Beating the Odds
Crown Point High School Wrestling Twitter
Junior Rianne Murphy wins the national tournament. Despite the small pool of opponents in women’s wrestling, Murphy defeated the odds and will represent the U.S. in Turkey.
May 26, 2023
Rianne Murphy, a junior at Crown Point High School, will be competing for the U.S.A. in Turkey this coming August. For what, you may ask? Wrestling. Despite being a male-dominated sport, Murphy fought her way to the top.
“I started wrestling when I was 8, [but] I first started in Brazilian jiu-jitsu when I was 5. I started wrestling to give me a little edge when I competed in jiu-jitsu, but it eventually became its own thing,” Murphy said.
Murphy got into wrestling because of her dad, who thought it was important that she knew self defense, so he signed her up for jiu-jitsu, and eventually, wrestling.
“My dad was very protective and didn’t like the idea of me not being able to defend myself. At the time, I just kind of went along with it because I got to meet other kids and roll around so it was fun, but I eventually discovered that I liked competing as I got more into jiu-jitsu,” Murphy said.
Murphy recognized her desire to compete early on. Unfortunately for her, there was not a wide variety of opponents for her.
“There weren’t that many girls around in wrestling, especially when I started, [and] I know a lot of girls shy away from that, which is understandable, but I’m competitive and wanted to win,” Murphy said.
Not shying away from the competition and fighting to get better, Murphy continued to compete, and win.
“I’d been at that tournament before, and I got runner-up last time, so I was that close and I lost it,” Murphy said, “The finals match was best two out of three, and I won the first match but lost the second match, so it came down to that [last] match. I was pretty nervous going into the third round because I let the second round slip away from me, so I was like, ‘I need to get this done.’”
The match ends when you get a lead by ten points, as a sort of “mercy rule”. Obtaining that many points without your opponent getting any is difficult, but Murphy did it anyway. She obtained two points at the end, winning the match.
“I remember it being 8-0, and I had a turn locked up, so I knew it was happening. I was really happy and really excited. I’m really grateful for my parents and coaches and teammates that helped me get there,” Murphy said.
