01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, February 2, 2005

A hush falls over the gym. All eyes are on the two of them as they stand there, staring each other down. There's a quick handshake and then they begin to dance around the mat, touching each other ever so slightly at first, circling faster and faster, looking for precisely the right instant to engage.

Suddenly, they find it. And the next thing you know they're down on the mat, grappling with all their might, one against the other, arms pushing legs pumping bodies pressing into a human tangle as they jockey for position, looking for an edge. Any edge at all.

At the moment, the one in blue, the wrestler from Somerset High, is on top. But they push and they pull and they rock and they roll and now she's on the bottom. That's right. SHE.

Meet Katie Bruce, sophomore at Somerset High. She's petite, pretty, blonde and, yes, a varsity wrestler weighing in at 103.

When Katie first mentioned trying out for the wrestling team, her mother, Vicki, didn't pay much attention. "I thought it would blow over," she says from her perch on the stands. But it didn't. "Katie's the kind of kid who once she puts her mind to something, nothing's going to stop her. Not even vomiting in the trash can at practice."

The three team co-captains confirm that practices are grueling indeed. They tell me a story about a guy who had been to boot camp and then wound up on the wrestling team. Which was harder? Definitely the practices.

I suspect I don't need to ask how they feel about having a girl on their team after watching them all yelling "GO, KATIE, GO!" from the sidelines. But what's it like to go to the mat and find that a girl is your opponent?

"Well, it's different," says Chris Bell, the only one of the co-captains who's squared off with a girl in competition. "Yeah, you're more careful how you handle her. At least, at first. But believe me, you don't want to lose."

(According to the National Federation of State High School Associations' 38 girls wrestled for Massachusetts high school teams during the 2003-2004 school year and 15 girls were on Rhode Island teams.)

Appolon Skarpos, another co-captain, says they think of the Somerset team as a family. "Katie's like a little sister. We look out for her. It's fun."

Coach Nick Peachy tells me Katie's presence has raised the level of civility on the team. He wouldn't go as far as to encourage girls to try out, but once they're there, if they can do it, he'll work with them to bring out their best.

Which I understand is precisely what he's been doing for Somerset grapplers since 1988 when he started the wrestling club which, a few years later, evolved into the team. To prepare for a sport that Peachy describes as more physically and psychologically demanding than any other, it should come as no surprise that practices are challenging. "This way, when they're in a match, their intuition and muscle memory will take over."

And right about now, I'll bet that's what Katie's dad, Keith, is hoping will happen. "My girl, the wrestler," he says with a shrug and a smile. When dad heard about Katie's plan to wrestle, he had two things to say to her: that the training would be harder than that of any other sport she's ever played; anand that the matches would be intensely personal.

From what I can see of Katie and her opponent rolling around in front of us, he was right. With a twist and a turn, she's muscling her way back in control. She's got him on his back. Pinned against the mat. One,two,and then, just as suddenly as it began, it's over.

A victory for Katie. A victory for her team. And, I'd like to think, a victory for all the girls who go to the mat for what they want, for what they believe in, for what they aspire to, despite the excruciatingly hard work, the obstacles in front of them and the odds stacked against them.

Rita Lussier can be reached at ReetsAL [at] aol.com or by mail c/o Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain Street, Providence, RI 02902.