“A wrestling room is the same”: DSU standout makes her mark in Nigeria and North Dakota

DICKINSON, N.D. (KFYR) - Dickinson State freshman Jumoke Adekoye came to the Queen City with big dreams.

“Her dreams are much bigger than the NAIA,” Dickinson State women’s wrestling coach Tyson Springer said. “Her dreams are the Olympics.”

Adekoye is already a three-time national champion, and two-time senior African Champion.

“Hopefully by {I} 2028 make it to the Olympics, qualify for the Olympics, and probably medal at the Olympics,” Adekoye said. “That would be a dream come true for me.”

Even though she has already made big steps on the international stage, she still decided to move to Dickinson, North Dakota, having never been to the United States before.

“Well the nice thing about wrestling is it doesn’t matter if it’s in Nigeria or if it’s in America, a wrestling room and the mat is the same,” Springer said. “So in that aspect its pretty simple.”

Adekoye is familiar with freestyle wrestling, which is what women’s collegiate wrestlers compete in here in the United States, but the level of competition is much different, according to her.

“Wrestling here, it’s a lot more developed,” Adekoye said. “They have a lot of schools that are into wrestling, which I don’t get back at home. I want to follow my education, but I also want to continue with my passion for wrestling.”

Adekoye is fresh off a second place finish at the Heartland Conference tournament where she also won Freshman of the Year honors.

“This is like a dream come true, like a testimony that hard work pays off, so you should keep going, keep pushing,” Adekoye said.

Her priority now is becoming the first ever All-American for DSU women’s wrestling.

“to get that one superstar right off the bat, it’s huge for year 2 of our program,” Springer explained. “It really puts us on the map.”

The Blue Hawks will compete at the NAIA National Tournament this weekend in Kansas.

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