Ashley Courtney, Southwestern Michigan College’s first women’s wrestling coach, comes from a

prominent central Kentucky wrestling family.

Her father introduced her to the sport at 7. Her second-oldest brother, Harrison, a four-time state champion, coaches the mat men at their Woodford County High School, which has won 13 state championships, celebrating more than any other Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) school with 61 individual champions.

Courtney wrestled for four years at a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school, the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., home of the Patriots and mascot Patriot Pete — not to be confused with the Cumberland University Phoenix east of Nashville in Tennessee.

The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains and near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.

Courtney, who served as team captain for two years, graduated cum laude in May with degrees in biology and communication arts intending to pursue environmental journalism. “Stuff like National Geographic. You plan for one thing, then life spins you in a different direction,” said Courtney, who wrote for the school newspaper in high school.

Wrestling on the boys varsity, she was a KHSAA boys state qualifier.

“I wouldn’t call myself a pioneer,” she said, “but when I was younger, I was often the only girl at a tournament. I wrestled at 106 pounds, the lightest weight class, and wrestled mostly boys, although my sophomore and junior years, women’s wrestling kind of started to take off.

“I wasn’t the first girl to make it to the boys state tournament. There was one girl before me, Priscilla. I’ve met her.”

Campbell County's Priscilla Brownfield competed in the Kentucky state wrestling tournament in the 103-pound class in 2006, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“My dad wrestled and has been a coach going on 40 years,” Courtney said. “Two out of three