Recently, I’ve been able to correspond with three female wrestling pioneers along with Billy Cox about the subject of girls wrestling for two separate pieces I am doing on the subject. The road to sanction girls wrestling in Utah has been anything but smooth. While the destination to sanction girls wrestling has been reached, there is still some uncertainty on what should happen next to continue to grow the sport, make programs stronger, and competitions more viable. Let me reflect a bit on some of the history.

You can say that I’ve been a part of the girls wrestling journey. In my book I co-authored with Daniel Blanhard entitled, “Hitting the Mat: The Making of a State Champion or At Least a Good Man”, I talked about my most nerve wracking moment in wrestling. 

Let me say it wasn’t my first high school match, my first college match or the time as a sophomore in high school, I squared off with Granger 2-time state champion Trevor Marsh, who was not only skilled but just plain mean. It came as a senior in high school when I would often officiate the odd off-season freestyle meet.

Sherry Smuin (Jessen) was our state’s first girl wrestler and she was creating quite the stir in youth wrestling in the late 1970’s into the early 1980’s. She was about my younger brother Scott’s age, as Scott would have been 11 at this time. They weren’t in the same weight class but Sherry was tearing it up and on her way to the championship finals at the state freestyle meet held at Hillcrest High School.  As was common, the more matches Sherry won, the angrier her critics got, most of it thrust upon her supporting and loving father. Many would look at any possible rule to have her disqualified, and I know at this particular tournament, it was whether she could wear a t-shirt under her singlet. Again as the tournament progressed, the dissenters were now in a frenzy and most of the officials, young and old alike, refused to officiate her championship match. I don’t know if my father Dennis Preece, the longtime coach at Uintah HS located in Vernal, and where Sherry hailed from and where he had coached Sherry’s father Levi, had any official capacity at the tournament. But I know he made the final call on what should happen next.

He told her opposers to “shut up” (profanities omitted) and ordered me to officiate the match. And officiating that match was that most nerve-wracking moment I’ve ever had in wrestling.  Sherry was legit and the match was a close one. Parents had completely surrounded the mat and my efforts to clear the area went unheeded. About all of them, save Sherry’s Dad, were rooting against her. My own father trusted me to do my best to officiate it fairly and I did. Sherry lost by a point or two, I think 4-2. But I remember how gracious in defeat she was, as was her father who personally thanked my father and me. That meant a lot then as it does now. 

Though there wasn’t a happy Hollywood ending where Sherry ended up being a state champion in high school, she stayed in the sport as a manager for the junior high and high school teams. But most importantly, her own daughter Kaisly Hatch wrestled up through ninth grade and actually placed third in state for Altamont. Still, I got a first-hand taste of the vitriol she and her father faced at every tournament. Sherry felt she could no longer put her father through it all and she gave up competing, but Sherry was grateful by the time her daughter wrestled in the 2000’s, the climate for girls wrestling was more supportive. 

“After wrestling and actually placing at many of my first tournaments, things started to get ugly for my dad,” said Sherry. “It was like a match in itself for him, dads not letting their sons wrestle a girl, referees not wanting to referee a girls match, then the rule book, ‘no t-shirts allowed!!’ As a young girl I still wanted to maintain some dignity. I wouldn't ditch the t-shirt under the wrestling singlet! I would have to wear a blind fold while weighing in.  Things were quite a bit different for me in the early 1980's.”  

A few years later I would be an assistant coach at West HS and in came Mali Marticorena (Evans). She was the younger sister of one of our team leaders, Wayne, from our 1990-91 team. So we knew who she was and that she had an interest in wrestling. Our team was getting better and in Mali’s senior year, 1994, we finished second in the 3A state tournament. We had two undefeated wrestlers, one of which would be an All-American (Jeff Holtry) who would wrestle and win in the prestigious Dapper Dan event.

Jeff’s father Don was the head coach and as socially conservative as they come. He was also the head football coach. But beyond that, he was a fixture in the community, a stake president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was really the rock of the school and the Rose Park community. While Don was on the conservative side, his main assistant Dan Potts was on the ultra-progressive side of life. Don wasn’t happy that Mali was wrestling and so were most of the boys. But we weren’t sure if we would get sued if we just kicked Mali off the team. So we rolled with it and Dan took on the role to help Mali navigate things. I was supportive (I think Mali would say so), but I was a sounding board a bit for the boys as the young assistant coach. I would nod my head when the boys would complain while maintaining she had the right to wrestle and we all needed to deal with it. Over time, Mali won more acceptance of her teammates and perhaps more importantly that of  Don, because no matter what your opinion was of Mali and girls wrestling, Don was a man every boy on the team respected. And when teams would want to forfeit to her, we all fought for her right to compete. 

When Jennifer Taggart (Davenport) came out for wrestling the next season, I have to admit, it made things a lot easier. She became the primary workout partner for Mali and I’m sure they gave each other the moral support each needed. While neither ever won a match, they earned my respect and the respect of most in our program. 

By 1996, I was in the third year as the head coach at Provo High School. Alanna Benally (Hunter), one of our best volleyball players, decided to try out for the sport. By doing so, she became the first female wrestler in Utah County and third in state history. She was also the first female Native American wrestler in our state.

Alanna was a senior with no experience in a middle weight class, so let’s just say though she was a great natural athlete, she lost every match by pin. I was glad when I reached out that she had some nice things to say about me and our program.

“My wrestling experience at Provo High School was a very positive one,” said Alanna. “I was doing an internship as an athletic trainer for the wrestling team when I decided to talk to the coach about joining the team. Coach Preece was great about the whole thing and I started practice the next day.”

