'Just part of the team'

Rasmussen transcends gender on the wrestling mat — and she’s good, too

By Randy Anderson

BLUE EARTH — In the storied history of high school wrestling in Blue Earth — a history that includes six team championships and a state-record 50 individual champions — a new chapter is being written by senior Kelli Rasmussen as the first girl to compete on the varsity team.

When Rasmussen takes the mat today for the season-opening Dick Maher Invitational, she does so as a returning champion of the tournament and looks to improve on last season’s impressive 23-9 record (which included a conference championship at 103 pounds).

Minnesota possesses one of the strongest high school wrestling traditions in the country, lagging behind only six larger states (California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Michigan) in participation. According to the National Federation of High School Associations, 8,677 boys wrestled at the varsity level in Minnesota last year; competing alongside them were 11 girls.

But Rasmussen is much more than a novelty in a traditionally male sport — she is, in the words of her coach, Randy Wirtjes, a “big part of the team” and a “very well-respected wrestler in the area.” Long-time Blue Earth wrestling coach, athletic director, and tournament namesake Dick Maher says Rasmussen is “extremely knowledgeable about the sport of wrestling; she is someone who knows exactly what she wants to do on the mat.”

What spectators at this weekend’s Maher Invite might not know is that Rasmussen will likely be the wrestler with the most national and international experience in the gymnasium. She has competed in major tournaments in Austria (Lady Austrian Open), Sweden (Klippan Cup) and across North America.

In April she made the podium in major tournaments in Missouri and California. In July she finished third at the USA Wrestling Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., racking up seven victories (including falls at 55 seconds and 1:30) against one loss.

Earlier this month she was named Most Outstanding Female Wrestler of the meet after she won the 48kg title at the University of Regina Cougar Open in Saskatchewan. Rasmussen is ranked second nationally at 114 pounds among all female high school wrestlers. The current Wrestling USA poll has her ranked fourth nationally among women aged 17-20.

Rasmussen’s wrestling career started in second grade, when she accompanied her parents to her two older brothers’ wrestling meets. Her mother, Retha, remembers that Kelli was bored, and asked if she could wrestle, too: “I told her she could, but she better not cry if she lost.”

Kelli remembers her mother’s injunction as well, adding “I didn’t lose a lot, so I didn’t cry.” While Retha said she had hoped Kelli would have grown up to be a basketball player, she is justly proud of her daughter’s accomplishments in wrestling and appreciates the many opportunities to travel the world her wrestling success has brought her.

Wirtjes commends the entire Rasmussen family — particularly her “older brothers who pushed her along the way” — for supporting her as she has ascended the amateur ranks.

Rasmussen is also quick to praise her teammates for their support: “A lot of them have grown up wrestling with me and are used to me.”

She has rarely heard derisive comments from opponents or their fans, and says “the fact that I’m a girl really shouldn’t make a difference — I’m a wrestler.”

Wirtjes concurs: “It’s not like she’s a female in the wrestling room; nobody’s afraid to wrestle with her — she’s just part of the team.”

Kelli says “wrestling has been a part of my life for so long I don’t think I can leave it.” To that end, she is looking beyond the final season of her high school career and toward collegiate competition.

Currently there are seven colleges and universities in the U.S., and another 17 in Canada, that offer full-scale women’s wrestling programs. Kelli has looked into a number of them. She has also drawn attention from at least one men’s NCAA program.

Calling her an “excellent technician,” St. Olaf wrestling coach Sean Ahrar is “very interested in Kelli,” and is “open to the idea of giving her a chance to make the team.”

“I don’t care if it’s a girl or a guy,” Ahrar said, “I coach wrestlers.”

And then there is China. Women’s freestyle wrestling debuted as a medal sport at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Olympics are in Beijing. That would be the pinnacle for Rasmussen.

And having an Olympic wrestler developed through its program would be the crowning achievement for any Minnesota high school.

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