By Harold Raker
The Daily Item
SELINSGROVE —
Kim Spiegel will not return for her senior year at Selinsgrove High School, where she was a three-year member of the wrestling team.
Spiegel, an accomplished women's wrestler at the national and international levels, has not given up on high school. She merely got a better offer.
The daughter of Paul and Judy Spiegel, of Port Trevorton, recently received an invitation to spend the next school year training at the U.S. Olympic Education Center in Michigan.
Spiegel, who won the 70 kilo (154.25 pounds) class in the Cadet Division (high school age) of the Body Bar Nationals in Kissimmee, Fla., in May, learned of the offer a month ago.
"They saw me wrestle at Body Bar and told my dad that I improved greatly and they wanted me in the program," she said. "It just came out of the blue."
The Olympic personnel who tabbed her for the training center also saw her wrestle with a group of athletes in Europe last December.
Spiegel also took sixth at 72 kilo (158.5 pounds) in the Junior Division (college age) at Body Bar, USA Wrestling's competition for women. In March, she won a U.S. Girls Wrestling Association state championship at 155 pounds.
Last summer, after winning a couple of major events, Spiegel qualified for and then won the championship in the Pan Am Junior Games, in the cadet division, in Managua, Nicaragua.
She continues to work out this summer and will compete in the Canada Cup in Toronto, in the Cadet Division. That begins Friday and continues through July 9. After that, she will compete in Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, N.D., where she placed fourth last summer.
Her reaction when learning of her big senior-year opportunity: "It was a thousand emotions. It's like you're excited, but you know that there is a lot to think about," the 17-year-old said.
Spiegel said most of her friends graduated from Selinsgrove this year and most are moving away. She will miss her family, but knows she will get to see them during a break from the school year and after it is over.
She has a sister, Emily, 14, at home as well as a half-brother, Greg (a former Selinsgrove wrestler), and a half-sister, Jenny, both now living in New Jersey.
Spiegel will report to the training center in Marquette, Mich., on Aug. 15. She will attend high school classes there, while living in the dormitories at Northern Michigan University, training at the international training camp in hopes of making it to the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Of course, this gets her closer to her longtime goal of competing in the Olympics.
"They are figuring at my age, and the amount of training I need, this could get me to the (trials) in 2016 or 2020.
She will attend Northern Michigan, but will not wrestle for the school, but rather continue to train for the Olympics. Spiegel said she is considering sports finance as a major.
Spiegel began wrestling in ninth grade. "I was looking for something to do to work out over the winter and I kind of always wanted to try wrestling because I am a very hands-on, physical person," she said.
Wrestling with and against boys was tough and her only wins came by forfeit, although she said she did get close to an actual win. "That was kind of enough (satisfaction) for me," she said.
The number of female wrestlers is growing, but its numbers don't compare with those of the males.
Spiegel said her male high school teammates teased her about that when she won trophies in female wrestling events. But, she added that competing in the world of male wrestling provides her the competition she needs.
"The competition is really good, it's hard to beat. It makes me stronger and I have better defense (because of it)," she added.
In Michigan, most of her time will be spent in training and in the classroom. She expects to compete in only about six competitions during the school year, she said.
All training and no competition can be boring, but Spiegel said, "I try not to think about that. I know this coach's style and he mixes up the training, with weightlifting every other day. In high school (practice), you do warmups, running and stretching and some drilling, but mostly stretching. I don't want to do that every day."
If she gets her way, Spiegel could someday hear the playing of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the end rather than the beginning of her matches.
n E-mail comments to hraker@dailyitem.com.
