As a female wrestler in the Shoreline School District during the early 1990s, Ranée Gigrich was set up to fail.
Despite doubtful district officials, parents and athletes, Gigrich didn’t quit.
Throughout the decade, Gigrich blazed a trail for female wrestlers as the first female wrestler at Kellogg Middle School and the first girl to letter in wrestling at Shorecrest High School. She now helps young girls get a start on the mat with a Lynnwood club team.
Her own experience was less than welcoming.
“It was crazy. I didn’t know it was going to be a battle,” Gigrich said. “At times, I felt really alone.”
Some of her male opponents flat out declined to wrestle her. Other opponents were more fierce to save face from losing to a girl. And the matches were more than physical — Gigrich sustained a broken jaw, broken fingers, a broken nose and a cracked rib.
“It got aggressive,” she said.
Arriving at meets, the girls locker room was typically closed, forcing Gigrich to change on the bus, in bathrooms or wait until her 40 male teammates had cleared the boys locker room and yell, “Girl on deck.”
Her teammates were split; only half were supportive of having a female teammate.
Then Shoreline Spartans club team coach Steve Cash encouraged her male teammates to accept her on the team.
“He came in and said, ‘This is a team, and this person is going to give 100 percent,’” she said. “He was a really good advocate for me.”
Path to the mat
After watching her uncle compete at wrestling matches and advancing to state, Gigrich was hooked. But her parents weren’t supportive of their daughter and skipped her matches.
“It was difficult; I didn’t have my parents at matches,” she said. “But I developed relationships with my coaches and still have those friendships 13 years later.”
During her freshman year at Shorecrest High School, Gigrich was required to collect more than 200 signatures from students and staff in support of her wrestling with the team.
“It was really rough; the district wasn’t for it,” she said.
Gigrich spent her lunches rallying her peers and teachers to sign the petition.
“To this day, I don’t know why I had to do that,” she said. “It was bizarre and weird that guys could just sign up.”
Gigrich pushed herself to compete at district, state and tournaments in Canada on the weekends. After graduating high school in 1997, Gigrich continued to wrestle on club teams for two years.
“I miss competing — the adrenaline rush and the drive of getting out there,” she said.
Room for improvement
The double standards Gigrich conquered don’t seem to exist in schools today, she said. For example, the language used on sign-up fliers is more inclusive.
But while there are now more female wrestlers and they are treated with more respect — by having more mat time and getting more support from their male teammates and coaches — there’s room for improvement, Gigrich said.
“There’s still a prejudice today against female wrestlers,” she said.
She would like to one day see an all-girls private club team.
For now, Gigrich is an assistant coach for the new co-ed club team, the Lynnwood Predators. This is her third year coaching; she formerly worked with the Wrestling Rhinos as an assistant coach.
“I kind of changed as the world kept changing, but wrestling never changed,” she said. The Lynnwood Predators have male and female teammates ranging from 3 to 18 years old. Gigrich is one of several assistant coaches. Gigrich said head coach Kirk Calkins has been receptive toward having a female coach.
“He’s really open to me,” she said. “There are some teams and schools that don’t want a female coach.”
Family affair
Gigrich said wrestling at the club level gives athletes an advantage as some youths don’t start wrestling until it’s available to them in the seventh grade. Club wrestlers have more experience, helping them to qualify for districts and state, she said.
“Wrestling is a dying sport; it needs to be handled delicately,” she said. “It doesn’t draw a crowd like football or basketball.”
The mother of four, Gigrich’s three sons wrestle for the Predators. After practice, she said they often move the couch and coffee table so her sons can practice moves on her.
“My boys can say, ‘My mom helped me. She wrestled, too,’” she said. “I tell them part of being a good winner is knowing how to take a loss.”
As for her daughter, Gigrich said she would be supportive if she wanted to wrestle but only if it’s for the right reasons. Gigrich is critical of girls who try out for wrestling for the wrong reasons — say, to see boys in Spandex.
“Absolutely,” she said. “But only if she’s willing to give 100 percent.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
