Deionna Borders (Berea-Midpark, Ohio) named WIN’s Junior Women’s Schalles Award recipient

Photo: Deionna Borders of Berea-Midpark High School in Ohio pinned her way through the 2025 Women of Ironman tournament. Photo by Robert Preston.

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s Annual Awards Issue, which published May 5, 2026.

By Tristan Warner

Deionna Borders was a starting center on the ninth-grade football team at Berea-Midpark when she wandered into a preseason wrestling workout.

Head girls coach Steve Vaughn knew she was going to be something extraordinary right away, he recalled.

“She had thought about wrestling in middle school but backed away. Then once it got sanctioned, she showed up with a handful of other freshman football players to a preseason workout after football practice. I knew day one she was going to be something special. I did whatever I could do to help her with film, technique, etc.,” Vaughn said.

In just her third season of wrestling, as a junior in 2024-25, Borders won an Ohio state title while posting a 47-0 record without surrendering a point.

After winning a Junior National title in Fargo last summer, Borders and Coach Vaughn concocted an ambitious goal for Deionna in the 2025-26 high-school season: to pin every opponent she wrestled all season.

Borders went on to do exactly that, going 38-0 on her way to a second consecutive state crown with 38 straight pins. That included four falls at the prestigious Women of Iron tournament in December.

“To have her win a prestigious award that is nationwide recognition is an awesome surprise,” Vaughn said.

“She pinned everyone. I can only point her in the direction, but she ultimately has to do it. Having her win an award named after the legendary Wade Schalles is astounding. You don’t really seek it, but you are ecstatic when you win it.”

Vaughn says Borders made up for her lack of experience in the sport by being one of the most inquisitive and coachable athletes he has ever been around.

“She is very naturally gifted athletically, but her biggest ability is her coachability. She is always hungry to learn and is always chasing improvement. Deionna is less focused on the accolades. She takes any and all advice very seriously even if it doesn’t work out right away.

“I am a very big proponent of pinning. I always try to pass that on to my athletes. Our goal is to score points and pin in the process. We are always working towards the pin.”

The Junior Girls Schalles Award, named after the legendary Wade Schalles, who won two NCAA titles for Clarion (Pa.) State in 1972-73 and won 153 of his 159 collegiate bouts, pinning 109 opponents, has been awarded to the nation’s top high school girls pinner since 2024.

Schalles, a 1991 Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, said, “I’m not too sure we’ve ever had a 100% pin-to-win ratio. So cool. There’s no doubt that Deionna competes with a rare blend of discipline and explosiveness, the kind that turns preparation into domination. And she’s still relatively new to the sport … wow. From what I hear, once she gets her hands locked, the match is on borrowed time.”