Some would think that competing in a male-dominated sport would be near impossible.
Tiffani Freimark is a senior at Ogemaw Heights High School. Inspired by her brother, father and her friend Miranda Homan, two years ago Friemark decided to join the male-dominated sport and began wrestling.
Freimark has wrestled at OHHS since 2014.
Having only practiced a few weeks before her first match with OHHS, Freimark stepped up. The team needed a wrestler in the 140-pound weight class, 15 pounds more than Freimark.
“I didn’t think I could compete with the guys,” said Freimark. “I used to think you had to out muscle your opponent but it’s more about technique.”
In addition to wrestling at OHHS, she also wrestles with Team Michigan and has competed all over the state in the War of Roses tournaments, a female-focused event bringing together girls and women from across the state to compete.
“How you play the sport will affect the team but when you are out there on the mat is just you and the other person,” Freimark said. “It’s how bad you want it.”
Currently Freimark is ranked second in the state in the 125-pound weight class, according to the Team Michigan website.
“She usually places in the top two or three in the girls tournaments she wrestles in,” said OHHS wrestling coach Dominic Goulette. “The self-discipline and dedication in wrestling is what sets it apart.”
Women’s wrestling is on the rise according to Goulette. Last year Freimark was one of three females on the team, this year one of six.
“It is different wrestling guys than it is wrestling girls,” Freimark said. “It’s like who is smarter, not stronger.”
Sometimes a fact that is entangled in controversy, currently in many places wrestling is a co-ed sport. In 2011, Joel Northrup, an Iowa teen, received national attention when he defaulted in a wrestling match because he wouldn’t wrestle a girl. Northrup was a favorite to win the match and cited personal religious reasons for his default.
However, more and more high schools and colleges across the country are adding women’s wrestling programs.
Since 1994, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association, the number of women who wrestle in high school has grown from 804 to 11,496, and it is now recognized as an Olympic sport.
After graduating, Freimark said she plans to attend Ottawa University, a faithed-based university located in Ottawa, Kansas. One of several colleges in the country to feature a woman’s wrestling team, Ottawa University is also where Miranda Homan is currently attending school.
Courtesy of: The Ogemaw County Herald
Photo: Matt Varcak/Oscoda County Herald