Top 5 Stories in Women's Wrestling: Downey's Debacle, #HowSheWrestles & More
Sarah Hildebrandt at 2020 Pan Am Qualifier. Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo / WrestlersAreWarriors.com
by Derek Levendusky, AWW Staff
Screenshot of Sarah Hildebrandt from her video on @HowSheWrestles. Picture courtesy of Sarah Hildebrandt.
What’s going on in women’s wrestling lately? Here’s the top 5 storylines.
1. Pat Downey Nukes Twitter, Then Himself
After posting a controversial tweet criticizing the marketability of women’s wrestling on July 11th, a post that got under the skin of the women’s wrestling community and many who support it, scores of accounts returned fire at Downey.
Part of his original post read, “…in general the average fan aint paying for womens wrestling #SorryNotSorry #FeelingsLieNumbersDont.” U.S. world teamer Sara Hildebrandt responded, “It’s incredibly disappointing that our own teammates say this shit. It’s absolutely whack to me. What does he gain by saying this? Nothing. He only hurts women wrestlers. He only hurts OUR sport.”
Downey’s strange response chided, “The audacity of this women with literally no senior level credentials…” Hildebrandt was a 2018 World Silver Medalist in Budapest.
That evening on Twitter, Downey posted what seemed to be a heartfelt apology, but the next day it was more of the same on Twitter and Instagram, leaving Downey in the crosshairs of critics again after multiple new posts doubling down on his original post, including rescinding his apology from the night before with the comment, “I’d like to take this time to apologize to absolutely f**king nobody #iSaidwatiSaid.”
Over a period of five days, Downey was dropped by the NJRTC (New Jersey Regional Training Center), lost his spot on the card against David Taylor at the July 25th FloWrestling event, and lost his endorsement agreement with Barbarian Apparel. This last week, he was even terminated by his management company, Paradigm Sports. At the time this article was written, he deleted every single Tweet in his feed except a retweet that said, “I need to get married.”
Downey maintains that he’s the victim of cancel culture, guilty only of sharing an unpopular opinion, though many think his tirade warranted the backlash he received.
2. #HowSheWrestles
The uproar with Pat Downey on Twitter and conversations surrounding the omission of a women’s match by FloWrestling on the July 25th card spawned the #HowSheWrestles campaign which will feature weekly topics and personal testimonials. The project was founded by King University assistant coach and Wrestle Like a Girl staffer Julia Salata.
“I started #HowSheWrestles to get stories out there,” explains Salata, who also still competes on the senior level. “A lot of issues come because the wrestling community doesn’t know our athletes. I think if people knew our girls, they’d give more attention to our sport.”
Graphic courtesy of Victoria Francis for @howshewrestles IG & Twitter.
Salata said the project gained steam as she dialogued with other senior level women, especially Victoria Francis and Jenna Burkert. Katherine Shai told Wombat Wrestling, speaking of her conversations with other women, “Even though there was a huge conversation going on on Twitter, there was a side conversation going on on our What’s App group…we’ve had conversations amongst each other. That’s how we came together to build on the #HowSheWrestles campaign.”
The campaign is an opportunity for athletes and coaches at all levels, current and retired, to make their stories heard. Last Sunday, on the first day of the campaign, there were already videos posted of current and past senior level wrestlers Alexandria Glaude, Bri Csontos, Tela O’Donnell, Katherine Shai, Julia Salata, Alexis Porter, Jenna Burkert, Erin Golston, Emma Bruntil, Victoria Francis, and even 2008 Olympic bronze medal winner Randi Miller. Since the first day of the campaign, 5-time world champion Adeline Gray posted her story, followed by a video from 2016 Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis. And still others are joining the movement.
Within the first 24 hours, the campaign had over 75,000 unique views on Twitter. “It’s exceeded our expectations and taken off,” said Salata. ”We love seeing the younger wrestlers get involved. There’s a lot more we have planned for it.”
The campaign has set up Twitter and Instagram account at @howshewrestles and can also be followed on using the hashtag #HowSheWrestles.
3. The Open Mat Ranks King’s Recruiting Class at #1
The Open Mat published their second annual Women’s College Recruiting Rankings, giving King University the #1 spot in their poll.
