Okemos female wrestler sues district, coach over serious injuries suffered in practice

LANSING—A 94-pound girl on the Okemos boys wrestling team who says she was critically injured in a December 2024 practice after being paired against a much larger boy and body-slammed three times is suing the school district.

The student, with her mother’s backing, filed a civil complaint in Ingham County Circuit Court on Aug. 11 demanding a jury trial and monetary relief for damages that includes medical expenses and procedures. The lawsuit names Okemos wrestling coach Clint Guess and the district.

“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,” the complaint said. “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.”

The girl was not provided medical treatment at the high school beyond an examination by an athletic trainer, according to the lawsuit, but her parents took her to the University of Michigan – Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, where doctors confirmed serious injuries, including a liver laceration, and transferred her to the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.

The State Journal is not identifying the teens named in the suit.

District spokeswoman Shannon Beczkiewicz said the district would not comment on pending litigation.

The girl’s attorney, Jamie White, said in a statement 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.

“Girls in Okemos are being told, ‘You can play — at your own risk,’” White added. “This case is about more than sports — it’s about equal protection, basic safety, and the right to be free from retaliation.”

The girl was a featherweight competitor and one of only two female wrestlers on the varsity team when she attended a Dec. 12, 2024, practice, according to the complaint.

Her usual wrestling partners were not there and the only wrestlers present for sparring “were significantly above her weight class.”

“(She) spoke to her coach, Defendant Clint Guess, out of concern, and advised Guess that her usual wrestling partners were not available to practice and no one else present was in her weight class,” the lawsuit said. “(She) was forced to choose between entering into a dangerous pairing with a more experienced wrestler outside her weight class, or miss a practice session and face scrutiny from coaches and other teammates about whether she ‘didn’t belong on the team in the first place.’”

She was body slammed during the sparring session with a male athlete known to have injured another team member, according to the lawsuit, and the coach allowed them to continue after advising her opponent to “settle down.” She said in her complaint she was slammed into the floor three times, and following the third incident began vomiting and experienced breathing problems.

Guess did not request medical attention for the girl, according to the complaint, and athletic trainer Rachel Weiss, alerted by another student, examined her and contacted the girl’s father.

“(The athletic trainer) only advised (the girl’s father) that (she) may have hit her head and bruised a rib and that Motrin might help,” the complaint said.

The father took her to an emergency room after practice, and she was transferred to University of Michigan Health – Sparrow Hospital where she was placed in pediatric intensive care for four days.

“The Sparrow Emergency Room conducted a C.T. scan where it was discovered that (she) suffered severe injuries including but limited to a stage 5 hematoma, necessitating her immediate transport to University of Michigan Sparrow Trauma Center,” the lawsuit said.

Additional testing showed she had a Stage 4 liver laceration and bleeding.

“Medical professionals advised that if medical intervention had been delayed further, (her) condition may have been fatal,” the lawsuit said. “(She) was forced to refrain from all sporting and exercise activity, resulting in a steep decline in her physical fitness and mental health.”

Contact editor Susan Vela at [email protected] or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Okemos female wrestler sues district, coach over serious injuries suffered in practice

Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal

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