once he knew,” RyLee’s mother, Ashley Ratzloff, said.
Wrestling for Marion Junior Warrior Club has been a lot of fun for RyLee.
“I have a lot of friends,” he said. “I even have friends from different [teams].”
He noted that he defeated a boy he knew in the tournament.
“I eliminated him,” RyLee said. “I pinned him in a minute and 14 seconds. He thought it wasn’t a pin.”
RyLee’s parents, aunt, and sisters watched him in Topeka, where the tournament was staged.
“It’s really big,” he said of the city.
The tournament is similarly large, drawing 2,400 junior wrestlers from across Kansas.
RyLee drew strength from his family and “friends cheering me on from home,” he said.
He competed in his first wrestling tournament in January 2023, at age 6. He took home first place.
Ratzloff said her son enjoys the individuality of wrestling, that he alone is responsible for victories and defeats.
“He’s a kid who really likes — I don’t know how to explain it — control, maybe,” she said. “It’s more than just a sport. It teaches you discipline.”
Both Ratzloff and RyLee credited coach Brayden Putter and RyLee’s father, Blake Stringer, with helping lead RyLee to state.
His best move, RyLee said, is his “shot,” where he dives at an opponents’ legs for a takedown.
“I did a suplex in one of my matches,” he added.
He does not worry about getting hurt (“Not really. My friend got hurt this week. He broke his arm.”) and plans to continue wrestling as long as can.
“I always joke with him: ‘Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy,’” Ratzloff said.