A female wrestler at the University of Michigan-Dearborn wants the right to take on her male counterparts on the mat, but she says she’ll be sitting the bench “simply because” she’s a woman.
Marina Goocher, who started wrestling as age 5, is seeking a rule change from the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, which currently bans females from competing against male wrestlers even when a women’s team isn’t available to them.
“When I enrolled in college at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the wrestling coach and the wrestlers, all of whom were men, warmly welcomed me because they knew I could help the team win,” Goocher wrote in a post for the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday. “But right now, as the wrestling season begins, I have to sit the bench the entire regular season – simply because I am a woman.”
Since Goocher is the only female wrestler in the Great Lakes Conference and there’s no women’s team at UM-Dearborn, the rule means she has “no opportunity” to compete this year until the national championships at the end of the season.
“I have competed against male wrestlers my entire life because there are so few female wrestlers in the Midwest,” Goocher’s post continued. “I can remember wrestling tournaments in middle and high school where there were over 400 male athletes and me, the only girl. So what’d I do? I wrestled. And a lot of the time, I won.”
Goocher said she racked up more than 100 varsity victories in high school, all against male opponents, a “rare accomplishment” for any athlete in high school regardless of gender.
“The NCWA’s rule is simply unfair,” her post continued. “High schools across the country allow women to wrestle men when there is no women’s wrestling teams, and so does the NCAA. So I could fight in the military to defend our country side by side with men, but I can’t compete against them in collegiate wrestling?”
In a letter to NCWA executive director Jim Giunta, the ACLU urged the organization Wednesday to change the rules for college-level club wrestling to allow Goocher to compete during the regular season.
“Ms. Goocher is an exemplary wrestler and athlete who should, by law, be given equal opportunities as men in her sport,” the letter read. “The NCWA’s policies are preventing her from doing so. … Ms. Goocher, as well as the entire UM-Dearborn wrestling team, would like her to begin practicing with the team this fall. Two years of being excluded is enough.”
The NCWA responded in a statement to The Post.
“The NCWA supports both its men’s and women’s divisions equally and is the only governing body that offers equal opportunity to both men and women to compete in wrestling at the college level,” Giunta said. “We do wish we had been afforded time to respond to the ACLU’s letter before its distribution to the media. Having championed women in wrestling since before forming the women’s division in 2006 the NCWA is proud of the strength, growth, and diversity of its women’s programs and takes seriously charges of discrimination.”
But the NCWA’s website clearly addresses male-vs.-female competition.
“This should go without saying, but from time to time questions arise concerning male vs. female competition,” the website reads. “The rule is simple. Women wrestle women, men wrestle men in practice and competition. Period. Our rules and insurance coverages do not permit male vs. female practice or competition.”