An Utqiaġvik student who became a state wrestling champion this month is hoping to inspire young girls to take up the sport, have more stamina and expand their definition of femininity.
Manusiu Muti of Barrow High School placed first in her division at the state tournament on December 17, becoming the first athlete from Utqiaġvik to win a state championship in girls’ wrestling. Muti defeated West Valley’s Alice Bent by pin in 2 minutes and 49 seconds.
“I had to take the championship title home to Barrow and make history and try to encourage other girls in my community to join this amazing sport,” Muti said. “It has really helped me grow both mentally and physically. That gave me confidence and a reason to keep going.”
In the traditionally male-dominated wrestling world, paving the way for more girls to compete is a huge undertaking, Tela O’Donnell said. O’Donnell is a retired American freestyle wrestler, wrestling coach at Homer High School, one of the founding members of Wrestle Like a Girl, and a member of the 2004 US Olympic Wrestling Team.
“To see young athletes see themselves as leaders is so incredible. Once you can see yourself as a leader, the impact you have on the world around you becomes even greater,” said O’Donnell. Muti’s victory in the state, she added, “will say a lot to her community about what’s possible for girls in the world and what’s possible for children in the world — you know, not just girls, but youth in Utqiaġvik as well.”
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A way to win
Muti, now a high school junior, lost in the state finals last year.
Since then, she has done whatever it takes to win a state title this year. She said she exercised all summer, attending every workout, sticking to her diet and pushing herself until she couldn’t anymore. Working with guys during training who “wrestled with her like any other wrestler” also helped her grow.
“I went into the tournament with confidence and was just ready to dominate because of the hard work I put in off and on the mat,” she said.
Muti continued to work hard even after spraining her ankle at a volleyball game in October. Coach Herman Reich said it was hard for the young athlete to stay off the mat and miss three weeks and three tournaments, but she was able to come back full force right after.
“Once I allowed her to get back there, she’s just so tough in her mindset, she just pulled it off,” Reich said.
But Muti isn’t just tough, fierce and resilient, said O’Donnell, who got to know her better during a spring 2022 wrestling camp in Palmer.
“She’s such a sweetheart — just funny, funny and such a great person to be around,” O’Donnell said. “Sweet and hard. That is simply the best combination.”
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Muti started wrestling in middle school, inspired by her older brothers. She is also a volleyball and basketball player and said she enjoys wrestling for the mental toughness and discipline it teaches.
“You can be dead tired,” she said, “but if you believe in yourself mentally and know mentally that you can make it happen, your mind is stronger than your body.”
Reich said that over the past four years he’s loved watching Muti grow as an athlete and as a person and “gain her confidence.”
“She loses, and she makes the correction, and she gets better,” he said, “to keep challenging herself and overcoming every obstacle that comes her way.”
For Reich, wrestling is not about winning. Instead, it’s about giving the match 100%.
“Just go out and give it your all – that’s what she did this year,” he said of Muti. “And that’s what everyone did, the whole team.”
Alongside Muti, who competed in the girls’ 235-pound weight class, another Barrow High School athlete won a state wrestling title: Uatahouse Tuifua, who took first place in the Division II boys’ 285-pound weight class that year.
Other wrestlers at Barrow High who found success in the state include Benjamin Kaui, who finished runner-up in the boys’ 215-pound weight division and competed in the tournament for the first time in the three years he competed. And Chunhui Billings, a senior who has not placed as of this tournament, finished fifth in the girls’ 165-pound weight class in a tense overtime match that Reich called “the best match of them all.”
Billings won the regionals, and while losing her first match in the state, climbed to fifth place. In the final, she drew in two first halves and won in overtime.
“In that third period, both wrestlers are exhausted, and she pushed through and she got the takedown,” Reich said. “She’s the one who really broke the mindset and believed in herself.”
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life lesson
As an individual sport, wrestling doesn’t allow for shortcuts, Muti said, no teammates to blame. It’s just you on the mat and your ability to maintain a balanced attitude whether you’re winning or losing. Knowing how to learn from her mistakes and the discipline that wrestling requires helped Muti off the mat – for example in her academic achievements where she has made significant progress.
After putting the same effort into schoolwork that she put into wrestling, Muti graduated the final semester with a 4.0 GPA. She is now considering her college options.
“Wrestling has impacted my life in more ways than one. It really opened the door for me,” she said. “I didn’t really see college as something important to me. So wrestling in college would really push me to continue my education and also do what I love.”
For now, Muti wants to pass on what she has learned through the sport to young girls in her community. She plans to enter middle school tournaments to encourage girls to take up wrestling — a task that can be more of a challenge in a basketball town like Utqiaġvik.
Reich said that many Utqiaġvik girls sign up for wrestling in middle school, but few stick with it in high school. When Senior Billings graduates, there will only be one girl on the high school team unless more sign up.
It’s common for girls to stop exercising when they hit puberty, O’Donnell said. Overall, the sport has become more accepted by girls and women over the past 20 years, and the quality of wrestling for girls in Alaska has gotten much better than before, O’Donnell said.
Still, any girl who joins a wrestling team in her community is a pioneer in some way and could still encounter encouragement, acceptance, rejection and everything in between, she said.
What could help attract more girls to the sport and encourage them to stay in it, O’Donnell said, is to have female coaches and “wrestling moms” who cater to the needs of female athletes, along with role models.
“Once we start building communities that show successful girls who are cool and interesting and feminine and tough and resilient – in all those ways like Manu – people’s understanding of what it means to be a girl expands.” , she said.
With her example, Muti said she wanted to convey to other girls that being a wrestler, having a strong physique and showing resilience doesn’t make them any less of a woman.
“Wrestling helps you mentally and physically and gives you confidence,” Muti said. “Being a wrestler and doing what men do doesn’t make me any less feminine — it just makes me feel very strong and healthy.”
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