She Wanted A Belt; She Won History Instead

Transcript

Introducing Katie Lang

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, first of all, uh welcome to the show, everybody. This is I'm I'm Mike Innis and uh host here of uh Newsmakers Podcast for the Martin County Star. And today I've got with me the first champion I've ever interviewed, and I'm really excited. I watched her uh her match on uh Facebook over the weekend, just that last little bit, and I was like, wow, how do I get Katie on? And the next thing I know is uh Monday morning, yesterday morning, Liz walks in and says, Mike, guess who I've got for you? So I want to introduce to you, Katie Lang. Katie, it's so good to have you here.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yeah, thanks. It's it's nice to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Well, it's great. Uh she happens to be on spring break, and so this just worked out for us real rather well. So over the weekend, uh you wrestle at 100, was it 38?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Okay, 138 weight pound class. Uh, and she is the national champion.

unknown 0:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Very first.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

And this is a new pro. Go ahead and explain it like you did to me a second ago.

NCAA Women’s Wrestling Becomes Sanctioned

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, so um some people were a little bit confused on the very first. Um, so just a little bit of history about women's wrestling is in 2021 it was picked up by the NCAA as an emergent sport. So it's not technically sanctioned at that point, but it puts them on the clock. And there's certain stipulations that the sport has to meet, um, kind of growth-wise, to get sanctioned. And this year um it was finally sanctioned, and I happen to be the first weight class uh for the finals, so I got to be the first ever NCAA woman's champion.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Oh, that's even that's even better than I thought. Yeah. I mean it was the first ever. So you were the first ever, ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

And it's so interesting because usually it goes low like lightest weight to like heavyweight. Yeah. Um and I'm right in the middle there. But they had because it was ESPN, they had and there was like a team race, they wanted to rearrange the the matches to make it the most interesting. So um my match was first. You were it.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah. Yeah. I I watched that on um, like I said, on Facebook, and I saw that. And I was like so proud. I was sitting there going, oh man. So you told me you've been wrestling like your whole life.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

With your brother your brothers and and your dad. Yeah. Right, right. Well, that's sounds pretty typical, doesn't it? And so, but uh did you wrestle for Martin County West? Yeah, did you go school?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I did. I wrestled um up until about my sophomore year, and then I tried basketball out, but I came back my senior year and um just kind of took off from there.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

How'd you do that year?

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Um so I guess uh I wrestled with the Red Bulls until uh yeah, my sophomore year, and um and then I came back. I didn't necessarily come back to the Red Bulls. I I kind of did USA stuff and stuff on the side while I was still in basketball, but um I had won the Pan Amps uh my senior year, and I placed third at Fargo, which is a pretty big one of the biggest high school tournaments. So I did pretty good when I came back.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay, good, good, good job. And so you're you're an accounting major in college. Yes. All right, I'm not sure how that's gonna work exactly. Yeah, no. But what were what uh year are you in?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

This this was my senior year. Your senior year, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Are you gonna go on for a master's or are you done?

Early Years And High School Path

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Um, yeah, I'm kind of in this like in-between stage because I want to keep wrestling, but um like, you know, I'm can you continue to wrestle there? You still have more eligibility? I don't have eligibility, but I mean, um, I'm somebody who's gonna try to seek world teams and Olympic teams. Oh you know, so I'm I'm trying to kind of figure out where I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah, I want to stay at Grand Valley because they have a club, but um, yeah, I'm just kind of still figuring out.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Oh, that'd be so exciting for you to be on the Olympic team.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Oh yeah, it's it's a that would be a a huge deal, but you know, I gotta get there first.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Has anybody talked to you about it yet?

