By Kristi Lambert
The 106-pound frame of sophomore Raine Chrysoston took another step on to the wrestling mat at Logan High School. Though she is currently the only girl on the LHS wrestling team, Chrysoston easily fits in with the guys socially— but her position on the team did not come so smoothly.
Chrysoston first showed interest in martial arts at 12 years old, so her mother, Karen Chrysoston, enrolled her in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“Honestly, I was horrified,” Karen Chrysoston said. “There was no way I was going to bring my little girl to wrestle around on the floor with these big sweaty guys. But after I learned that there was a class for youth and that jiu-jitsu is more about defense, I was OK.”
“She really had a knack for it, but we weren’t able to pay for it,” Karen Chrysoston said.
Since Raine Chrysoston’s father was laid off from his job, she could no longer participate in jiu-jitsu, so she decided to sign up for the middle school wrestling team when she was 13.
“Since I had previously done jiu-jitsu, I figured if I joined the wrestling team I could do the same thing more or less and learn a new sport,” she said.
At first the coach was not in favor of Chrysoston joining the team, but his attitude changed when he saw her work ethic and skill.
“I just really wanted to wrestle. It just kind of clicked to me,” Chrysoston said. “It’s the sport I feel like I thrive the best in. For me, once you’re in the match and wrestling it out, you forget everything else and just focus on the match.”
“She showed up and it turned out she was good. The coach turned around after that,” Karen Chrysoston said.
When Raine Chrysoston moved on to her freshman year, she continued to wrestle for the middle school team despite the fact she was now in high school. A week into the season she got a call from Bo Roundy, LHS’s head wrestling coach, asking her to come wrestle for him in the lowest weight class.
“I guess if the coach is calling we better do it. Better pay attention to that,” Karen Chrysoston said.
As a freshman, Raine Chrysoston made it on to the varsity team wrestling in the 106-pound weight class.
“She got her patootie just handed to her at first,” Karen Chrysoston said. “Wrestling on varsity was a huge lesson in humility.”
“It’s a lot more intense than jiu-jitsu. A lot more strength is involved. Jiu-jitsu is made for smaller people and getting leverage. Wrestling is more upper strength,” Raine Chrysoston said.
Chrysoston found that switching to wrestling after learning jiu-jitsu came with its’ challenges, but it also made it easier.
“Jiu-jitsu helped me with the close contact aspect. It’s a lot of the same style so it wasn’t a huge difference,” Chrysoston said.
Since wrestling is so focused on upper body strength, Chrysoston likes to play to her strengths when it comes to a match.
“Flexibility is one thing that I have over the guys. I just have to wrestle smart. I like to be quick on my feet,” she said. “I have to build up to my strengths.”
Even though Chrysoston is the only girl on the team, she doesn’t feel like an outcast.
“They’re really supportive. I love my team,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a tad bit lonely being the only girl because I like to be with my team. It’s not so fun to be separated on some things, but it’s really not so bad.”
Junior Hunter Ballam is one of Chrysoston’s teammates and said that at first it was strange to have a girl on the team, but now it’s just normal.
“It’s always a little bit different. Everyone for the most part really accepted her on the team so there wasn’t really any problems at all,” Ballam said. “She’s just another part of our team and another wrestler.”
In region last year, Chrysoston placed 7th in her bracket.
“I’ve seen her beat guys before,” Ballam said. “She’s a pretty big inspiration to everyone. A lot of people look up to her. She’s still new and getting used to it, but the fact that she’s out there wrestling with a bunch of guys proves a lot to the guys on other teams and our team.”
This year, Chrysoston is wrestling for the junior varsity team.
“It can’t be about her being a girl wrestler. It has to be about her loving the sport,” Karen Chrysoston said. “You step on the mat and you’re a wrestler. Not a boy wrestler or a girl wrestler, but a wrestler.”
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