By RACHEL DAVIS

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rdavis@gctelegram.com

Her signature move is the cross face and she has fans wherever she goes, but Garden City resident Veronica Fry remains a humble 11-year-old wrestler.

Fry, who began wrestling three years ago after watching her younger brother participate in the sport piqued her interest, said she enjoys wrestling because she makes new friends and is not easily intimidated by her competition.

Ron Fry, Veronica's father, said she wrestles girls, as well as boys.

"She's made a few boys cry," he said.

Joe Arellano, Veronica's coach, said she also has brought disappointment to girls she has grappled, winning the girls state competition in McPherson in 2007 and placing second in competition in 2006.

Arellano said Veronica, who is strong for an 11-year-old girl and stays focused most of the time during the match, twice has made regular state tournaments, where she competes against boys and girls.

With these achievements, Veronica's reputation does follow her and at times causes problems, Ron Fry said, recalling a tournament in which a boy from Valley Center refused to wrestle his daughter.

He said the boy's coach received permission to rearrange the schedule so the boy did not have to wrestle Veronica.

"He said he couldn't wrestle a girl for religious reasons and I understand that," Ron Fry said. "But it's the boys who refuse to wrestle her because they think they will hurt her or she will hurt them that gets me."

She joins about 12 girls in the area who wrestle as girls' participation in the male-dominated sport outgrows its anomaly, Arellano said, though it still is not as common as it is in the eastern part of the country where there are all-girl wrestling teams.

"Kansas always has been behind the times but we're getting there," he said.

And as more people attend matches to watch girls tussle with boys, Veronica said it can be distracting.

"I get really nervous, especially if there's a lot of people watching me," she said.

Laurie Fry, Veronica's mother, said her daughter will have to get used to the attention because she is a popular wrestler whose name spectators chant when she steps onto the mat to take on a boy.

"The girls are the underdogs and the crowd cheering keeps them motivated," Arellano said. "It also keeps the boys on their toes."

Sometimes, however, it can be a boy in the stands who can pose a threat to Veronica's wrestling success if Veronica likes the boy in question.

"It's downhill from there," Laurie Fry said. "When she finds out a boy she likes is watching her, her focus disappears."

Ron Fry said before his daughter takes to the mat, she works the nerves out by either jumping up and down or walking the outside of the mat after her father has put her head gear on her.

He said while he enjoys watching his daughter compete and win, he also wants her to realize she doesn't have to lose her femininity to be great.

"Yeah, I want her to practice and keep up her strength so she can contend with the boys," Ron Fry said. "But I also want her to be able to be a kid and sit around with the girls and do hair."

But Veronica says her friends support her unique endeavor.

"My friends think it's cool that I wrestle," she said.