A devastating practice session at Okemos High School has resulted in a federal lawsuit after a 94-pound female wrestler suffered life-threatening injuries during what her family describes as a reckless pairing with a much heavier male teammate.
According to sources, the incident occurred on December 12, 2024, when the teenage athlete found herself without her usual practice partners and faced an impossible choice: sit out training and face questioning about whether she belonged on the team, or spar with significantly larger wrestlers who were present that day.
According to court documents filed in Ingham County Circuit Court, the girl was matched against a male wrestler known to have previously injured another teammate. Despite being body-slammed three times during the session, coach Clint Guess allowed the sparring to continue after only advising the male wrestler to “settle down.”
The lawsuit alleges that “Defendants knew or should have known that allowing [a heavier male wrestler] to spar with [the female student-athlete] would lead to [her] becoming severely injured. By failing to separate [them] after the first vicious and unnecessary body-slam, Defendant Guess acted so recklessly as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern.”
After the third slam, the girl began vomiting and experiencing breathing difficulties. The coach did not request medical attention, and when athletic trainer Rachel Weiss was alerted by another student, she only advised the girl’s father that she “may have hit her head and bruised a rib and that Motrin might help.”
The father’s decision to take his daughter to the emergency room likely saved her life. At University of Michigan Health – Sparrow Hospital, CT scans revealed catastrophic internal injuries including a Stage 5 hematoma and Stage 4 liver laceration with bleeding. She was immediately placed in the pediatric intensive care unit for four days.
“Medical professionals advised that if medical intervention had been delayed further, [her] condition may have been fatal,” the lawsuit states. The severity of her injuries forced her to stop all physical activity, leading to significant declines in both her physical fitness and mental health.
The girl’s attorney, Jamie White, argues that the school district “has adopted a deeply troubling and dangerous stance toward female student-athletes: allowing girls to participate in boys’ sports, while simultaneously subjecting them to unsafe conditions, withholding critical medical care, and retaliating against them for asserting their rights.”
White added, “Girls in Okemos are being told, ‘You can play — at your own risk.’ This case is about more than sports — it’s about equal protection, basic safety, and the right to be free from retaliation.”
Wrestling community members have expressed outrage over the incident, with many pointing to the extreme weight difference between the athletes and the coach’s failure to maintain a safe practice environment.
The girl was one of only two female wrestlers on the varsity team and competed as a featherweight. Her usual partners were absent from the December practice, leaving only wrestlers “significantly above her weight class” available for sparring.
District spokeswoman Shannon Beczkiewicz declined to comment on the pending litigation. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages including medical expenses and demands a jury trial.
