The following story takes place sometime before Covid hit.
Mackenzie Douglas, fierce competitor that she was, felt a little sorry for Noah Santos, wrestling for Mount Saint Albans Academy. In the last period of their freestyle wrestling match, she put Noah on his back and pinned him. The crowd in the Upperco High School gym exploded in applause. "Way to go Mackenzie!" She shook her head, watching Noah slink away in humiliation. No matter, she was more than ready to accept the high-fives from her teammates, all of whom were boys.
This wasn't supposed to happen. In fact, the reverse was supposed to happen. When boys wrestled girls, it was the boy who normally won, many times by pin. It wouldn't have happened if enough girls were interested to form high school wrestling teams of their own. But there wasn't, and therefore the relatively few girls interested in wrestling at the high school level had no choice but to compete with boys in order to make the team.
Mackenzie was one of those girls. She had been athletic from an early age. First there was soccer, then gymnastics, then wrestling. Her dad was a former college standout and she had an older brother who wrestled in college. Both were onboard with it, and they began coaching her when she was still in middle school. By age fifteen, she was wrestling boys AND girls at the local Y. By age eighteen, months into her senior year, she felt confident enough to go out for Upperco's wrestling team. Coach put her on second string. Then, first-stringer Brian Dunlevy sustained a season ending injury, giving Mackenzie the top spot at 62 kilos. She had finally got her chance.
Noah Santos had been her first "victim," and he wouldn't be her last. She won her next two matches, pinning one boy and out-pointing another. Mackenzie was strong and quick; she had superb technique and she was on a tear. She had defeated three male wrestlers in a row. Already confident going into the season, her confidence soared. Could she actually wrestle her way to an all-state championship? "You're doing great, but don't get too big a head just yet," coach advised her. "Cautious optimism is the way to go."
She kept that in mind while training the way she normally did: hard. She lifted weights to keep her strength up, did miles of roadwork and sparred with her male teammates in practice.
She went into her fourth match against Evan Corday, another eighteen-year-old senior who wrestled for Glenelg High. Like Mackenzie, he was thus far undefeated. Days before the match, Mackenzie got word through coach that Evan was thinking of forfeiting the match. Wrestling a girl was beneath him, he had said, a common refrain from male wrestlers. Some of them did forfeit rather than compete with girls. But then he changed his mind. Not knowing Evan personally, Mackenzie was curious why he had decided to go ahead. But then it didn't really matter. The match was the thing and the match was on; it would be held at Upperco.
Even before seeing her opponent, Mackenzie knew she'd need superior technique in order to win. This wasn't early middle-school, where girls could hold their own against boys because the superior upper-body strength that most boys developed later on had just begun. Girls that beat boys in high school faced opponents that were either weaker than they, had inferior technique, poor stamina or all of the above. Noah Santos and the two other boys she had beaten were mediocre. Evan Corday was another matter. Last season, he had ranked third in the state. And his so far undefeated season this year had all come at the expense of male opponents. In fact, Mackenzie would be the first girl he had ever faced.
*****
This won't be a walk in the park, Mackenzie thought, jumping around to warm-up and watching Evan in his red spandex singlet warming up across the mat, along with the rest of his Glenelg teammates. She and Evan weighed about the same, though they sure didn't look the same. Evan was about two inches taller, around five-foot-five, lean and hard. She could see the well-defined muscles in his arms, the way his biceps stood out. Mackenzie was built like your proverbial fireplug, though she was far from overweight. Her legs were thicker than Evan's, though not necessarily stronger. Something else, too: Evan was cute. She had no business thinking that right before a match, but she couldn't help it. He had dark brown hair that crept just over his ears and worn without a part. He also had an impish, mischievous look about him that she found alluring.
Mackenzie tucked her braided, dirty blond hair under a net, trying to purge any social thoughts from her mind. In minutes, she'd be mixing it up with this kid. Coach Gabe Patterson, standing directly behind her, said, "Okay, Kenzie, you know what you've got to do. Try to take him down in the first minute, score first and early with a big two points. That'll shake him up." Now thirty-eight, he was an Upperco alum and former wrestler for the school.
Looking toward the mat, Mackenzie, in a blue singlet, nodded as she swung her arms and legs around, trying to keep warm and shake of her pre-match jitters. She would indeed try to take him down. Ref Les Phillips, a tall black man and former wrestler who also taught math at Upperco, waved the wrestlers onto the mat. Hazel eyes, Mackenzie noticed about Evan as she faced him in a crouch. Seconds later, she was tying up with this hot-looking boy who had considered forfeiting their match. Beneath him to wrestle her? She'd show him different.
They went toe-to-toe, grasping onto each other's hands and wrists, moving backwards, forwards and laterally, feeling each other out, testing each other's strength. Then, per coach's advice, Mackenzie lunged forward, aiming for one of Evan's legs. She grabbed it, then lifted it up. They were both standing, with Evan hopping around on one leg and Mackenzie trying to trip him off his feet. Finally, she managed to hook a foot behind Evan's knee, and down he went, with Mackenzie on top, which earned her two points. Now all she had to do was turn him on his back. But, in the process of doing that, he found a counter, which landed Mackenzie on HER back, long enough for a near fall and two points, before she managed to turn on her stomach. They stayed locked in that position long enough for the ref to blow his whistle.
