MILL CREEK
Tara Miller is living proof that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
The Jackson senior, who finished second in the 103-pound division at last year’s state girls tournament and who is a top state contender at 112 this season, developed a passion for wrestling almost from the instant she was introduced to the sport in the sixth grade by one of her cousins.
Miller’s parents, however, weren’t so thrilled by their little girl’s interests. They allowed her to wrestle in middle school, but they didn’t want her to continue in high school because they were concerned that Miller might get hurt since boys are bigger and stronger in high school.
Miller didn’t participate in the sport during her freshman year at Cascade High School, but her love of wrestling never wavered. Miller was determined to return to the mat. The only obstacle was getting her parents to sign off. Miller transferred to Jackson the following year.
“I kind of tricked them my sophomore year because I really wanted to wrestle,” Miller admitted.
Miller brought home some paperwork that she told her parents had to be filled out in order for her to be a manager for the wrestling team. Miller’s parents filled out the forms and Miller started wrestling again.
Shortly thereafter, Miller had to come clean with her folks when she needed to buy some wrestling shoes.
“Then I was like ‘You’re not going to make me quit, are you?’” Miller said. “They don’t support quitting so they let me stick it out through the year. They found out that I was good, so they didn’t think it would be a good idea to make me quit something that I was good at and that I loved to do.”
As Miller’s parents learned more about the sport their attitude evolved and they are now completely supportive of their daughter’s pursuits.
“They’ve changed a lot,” Miller said. “They’ve gone to more matches and they see what I do. My dad has sat in on a couple of practices and watched.”
Miller describes herself as a bit of tomboy growing up. Her playmates tended to be boys and Miller liked to participate in physical sports. That’s why Miller’s parents didn’t raise too many objections when she started wrestling in the sixth grade, though they weren’t too thrilled about it.
“They supported me because it was something that I wanted to do,” Miller said.
Wrestling initially was an avenue to avoid boredom.
Miller had moved to a small town in Minnesota because her grandfather was sick. She hung out with a male cousin, who was about the same age.
“I didn’t fit in too well. It was a small town,” Miller said. “They’re all quiet and reserved and I was really crazy. I needed something to do to keep me occupied during the day. So he brought it up and I had to beg my mom for a while and she finally agreed. … She was like “All right. We’ll just see.’ She didn’t think I was going to stick with it, but I did.”
Miller was almost instantaneously drawn to the sport.
“It’s just like a natural thing, a natural passion,” Miller said. “When I first started I just fell in love with it. I had the body and build for it, too. I just thought it was really fun.”
When Jackson head coach Gustavo Anaya started working with her three years ago, Miller was still a little timid and not as aggressive, especially on her feet.
Today, Anaya describes Miller as a more well-rounded wrestler with a strong work ethic.
“It’s been nice to see her a little bit better on her feet and more aggressive,” Anaya said.
Miller is one of four girls on the Jackson wrestling team and even though she wrestles predominantly with her male teammates, she is an ideal role model for the other girls.
“She’s always working out,” Anaya said. “Sometimes she gets a bump or a bruise here and there and she works through those situations. She definitely is somebody that our other girls should look up to and try to match as far as intensity in the wrestling room and the level of commitment.”
Her male teammates consider Miller to be simply another teammate. Freshman Shane Eastman is one of Miller’s main workout partners.
“She’s just a wrestler,” Eastman said. “I don’t think anything of it.”
In some ways, the burgeoning popularity of female wrestling is keeping the sport alive in the face of program cutbacks at colleges, Anaya noted.
Miller is actively looking into wrestling at the collegiate level.
Anaya is glad to have any girls or boys interested in the sport.
“As far boys and girls wrestling, I really don’t look at them as different sports,” Anaya said. “I just look at them all as wrestlers. I think they should all be treated fairly. I think it’s great that a girl is out for wrestling. She does everything that the guys do.”
But Miller and her female teammates do face some challenges that their male counterparts do not face. At times, male opponents have declined to wrestle them. Sometimes the opponent flat out says he doesn’t want to go up against a girl and other times he claims he can’t continue because he’s hurt.
“I’ve had an injury default where a boy decided he didn’t want to wrestle because he saw how I manhandled two of the opponents before him,” Miller said. “He was just fine.”
Miller understands the scrutiny male wrestlers face when they face a girl, but she still doesn’t agree with them backing out of matches.
“I really think it’s stupid because there are a lot of girls that can be better than boys,” Miller said. “Some girls have just that better athletic ability than some guys. I think guys need to get over that.”
Miller has occasionally overheard male wrestlers saying that girls don’t belong on the mat.
“I get infuriated when I hear it,” she said.
Yet, Miller acknowledges that there is some fallout if a boy loses to a girl.
“Some guys just don’t feel comfortable wrestling a girl,” she said. “It’s worse when you lose to a girl. … They don’t want to lose to a girl because if they do, their friends make fun of them. There actually have been a couple of guys that I’ve heard being made fun of because I beat them.”
Given the choice between wrestling a boy or a girl, Miller tends to favor the former. Miller has won all 12 of the matches against girls and only one of them has gone the distance. Her overall record is 14-5 against boys and girls.
For Miller, it’s all about improving her skills.
“You don’t learn anything when you’re the one who’s always winning. You need to learn from your mistakes when you lose,” Miller said. “I actually would rather wrestle a guy because they’re more physical and it gives me more of a workout. I’ve only had a couple of girl matches where they’ve been just as physical as a guy.”
Miller came into the season weighing 122 pounds, which meant she had to start in the 125 division. She wrestled mostly at 119 for most of the year but has finally got down to 112. Miller took first place at the Jaguar Invitational Jan. 18-19 in Puyallup, as did teammate Danika Shaffer at 103, in the all-girls tournament.
Since she’s pinned all but one of her female opponents this season, Miller is optimistic about her postseason prospects, though she hasn’t seen every potential competitor in her weight class.
“I’m feeling pretty confident in my abilities,” Miller said.
So is her coach.
“It’s been a lot of fun to see her progress and nice to see where she’s at this year,” Anaya said. “I hope we finish our year with a state championship.”
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