“The team was very welcoming and very helpful. Even though I was the only girl on the team I never really felt out of place during practice. Match days were always a bit awkward. I had to wear a shirt under my singlet and a shower cap over my long hair and under my headgear.  My weigh-ins were held separately since I couldn’t go in the boys’ locker room. Those were really the only times I felt different. Even then, the referees were always kind and no one ever refused to wrestle against me (that I knew of).”

This is where I need to give credit where credit is due to my longtime assistant coach Darren Hirsche. Like what Dan Potts did at West High School, he was the one coach that looked after Alanna taking the time to make sure the boys on the team treated her with respect, while also being her main instructor in wrestling technique.

Alanna went on to say that while she had no competitive success in the sport, that participating in wrestling changed her life. 

“Wrestling teaches us so many things that can help us later in life. Since it is an individual sport, any accomplishments or failures are yours and yours alone,” Alanna stated. “I had only ever played team sports before I tried wrestling. It is such a different mindset and I think it’s important to a young person’s development. It teaches discipline, discipline with our diet, sleep, time management, etc. It teaches us to push ourselves, to push our bodies past what we thought we were capable of. This brings so much self-confidence and such a feeling of accomplishment. I’m glad that this opportunity is now available for our young women in the state of Utah.”

After Alanna, I coached two other female wrestlers before I retired in 2006. One of them Angie Martin competed in a region tournament and made the semifinals out of 16 wrestlers in our JV Region tourney.

Another important pioneer in Utah wrestling was Kate Chappell. Kate was the first female wrestler to qualify for the state wrestling tournament doing so for North Sevier in 2004. While students at her school gave her a hard time for wrestling, Chappell said it was the adults that presented the most challenges. 

“I think the adults tried harder to get me to quit than my peers. I was ridiculed for it by my classmates a bit, but the adults were the worst,” said Kate. “They would say things like ‘Girls don’t wrestle. It’s not ladylike. You’ll go to hell for this. It’s bad for the boys to have to wrestle you. What are you doing to them? How will the boys feel?’”

Kate did have supporting parents, including her father George, who was the head coach at North Sevier. But it was still often difficult getting matches as many times opposing schools would not provide opponents, even if there were wrestlers in her weight class.

“I am not sure if I was more frustrated when I made weight only to find the boy on the other team had forfeited for some reason, or when I worked hard all week to make weight only to have the opposing coach tell me it wasn’t worth the effort to weigh me in and say I ‘looked’ my weight and let me go,” related Kate. “Even once it was well known that I would be there, opposing teams’ coaches often ‘forgot’ to have somewhere for me to weigh-in or change clothes.”

After her competition years, Kate stayed with the sport becoming an official and even an assistant coach for a short time at Wayne High School. She told me she plans on getting back into officiating next season. I always made sure when I ran the JV rumble, she worked at our event. I thought she was a very good young official and I wanted to be sure she got noticed.

Every girl that competed in the past and does today is a pioneer. Wrestling is not an easy sport, regardless of gender. And for many, the stereotype or paradigm that wrestling should be a male-only sport is still strong in our society, and in Utah in particular. But here’s some pioneers of girls wrestling in Utah. These are the young women who dared to wrestle when it wasn’t (and still isn’t) the popular thing to do. Some never won matches, others entertain Olympic dreams.

Alanna Benally (Hunter)--Alanna was the first girl wrestler in Utah County competing for Provo High School in the late 1990’s. She was also an All-State volleyball player and assisted in the volleyball program at Provo High School for several years. 

Kate Chappell--Kate was the first female to qualify for the state wrestling championships competing for North Sevier. Her father George was the longtime coach there. Kate also became the first female state level high school wrestling official and the first female assistant coach when she worked at Wayne High School. 

Hailey Cox--Hailey has wrestled on many national teams earning successes in many high profile national and international events. She was the first girl to win youth Super State and qualified for the boys state tournament in high school. Because of her successes and her father Billy being a strong advocate for girls wrestling, the number of girl wrestlers expanded exponentially. She currently competes at McKendree University in Illinois in one of the top female college programs in the country.

Emily Finlinson--Emily competed in youth wrestling in the 1980’s and 1990’s though she chose not to compete in high school. Emily’s son Jacob became Westlake’s first state champion and is going for his fourth state title this season. Emily’s daughter Emmy is a key member on the girls team for Westlake and Emily also serves as an assistant coach.

Kaisly Hatch--As a freshman, Kaisly placed third in the 1A state wrestling tournament becoming the second female wrestler in state history to place in a state tournament.

Mali Marticorena (Evans)--Mali was the first female high school wrestler in the State of Utah competing for West High School in the early to mid 1990’s. Her son Xaine wrestles for a high school in Florida.

Angela Martin--Angela was the second female wrestler ever in Utah County and first female wrestler in the state to compete at a varsity region tournament for a large school while at Provo High School.

Sage Mortimer--Sage is still competing at ALA and during her career became the third girl to place in state. Sage is currently ranked as the No. 2 girl in her weight class (116 pounds). Sage was the first and only female wrestler to earn All-American status wrestling against the boys at the USA Wrestling Nationals held in Fargo. 

Sherry Smuin (Jessen)--First girl wrestler to compete in Utah. Sherry placed in numerous youth state tournaments. Her daughter Kaisley Hatch became the second Utah female wrestler to place in the state championships wrestling for Altamont High School.

Jennifer Taggart (Davenport)--Jennifer joined the West High program after Mali and became the second female high school wrestler in state history.  

Candace Workman--First Utah girl to place at the state wrestling tournament placing second in state for Uintah High School in 2008.  Candace has competed on numerous national teams and has coached for USA Wrestling at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs.