Kendall Moe wanted to quit. One year later, she earned her fourth state title

INDIANAPOLIS — On the surface, Kendall Moe was victorious. Internally, she was defeated. 

Moe had a panic attack as she sat inside her car while parked in the driveway of her Cicero, Indiana, home. Roughly a week earlier, Moe was standing on a podium being crowned the 2025 IHSAA girls wrestling state champion at 105. Now she was crying on the phone with her mother, Kristi Moe, telling her she wanted to quit wrestling. 

“Most kids, when they win the state championship, they're in euphoria,” said Skylar Moe, Kendall’s father. “She was happier to be done with the season than to actually win.”

Kendall struggled socially during her junior and final year at Hamilton Heights before transferring to Cathedral. Kendall had lunch in a hallway connecting the gym and the Huskies locker room. Only half the lights worked as Kendall sat alone, trying to cope with her emotions. Two janitors in charge of the area became her best friends. 

Life at school affected life on a whole. 

Kendall’s grades dropped. She stopped going to church. Panic attacks occurred three times a week. She had no desire to participate in family traditions, such as Skylar’s nightly prayers with Kendall and her five siblings. The only thing Kendall could blame was the thing closest to her. 

“I completely lost it,” said Kendall, who won the state title at 115 Friday and was named IndyStar girls wrestler of the year. “Instead of looking from the aspect that I always loved wrestling, and it’s what’s been there for me, I looked at it from the social aspect, and it was like, ‘Wow, this really sucked.’

“I didn’t like my situation, and I thought it must be wrestling's fault, so I wanted to shove it away.” 

A glimmer of hope

Being outgoing was never an issue for Kendall.

Kendall grew up a military kid, forcing her to make friends quickly. Skylar served in the army for 22 years and Kristi, six. Kendall lived in Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Colorado by the age of 9. The Moes moved to Indiana in 2017.

“You grow up and leave a community where you’ve been on an army base your whole life, and it's weird,” Kendall said. “Unless you’ve experienced it, no one knows what that's like.”

The experience, however, built the discipline Kendall needed for wrestling. During third grade, while living in Colorado, Kendall brought home a wrestling flyer from school and told her parents she wanted to play the sport. Skylar and Kristi thought wrestling would be a “great asset” for Kendall to display her intensity. 

Influenced by her parents, Kendall wants to serve in the military. Kendall's preferred college is Norwich University, a military academy in Vermont, where she hopes to wrestle. Skylar and Kristi also inspired Kendall to continue wrestling when she wanted to quit. 

Kristi informed Kendall she had to tell her club coaches she didn’t want to pursue the combat sport. Contenders Wrestling Academy coaches Ryan Parrish and Sean Schmaltz responded to Kendall’s text within 5 minutes, telling her she can’t quit and to take a week off. She did. 

“I felt worse without practice. Wrestling was my therapy,” Kendall said. “For me, mentally, at Heights, wrestling became the opposite. Getting back into it, it felt like drinking ice-cold water on a hot day.”

Still, Kendall’s joy for the sport fluctuated. Skylar told Kendall that the family loved her, even if she didn’t continue wrestling. He reminded Kendall who she is beyond wrestling. The girl who liked to read fantasy, draw and play Dungeons and Dragons.

“That conversation with my dad inspired me to keep going, and it took off a lot of pressure because I won at state and everyone expected me not to lose this year,” Kendall said. “We went from I have to do this, to I get to do this.”

The passion returns

Kendall transferred to Cathedral for her senior year and joined its inaugural girls wrestling team. She didn’t bother to learn anyone’s name the first week of practice. Kendall didn’t know how or if she’d fit in. 

Previous experience left Kendall without hope despite the new scenery. Increased fear and uncertainty about how the year would turn out led to another panic attack during the preseason. 

“I didn’t know how the outcome of my year would go with school, wrestling and friends,” Kendall said. 

This time, she wasn’t alone. Cathedral assistant coach Brian Seltzer encouraged Kendall during her panic attack. He told Kendall “it’s all mental.” The three words convinced Kendall she had power over her intrusive thoughts. 

Kendall began to learn her teammates' names and personalities. Bonds started to build. There were only six members on coach Tim Lavin’s roster and Moe was the only one with wrestling experience — and three state championships. 

