Pang makes wrestling team, history

Audrey Pang is boldly going where no Princeton woman has gone before. This season she will be the first female in school history to have a permanent spot on the dual-meet lineup of a men's wrestling squad, and one of the few women in NCAA history to have this opportunity.

For the past three years Pang has competed on the Princeton wrestling team, but her competition has largely been independent, consisting of tournaments on a women's national freestyle wrestling circuit. However, this year the team is devoid of a 125-pound wrestler, and thus Pang has been given the unique opportunity to compete with the men.

She has competed in numerous national tournaments and garnered an impressive fourth-place finish at U.S. Nationals her freshman year. This past year she competed in the United States and Canadian Olympic trials.

Furthermore, Pang has faced some extremely talented opponents such as the two-time world champion from Japan. She has also wrestled numerous Olympic athletes at various national meets.

The transition to wrestling college men will still be difficult. While Pang has practiced with men in high school and at Princeton, actually competing against them could pose some new challenges. The female circuit on which she frequently competes features freestyle wrestling, which is a slightly different style than the folk (or collegiate) style used in men's college competition. Men's wrestling also allows different moves and has a different scoring system.

Furthermore, Pang typically wrestles at 112 lbs. against women, but 125 lbs. is the lowest weight division for collegiate men. Thus, she will likely be taking on competitors much larger than she.

Pang is more than ready for the challenge, however, as she has been hooked on wrestling since her high school history teacher convinced her to try out for the team he was starting up. A natural athlete, she had competed in swimming and field hockey for years, but wrestling was one of the first things she chose to do on her own — as opposed to on the suggestion of her parents.

"I found the one-on-one aspect of the sport exhilarating," she said. "Wrestling had that extra edge of competition that was different from anything I had tried before."

With wrestling having "gotten into her blood," she contacted head wrestling coach Mike New when she decided to come to Princeton. She and another freshman who has since quit became the first female wrestlers on the Princeton squad. A few other women have been in and out of the program since then, but Pang is the only one who has stuck with it all four years.

Pang admits that it is not easy being the only woman on the wrestling squad, especially in terms of training and physical strength. The lack of established women's wrestling programs in the area also presents a challenge. In Pang's home country of Canada many colleges have women's rosters.

But Pang has nothing but praise for New, the team and Princeton students in general for being accommodating and encouraging.

This positive environment has contributed to the great success that Pang has had in the last four years. "Audrey is an outstanding competitor in every sense. Her hard work and persistence have gotten her to where she is today," New said.

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Every time Pang steps on the mat her goal is to win, and she could not be more optimistic this year with the added challenge of wrestling men.

"This year is really exciting, and wrestling guys is going to be a great opportunity," Pang said. "It will be a little bit different, but that's why it will be good."

Likewise, New has a positive outlook on Pang's season.

"We're excited. She's going to do a great job for us," he said. "Audrey exemplifies what Princeton athletics is all about."