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Waldport youth completes hat trick with national title

By Josh Jordan Of the News-Times 4/23/04

Waldport's Misty Corwin won her weight class at the United States Girls' Wrestling Association National Championships. The Waldport Middle School student has won her division for three consecutive years. (Courtesy photo)

Misty Corwin looks like many kids her age. Her smile holds the glint of braces, and her hair is cut long enough to look good, yet short enough to stay out of her way.

You would be wise to do the same.

Corwin defended her title at the Girls' Wrestling National Championships held March 27 and 28 In Lake Orion, Mich. It was the third consecutive national title for the Waldport Middle School eighth grader, who won all three of her matches by fall.

"She went out and just handled them with an attitude of 'I'm not going to give them a chance,' " Misty's mother Bobbi Corwin said.

The 13 year old won the 90-pound division at the seventh annual tournament. It marked the third time that Corwin won her weight class in the middle school division. Next year, Misty will step up into the high school age division where the level of competition will increase. That won't stop her from going for her fourth straight title.

"Next year it's going to be a bigger tournament for me because there will be more girls, so it will be harder," she said. "I'm going to go back every year in high school, and if I win every year, that will be seven times."

Those are high hopes for the youngster who began wrestling in the Waldport Junior League program when she was four - to help give some of the smaller boys someone to compete with. She continued honing her skills in the youth program until she was eight, when she started to compete at tournaments. Corwin began to wrestle at girls' tournaments in 2002. Prior to that, her competition had been mainly boys.

Competing against the boys was nothing new to Corwin, who counts wrestling as one of several sports that fill a busy schedule. She played junior league football last fall and was named the MVP of her team where she played fullback. She also plays soccer and runs track, excelling at both.

Corwin thinks she will run cross country and track when she goes into her freshman year next fall at Waldport High School. She's not afraid of playing football at the high school level, but thinks she will have a more immediate impact running.

"I really like football, but I don't think I'm going to play next year," she said. "I know I won't make varsity, and even if I did I wouldn't get much playing time. I'm a lot better at cross country, so that's probably what I'll do."

Corwin does plan to wrestle in high school and has already started thinking about her plans for the next level.

"I'm going to wrestle, and I hope to make it to state. That's my goal," she said.

That seems reachable for a young athlete who is already a national champion.