Betty Bear Is First Poplar Female Wrestler Earning Scholarship

The 2020-2021 wrestling season will be the first for sanctioned girls’ wrestling in Montana and the first for a Poplar female wrestler to hit the collegiate mats with an athletic scholarship.

Betty Bear, 18, a 2020 Poplar High School graduate, will wrestle for the women’s wrestling program at the University of Providence in Great Falls.

Wrestling for PHS for two years in the 126-pound weight class, she was a standout wrestler who competed largely against male wrestlers.

“She wrestled two years in junior high for me and two in high school,” PHS head wrestling coach Jason Frederick said.

He said Bear was a member of Poplar Wrestling Club, an AAU affiliate, and earned her way to Team Montana and competed in Iowa.

“She is Poplar’s first female college wrestler to be awarded a scholarship in wrestle,” Frederick said.

“The Poplar High School wrestling staff and the Poplar Wrestling Club are very proud of Betty and are excited to follow her accomplishments,” Frederick said.

Bear will major in psychology at the University of Providence. She said her career goal is to become a counselor working with children.

While in high school, Bear also played tennis for three years, volleyball for four and was a basketball team manager for one year.