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Alaska girl makes history
with wrestling title
Hutchison is turning
heads by beating the boys
Religious tenets forbid
girls to wrestle with boys at two Anchorage
schools
Related Issue: Notable
Women
Alaska girl makes history
with wrestling title
Michaela Hutchison became the first girl in the
nation to win a state high school wrestling title
while competing against boys.
Hutchison won the final of the 103-pound weight
class during Alaska's big school wrestling
championships. The Skyview High sophomore entered
the state tournament ranked No. 1 in her weight
class.
Amid chants of "C'mon Michaela" and "Girl
Power," Hutchison earned a 1-0 victory Saturday
over Colony High School's Aaron Boss.
She scored an escape with 16 seconds left to
beat Boss for the second time in as many weeks.
Family and friends mobbed Hutchison as she walked
away from the mat with a bloody nose, while the
crowd rose in a standing ovation.
"They were helping me," Hutchison told the
Anchorage Daily News.
She finished the season with a 45-4 record that
included 33 pins, one shy of the state
single-season record. Hutchison is the third in her
family of 10 children to win a state title, joining
brothers Zeb and Eli.
Source: msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5310724?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=230
Hutchison is turning
heads by beating the boys
Shy and soft-spoken off the wrestling mat, Michaela
Hutchison says plenty on it.
Hutchison, a freshman at Skyview, is the only
ranked female wrestler in Alaska. She is currently
fourth at 103 pounds, though she was third as
recently as last week.
She is ranked because she routinely dispels the
notion that girls can't compete with boys.
And she does this by routinely beating many of
them.
At last weekend's Glenn Vandergaw Classic at
Dimond, Hutchison lost only once, a heartbreaking
overtime decision in the semifinals, and took third
at the tournament.
Because of her prowess against boys or girls,
Hutchison has quickly established herself as a
torchbearer of sorts for girls wrestling.
That's fitting because Hutchison's older sister,
Melina, was one of the first-ever female
place-winners at a state wrestling tournament when
she took third in 2000 at the 4A championships
alongside Homer Olympian Tela O'Donnell, who took
sixth that same year.
Michaela is still considered by many coaches and
fellow wrestlers as the likeliest girl to win a
state title, if not this season, then possibly as a
sophomore or junior.
"She's got as good a shot (to win state) as any
boy her weight or age," said Skyview coach Neldon
Gardner.
Her coach isn't the only person saying this.
Accolades for Hutchison come from coaches around
Alaska.
"She's one of the best 103-pounders in the
state, boy or girl," said South coach Tom Ritchie
Jr. "She is the real deal."
And Kodiak's Pat Costello, who has been coaching
that program for 15 years, says: "Michaela is the
best girl wrestler I've seen."
Despite the praise, Hutchison remains modest,
even self-effacing.
"I still don't feel like I'm very good," she
said. "I just want to get better."
Clearly, Hutchison is at the forefront of the
dozens of girls who wrestle varsity in Alaska, even
though she doesn't feel anything like a role
model.
She views herself as just a wrestler -- not a
"girl wrestler" either -- and many are beginning to
view her and the growing number of girls competing
in a boy-dominated sport the same way.
"They're getting technically way better,"
Costello said.
Almost technically as good as boys, especially
at the lower weights. Girls know they are still at
a disadvantage at the middle and heavy weights
because they're not as strong as the boys in those
divisions.
That doesn't prevent Hutchison, or the other two
girls on Skyview's team, from challenging boys,
even if they're heavier and stronger.
"We'll wrestle anybody that's close in weight,"
Hutchison said.
It's that attitude, and the ability to back it
up, that has people taking note of the strides
female wrestlers have made in Alaska.
But while Hutchison and many other girls in this
state have come a long way, earning respect and
establishing themselves as equals on the mat, they
can go further still.
Inspiration
The history of girls wrestling in Alaska is
cloudy. Many of Alaska's large-school coaches said
girls first began showing up for wrestling tryouts
in the mid-1990s, although former ACS wrestler
Jason Hofacker -- who just last month hung up his
whistle as the ACS wrestling coach after seven
years -- remembered girls wrestling at the
small-school level in the late 1980s.
Regardless of when girls started going
toe-to-toe with boys on the mat, they didn't truly
make their mark until 2000. That's when Melina
Hutchison and O'Donnell became place-winners at
state -- and instant pioneers.
On Dec. 16, 2000, Melina Hutchison, wrestling at
112 pounds, placed third and O'Donnell, wrestling
at 119, placed sixth at the fall state wrestling
championships in Kenai, solidifying their legacy in
the sport.
"I think Melina and Tela did wonders for girls
wrestling," Gardner said. "When they came into the
picture, it wasn't like guys were saying, 'Oh, you
got this one.' They beat a good portion of the
boys."
Numerous girls cited both Melina Hutchison and
O'Donnell as either the reason they got involved
with wrestling or their motivation for sticking
with it once they reached high school.
For all the influence Melina Hutchison and
O'Donnell have had on girls wrestling in Alaska,
however, it was Michaela Hutchison who actually
turned her older sister onto the sport.
