Female Wrestlers Proving They BelongSome people can’t believe Haley Hoover is a wrestler.
Hoover, a senior on the Tippecanoe Valley wrestling team, loves to prove them wrong.
“People say girls shouldn’t be wrestling with boys and all of that,” Hoover said. “To me, I try and ignore it, and try to prove to people that girls can wrestle with the guys.”
Hoover, a self-described “tom-boy,” is one of 217 female wrestlers across 93 schools who competed in IHSAA matches in 2017-18. This year, female wrestlers remain prevalent, and four area teams feature girls as grapplers.
Hoover is Valley’s lone female wrestler, as are junior Jordan Courter for Whitko and junior Haley Clifford for Manchester.
Warsaw has three girls who compete on the mat: Haylee Brown, a sophomore, and freshmen Sarah Northrop and Fiona Kerr.
“We want to see people participate in a sport that we think is so pure and so great at teaching life lessons, and whether it’s male or female it doesn’t matter to us,” said Warsaw wrestling coach Kris Hueber.
Brown got into wrestling through her interest in martial arts. She wrestled at Valley last season before transferring to Warsaw for academic reasons.
Northrop recruited Kerr to join her on the mat after beginning to wrestle at Lakeview Middle School.
Though they’re outnumbered by boys, they’re not deterred.
“It doesn’t really make a difference to me,” Northrop said. “It’s a ton of fun, and I’m gonna stick with it no matter what.”
It helps that the area female wrestlers have been welcomed by their teams and school administration.
“While we are not actively seeking females specifically for participation, we are always encouraging kids to get involved in school activities,” said Warsaw Athletic Director Dave Anson.
“As we know there are so many values to a student that is connected to the school beyond periods 1-7.”
The coaches have also been welcoming, and have been assertive in treating the girls the same as they would the boys.
For Whitko coach Mike Biddle, Courter’s toughness makes it easy for him to see her the same as any other wrestler.
“She’s one of our fiercest competitors out here,” Biddle said. “You spend five, 10 minutes watching practice, you learn right away you gotta respect her. Because if you don’t, she’s gonna put it to you.”
Manchester coach Byron Sweet feels the same way about Clifford. He won’t hesitate to cross-face Clifford during a demonstration as he would one of his boys.
“It sends the message that I would treat her the same way that I would treat any other wrestler on the team,” Sweet said.
Hueber said the only differences have been procedural. The Warsaw girls have their own locker room, and Hueber puts an extra emphasis on his male wrestlers to mind their P’s and Q’s around the girls.
“(We’re) being more mindful of words, choice language, things of that sort which really should be a point of emphasis anyway,” Hueber said. “Having the girls on the team shouldn’t change much about it, as much as I’ve tried to reinforce with (the boys) the level of respect that is going to be followed through on.”
Indeed, the boys treat the girls with respect, and consider them no different than any other teammate. Valley’s Drake Montelongo is impressed with Hoover’s abilities.
“She goes out there and she wrestles like a guy’s no different,” he said.
The result is an improved wrestling team, because the girls are pushing the boys to be better. The girls, too, are improving.
Courter earned her first victory this season after going winless as a sophomore. Courter, who said she joined wrestling because she likes to fight, isn’t fazed by marks in the win-loss column.
“I never really thought about it like, ‘Well I lose all the time (so) I’m gonna lose this one,’” Courter said. “I just wrestle. What happens, happens.”
While their teammates and coaches have been welcoming, some wrestlers from opposing schools haven’t known what to make of female wrestlers.
“Other kids outside the district and just other people I’ve met, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re a wrestler? Why do you do it? That’s terrible,’” Northrop said. “I hear that a lot, but I have a ton of support from my family.”
The push-back results in either aggression or passiveness.
“It depends on the boy,” Northrop said. “Some don’t know what to do, and others are like, ‘I don’t want to lose to a girl, so I’m gonna do everything I can not to lose to a girl.’”
Kerr, though, brushes off any bewilderment from the opposition. She simply loves to wrestle.
“For me, there are no cons,” she said.
Most of the girls wrestle at lower weight classes. Hoover, who wrestles at 106 pounds, is prone to picking up wins by forfeit because of a lack of participation in her division.
“It’s nice to have that (weight class),” said Valley coach Kyler Kearby. “And, she’s willing to go out there and compete against guys.”
For Clifford, who developed a love for wrestling in middle school, the sport helps with her other endeavors.
“I just like being stronger in general,” she said. “Working with guys, it helps me with other sports I do, like soccer.”
Multiple area female wrestlers aim to compete at this season’s girls state match, which is held by the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association.
Brown competed last year in the 116-pound division and finished fourth in the state.
“I’m really looking forward to girls state, and getting back into that,” she said.
Sweet hopes Clifford can become a state champion in the girls final, not only for her own achievement but to draw more female wrestlers to the team.
“Certainly if she were to win state, I would use that on every girl I talk to in my recruiting pitch,” Sweet said.
The potential to impact a new generation of girls is not lost on Clifford. By hitting the mat with a ferocity to rival her male counterparts, she may just be inspiring a little face in the crowd.
“I think about that a lot,” Clifford said. “And, I really do hope that there’s someone who’s like, ‘I can do that.’”
