Kristie Marano of Colorado Springs, Colo. has been named the 2003 Woman of the Year by USA Wrestling, the national governing body for amateur wrestling. This award recognizes an outstanding woman for her contributions to the sport of wrestling.

Marano captured the 67 kg/147.5 lbs. division at the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling in Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. , Sept. 12-14. She won her second career World title, helping the U.S. squadto a second place team finish.

The win extended her U.S. record for most women's World medals to seven. She has won two World gold medals, four World silver medals and a World bronze medals. Seven times she has wrestled at the World Championships, and seven times she has won a World medal, an amazing streak of consistency. What is remarkable is that Marano has reached these achievements at the age of 24 year old.

In the World Championship gold-medal finals, she defeated Ewelina Pruszko of Poland, 7-1.Her pool competition was a breeze, with pins of Jodeen MacGregor of New Zealand in 2:18 and Norie Sato of Japan in 2:13, plus a 10-0 technical fall over Martina Zyklova of the Czech Republic. The win over Sato would prove to be the only U.S. head-to-head win over Japan during the tournament. Her semifinal victory was a 2:15 pin over Canadian Shannon Samler.

As a native of Albany, N.Y., she was able to reach wrestling's highest honor in her home state, in front of many family and friends who had come to see her compete.

Marano claimed an individual gold medal at the Women's World Cup in Tokyo, Japan, in October, helping lead the USA to the team title in an upset of host Japan. She also claimed a gold medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in February. Marano won silver medals at two other major events, the Sunkist Kids International in October and the Manitoba Open in Canada in February.

She competed at 63 kg/138.75 pounds during the domestic season, earning a silver medal at the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas, Nev. in April and the World Team Trials in Indianapolis, Ind. in June. To secure her spot on the U.S. team, she moved up to 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and won a Special Wrestle-off in Colorado Springs, Colo. in August.

Marano was named 2003 U.S. Olympic Committee Female Wrestler of the Year, the second time in her career that she won this honor. She has also won the USA Wrestling Women's Wrestler of the Year award three times in her career (1998, 2000, 2002).

She is a working single mother, raising five-year-old daughter Kayla while training on the world-class level. She became a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete this year. Her father Conrad has also moved to Colorado Springs to assist Kristie with caring for Kayla. She also works part-time at USA Wrestling, assisting National Coach Terry Steiner on many projects.

Marano has served as a coach for Team New York at the Junior National Championships for Girls in Fargo, N.D.

Marano came into wrestling after competing in judo as a youth, reaching national level achievements in that sport. She suffered a knee injury which hampered her judo career, and she turned to wrestling which allowed her to wear a knee brace. She is from a family of wrestlers, as her father and her brothers also participated in the sport.

She attended Hudson Valley CC, and was on the wrestling team at Colonie Central High School in New York. Marano was also a talented softball player on the high school level.

PAST USA WRESTLING WOMAN OF THE YEAR WINNERS  2003 - Kristie Marano  2002 - Pat Short  2001 - Paula McGahee  2000 - Sandy Stevens  1999 - Sue Siar  1998 - Nancy Schultz  1997 - Tricia Saunders