"I started before her," said Michaela, who has
wrestled for seven years.
Long before that, in the early 1970s, the roots
of girls wrestling in the United States were
forming. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX
legislation to provide equal educational and
athletic opportunities for women.
Due to Title IX, many universities eliminated
wrestling because it was for men only. But over
time, universities that wanted to keep wrestling
instead decided to create equitable women's
programs.
The popularity of those programs -- and the
added scholarship opportunities -- created the need
for developing wrestlers at the high school
level.
At the same time, high schools began allowing
girls to compete alongside boys in wrestling.
The numbers have grown ever since. In Alaska,
the number of girls wrestling has steadily
increased. Of the 1,267 high school wrestlers
during the 2004-05 school year, 74 were girls,
according to the Alaska School Activities
Association.
That's roughly 6 percent of wrestlers. That also
represents an increase of about 50 percent from the
reported 36 girls who wrestled during the 2002-03
school year.
If the numbers continue to increase, credit
might go to one Alaskan, O'Donnell, who in 2004
earned a spot on Team USA for the debut of women's
wrestling at the Summer Olympics.
O'Donnell's journey to Athens, Greece, and her
matches there, were chronicled extensively by local
and national media.
Before O'Donnell earned her trip to the Olympic
Games, though, she was just a student at Nikiski
High, living with the family of former Nikiski
wrestling coach and current Sitka assistant
wrestling coach Steve Gillaspie and undergoing the
training that would eventually make her a wrestling
icon in Alaska and in the United States.
Gillaspie's daughter Abby, who still talks with
O'Donnell regularly, has fond memories of O'Donnell
living under the same roof and ultimately
convincing the then-seventh-grader to give the
sport a try.
"I never saw a girl wrestle until Tela," Abby
said. "She was my inspiration to get into the
sport."
Sister Act
Though O'Donnell isn't related to Gillaspie, she
nonetheless played a sisterly role for the aspiring
wrestler, and it's clear that many girls get into
wrestling because of an older sibling's
influence.
West sophomore Aubrae Putnam's older brother
Cody formerly wrestled for West, and his practice
sessions at home all but guaranteed that little sis
would end up on the mat someday.
"He used me as his wrestling dummy," Putnam
said. "Now I get to fight back."
Putnam loves fighting back, and she loves
fighting aggressively, especially when it's a boy
across the mat from her.
"It's the best feeling beating a guy," she said.
Especially the guys who tell Putnam, "I'm going to
beat the crap out you."
Like Putnam, Lathrop sophomore Leah Bachert's
older brother wrestled when he was in high school.
So did Bachert's sister. Since she looked up to her
older siblings and thought wrestling "looked really
cool," Bachert wound up in the sport.
She's been wrestling for seven years, first as a
freestyle and middle school wrestler and now as a
varsity wrestler. She's never been made to feel
like an outsider.
Girls today say they are welcomed into the
testosterone-fueled wrestling rooms, but that
wasn't always the case.
Tom Ritchie Sr., the longtime Lathrop coach who
also coached at North Pole, remembers being
"shunned by some people for allowing it" after
first allowing girls in the mid-90s.
Even Skyview's Gardner remembers a little
hesitation.
"The first time a girl walked into my room I was
like, 'Oh, I don't know,' " he said.
Now Gardner and the rest of Alaska's coaches
know that girls have as much right to compete as
boys. They've become fixtures in wrestling rooms
across the state. And they've become the sisters,
to each other and to the boys they compete
alongside.
"They're totally accepted," Gardner said.
There are still some gender issues being
resolved, like ensuring there are separate locker
rooms and separate weigh-in facilities before meets
and tournaments. But the biggest issue surrounding
girls wrestling arises after a match -- when a girl
beats a boy.
Battle of the Sexes
One of Putnam's favorite T-shirts was a gift
from former West wrestler Iris Mucha. It reads:
"You wish you could wrestle like a girl."
Putnam is one of two girls wrestling for West, a
school that also figures into the lore of girls
wrestling history because as a sophomore, Mucha
became the first girl from Region IV -- and the
fourth statewide -- to qualify for a state
tournament.
When Mucha wrestled and beat boys to qualify for
state, or when Melina Hutchison and O'Donnell did
the same, they began eradicating the notion that
losing to a girl wasn't the end of the world.
Girls today encounter the same thing, albeit
less often.
"When I first started, I'd hear people say to
them, 'Oh, you got beat by a girl!' " Bachert said.
"Lately it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
People are more accustomed to girls wrestling."
And the girls are more accustomed to succeeding
at a sport where they've sometimes struggled.
"The stigma against wrestling girls isn't what
it used to be," Costello said. "They have beaten
enough guys to earn respect.
Girls have earned the respect of most boys, like
Chugiak sophomore Brady Schultz (112), who learned
first-hand to respect girl wrestlers. He lost to
Bachert last season, although he beat her at the
end of last season and also at last weekend's Glenn
Vandergaw Classic.