Determined to earn another takedown, Mackenzie again tied up with Evan, looking for an opening, with a half-minute to go in the first period. She didn't find one, but Evan did, lunging forward, then grabbing both her legs for the takedown and another two points. He was now leading the match.
In the brief rest between periods, Mackenzie conferred with Coach Patterson. "He's stronger and faster than I thought," she said.
Coach rubbed her shoulders. "You're strong and fast, too, Kenzie. If you win the coin toss, take bottom position." Mackenzie knew why—it would give her a chance to escape and thus earn herself a point.
She won the toss, did as coach advised, and a split second after the go signal, she was on her feet, fighting to break free of Evan's grasp. But she didn't have to fight too hard because he let her go, giving away the point. He must be awfully confident he'll beat me to do that, she thought.
Once again, they were on their feet, tying up, moving and probing. Mackenzie knew that shooting for a takedown could be risky, especially when your opponent expected it. But, being behind, she felt she had nothing to lose. Thus, she shot for one, which Evan easily countered by flattening out on her back, and then spinning around to her rear to gain control. That gave him two more points and a six to three lead.
Mackenzie was growing weary by the start of third period. She figured that only a pin would now give her the match, and she was running out of ways to execute one. It was obvious to her why Evan took third in states last year and was thus far undefeated this season. This time, he took bottom and escaped by standing up, then peeling off her weary arms to break free. Moments after they faced each other standing, Evan went for a double-leg takedown, which landed Mackenzie on her back, struggling to avoid the pin. He had one arm locked between her legs, the other wrapped around her neck, with his legs splayed out to the side. She twisted and bridged to keep her back off the mat, while Evan applied greater pressure. Mackenzie had never been pinned before and she was determined not to let this kid be the first one to do it. But his superior strength proved too much. The sound of the ref hitting the mat was the worst sound she had ever heard.
She was near tears, standing in the middle of the mat, the ref between her and Evan, raising his arm. Tears flowed when coach hugged her and her teammates gave her sympathetic backslaps. "You'll get him next time, Kenzie."
Then, to her surprise, she came face to face with Evan Corday, who had stepped over to Upperco's side of the mat. "You gave me one hell of a match," he said. He reached out to her.
She wiped her eyes, then slipped off her ear protection and hair net before taking his hand. "Thanks. Now I know why you placed so high in states last year." She managed to smile through the sting of her loss—a loss tempered by an attraction that she couldn't deny.
He looked back to his side of the mat, then turned to face her. "Look, do you have a few minutes to talk?"
"Um, I guess so," she said, taken by surprise. Another match was already in progress and she wanted to be there to cheer on her team. "But just a few." She glanced at coach for approval and he waved her on.
He led her over to the gym's entrance, just a few feet from the bleachers, filled with mostly family members of the wrestlers. "Look, I know we're on rival teams and all that," he began, "but maybe we could get together and practice sometime. Not a real match, just to work on our moves and maybe exchange ideas about training and all."
She pressed a hand against her chest, drawing a look of incredulity. "You want to practice with ME?! Evan, from what I heard, you almost forfeited our match."
He nodded. "Right, I did. Look, I'm still not used to the idea of girls wrestling with boys. But from the way you wrestled today, I think one day I might be okay with it."
She felt flattered but tried her best not to show it. Drawing a scolding look, she folded her arms against her chest. "One day?"
He chuckled and shrugged. "Okay, maybe today, I don't know. But I think we both could improve if we practice together."
She was skeptical to say the least. "Hmm...is that so?" Skeptical she might be and sexist he might be, yet she couldn't resist his offer. "Well, okay, but where? I mean, I think our respective schools would find it highly inappropriate during the middle of wrestling season."
"My family has a membership at the Y. We could go there."
"So does mine. In fact, I used to wrestle there."
"Cool."
He gave her a hug, a closeness that felt very different than what she felt just minutes before. Now she could actually enjoy the manly scent of him, his strong arms wrapped around her. Did he have an ulterior motive? If so, she could think of one that had little to do with wrestling, one that she kind of wanted herself. Nah, couldn't be. "Okay, Evan, it's a date. Well, not a date date. That is, well, you know what I mean."
"Right. Not a date date. We'll go Dutch," he joked. "So we'll exchange numbers after this match."
*****
The Y had two fifteen-by-fifteen-foot wrestling rooms that looked basically the same. Gray and blue matting covered most of the floor space and green padding covered all four walls. Evan lay on the mat in full sweat suit, doing stretching exercises, waiting for Mackenzie to show. He looked forward to this. Mackenzie had been right. Well, sort of right about an ulterior motive. Evan found female muscle hot and sexy, so long as said female had a cute face, and "Kenzie," as he'd heard her called, most certainly did. Blue eyes, lovely skin and a warm smile. And legs—those big, powerful legs might crush him if she ever got to scissor him, he reckoned. Sex aside, he also wanted to help her become a better wrestler, despite the fact that they went to rival schools. No, he hadn't fully accepted girls wrestling on predominately boys' wrestling teams. Even so, he admired her courage, her scrappy attitude.
