Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
	Oliver High School wrestler Judy Williams -- "When I wrestling, I'm just one of the boys."

A girl competing on a boys' high school wrestling team certainly isn't news any more. Since the mid 1980s, numerous girls in Western Pennsylvania have tangled with boys on the mats, but the girls never enjoy much success.

Judy Williams is different. She isn't just a workout partner who gets thrown around at Oliver High School. She isn't someone who just competes on the boys' team.

Williams actually wins. And with regularity. That's what makes her unique.

Williams, an Oliver senior, has a 2-1 record this season and both of her wins have been by pin. She had an 8-10 record a year ago and finished third at the City League championships. No girl in the WPIAL has ever finished in the top three of their section championships.

City League wrestling isn't on par with the WPIAL. Still, but what Williams has done is impressive. She is one of Oliver's team captains.

"I've seen her wrestle some kids who were really good and who beat her," said Oliver coach Lester Campbell.

"They come off the mat and say, 'Man, she's really tough.' She has garnered so much respect from people and coaches all over. People see her and go, 'Wow, this little girl is a wrestler.' "

Oliver's school nickname is the Bears -- and Williams looks more like a cub. She is only 5 feet tall and wrestles in the 112-pound division.

"When I'm wrestling, I'm just one of the boys," Williams said. "It's a respect thing. I'm a female, but I've earned my place."

Williams' wrestling career started two years ago in her sophomore year when she came home one day and asked her mother if she could try the sport. Williams, a North Side resident, was intrigued by the sport since one of her cousins, Anthony Sanders, wrestled for Perry a few years ago. The only other sport Williams had played was middle school basketball.

Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette
Oliver High School wrestler Judy Williams.

"At first I was a little stunned," said Williams' mother, Rochelle Stewart.

"Wrestling is not a sport girls usually attempt. But I told her she had my support and her coach encouraged her by giving her some videotapes so she could practice her technique."

Williams asked her mother to help her practice. Stewart flipped out -- literally.

"She would watch these tapes," Stewart said, "and after the third time of flipping me in our living room, I said 'OK, you do all your practicing at school from now on.'"

When Williams first joined the team, she could feel a lack of respect from the boys. But that changed quickly.

"At first, everybody didn't take me too seriously. They thought I was just another girl," Williams said. "Coach tried to make sure I was getting respect. But it's something you still have to earn on your own."

"When she started running longer than everyone in endurance runs, they started to respect her," Campbell said. "Then if she got slammed on the mat, she would get up and want more. She didn't cry or get upset. She had to prove herself, but it was not a long proving process."

It helped make Campbell marvel at her work ethic and her endurance level.

"She lives on the North Side and had a job this summer in East Liberty," Campbell said. "Sometimes, she would run to work.

"Her other asset is her learning curve is just off the charts. You literally see her development with each and every match and each and every practice."

One of Williams' goals is to qualify for the PIAA Class AAA regional. To do that, she must finish first or second at the City League championships. She has better than a 3.0 grade-point average in the classroom and hopes to attend college and study psychology. Her wrestling career will probably be over after high school.

"She's the type of kid you want to have in your program," Campbell said. "Her success and her character are contagious."