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Um, well, so a little bit, you know, about me is I I did go to Olympic trials in 2024. Okay. I actually took a gap year in 2024 and I trained at the Olympic Training Center, which is kind of emergent and senior athletes. Um, and I think I took like fifth or sixth there. So, you know, it's it's within reach, but it's it's a big goal for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Oh, it is a big goal, but yeah, you have made a big step towards it though.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

So what's a what's a typical day for you when you're in training?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, so um I guess I can kind of take you through my Tuesdays. Okay. Um I'm kind of up at six between six and seven, and I have lift at eight. Um, and then I have all online classes, which is really nice. So I always kind of get them done. Um I have practice at 1:30, and then it's just kind of um based on where we are competition-wise and and kind of in our schedule, whether I do extra work, um, conditioning, or or like a one-on-one or something like that. But yeah, it's it's just kind of just left and then it's busy. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty busy.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

It's it's pretty busy. You told me your coach uh wasn't Abe Abe will be at the match, his wife is expecting.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

They were having a baby. Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

No, I'm super excited for him.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Oh, absolutely. Uh okay, so how many matches did you have this year? You you know what your record was?

College Career And Olympic Ambitions

SPEAKER_00 5:14

I'm gonna say um I think it ended up being 24 and one.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Did you get revenge on the one?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

No, um, her and I actually split the the person I lost to, we split the split matches. So I had beat her once and she had beat me once, but she was on the other side of the bracket. So I didn't get to see her again.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

She lost before she got to you.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Okay. You were waiting though. I I was I was ready.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

I was I had made the adjustments.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

So Okay, all right. All right. I wrestled in high school, but not at your level. Not at your level. You know, um, I know what it's like though. I know uh three three rounds still? Is it period or whatever they call it?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Oh, so my so um men's high school wrestling is a little bit different than so we wrestle freestyle, which is the Olympic Olympic world team style. Right. Um so it's two periods with a 30-second break in between.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Okay, two periods. All right. Okay. I can't remember. I guess it's probably two periods for us too.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Uh I think uh folk style is three periods, but um, there are three periods and each period is two minutes. We're two periods and each period is three minutes.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Oh, I see. Oh, okay. That's different.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

All right. And so going on from here, uh, you know, you kind of you uh other than the Olympics now, you know, you've kind of reached it, haven't you?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, I I mean I would I would love to say that, but I do, I mean, I have a little bit bigger goals in mind. I always have um like world team trials is coming up.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I would love to make a world team and then Okay, so what's the world team? I don't I I'm not familiar.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah, so every year it's just um they have a world championship where the best athletes from each country um wrestle each other. Oh, okay. And yeah, if you win it, you're the world champion. So team USA, and you get one representative per weight. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

All right, yeah. Yeah. Okay, so who's your competition right now? Do you know?

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Uh to make the world team, yeah. Um I got a couple, quite a few people.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Um you're gonna have to step over, huh?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, a lot of the the girls that are um kind of looking for the world team are a little bit older. So I would say the average age is probably 25 on the world team.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

You're a little younger than that.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, I'm 22.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, okay, all right, all right. And uh um shoot, I had a thought and then it little it went away.

unknown 7:35

Yeah.

Training Routine And Season Record

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Okay, good. I'm not not the only one here. All right, so uh the world championships, yeah. And then after that, the Olympics, hopefully. Right? And then um at some point, a career.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah, so I'm that's kind of where I at and that I gotta kinda make some decisions, but I will probably be an accountant or maybe I'll go into the coaching route. I'm not sure yet.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Well, I that was what I was gonna ask you. Yeah. Was coaching, yeah. Yeah. Uh okay, so any thought of going into professional wrestling?

SPEAKER_00 8:07

I don't I don't think it's for me personally. I've I've had a couple of people on my team that have gotten reached out by WWE. Yeah. Um, I think one person's going to try to pursue it, but um, yeah, I don't think that's really my that's not your that's your not your lane. No, I'm more of the I'm too quiet for that. Okay. Kind of reserved and I I do like numbers, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

I can see you, you know. I'll be your manager and we'll now you got a belt too, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

I saw that. I was like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

No, they told us so we don't usually get belts. Even the men's didn't get belts, but they just started that this year, and they they told us like it was like an hour before we wrestled it. They're like, oh, by the way, if you win, you get a belt. And I was like, oh my god, I have wanted a belt for so long.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

No lie.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Do you get to keep it even after Oh yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

