News Page

Teen female wrestler featured in Parade Magazine's Fresh Voices column

7/18/2005
Alexis Richel/Parade Magazine

New York, July 18 - Danbury, Conn., resident Susie Levitt, 18, was ranked No. 4 by the United States Girls Wrestling Association for the 2004 season. As women's wrestling gains momentum (it became an Olympic event last summer), Levitt tells PARADE magazine for this Sunday's issue why she hopes more girls will give the sport a chance.

"At first, everyone thought I was out there just to be with the boys," Levitt says. "But I proved I was serious. I love wrestling because I'm competitive."

Her love of wrestling might have something to do with her pedigree. She tells PARADE that her older brother was an All-American wrestler and her dad became a wrestling zealot and began an elementary league.

"My sister and I were the only girls on the team. When I was 7, I beat every boy in the league in my weight class," she said.

Levitt began wrestling again in high school, where she was the only girl on a team full of state champions. "By then, the boys were all stronger. I have a lot of muscle, but the boys are naturally faster. In practice, I'd have to push myself as hard as I could just to keep up."

"A lot of guys have refused to wrestle me because they're afraid of losing," she says. "That's why I'm hoping more girls will come out for wrestling, so we don't have to be matched with guys. Its actually a lot harder to wrestle other girls, because we're flexible and can do lots of moves guys can't."

Levitt enjoys wrestling because it is a team sport, yet you can compete individually. And it's a great workout.

"People are shocked when I tell them I wrestle, because I'm so girly: I wear makeup, have long hair and curves.It shows that you don't have to be a tomboy or weird. You can just be a regular girl who wants to wrestle," she said.

PARADE magazine is distributed in over 350 of the nation's finest newspapers.

----------------------------------------------

Eight states to participate in first Women’s Junior National Duals in Fargo, N.D., July 28

7/17/2005
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

For the first time in USA Wrestling history, a Women’s National Dual Meet Championship will be hosted, pitting state-level teams of high school women wrestlers in competition against each other.

The first USA Wrestling Women’s Junior National Duals will be hosted at the Bison Sports Arena on the campus of North Dakota State Univ. in Fargo, N.D, on Thursday, July 28. The competition will begin at 9:00 a.m., and will continue straight through until completion, which is estimated at 3:30 p.m.

These teams of female high school wrestlers are organized by the state associations that are participating in the ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals, which are being held in the FargoDome during the week.

The women athletes will also be competing in the ASICS/Vaughan Junior Nationals for women, the individual tournament which is scheduled for July 29-30 in the FargoDome. It is the fourth year that there has been a women’s division at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior Nationals.

The states that have entered teams in the Women’s Junior National Duals are: California, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin.

A seeding criteria has been established, and the teams will be seeded prior to the competition.

Each team will get five matches during the competition. Teams will be broken into two pools, with four teams in each pool. After each pool is completed, there will be a Gold pool and a Bronze pool round to set the medal pairings. The fifth round will feature the 1st place match, 3rd place match, 5th place match and 7th place match.

Many of the nation’s most successful Junior women wrestlers come from these states, which have chosen to enter teams in the first Women’s Junior National Duals event. Last year, there were 39 athletes who came from these eight states that were All-Americans at the ASICS/Vaughan Junior Nationals.

National Dual Meet Championships have become among the most popular and successful of USA Wrestling events on the age-group levels. This is the first National Duals for age-group women in the nation. However, there are National Dual Meet Championships for boys on the Junior, Cadet and Schoolboy levels, events that have shown great growth and participation. These events allow USA Wrestling’s state associations to test themselves as teams, and allow for state pride in achievement.