Posted on 02/06/2006 6:26:31 AM PST by MikefromOhio
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- 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 two 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
I understand that dominatrix's can make serious money in some parts
LOL
"that poor boy is never gonna live that down. "
It was lose-lose for him. He loses, he got beaten by a girl. He wins, he beat up a girl.
No it was lose-lose-lose. He either gets beat, or beats up a girl, and still doesn't even have any good free groping opportunities. (Why is it that the girls who would be fun to wrestle with, never wrestle?)
or he gets to call himself a State champion......
What do you recommend for girls who vastly outperform their female peers as this winner probably did. Shouldn't they have a chance to compete on their own level?
Nope. Not unless the guys can compete in women's tennis or be prom queens.
Just because someone is good at something, does not entitle them to things reserved for the opposite sex, IMO. Michelle Wie does not belong on the Mens golf tour. And guys should not be allowed to play women's field hockey just cause they want to and the school doesn't have a men's team.
I am kind of torn about that as well. On the one hand it is a great sport and I am glad to see people competing in it. Wrestling at the college level has been killed by Title IX and more women competing might help keep it alive.
On the other hand, if there is not enough interest to field their own teams, women wrestling on the guys teams seems to have the potential to create all kinds of problems at the high school level, especially is a society as litigation crazy as ours. Plus, some of the guys that lose are going to take such a kidding they are going quit (that is what happened in the one case I know about first hand) and that does nobody any good.
All that having been said, great accomplishment by her.
"Not unless the guys can compete in women's tennis or be prom queens."
I don't think the comparison is apt. Everything is not equal. You can always be a poor male player on the men's team if you are a poor player.
It is generally accepted that men are stronger than women hence it would be unfair for men to compete on women's teams. There are of course the Special Olympics and like competitions for the genuinely impaired.
Sports are about excelling. People, including girls, should have the opportunity to compete at the highest level. No lowering or changing of standards.
I still don't understand your objection.
Great accomplishment, as I said earlier in the thread. Don't blame her or her parents for encouraging her, either.
At the lower weight classes I think they can be competitive. Plus I think that the coaching in wrestling tends to be more uneven than in some other high school sports, a well coached wrestler is going to have a big advantage regardless of gender.
Regardless, I am still not sure if mixed teams are a good idea. While it shouldn't happen, the pride issues involved seem too likely to lead to incidents like the one you describe or other problems.
That would be an emphatic no, although the last I saw wasn't she managing as opposed to actually wrestling?
Yup, and I think you are right that the best thing overall would be if there was enough interest for the women to have there own teams.
Just a question (and I'm clueless here).....
But isn't wrestling as much about endurance, speed and flexiblity as strength?
If so, then it may be a more even match that at first assumed. (just my two cents).
Not true. A boys soccer team or baseball or basketball team only allows a certain number of players. One of the hardest parts of coaching is choosing which reserves to cut from the team amongst a group of guys that are all about equally talented. It would be outrageous if they then went and took spots on a womens team away from deserving gals. Where they would be benchwarmers on the boys teams, they would be starters on the girls. Not fair, not smart and would be unacceptable to all those who support women's school sports.
Same thing here. Just because she CAN make the team does not mean she should. She takes a spot from some boy who likely worked his tail off to get to the level he is, and now is no longer on the team. It's nothing but PCism run amok, IMO. Just because there are some women who may excel in combat does not mean I support allowing them to do so, anymore than I support talented, effiminate boys allowed to make the cheer squad.
I am pinging Mike to this since I believe he has much more knowledge than I do (I wrestled one year, not particularly succesfully) but I think that is generally true and technique is probably the most important of all. Obviously the fact folks are in a relatively narrow weight class also helps keep things even from a pure strength perspective. However, I think the general strength advantage that guys have is probably enough of an edge to be decisive in many cases.
That having been said, obviously this girl is incredibly skilled and the one case I was personally familiar with was a high school senior wrestling mostly freshmen in the 112lb (I think, it was awhile ago) weight class and she was probably as strong if not stronger than most of the guys she was wrestling.
I don't know.
I always saw it as if you don't want to get beaten, go and don't lose.
But I always wrestled either Heavy, 215 or 189, so there wasn't a chance that I would face a female wrestler.
I think I could have handled it, but it does present a problem.
the kids would have to be mature and handle it, especially if the girl EARNED her way onto the team.
Thank you both!
well in this case, it was a 103 lb girl wrestling guys. Generally, and from looking at her picture, the girls won't have to cut weight as severely as the guys would to make the weight class.
Sometimes, they will stronger, other times they might be quicker. The girl here obviously has technique down, becuase even in the worst wrestling states, if you don't have good technique, you won't make it to states, much less state finals.
I wrestled for 2 years, dislocated my right elbow 12 times and blew a ligament :)
And I also wrestled in the 275 lb weight class at 198 lbs and got my arse handed too me :)
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