It only took one conversation for Ferndale wrestler Malia Welch to know where she wanted to spend the next four years of her life.
A multi-hour sit down with Gabrielle Weyhrich, Southern Oregon University’s head women’s wrestling coach, essentially sold Welch on the program.
What was so attractive? The way Weyhrich pitched it. Welch officially signed with Southern Oregon on Dec. 13.
“It didn’t feel like [Weyhrich] was trying to sell me anything,” Welch said. “It felt super natural, and like she had my best interest at heart. She made that really, really clear from the beginning.”
Weyhrich, who is in her first year as the head coach of the Southern Oregon program, was an assistant coach at McKendree University, an NCAA Division II school, from 2018 to 2022, where she helped lead the school to three consecutive national championships. Before that, she was a student-athlete at McKendree.
Southern Oregon is a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) university — a separate governing body from the NCAA.
The level of competition, especially in women’s wrestling, remains very high. Southern Oregon was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the second NAIA Women’s Wrestling Coaches’ Top 20 Poll of the season on Dec. 8.
Weyhrich first noticed Welch through tournaments both of them attended. Weyhrich reached out to Welch to discuss the program on July 11, and a few months later, the wrestler visited the campus in Ashland, Oregon.
“Malia has one of those personalities that are contagious. She is a respectful young lady, and cares for other people down to her core,” Weyhrich said. “Those traits are exactly what drew me to her as an athlete. I know she’s going to be a team player. Her wrestling ability is just a bonus.”
After an official visit, where Welch was able to stay with the team, attend practices and get to know the members better, it was all but a done deal. The team culture and personalities within it were a match, making the decision easy.
Despite some encouragement from her father Tony Welch — Ferndale’s girls wrestling coach — to weigh all her options, Welch was certain.
“Eventually, we had the discussion that what she experienced at Southern Oregon felt right,” Tony Welch said. “Sometimes when you know, you know. I trust her judgment.”
Malia Welch will receive an athletic and academic scholarship to wrestle at Southern Oregon. She won’t have to grapple with out-of-state tuition rates because Southern Oregon is a Western Undergraduate Exchange university — more icing on the cake.
“That was a big thing, is they did offer her a lot of scholarships,” said Melissa Welch, Malia’s mother. “Besides housing, school-wise, it’s a pretty lucrative decision for her.”
Malia Welch is excited to compete against athletes she has idolized for years.
“It’s a little nerve-racking,” she said. “But it’s also really exciting to get to wrestle with the people that you’ve looked up to.”
Weyhrich has high hopes for Welch and said she is precisely the kind of athlete and person she wants at Southern Oregon while continuing to build the program.
“Malia is going to be the future of Southern Oregon University,” Weyhrich said. “I am being very careful on the athletes I recruit to wrestle for me. An atmosphere can make or break a team. Malia is going to lead in a way that teaches other athletes to work hard, be coachable, and just love people. Those traits are what continue to keep teams on top.”
Academically, Welch will enter Southern Oregon’s pre-veterinary program. When she’s not working hard on the mat, she plans to channel her energy into the classroom.
As eager as she is to compete, Welch knows it will be difficult leaving her family and not having her father as her coach moving forward.
“The reality is, I won’t be able to be there all the time anymore,” Tony Welch said. “I’m really excited for her though.”
The two have worked together for most of her life, and now Malia Welch will be thrust into a fresh situation with new instructors. Her father said it will be hard not having her around at Ferndale High — and at the house.
“I’m excited to go somewhere and to have a different taste of life and living somewhere else,” Malia Welch said. “I know that I’m definitely going to miss my family.”
