Adding ‘another dimension to wrestling'
OCU's women team debuts with dual loss, but interest in college sport is booming
OCU women adding ‘another dimension to wrestling'

By Matt Patterson

Published: November 11, 2007

Saturday afternoon at Abe Lemons Arena, Ashley Sword made history.

Oklahoma City University's brand new women's wrestling team may have lost its first dual 24-19 to the University of the Cumberlands, but the 147-pound Sword pinned Lauren Knight of the Cumberlands at 1:51, becoming the first female wrestler to win a dual match for OCU.

Sword's win was just part of the history made Saturday as OCU became the sixth women's wrestling program in the country.

OCU coach Archie Randall said there are about 2,000 high school aged girls wrestling in clubs and at schools across the country, and colleges are trying to catch up to the interest.

For OCU, it's another sport for an athletic department that has grown rapidly in recent years, adding rowing, volleyball and men's wrestling. Randall, a longtime coach at El Reno high school expects OCU's program to make its name on the Oklahoma wrestling scene.

"I don't think there's any doubt it will add another dimension to wrestling in Oklahoma,” Randall said. "We're already seeing more involvement on the high school level here and around the country. I've had 65 e-mails from high school girls since August wanting to know more about the program, some from Alaska and Hawaii.”

Randall said a changing society is one reason for the growth of women's wrestling on the high school and college level. In Oklahoma, Woodward's Joey Miller became the first high school girl to place at the state tournament in 2005. Several other girls wrestle at programs like El Reno and Northwest Classen.

"Women are more independent now,” Randall said. "They're interested in stepping up and competing and having careers. The get married and stay home with the kids lifestyle is a thing of the past. They want careers and part of that independence is competing in something that has traditionally been a men's sport.”

OCU sophomore Melissa Simmons welcomed the chance to be a part of a new program.

"Whenever you're doing something new it's always exciting,” Simmons said. "We're the first (in Oklahoma), but we also want to be number one. That's what brought us here.”

OCU's program has some ground to make up. Cumberlands, a school from Williamsburg, Ky., has been the top women's program in the college ranks.

Sword said she and her teammates welcome the challenges of being part of a new program.

"It's always a continual learning process,” said Sword, a Palm Beach, Florida native. "Every match you find something you need to work on. But it's a chance to show what we can do and show women's wrestling is a legitimate sport and we're real athletes, not girls just playing around.”

Cumberlands won the first five matches but OCU swept the last four including Sword's win. At 157, Simmons defeated Paige Rife 2-0, 2-1. At 176, Lacey Novinska defeated Christen Paysse, 1-4, 5-3, 4-2 and Carrie Clark edged Theresa Fennell, 1-1, 1-0, 3-0 at 209 pounds.

Nine of OCU's startling 11 are freshmen.

"We're really young and you can tell,” Randall said. "Cumberlands has a good program, but we're freshman. We'll be better by January and even better by March.”

Simmons is wrestling again after a two-year layoff and had trouble containing her excitement after the Stars' first dual. Even though the team lost, it served a purpose.

"We expected to win but we can get back at them at nationals,” Simmons said. "Losing will pick up the intensity in the room. We're not number one and that's where we want to be but that's part of the fun of getting better.”

Randall said he'll continue to tinker with the Stars' lineup leading up to the National Women's College Wrestling championships in March.

"There's nothing that's not reversible,” Randall said. "It's just a matter of adjusting your lineup to get your best squad ready at the end, not the beginning.”

Comments