World champion athlete looks forward to her future in wrestling
Piper Fowler UC17 73KG World Champion
CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — She is the first girl in Tennessee history to win the wrestling tournament and earn a spot in the World Championships.
Her name is Piper Fowler.
Fowler is an upcoming junior but has had a different journey than most people her age.
At just 16, she represented the nation by wrestling in the under 17 World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey… and won.
“It was a really incredible experience to go to another country. I’ve never been to another country before, so I got to go to another country, and compete and get to be in the environment with so many other countries. So many other girls, who are the best in their country, so it was just a really incredible experience,” UC17 73KG World Champion Piper Fowler said.
Fowler has been wrestling since she was 5 years old.
Communities around the state and the U.S. have rallied around Fowler to support her on her journey.
“It’s not just the Cleveland people, not just people from Tennessee, but people all over the U.S. now. It’s an incredible thing to be able to go and represent your country in another country. And not just represent it but win in a U.S. singlet. All these people support me and love me, and I’m so thankful for that and so grateful for that. Because I would not be where I am today without those people. A lot of the supporters I have now, but not just them, the people who were my coaches when I was little… my family, my coaches now. I would not be where I am without them, so it’s incredible,” Fowler said.
She is excited to start off her junior season at Cleveland with the Lady Raiders.
Her hope is to continue on to compete in the Olympics.
Since the competition in the beginning of August, Fowler is still in awe of the encouragement she’s received.
“I definitely didn’t expect it. I didn’t know that all these people supported me and watched my journey and have just been involved all the way through. All these people love and support me. So it was definitely a shock when I got to the airport and all those people were there. It was just incredible and shocking to me,” Fowler said.
