Female Supremacy Articles - Page 13

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"When I first started, I'd hear people say to them, 'Oh, you got beat by a girl!' " Bachert said. "Lately it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. People are more accustomed to girls wrestling."

And the girls are more accustomed to succeeding at a sport where they've sometimes struggled.

"The stigma against wrestling girls isn't what it used to be," Costello said. "They have beaten enough guys to earn respect.

Girls have earned the respect of most boys, like Chugiak sophomore Brady Schultz (112), who learned first-hand to respect girl wrestlers. He lost to Bachert last season, although he beat her at the end of last season and also at last weekend's Glenn Vandergaw Classic.

"You're kind of nervous cause you don't want to lose and get made fun of," Schultz said. "But you respect what they can do."

Schultz, along with other guys, said they must go as hard against girls as they do against other boys, and coaches all said they instruct their wrestlers to do that too.

"We don't coach 'em any other way," said Chugiak coach David Bierria.

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

Abby Gillaspie has to endure almost five more months as a junior at Sitka High, but she is about to begin working on her senior project -- coordinating an all-girls open wrestling tournament in Sitka that will follow the Class 4A state tournament in February 2006.