"You're kind of nervous cause you don't want to
lose and get made fun of," Schultz said. "But you
respect what they can do."
Schultz, along with other guys, said they must
go as hard against girls as they do against other
boys, and coaches all said they instruct their
wrestlers to do that too.
"We don't coach 'em any other way," said Chugiak
coach David Bierria.
That's fine by most girls, who view wrestling
boys as a way to make them better.
"I like wrestling guys cause most of the girls I
wrestle aren't as into it," Bachert said. "The guys
are more of a challenge."
Boys face a pretty big challenge if they lose to
a girl -- deciding whether or not to stick with the
sport. West coach Paul Kongaika said he has seen
boys quit the sport after losing to a girl because
there still exists an undercurrent, "If you get
beat by a girl, it's time to find a different
sport."
Ritchie Jr. agreed, noting that if a boy this
season loses to anyone but Michaela Hutchison, it
can be devastating.
"Michaela is pretty well respected, she's beaten
hundreds of guys in Alaska," he said. "But people
who aren't around the sport don't know that. It's
kind of a no-win situation for the guys."
What the Future Holds
Abby Gillaspie has to endure almost five more
months as a junior at Sitka High, but she is about
to begin working on her senior project --
coordinating an all-girls open wrestling tournament
in Sitka that will follow the Class 4A state
tournament in February 2006.
She hopes to draw the top varsity girls from
around Alaska as well as up-and-coming junior
varsity girls. She also hopes to get O'Donnell to
town to hold workshops and provide some
motivational speeches.
That could be a portent of things to come for
girls wrestling in Alaska. Some coaches and
athletes said they'd like to see a separate girls
division at the large- and small-school state
tournaments, although the numbers statewide would
need to increase before that becomes a reality.
With the growing number of girls becoming
interested in a sport long dominated by boys,
however, the prospect of an all-girl division at
state -- something other states have done -- could
happen, even if the numbers seem slim at first.
"There won't be very many at first, but there
will be soon," Costello said. "The girls are here,
they wrestle hard and they're good. There's no
doubt (an all-girl division will happen)."
Most of the girls wrestling in high school today
are less concerned with how much they draw
newcomers to the sport than how well they do in
their respective matches.
But there's no doubt that as ambassadors for the
sport, wrestlers like Leah Bachert and Abby
Gillaspie are there to inspire young girls the way
Melina Hutchison and Tela O'Donnell have inspired
them.
"I would encourage them," Bachert said, "even if
they're not getting it right away."
Michaela Hutchison -- by no means a crusader for
girls wrestling with her words but certainly with
her ability -- also would encourage young girls to
take a chance and follow their heart. Her one
simple piece of advice?
"I'd just say, 'Do it.' "
Source: Eric Smith,
e-mail,
Anchorage Daily News www.adn.com/sports/story/6042347p-5931381c.html
Religious tenets forbid
girls to wrestle with boys at two Anchorage
schools
Girls wrestling hasn't been welcomed
everywhere.
Two Anchorage private schools, Anchorage
Christian and Grace Christian, won't allow girls to
wrestle.
The schools, each affiliated with local
churches, have policies prohibiting girls on the
team, rules rooted in religious tenets.
Jason Hofacker, a 1991 graduate of ACS who
returned to his alma mater to coach, has spent the
past nine years as the school's wrestling coach and
the past three as athletic director.
He said the policy is in place for a simple
reason -- it would contradict everything held
sacred at Anchorage Baptist Temple and Anchorage
Christian Schools.
"We teach these kids at church and at school
that girls are to be respected, and then we tell
them, 'Now go and beat them up'?" he said.
Unlike public schools, ACS and Grace Christian
write their own policies and codes of conduct.
"We are a private school so we hope that people
respect our rules," Hofacker said.
Hofacker said no one has ever challenged the
school's policy of refusing to let girls wrestle,
but if someone did it could mean the end of
wrestling at ACS.
"We would probably shut down our program before
we allow that to happen," he said.
Back when Hofacker was a freshman at the school
in the late 1980s and found himself paired against
a girl at the regional tournament, he had to
forfeit his match because ACS wrestlers weren't
allowed to compete against girls.
ACS now requires its wrestlers to have parental
consent to compete against girls should such a
pairing happen at a tournament.
A huge proponent of girls athletics and of
wrestling, Hofacker was quick to point out that he
"would be in full support of girls having their own
season" and their own team.
Grace Christian athletic director Susan
Cantwell-Long echoed that sentiment.
"As an athletic administrator I think now is the
time to have schools form girls-only teams," she
said in an e-mail. "It would help balance Title IX
mandates as well as I think bring out more
participation by females if they didn't have to
wrestle guys."
Source: images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://home.gci.net/~ausaw/adn-2-jan20.jpg&imgrefurl=http://home.gci.net/~ausaw/adn-1-20-2005.htm&h=501&w=360&sz=64&tbnid=8HJ5ertAapVb_M:&tbnh=127&tbnw=91&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522Michaela%2BHutchison%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D
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