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Girl wrestler holds her own (defeats USGWA ranked wrestler)

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE (RIVERSIDE, CA.)

January 10, 2001, Wednesday

Despite appearances, Layne Allred is not sugar and spice and
everything nice. Hemet High School's first female varsity wrestler
has an edge to her.

The first clue comes when she is asked about her favorite part of
wrestling.

"Making the boys cry," is the quick response from the 16-year-old
junior.

The second clue is she owns a punching bag.

Allred is tough, and she was that way before ever hitting the
mat. Her decision to join the Bulldogs' wrestling program during
her freshman year didn't come without opposition. Neither of her
parents were taken with idea, and that was nothing compared to the
cold shoulder from the team.

"They all thought I wasn't going to make it," Allred said of her
teammates. "They thought I was there to draw attention to myself
when that was the last thing I wanted."

She stuck it out and along the way managed to change some minds.
Her father, Jeff Allred, who also wrestled at the school, jumped
ship after she started winning. That didn't take long. Layne won
her first match ever against a boy.

"I didn't know what I was doing, but the crowd was screaming,"
she said.

Hemet coach Matt Wiley said Allred won about half of her matches
during her first two years at the freshman and junior varsity
levels.

"She is not just going out there as a novelty," he said. "Layne
is very strong-willed, has a winning attitude and never gives up.
Some guys may see a girl and expect her to be a pushover, but she
fights to the end."

Allred is the second female wrestler at the school. The program's
first, Yoshii Maezumi, was a senior when she joined the team.
Several others have started with the program but left.

"In the past, girls have come out and been more interested in
fraternizing and then disappear," Wiley said. "The difficulty is
determining who wants to wrestle. Layne definitely does."

Wiley has used Allred in a utility role, plugging her into gaps
in his lineup so the team doesn't sacrifice six points for a
forfeit. If she doesn't get pinned, she saves the team valuable
points.

The jump to varsity hasn't been easy, Layne is searching for her
first win and struggles sometimes with having to bounce around to
make different weights. Allred is 5 foot, 6 inches and weighs 130
pounds.

"I just try not to get pinned," she said. "It usually depends on
how good the guy is."

While she can't match the upper body strength of many of her male
opponents, Allred uses her flexibility as an asset. She
participated in gymnastics for seven years and pole vaulted for the
Bulldogs.

"If I could get (angry) I'd do better," she said. "I'm just too
nice."

Allred excels when facing other female wrestlers. She finished
first in her weight class (132 pounds) at the Williams Cup
all-female tournament in Thousand Oaks Saturday, defeating a
wrestler who finished eighth in the nationals last year. Allred was
second in the Williams tournament last year.

She said she may continue to wrestle in college. Female
wrestling is growing nationally with a total of 2,474 athletes
participating in 734 high school programs across the country,
according to a survey by the National Federation of State High
School Associations. It is expected to be a sport at the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens.