Meredith Bain’s persistence will help pay for her college education.

Bain, a senior at Oak Harbor High School, signed a letter of intent Thursday to wrestle for Eastern Oregon University next school year. She will receive a combination of athletic and academic scholarships from the La Grande, Ore., school.

Bain admitted that she considered quitting the sport several times since starting in the eighth grade. Now she will reap the benefits of sticking it out.

The realization she had the talent to compete in college came this season, she said.

“The coaches really pushed it at the beginning of this year, but I wasn’t so sure,” she said. “By the middle of my senior year, I bought in.”

Bain finished seventh in the state as a junior, and as her senior year progressed, so did her win total and the attention of colleges.

Ten schools recruited Bain, who entered the 2017 state tournament unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the 190-pound class. She, however, suffered an injury in the semifinals and had to default her final two matches, ending her 27-match win streak.

“It was tough” not being able to finish her quest for a state title, she said. “It was frustrating because I had wrestled and beat all but one on the podium (top eight finishers).”

The crushing conclusion to her high school career caused her to say, “I quit.”

“I cried for half an hour,” she said. “Later I realized I had a lot to prove, so I decide to come back.”

There were other times she contemplated giving it up. “As a freshman, you get beat up in practice everyday and you go home and just want to cry,” she said. “(Coach Larry) Falcon helped push me through.”

The encouragement of Falcon and Bain’s father and stepmother, Mike and Lisa Bain, and her mother, Wendy Nienhuis, were instrumental in handling the setbacks, she said.

It was Falcon who introduced Bain to the sport. In his middle school PE class, Falcon taught a wrestling unit and Bain enjoyed it so much she went out for the eighth-grade team.

She credits Falcon and high school assistant coach Peter Esvelt for her success.

Falcon brought her into the sport and helped her through the rugged early years, then Esvelt helped her improve.

“He (Esvelt) takes the sport seriously,” she said. “He helped me study opponents through film and helped with my technique.”

Being taken seriously is important to Bain.

She noted that some still see women’s wrestling as a novelty.

“That frustrates me,” Bain said. “We are athletes; we aren’t here to make a statement.”

Esvelt also taught Bain to “be mean” and not worry about her opponents’ feelings, she said. “It was okay to be aggressive.”

Falcon said Bain “took hold of the sport and dedicated herself to it.”

“She continued to work hard throughout her career and is a natural leader,” he said. “See took the underclassmen under her wing and made sure they were doing what they needed to do. She is a foundation person in the program.”

Bain chose Eastern Oregon because of its budding wrestling and science programs.

Eastern began its women’s wrestling program two years ago and wanted Bain to be one of its pioneers.

The school is also pouring money into improving its chemistry and math programs, Bain said, and that is her area of academic interest.

“There is a bunch of new money and a lot of opportunities” in those fields, shesaid.

Bain, who has a 3.7 grade point average, is interested into going into research, much like her sister, Emily Nienhuis, who is at Washington State University.

Thanks in part to wrestling, she will be given that chance.