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Motherhood on the mat
Marano raising daughter, Olympic medal hopes

By John Meyer, Denver Post Sports Writer 9/10/03

Post / Glen Martin Freestyle wrestler Kristie Marano poses with 5-year-old daughter Kayla at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Marano won a national tournament while pregnant

COLORADO SPRINGS - Kristie Marano once wrestled when she was eight months pregnant, but the six-time world championships medalist doesn't recommend it as a form of prenatal exercise.
"It was not one of the smartest things I've ever done," said Marano, a potential medal contender when women's wrestling makes its debut next summer in the Olympics. "I just thought I had a lot more time."

Turned out Marano, then 19, didn't have much time at all. Two weeks after winning the University Nationals tournament in 1998, Marano gave birth to Kayla (6 pounds, 7 ounces). Two weeks later, she won the third of her five U.S. titles.

What did her doctor say about wrestling while pregnant?

"Let's leave that out," Marano said, scrunching her face. "I was just really lucky."

Today Kayla, 5, is the unofficial mascot of the U.S. women's freestyle wrestling team. Her presence in the Olympic Training Center wrestling room was particularly welcome in recent days as the team went through its final preparations for the freestyle world championships, which begin Friday at Madison Square Garden.

"She's not bad to have around the program because sometimes it gets tense, especially this close to competition," coach Terry Steiner said. "Sometimes to have Kayla around is kind of a breath of fresh air."

Kayla is Kristie's biggest fan.

"Because she does good moves," said Kayla, already a peewee wrestler.

Marano went to her first world championships at age 17, only a few months after switching from judo to wrestling, and won a silver medal. She won three more silver medals before capturing a gold medal in 2000. Last year she took bronze, and she should be a gold-medal contender this week.

"Her biggest asset is her competitiveness," Steiner said. "She's been to six world championships and medaled every time. That's pretty unheard of."

Marano, who grew up in Albany, N.Y., moved to Colorado Springs last spring with her father and Kayla so she could train at the OTC. About 20 family members and friends will make the 130-mile drive from Albany to New York City to watch her in the world championships. Kayla will be there, too.

"I'm just so excited," Marano said last week after a workout. "That rush will guarantee to kick into my wrestling."

Marano started in judo when she was Kayla's age and was good at it, but she tore an anterior cruciate knee ligament shortly before the 1996 Olympic trials.

"They wouldn't let her wear a knee brace in judo, but she could in wrestling," said Marano's father, Conrad Stenglein, explaining her transition into wrestling. "She won nationals (in wrestling), went to worlds and took silver. At that point I thought, 'She's second in the world, maybe she should concentrate on wrestling."'

Marano found her judo background helpful in wrestling, and she still uses judo moves.

"Grappling is grappling," Stenglein said. "It's just different rules."

Marano was briefly married to Kayla's father, but he left them shortly after Marano won her world title. For a while she lost her desire for wrestling.

"I easily could have fallen apart," Marano said. "It was definitely a hard hit, a wake-up call. Things happen, and you have to brush it off. If I had hung up myself on that, I don't know where I'd be. I bounced back. I consider myself a pretty strong person."

The move to Colorado Springs helped. Instead of training with high school boys back in Albany, she gets to work out with the top women in the United States. The women's program at the OTC was created in August 2002.

"Right now she's got everything together," Stenglein said. "She's totally dedicated to it. I guess she had to live and learn ... Being here, it's like she came back. She's wrestling better than she ever has."

Stenglein helps with Kayla so Marano can concentrate on wrestling. They live together in a Colorado Springs apartment.

"Getting out of Albany and concentrating on one thing definitely helped. It's one of my better steps," Marano said. "My dad is a huge, huge, huge part of my life and sports. I'm just so thankful and lucky and appreciative that he put his life on hold for me and my mom let me borrow him."