Carolina Girls Take Male Wrestlers to the Mat
Lauren Clark-Johnson, a senior at Southeast Raleigh High School, puts Matt Cox of West Carteret High School in a head lock. She went on to win her 112-pound division match in the Mark Adams Holiday Classic at Cary High School in December.
When Lauren Clark-Johnson is silently preparing for her opponent, she can blend into a gym full of boys at a high school wrestling meet. Once a match begins, Clark-Johnson, one of the best girl wrestlers in the state, no longer blends in with the boys. She often beats them.
January 11, 2009
Before a match, when Lauren Clark-Johnson is silently preparing for her opponent, she can blend into a gym full of boys at a high school wrestling meet.
As a competitor in the 112-pound weight class, she has a wiry physique typical for a high school wrestler.
Once a match begins, Clark-Johnson, one of the best girl wrestlers in the state, no longer blends in with the boys. She often beats them.
Clark-Johnson, a senior at Southeast Raleigh High, and a handful of other female wrestlers across the state have learned how to win.
"At 112, everybody's going to be bigger than me," said Clark-Johnson, alluding to upper-body strength. "Having the technique absolutely perfect is the key to who's going to win."
But Clark-Johnson and her colleagues are still learning how to deal with the negative, often painful fallout from beating boys at their own game. Girls aren't always given respect for winning and sometimes face resentment. Boys who lose to girls can face ridicule from teammates, parents and coaches.
The pressure can be so great that some coaches are reluctant to match boys against girls.
Clark-Johnson has won more matches than she has lost this year. As a sophomore, she was one win short of qualifying for the state tournament. Her career record is 99-60, with almost all the wins against boys.
An injury may have cost her a chance to become the first female wrestler to qualify for the state finals last season. Olivia Branch of Rosewood High qualified in the 103-pound class and advanced to the second round in February.
Clark-Johnson has seen coaches scream at their wrestlers for losing to her.
"They don't seem to accept the fact that he lost to someone who was better," she said, "that he could lose to a female."
Wrestlers from some schools have refused to wrestle Clark-Johnson. More than 20 wrestlers have forfeited against her, many because of concerns about wrestling a girl. She takes it as an insult, though it no longer happens as often.
"At first, people didn't think I was worthy to compete against their wrestlers, that I was inadequate," she said. "It seemed stupid because I worked so hard. Then, when I started winning, they didn't want to hurt their kid's ego."
At Cary High's Mark Adams Holiday Classic in late December, Clark-Johnson beat Matt Cox, a freshman from West Carteret High.
Cox said a friend who also lost to Clark-Johnson last year is no longer wrestling.
"He got picked on so much he quit," Cox said.
West Carteret's coach at the time, Dan Varner, now an assistant coach at the school, said that wasn't the reason he was given when the boy quit.
Cox said he loves the sport and wouldn't quit even if he were teased for losing to a girl. A few weeks later, nobody had ribbed him, he said.
Skill over muscle
It can be a battle for girls to get a chance to wrestle.
There are four girls on Knightdale High's team, including two sisters who routinely win matches against boys, Jessica and Lacy Haig. All have competed at the varsity level to varying degrees.
Jessica, a senior wrestling in the 130-pound class, is 10-17 this season. Lacy (125), a junior, is 3-15. Sophomore Jaha Cruz (103) is 11-21 at the varsity level. And freshman Jordan Weber (130) is 0-2, having wrestled most of her matches in junior varsity.
The Haigs had to win over their father before they could compete against boys.
Mark Haig needed the nudging of a friend when he agreed to let Jessica and Lacy wrestle several years ago.
"I think it was a boys-don't-wrestle-girls inclination," Haig said.
Haig and his friend started a girls wrestling club in Oregon. Two years ago, when the family moved to Knightdale, the Haig sisters knew a thing or two about wrestling.
Above: Johnson hugs her wrestling coach, Jeff Smith, after defeating an opponent in the 112-pound class.
Few Colleges Let Women Wrestle
Lauren Clark-Johnson, a senior at Southeast Raleigh, would like to wrestle in college.
Until only a few years ago, hardly any colleges across the country had women's teams or clubs.
Now, there are just 13 schools, but Clark-Johnson, who wants to study architecture, isn't sure there's a program that's right for her.
"Academics are going to make my decision," she said.
Of the 13 schools, there's only one in the Southeast, the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky. Most of the programs are in the Midwest or on the West Coast.
Clark-Johnson, who has a 4.08 grade-point average, said she'll probably wrestle independently.
RIGGS VS. KING IN 'BATTLE OF THE SEXES'
Probably the most memorable display of male-female sportsmanship occurred in 1973, when Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon champion, then 55 years old, claimed that men's tennis was so superior that he, even at his age, could beat the top women.
First, he dispatched Margaret Court, 30, considered the top female tennis player in the world at the time.
That set up the nationally televised "Battle of the Sexes" match at Houston's Astrodome, between Riggs and Billy Jean King, then 26.
King won all three sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Source: The News and Observer
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