Leading the Way to the Mat: Audrey Pang '05
11/24/2020
At a university as rich in tradition as Princeton, inside an Athletics Department with icons worthy of their own chapter in the history of their sport, there are a fortunate few who carry the unique distinction of being 'first' to do something. Audrey Pang '05 is one of those Tigers.
As Princeton celebrates 50 years of women's athletics in 2020-21, one of the many compelling stories in that half-century comes from outside a women's program via the wrestling program, a story compelling enough to draw contemporary interest from the New York Times, among other media outlets.
The first woman to letter with the Princeton wrestling program, Pang remains the only one to compete in dual meets for the team, even 15 years after she completed her degree in economics and set off into the world of finance.
Pang, though, was just ahead of her time, including in some ways that may have served her well in creating the path that she did.
"This was the era really before social media took off, so a lot of those negative voices were more muted, more distant," Pang said of those who scoffed at a woman suiting up for what had been until then an exclusively men's program. "Thinking back, I can see a lot of those (discouraging) moments pretty clearly, but at the time and in the moment, I had to block them out. I couldn't let myself linger on them because if I did, I might never move on, I might not keep going."
Pang, a Toronto native, had wrestled prior to Princeton, training with both male and female high-schoolers but competing exclusively against women. Then-coach Michael New and the Princeton wrestling program welcomed her when she wanted to join the team, and for her first three years, she trained as any other member of the team did. Though she didn't compete for Princeton during that time, the program supported her in other women's competitions.
"They sponsored me to compete on the USA Wrestling circuit and in international competitions, so I was a 112-pounder competing in freestyle wrestling against women," Pang said. "The coach and the team had supported me and the alumni funded me when I was off competing on my own. I felt like I was a part of the team, but it was only after I started competing in duals wearing the Princeton singlet and in front of the Princeton crowd that I really began to feel like part of the community, and that was a wonderful feeling."
That chance came her senior year, when she became the first woman to take the mat and compete for Princeton. Beyond the usual feeling in team sports that your teammates are counting on you to succeed, for Pang, there was also the feeling of representing an entire gender, and that her outcomes would reflect on the efforts of women's wrestling as a whole.
"The spotlight of being the only woman on the wrestling team, that part was intimidating, and I think there was an element to that, which may have been self-inflicted, where I felt an additional pressure of representing women on the mat," Pang said. "I felt like, if I didn't perform well, if I got injured, that there would be people who would take that as a data point, that women didn't belong out there, and that's something that I would occasionally beat myself up about, that extra pressure."
There was also the matter of pursuing success on the mat, regardless of the historical or unusual nature of a woman undertaking that pursuit.
"Unlike some of the women today and then who grow up competing against men, I had never competed against men prior to my senior year. I had to go up a weight class to 125, and I had to actually wrestle a different style, too, because I had only ever competed and trained in freestyle, and men's wrestling in the U.S. in college is folkstyle," Pang said. "It was different. It was nerve-wracking."
Despite being less than two decades ago, it certainly was a different time, specifically with women's wrestling. When Pang competed for Princeton, the high school federations of only two states – Hawaii and Texas – sponsored girls wrestling, according to Wrestle Like a Girl. Now, 28 do, including Princeton's home state of New Jersey, which held its first girls wrestling championship in 2019. The NCAA classified women's wrestling as a Division I emerging sport in June 2020.
Greater visibility for women wrestlers competing ought to keep other women from the kind of misunderstanding that Pang met when arriving at the 2005 EIWAs at Navy, where she was Princeton's entrant at 125.
"Each of the wrestlers, they got a gym bag, and it said 'Battle by the Bay,'" Pang said. "I remember checking in and we were in line and they got to me and they were like, oh, I'm sorry, the bag is just for athletes, we're not giving bags to managers. It felt good. There was a little bit of a thrill to say, yes, actually I am a wrestler, I'm the 125-pounder. It was a little bit embarrassing, but it also felt good because I really was so proud to be able to represent Princeton wrestling, and I still have that bag."
Pang is believed to be the only woman to compete at EIWAs in the 115 years the organization has been holding championships. There have been a handful of women who have also trained with the team, among them Amanda Noteware ‘05 and Ryona Kumagai ’06. Kim Ritrievi '80 lettered as a manager and entered the lineup in a match that was forfeited, and though Demetra Yancopoulos is on the current roster, Pang remains the only Princeton woman to compete in a match.
"At the time, I knew that I was a little bit early, but I didn't think it was going to be another 15 years until we saw another woman in the wrestling room. That part is a little bit disheartening, but I'm on a committee now with several other incredible and convicted Princeton wrestling alumni, mostly men along with Kim Ritrievi, to change that," Pang said. "The coaches are also phenomenal. They've already publicly stated that they'll support admitted women who want to wrestle however they can. It's nice to have had the experience to have a little bit more authority when I speak on the topic, and to use some of that spotlight to shine a light on this now."
Pang's story at Princeton does not have a movie underdog ending, at least in the sense of victories on the mat. She did not win matches other than by forfeit. What she did was prove that competing was possible, and though no other woman has followed her into competition, let alone won a match, the pathway is there.
"I had the deep and true support of the people that mattered. My coach, Coach New, my teammates, my partners, the alumni. Those were the voices that mattered," Pang said. "The time has come and it's the right thing to do to create more opportunities for young women. It's great for wrestling, it's great for Princeton, and it's good for society at large."
Even without the wins on the mat, Pang grew from her experience forging ahead as a competitor where no woman had competed before.
"I learned how to navigate a very masculine environment, and I don't think it's by chance that I went on to become a stock trader and then work in consulting and private equity and software. Those are all very male-dominated spaces today, and it's in retrospect that I can say very confidently that it's the skills that I learned and the adversity that I faced wrestling with the Princeton men's wrestling team that really gave me the ability to succeed in those environments," Pang said. "That prepared me for battles later on in life, in the trading pit, in the board room. It trained me well for my future."