Kendall worked on being more offensive on the mat this season. The state champion consistently attacked her opponents and earned a tech fall at the midseason Columbia City meet.

"She came off the mat and said, 'I think I finally feel comfortable that I can take anybody,'" Lavin recalled. "When that switch flipped for her, it switched for others."

Other team members began asking whether they could attack. They watched Kendall intently during practice and observed her pre-match routine. 

Kendall dons an aggressive look as she listens to heavy metal during warm-up, earning her the nickname “Metal Kendall” among the team. Though Kendall's teammates can’t quite replicate her routine, they began to figure out their own. 

Kendall and the group built traditions of their own, such as wearing matching T-shirts that read, “Bring the dogs out.” Sophomore Aanas Gladney (170) and senior Aaryn Garrard (130) made state this season in addition to Kendall.

“Even without trying, she’s set an example for the other girls on how to carry themselves, overcome adversity, and win an ugly match,” Lavin said. 

Kendall called her team “family” and said their support “felt like a really tight hug.” The daily 45-minute drive to the Cathedral was justified. Kendall’s passion for wrestling returned. She began attending morning mass and strengthened her faith. Skylar and Kristi saw a difference at home. 

“I didn't want to accept (the support) at first because I had not been able to before. I was like, ‘I don’t know, this might be good or might be bad,’” Kendall said. “A year ago, it was like I was getting broken with nothing to build me back up, and now I’m being put back together.” 

“That's been different for her, just realizing she's worthy of that and deserves it, and it's okay to accept it,” Kristi added. 

From tears of defeat to tears of joy

Cathedral students lined up on the sidewalk in winter coats Thursday after class and weathered the 26-degree temperature to cheer Kendall, Garrard and Gladney as they paraded through the school grounds. 

Kendall admitted to being nervous as her peers applauded, but the lone year at Cathedral made her feel seen. 

“I’m not sitting alone at a lunch table anymore. I'm at a lunch table where we are packing so many chairs that we’re not even eating at the table, our lunch is in our lap,” she said. “I’m grateful for the community.”

The 10-minute celebration walk concluded with a trip to the wrestling gym. Skylar stood near the gym entrance, watching as his daughter took pictures with teammates and showed off her favorite pink and black wrestling shoes. 

Just three hours earlier, Skylar and Kristi sat at a discussion table inside Hamilton Heights conference center and chronicled their daughter’s journey. Kendall was born with hip dysplasia and spent her first year in a harness. Doctors informed Skylar and Kristi that Kendall will likely never run. 

“Just seeing the progress that she's made from you're not going to be able to do much of anything to, ‘Oh, now we're an athlete,’” Kristi said, “and to third grade Kendall, who would get mad and throw her head gear on the ground to the Kendall now, who can stand there and humbly win and lose and then go on the podium and by the end of the picture, she's friends with everybody on the podium. 

“It’s very inspiring for me.”

Added Skylar: “Watching from birth to here, with all the highs and lows she has experienced, the lesson learned is how to take a challenge and push through that challenge. You may not come on top, but did you finish? And that's always been Kendall — she always finishes.”

Toward the end of their two-hour conversation, Skylar rose from his dark brown leather chair and walked to a small black table in the right-hand corner on the first floor of the former house turned meeting place. Skylar stuck his hand into a clear storage bin as the sun beamed off the adjacent artificial pond and through the full-lit wood doors. 

Inside the bin rested Kendall’s medals — possibly too many for the small table to fit. Skylar begins to remove them. Some, one at a time. Others, two by two. 

He places the accolades on the conference table roughly four feet away. One blue-ribboned medal, buried under other awards, barely protrudes. It’s the state championship from last season. Once a symbol of distress, now a testament to Kendall’s resilience, as it’s soon to be joined by another. 

Kendall had her hand lifted one last time as state champion at 115 on Friday. A past year filled with trials, ends with triumph. Not because she captured the ultimate prize, but the fashion in which she did. 

At peace. And with delight. 

Now the 18-year-old can sit in her driveway and cry tears of joy. She didn’t quit and through adversity and a change of scenery, she found something valuable. 

She found Kendall. 

“I'm still a person without wrestling,” she said. “But, I need it. I have all these things that I enjoy, but wrestling is what completes it.”

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Girls wrestling: Kendall Moe wins IndyStar wrestler of the year honors