Plains' Angle to wrestle at Indian Hills

You can see the emotion in coach Shane Angle’s face when the subject at hand is one of his best wrestlers.

It a Daddy thing only fathers of little girls can fully comprehend.

And when the situation involves Taylor Angle, Shane Angle projects pride a mile wide.

So, when Taylor sat at a table in the gym at Plains High School and flashed a big grin as she signed her name to become the first female wrestler in school history to sign an athletic letter of intent, a scholarship by any other name, Papa Angle’s face was awash with pride and his eyes misted over with emotion.

“It’s pretty awesome be part of this”, coach Angle said of his daughter’s historic achievement. “Ever since she was a little kid she’s been around wrestling. I guess she jumped into the sport because I was part of it. It’s pretty amazing”.

Coach Angle has indeed been around wrestling most of his life too. He wrestled in college for Indian Hills Junior College in Indiana before moving West and winding up with his current job as head wrestling coach at Plains.

In the years he has been at Plains, Angle has built a solid program that has produced a bevy of outstanding wrestlers.

Add daugther Taylor to the mix.

“It’s been cool to develop the program, and to have the girls become part of it and make history is amazing,” Angle said. “We have grown each year and this past year had three girls in the top 10 at the state championships. Now to have one of those girls go on to college wrestling is an important achievement to me”.

Taylor, who wrestled at 120 or 126 pounds this year, finished fourth in the state this year in the fledgling girls wrestling competition.

“It’s been pretty cool to be part of this,” Taylor said following the official signing. “It’s been great to have my Dad as coach. I’m hoping this program will continue to grow and we will get more girls out every year”

Angle started wrestling in the area’s Pee Wee wrestling program, also coached by her Dad. Along the way she has wrestled mostly boys until the girls program really got off the ground last year.

Asked it if was a strange experience to wrestle boys, Taylor shrugged and said matter of factly, “It’s been different because boy wrestlers have more muscles and tend to be stronger. Girl wrestlers have to be good at technique to offset that”.

She became a quick learner, which led her to several victories over male wrestlers this year, including some by pins.

While at Indian Hills, which itself has a history of firsts among women’s college wrestling programs, including winning the past two Junior College national team championships at the first two all-female wrestling championships, Taylor said she will major in Horticulture, with an eye on becoming involved in the booming landscape industry in the years ahead.

And that is fine with her Dad.

“They have had a successful program there and are a good college for her to go to,” he said. “She is not overwhelmed by this”.