So it's not it's not like a give back thing next year. No, okay, all right. I almost told I almost told Liz, I said, Hey, have Katie bring her belt.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

I did bring it, I wasn't sure if it was it's in my car, though.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Oh, I want to see that before we leave.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Okay, yeah, yeah. I'll bring it in here. I think about the trophy, too. Oh, I saw that and I said, Oh, she got a belt. Yeah, no, it was super cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

It is cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

You know, there's some things that just go with certain sports in the belt, is it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, you know, I'm so darn proud of you. I don't know what else to say. Liz was telling me she's starstruck, and I think I may be too a little bit here. Uh, you know, I'm the whole the whole area's gotta be proud of you.

Freestyle Format And Rules

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Oh, I've gotten so much. I mean, I've always gotten received so much support from Martin County, and yeah, um, yeah, I'm just so blessed for the support system that I've been given. You you are, you are indeed.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

You are indeed. All right. So, Katie, it's been it's been a privilege uh having you here with us this morning. I don't know what else to say. Anything else you want to share with me? Uh I I'm trying to think of what else I can ask you. Um well, tell me a little bit about the match, though, first of all. Were you you know, when you went into it, uh, what were your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yeah, so I actually um I had wrestled this person that uh was in the finals with me a few times before. Okay. Um I had lost to them once at Olympic trials in 2024. Okay. And then just actually, I think it was like three weeks ago, we had regionals and they were my region, so I avenged the loss, and I knew that she she's also a senior. She's very um well-rounded, very smart, tactical. So I knew it would be a pretty tactical match. And I was actually, I think, um, down one to zero before the second period, but I just kind of picked up the pace and started getting comfortable within the match and um got a couple takedowns and it was it was a fun one to watch. Yeah, yeah. No, no pin. No pin. No.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

No pin.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

That's a bit hard at the best level. Yeah. She was tough.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

She was tough, yeah. Yeah, okay. And so what were going through your thoughts when you looked up? What was your final score? I can't remember. Eight, six or something?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Uh it was four one.

World Team Pathway And Competition

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Four-one. Okay, sorry. Four-one. What was your what was your thoughts when you looked up and you saw you knew you were ahead? Yeah. And you knew you had like 30 seconds left.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah. So that is probably So then it was, was it just hang on? Yeah. That's probably the most nerve-wracking part of wrestling is when you are up and there's like 30 seconds left in the match because I swear wrestlers that are down just kind of find a second gear and they are just coming at you. Yep, yep. So you gotta be able to hold your position, um, stay center in the mat and just kind of wrestle through it. Um, but yeah, it was just it was just hold on, hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yeah, I think you had, I think in I I saw you had a hold of her leg.

unknown 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So take it up or dear alive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She can't get up, she can't get away. Yeah, yeah. Right, okay. And then and then it was over.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

And then it was, yeah. So actually they um at the very end, they they blew us up because she tried to go for a throw, and they have like it's called slips in freestyle, where if they slip on the throw, you just get put right back up. So it was one second left. Oh I'm just like ready to cheer, but I had to go back to the center of the mat and just kind of like I I think I like shot in at the very end just to make sure that she didn't try to throw me. But yeah, it was one second, and um, and then you just kind of erupt with the motion.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Well, way to go. Oh, you oh, you're more than welcome. I uh they need to give you the key to the county.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Oh gosh, no.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

I don't know if I'm quite there. Yeah, I think you may be. What'd your high school coach say? Oh, he he reached out, he he didn't actually. I bet he did. I bet he did. All righty. Okay, folks. Um Katie Lang here with us today, and she is the first ever of any weight class, national champ. Uh, which which division is this? Division one?

Career Choices And WWE Question

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Um, so they uh uh all the divisions were together this year. Oh, oh, they were all together. Yeah, okay. Division one, division two, division. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

First ever ladies champ of any weight class. We're so happy to have you here with us today. Congratulations. I look forward to following you in the future.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

I hope in about two years from now we're gonna talk again about the Olympic team. Oh gosh, I hope so. Wouldn't that be great? That would be awesome. That would be great. All right, good seeing you. Thank you. Thank you.