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Miller wins national title

Woodward News 3/31/04

Woodward eighth grader Joey Miller won a United States Girls Wrestling Association national championship in Michigan thi weekend.

Miller, the only eighth grader competing at the high school level in the tournament. Miller had to win five matches for the championship. She has not lost to a girl in over seven years.

She opened nationals with a pin in 1:41 over Tiffany Larriba from Texas. In the second round, she pinned Shaelene Kamakaala from Hawaii in 3:15.

In round three, Miller beat Norine Cruz from California by a major decision, then beat Kelli Rasmussen of Minnesota 7-0. Rasmussen and Miller are teammates from the USA Cadet National team and is ranked number 3 in the nation.

In the finals, Miller beat Alyssa Lampe from Wisconsin, the nation’s top-ranked female high school wrestler, 7-4.

There were over 600 competitors in the tournament. It was Miller’s fifth consecutive title as she had won championships in the elementary and middle school divisions.

She entered the tournament seeded third in her weight class. Threre were 31 girls from 16 different states in Joeys bracket.

Miller also won a number of other championships in recent weeks.

Her victories included Missouri Girls State, Oklahoma Girls State, Girls Midwest Regionals in Kansas, the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Colorado, the FILA Body Bar Women’s Nationals and the 7th-8th grade USA Girls Freestyle National championship.

She will be on the USA Women’s Cadet team for the second year in a row and is eligible to wrestle with the team at a tournament in Austria.