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18 WOMEN'S WRESTLING TEAM Travis Mercado has been asked a few too many times 'Why women's wrestling?' Without missing a beat, he answers, "Well, it is an Olympic sport, you know." A surprising number of people sheepishly respond, 'Ah, no, I didn't know.' CMU President Tim Foster gets the same question. His immediate answer is the Olympics, but he quickly adds, "It's the same question as 'Why athletics?'" Not many CMU student-athletes will go on to be professional athletes but what they learn, in addition to the skills of their sport, will serve them forever. They are work skills, personal skills, life skills — skills appreciated by future employers and all with whom they interact. "We believe in the transformative power of athletics to propel women into positions of power in the future," Foster said in announcing the formation of the team in March 2018. Mercado signed on as CMU's head women's wrestling coach in May after three years as head coach of women's wrestling at King University in Bristol, Tennessee. "CMU is the first university in Colorado to offer women's wrestling. They are serious about being on the forefront of the movement and becoming one of the top programs in the country," Mercado said. "I saw the opportunity to be a leader, an innovator, by being part of the first program in Colorado." As of early August, 13 women had committed to the CMU team. Mercado expects to have five to six more signed by the start of the 2018-2019 season in October and a minimum of 25 for the 2019-2020 season. The National Wrestling Coaches Association reports on its website that only 12 states have girls' high school wrestling programs with sanctioned state championships, with six of those added in 2018. Forty colleges and universities have women's wrestling teams, according to the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association. CMU's women wrestlers are in for a fair bit of travel with their nearest competitors in Plainview, Texas, nearly 750 miles away. "We are central to a lot of the programs," Mercado said, "and we'll be hosting the Maverick Duals Tournament November 9 and 10. We're expecting seven or eight teams." Want to impress your family and friends? Invite them to the Maverick Duals Tournament and drop these facts while you watch one of the fastest growing events in high school and college athletics: • Women's college wrestling follows international freestyle rules. • Women's college wrestling participates in the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association. • Women's wrestling has been an Olympic sport since 2004. • The first U.S. gold medalist in women's wrestling was Helen Maroulis in 2016.