News Page

AAU Championships: Breaking barriers, Harris proves self

By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
5/27/01

Eleven-year-old from Wyoming shows that girls can beat the boys on the wrestling mat.
There is apparently room for an iron girl at the AAU Ironman World Wrestling Championships.
For instance: Shay Lynn Harris, an 11-year-old female from Riverton, Wyo., has been wrestling competitively since age 4. She was undefeated her first three years, according to her mother, Liz Harris.

"When the boys go out there, they see a girl and they think it's going to be a piece of cake," said mom. "Nothing to it. They just look at it like you're a girl and you can't wrestle. But when she's done with them, they are bawling off the mat."

Liz Harris is proud that her daughter, who also plays football and baseball, is proving that girls can do things as well as boys. But Shay Lynn has encountered resistance, even within her family, in breaking gender barriers.

"My parents are totally against it," said Liz Harris. "I hear it every day. They say, `I can't believe you are taking her out there. She's a girl.' I told them when she doesn't want to do it anymore, then that's when she doesn't have to do it anymore."

After Shay Lynn won a tournament three straight years, organizers tried to ban her from the event. Armed with a rule book, mom went to bat for her and won the right for Shay Lynn to compete.

Liz said officials at the Ironman World Wrestling Championships, which are being staged this weekend at the Convention Center, were more open-minded about letting a girl compete.

"They didn't give me a hard time at all," she said.

On a few occasions, boys have chosen to forfeit matches rather than wrestle Shay Lynn.

"I thought it was funny," she said. "Boys usually wrestle their sisters, and then once they come to wrestle, they are scared of another girl."

Of course, there is a stigma associated with losing to a girl. A little boy who wears Bobby Riggs' shoes sets himself up for teasing and embarrassment. Liz, who has two boys, acknowledged that it is tough for parents of boys who get beat by a girl.

That situation did not arise Saturday. Shay Lynn, who is unaccustomed to folkstyle wrestling and is at the youngest end of her age bracket (11-12), went 0-3 in the 65-pound bracket. But she hopes to fare better in the more comfortable environs of freestyle and Greco-Roman competitions Sunday.

Shay Lynn caught the wrestling bug from one of her older brothers, Joshua. She used to get excited watching his matches and thought the wrestling moves looked like fun. People told her that wrestling was too rough for a girl, but she was already used to wrestling her brothers at home and figured that wrestling a stranger wouldn't be much different.

"She tried it and she was a natural at it, and she just kept going," said Liz Harris.

Mom describes Shay Lynn as quick and tough. Her brothers are not quite as competitive. Mom said her boys wrestle just to have a good time.

"She loves her sport," said Liz. "She's out there with her whole heart and soul."

Shay Lynn won second place at an Ironman competition in Michigan last year. Competition is staged in three styles at Ironman tournaments and an overall champion is crowned based on accumulation of points in the three styles.

Competition begins anew at 9 a.m. Sunday and continues until the freestyle and Greco-Roman competitions are completed.

Jimmie Tramel, World sports writer, can be reached at 581-8389 or via e- mail at jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com.

---------------------------------------------------