A state champion wrestler is claiming that the FRCC has violated Title IX.
Manitowoc Lincoln Sophomore Emjay Newmann has been competing against the boys her entire career, including during her two years at the high school level.
Not only has she been successful against the boys, but she won six of her seven duals this past season against the guys and brought home a girls state championship in the 120-pound weight class.
Her mother, Rhonda Neumann, tells Seehafer News that her performance during the season was within the FRCC’s criteria for her to be recognized as an All-Conference wrestler among the boys.
But that did not happen.
“At the coach’s meeting, her coach, Tyler Wetenkamp, nominated her for 2nd Team All-Conference,” Rhonda explained. “The coaches said they weren’t going to put a girls wrestler on the boys All-Conference list.”
Emjay, who is referred to as a silent assassin by many, wasn’t very talkative during our interview, but she did send us a statement after the fact, saying that the decision was disappointing because “I worked just as hard as the boys. It isn’t fair that a girl’s win and success against boys isn’t recognized, but a boy’s win and success against girls earns them all-confidence honors.”
Rhonda contacted Dave Steavpack and Steve Kestly, the FRCC’s co-commissioners, to let them know that they believed this decision violated Title IX.
The law states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Rhonda told us, “The conference commissioners got back to me and said they did some internal investigation and didn’t believe there was gender discrimination.”
Felling that this was bigger than just her daughter and that there are likely other girls in similar positions, Rhonda filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
With girls wrestling still in its infancy in Wisconsin, Rhonda says Emjay is a very unique situation, as she is a starter on the boys team because otherwise she wouldn’t get to compete very often.
“There are some girls that will do some duals, but not all of the duals,” she explained. “I don’t know if it will ever come up again, or if the conference is going to start doing duals between the girls, but at this point, there aren’t enough girls to actually do duals.”
As for what the goal is with this complaint, Rhonda said it’s simple.
“We just want her to be recognized for her hard work,” she said bluntly. “She put in the hard work, the dedications just like the boys did.”
Emjay was named to the girls 1st Team All-Conference Squad, but she says she wants to be recognized with the boys because “I earned it.”
We also reached out to Steavpack and Kestly, who stated, “Emjay Neumann is a great wrestler. She is a state champion and FRCC Girls Wrestler of the Year. The FRCC has worked with the WIAA and with FRCC school personnel to recognize athletes for outstanding achievement. The Conference will continue to work with our partners to develop postseason recognition processes as our sports and their competitions evolve.”
