Female Collegiate Wrestlers.

[arnisador]

Interesting article from the Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com) that was copied here (http://www.erinoconnor.org/archives/2008/04/the_new_feminin.html).


Oklahoma City University has a long history as an educator of beauty queens. Twenty-six of its students have captured the Miss Oklahoma banner, and three of those have gone on to be crowned Miss America. Larger-than-life bronze statues of them stand in a fountain at the entrance to the university.

But a mile from there, just off the campus, 20 other young women practice a talent that's never been on display in a Miss America pageant. They sweat and swear in shorts and T-shirts as they drill their takedowns on a blue-and-white wrestling mat. "Watch out!" one of them warns a visitor who is standing next to a plastic container during practice. "That's the spit can."


The female wrestling team is brand-new this year at Oklahoma City, one of only six American college teams for women. But the sport's visibility has been on the rise since 2004, when female freestyle wrestling became an Olympic event.

[arnisador]

An older story (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/02/06/girl.wrestling.champ.ap/) along these lines.

[arnisador]

Women Want to Wrestle; Small Colleges Oblige (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/sports/othersports/27wrestling.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=wrestling+girls&st=nyt&oref=slogin)



Missouri Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts institution, is starting a team this fall. Oklahoma City University, the alma mater of three Miss Americas, began a program in 2007. And Menlo College near San Francisco, which specializes in business management and where nearly two-thirds of the students are men, has had a women’s wrestling team since 2001.


The growth of such an unconventional women’s sport at these small, private institutions has little to do with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX and everything to do with their bottom line. Officials at tuition-hungry colleges say women’s wrestling is an untapped market of prospective students, one that has curiously been all but ignored by bigger universities.


The inclusion of women’s wrestling in the Olympics beginning in 2004 provided a huge boost to the sport’s popularity and credibility. Five thousand girls nationwide wrestled in high school in the 2006-7 academic year, yet only eight colleges offer it as a varsity sport. Three of those eight programs are starting this fall.

[arnisador]

A Couple Grapple for Love, and Love of Achievement (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/sports/olympics/12wrestling.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=grapple&st=nyt&oref=slogin)



Friends say Patricia Miranda and Levi Weikel-Magden argue like an old married couple, but really, they argue more like what they are — married wrestlers with law degrees.
[...]
It took eight years before Weikel-Magden made the most persuasive argument yet — he persuaded Miranda, a women’s wrestling pioneer and bronze medalist in 2004, to come out of retirement for one final shot at an Olympic gold medal — with a twist that held potential for disaster and delight. He wanted to become her coach, and he did in September 2005.

[arnisador]

A U.S. Wrestler’s Changes Mirror Her Team’s Different Look (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/sports/olympics/22wrestle.html)



All these alterations resulted in a much different athlete and, partly because of it, a shake-up of the Olympic women’s wrestling team four years after it appeared that the United States could have a medal-contending squad that stayed together for multiple games.


Miller pulled off one of the numerous surprises — at least to those outside the sport — during the United States Olympic trials this month in Las Vegas by defeating the 2004 silver medalist Sara McMann at 138.75 pounds, becoming one of four new team members for the Beijing Games. The others are Clarissa Chun (105.5 pounds), Marcie Van Dusen (121) and Ali Bernard (158.5).


The average age is slightly more than 24, which is Miller’s age.


More Girls Take Part in High School Wrestling (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/nyregion/17wrestle.html?scp=1&sq=wrestling&st=cse)



Jessica Bennett, Montville High School’s 103-pound wrestler, waited until Rich Wood went down to try to grab her leg, then launched herself onto his back, and got him down to his knees. After a brief stalemate later in the match, Jessica, 15, lifted him off the ground and took him back to the mat, for more points.


At that, several of Rich’s teammates, from St. Bernard High School here, looked down at their feet. There is still some pain in watching a teammate being beaten by a girl — even a girl like Jessica, who has won 23 of her 35 matches this season.

[arnisador]

U.S. women wrestlers set goal of four medals (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/wrestling/2008-08-14-womenwrestle_N.htm)


Japan returns the Fab Four that dominated women's freestyle wrestling when it made its Olympic debut four years ago in Athens. A young, new-look U.S. women's team of first-time Olympians hopes to have some say about who rules this summer.

"Our goal is for four golds, and we just want to make the U.S. like the head power in women's wrestling, and now it's the time to do it," says Ali Bernard, 22, of New Ulm., Minn., who will represent the USA at 158.5 pounds.

[arnisador]

Almost Olympians ... (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901841875048255.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)

Sparring Partners
Are Here in Beijing,
But a World Away (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901841875048255.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)


Katie Downing made it to the Olympics, but not the way she dreamed. Instead of competing for medals, the three-time U.S. national wrestling champion is here to take a beating in practice.

Ms. Downing is a sparring partner. She just missed qualifying for the team; now she has a mat-side seat to what she lost.


"I knew this was going to be really hard for me, but you have to deal with reality and not fantasy," said Ms. Downing last week from her cramped dorm room cluttered with gym clothes and half-empty bags of trail mix.
Ms. Downing, 28 years old, belongs to a group here of about two dozen U.S. athletes in combat sports with a task sometimes more difficult than that facing the Olympians themselves.


Having failed to make the team, they've been asked to put aside their disappointment and play a behind-the-scenes role preparing U.S. Olympians

Olympic results for women:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics#Women.27s_ev ents

[arnisador]

Sunday Special | Prep wrestling: She has the right makeup (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/wrestling/ct-spt-0124-prep-wrest-sunday-special-20100123,0,3268187.story)

Lockport's Haley Augello just like most other freshmen, except she wrestles (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/wrestling/ct-spt-0124-prep-wrest-sunday-special-20100123,0,3268187.story)


While makeup, hair care and trips to the mall to buy clothes are priorities, Augello also happens to be a starter at 103 pounds on the Porters' highly regarded varsity wrestling team.

"My friends don't think there's anything weird about it," said Augello, who began wrestling when she was 8 years old. "Once I'm on the mat, I'm not a girly-girl. I'm a wrestler."