What’s a nice girl like you doing here?

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Ever since the Olympians of Ancient Greece began hurling each other down in dusty arenas, we have marveled at the visceral, sweaty undertaking of wrestling with pride and awe. It feels so good — so manly, if we’re completely honest — to vanquish a foe with cunning and power.

That said, you’d be surprised at what one of the Baltimore area’s top 103-pound wrestlers likes to do on the weekends.

“My nieces come over, and we play with Barbies all the time,” Arundel High’s Nicole Woody said. “My room is decorated with pink roses. I love to dance — oh my gosh, if there’s a dance around, I am there. I love to dance, have sleepovers, braid hair — the whole thing.”

Overinflated balloon of testosterone, meet pink pin of social evolution.

‘Nicole is a pioneer’

Women’s wrestling isn’t new, but its popularity — and success against boys — is on the rise. At the vanguard of this movement is an 18-year-old from Odenton.

Woody has broken barriers at the Maryland high school level and owns an expanding trophy case of national and international championships. She’s also in a prime position to compete for a spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and/or the 2012 London Games.

“All you have to do is watch one of her matches,” Arundel Athletic Director Bernie Walter said. “She’s a feminine young woman who’s an outstanding wrestler.”

Woody started wrestling at age 9 at the suggestion of her mother — yes, her mother. Mary Woody, whose family has deep wrestling roots, was thrilled with the discipline the sport taught her older son William, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They excel in whatever they do,” Mary said of wrestlers. “I just knew that if it was good for him, it was good for her.”

Nicole was a natural. In her first dual match, she pinned her opponent in 10 seconds.

“And he quit,” Mary said, with a hint of pride. “She’s done that to a couple kids.”

Before long, Woody started wrestling year-round and climbing up the ranks. In 2002, she won the U.S. Girls’ Wrestling Association National Belt Folkstyle championship, which preceded three more USGWA national titles.

Currently the USGWA’s top-ranked 100-pounder, she is hoping to become the first girl to win four titles at the annual Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., this summer. Last August, she was the only American to win a title (97 pounds) at the Junior World Championships in Guatemala City. She has also competed in Austria, Canada and Russia.

But that’s all against girls during the high school offseason. Woody prefers in-season male competition.

“Because of wrestling [boys] and the intensity with the coaches,” she said, “they make practice harder and work me harder.”

With a career varsity record of 66-18 that has come almost exclusively against boys, Woody enters this weekend’s state championships as a legitimate contender at the lowest weight class. And after arriving at Arundel three years ago as a previously home-schooled 16-year-old freshman, she’ll graduate with honors this spring.

“She works harder than any boy we’ve got in the room,” Arundel coach Bill Royer said. “She travels more than any boy we’ve got in the room. It’s not a male-female issue. She’s a wrestler, she wants to be a champion, and she’s succeeding in that.”

Woody is making a habit of making history. In 2005, she and former Western Tech wrestler Jade Hendricks became the first Maryland public school girls to qualify for the state tournament (Woody went 0-2). Last season, she joined Helen Maroulis of Montgomery County’s Magruder as the first females to win a state match. On Feb. 17, she became the first girl to win an Anne Arundel County title after pinning South River’s Curtis Taylor with 18 seconds left in the 103-pound final. And on Saturday, she became the state’s first female regional champion after beating Centennial’s Jack Western, 2-0, in the 4A/3A East Region final.

“Nicole has a lot of respect throughout the state. My impression of her is higher after that match,” South River coach John Klessinger said of the county final.

She has been featured in Sports Illustrated twice, Time Magazine, USA Today and Wrestling USA Magazine.

“Nicole is a pioneer at this sport,” Royer said. “My daughter wants to wrestle now. She follows Nicole around. It’s neat what she’s doing and the interest she draws to the sport.”

‘Those days should be over’

“Hopefully they will have their own teams until then the whole thing is a circus. Another stupid example of title 9 in action. How wonderful to read the paper and see our sport represented by women. … it’s just a freak show.” — “DY” from Perry Hall, on the MarylandWrestling.org message board

At last check, Sports Illustrated’s Jan. 22 article on Woody had prompted nearly 4,400 combined views on forums at MarylandWrestling.org and TheMat.com. Women’s wrestling is a hot issue, and a brief visit to these chat rooms reveals the sharp, often hostile divide of public opinion over the blurring of wrestling’s once-rigid gender lines. Woody has plenty of supporters, but there are others, it seems, who’d like her to swap her singlet and arm bars for a tutu and pirouettes.

Woody, though, is not a crusader for womanhood. She’s not out to prove anything. She’s just a girl whose personality long ago embraced both femininity and physical competition.

“I just always liked working hard, and then when you come out [of competition], you just feel so much better about yourself,” she said.

Local reaction to her has been mixed. Every so often, she runs into teams that forfeit a match rather than send a boy out to face her. Is it a not-so-subtle statement from a sexist coach? Is he simply trying to shield his boy from the perceived shame of losing to a girl? Either way, Royer has had enough.

“This embarrassment thing has got to end somewhere,” he said. “It’s not just her. Some teams, it doesn’t matter who the girl is, they won’t wrestle her. It’s just their principle. Those days should be over.”

Two years ago, the media attention surrounding Woody and the jealousy it spawned among some teammates and parents forced Royer to call a clear-the-air team meeting. One of boys eventually transferred schools. Since then, the situation within the team “hasn’t been great, but it’s been OK,” Royer said.

Having a female teammate “can be good, and it can be bad,” Arundel 140-pound junior Jordan Hernandez said. “The good thing is, you think it’s going to be easy, but the bad thing could be if you get beat by her, you feel really horrible. She’s cool and everything. … I give her mad props for going to states as a girl.”

Some of Woody’s own relatives object to her wrestling, according to her mother. Still, Woody presses on, unflinchingly. She said she has never felt ostracized by her teammates. Disrespectful opponents are easier to deal with.

“I can’t remember specifically, but I remember getting upset about something last year and then beating the crap out of somebody,” she said, laughing.

A ‘hopeful’ Olympian

Nicole Woody, U.S. Olympian? That’s a distinct possibility.

She has received a scholarship offer from the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University, one of four Olympic training centers in the country. If she accepts, she would be a full-time student at the university and a full-time USOEC athlete.

“She has been to several training center camps, and we’ve seen her compete against the best women and girl wrestlers in the country,” USOEC women’s wrestling coach Shannyn Gillespie said. “Her work ethic is real high, and her resume helps out.”

Woody is also intrigued by Oklahoma City University, which just announced it will start the nation’s fifth collegiate women’s wrestling program in 2007-08. But first, she is planning to take a year off from school to train for the 2008 Olympics. Beijing is no pipe dream.

“Hopeful, yes,” she said. “Hopeful is the word.”

But you know what Woody is really looking forward to? One night later this spring — when the weather is warmer and senioritis is in the air — she’s going to paint the town red.

“I love to dress up,” she said. “My friends — we have all these homecoming dresses that we’ve only worn once. So we’re going to rent a limo on a Friday night, dress up and all go out to eat.”

What a girly thing to do.

jcooley@baltimoreexaminer.com

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