Their recruits are headlined by #2 in our AWW National Rankings Viktorya Torres of Granger, Washington, at 136, #3 Aine Drury of Westminster, California, at 143; #7 Kathleen Janis of Layton, Utah, at 191; #9 Melanie Mendoza of Selma, California, at 123; #14 Johanna Palshan of Anderson, Michigan, at 116; #18 Melanie Mendoza of Selma, California, at 116; and #18 Monica Garcia of Norte Vista, California, at 116, and #25 Samantha Larsen of Wallkill Valley, New Jersey, at 116. The list also includes a once top-ranked boxer, Sophia Mirabella of New York City, who transitioned to wrestling within the past few years and had a deep run at Fargo in 2019. She’ll compete in the 123-pound class.
Other recruits: LaStacia Cloyd (Memphis Central, Tennessee, 123), Alyssa Guardiola (Paloma Valley, California, 109), Deja Heatley (Palo Verde, Nevada, 109), and Skylar Novak (Lincoln Way-Central, Illinois, 136).
Menlo came in at #2 in The Open Mat’s poll. Their top recruits include #2 Alia Abushi of Arroyo, California, at 170; #15 Alejandra Corral of Aiea, Hawaii, at 109; #2 Nanea Estrella of Lahainaluna, Hawaii, at 130; and #2 Louisa Schwab of Joliet West, Illinois, at 130.
Colorado Mesa continues to gain national attention, landing at #3 with top talent coming in, including #2 ranked Isabeau Shalack of Evergreen Park, Illinois, at 191; including #3 ranked Tristan Kelly of Douglas County, Colorado, at 170; #8 Holly Beaudoin of North Kitsap, Washington, at 116; #16 Zoe Gress of Hoosick Falls Central, New York, at 136; and USAW #13 ranked Lizzie Miller of Buffalo, Missouri.
Last year’s WCWA Champion Campbellsville came in at #7 and NCAA Champion McKendree came in at #12.
The rest of the list of top 15 can be seen at The Open Mat with subscription.
4. Wrestling Governing Bodies Adjusting Calendars Due to Pandemic
State governing bodies and USA Wrestling at the state and national level continue to monitor and react to the pandemic with scheduling adjustments. CIF (California Interscholastic Federation), the governing body for California high school wrestling, announced that they are moving the high school wrestling season to the spring. That announcement was followed by the USAW state program shifting their championship and trial schedule. Perhaps this is a model of what’s coming for other states?
Meanwhile, the UWW (United World Wrestling) Executive Board set plans for the remaining 2020 events, putting U23, Junior, and Senior Worlds on a conditional schedule. USA Wrestling reported, “Any competition wishing to be held in 2020 must follow the criteria as established by the Executive Board and must be fulfilled for any competitions to go ahead. The competitions must include 8 of the 10 best ranked teams and a minimum of 70% participating countries (based on prior year’s athlete attendance).”
There are also local considerations for potential host sites, including monitoring the pandemic. If all criteria is met, the current, though tentative, schedule has been set as follows:
- Cadet European Championships - City TBD, POL - October 5-11, 2020
- Junior European Championships – Skopje, MKD - October 19-25, 2020
- U23 World Championships – Tampere, FIN - November 23-29, 2020
In an effort to reduce risk, the Executive Board also chose to combine Junior Worlds with Senior World in Belgrade in December. The Junior World Championships would be December 4-10, 2020 and Senior Worlds would be December 12-22, 2020.
USA Wrestling is still finalizing dates for Junior and U23 World Team Trials this fall.
During the completion of this article, USAW also announced that Senior Nationals will be held this fall in Coralville, IA from October 9-11.
5. Helen Maroulis Signs with DMV RTC
Maryland-based DMV RTC added 2016 Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis as an assistant coach and resident athlete. The announcement came along with the news that Jon Morrison has been hired as the head coach. Morrison was a 4x NCAA qualifier for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 2011-14.
Maroulis hails from Maryland, so this will be a homecoming for the well-decorated wrestler as she eyes a run at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. “As a Maryland native it’s such a joy to come back to my roots,” Maroulis posted in Instagram, “which is why I’m excited to announce I am officially joining the DMV RTC program as coach and athlete, alongside new head coach Jon Morrison.”