BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Funeral Services for Casper native Sarah Dawn Tolin, 23, were conducted in Casper, Wyoming, at 3:30 PM, Monday, March 14, 2005 at Highland Park Community Church by Rabbi Sam Wiseman of Temple Beth El. Interment was at Highland Cemetery, followed by a gathering of family and friends at the Casper Shrine Club.
Memorial Services were held at 7:00 PM on March 22, 2005, in the Beaird Lounge on the second floor of the Oklahoma Memorial Union at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, with Rabbi Steven Kirschner of OU Hillel presiding.
She died on March 7, 2005, at her University apartment in Norman, Oklahoma.
Born February 1, 1982, in Casper, she was the daughter of Don and Vickie (Davison) Tolin of Casper.
She was raised and went to schools in Casper, attending Montessori School of Casper, Verda James Elementary School, and Centennial Junior High, where she received the Academic Award of Excellence.
She was a 2000 graduate of Kelly Walsh High School.
She attended Casper College for a year and was on the President's Honor Roll, and then transferred to Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kansas, after being heavily recruited for their first women’s varsity wrestling team. She was on the Dean’s Honor Roll at Neosho for 2 years, and graduated with an A.A. degree in communications in 2003. She attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. At the time of her death, she was a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, double majoring in sociology and history; graduating May 13, 2005.
She was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the International College Scholastic Honor Society, and a Past Honored Queen and Majority Member of Bethel No. 28 - Casper, International Order of Job’s Daughters. She attended Hillel in Norman.
Active in Girl Scouts, she attended Camp Sacajawea on Casper Mountain for 8 years. She was a charter member of the Boy Scouts of America Explorer Post 2000.
She was a member of the first Student Council at Verda James Elementary School, serving on it for 4 years. At Centennial Junior High she was in the Student Senate for 3 years, the 9th Grade Class President, the Spanish Club Vice-President and National Junior Honor Society Advisor. An active member of the Kelly Walsh High School Student Council, she attended the Student Leadership Conference and was also a voting delegate to the Wyoming Association of Student Councils.
She played viola in school orchestras for 7 years, and participated in various drama productions.
After graduating high school, she traveled to Mexico with her High School Graduating Class. In College, she toured Peru with her sister and college classmates, and lived and studied Spanish in Guatemala.
She was an accomplished multi-sport athlete, although she is best known for being the first female in Wyoming to be allowed to compete against boys in wrestling. She participated in volleyball, basketball, and track in elementary school. She was the first female to wrestle at Centennial Junior High, wrestling in the 8th grade. She was on the first Centennial Junior High girl’s cross country team, placing in the top 3. She also competed in volleyball, basketball, and track, and received her junior high sports letters.
At Kelly Walsh High School, she competed in basketball, cross country, track and field, and was the first female to compete on the KW wrestling team. She was her wrestling squad captain. She also enjoyed intramural volleyball. She received Varsity Letters in Wrestling, Cross Country, and Track. And she received a KWHS Varsity Sports Blanket for her 6 varsity letters. At the conclusion of her senior year of wrestling, the coaches selected her for the coveted annual Craig Howie Award for the most outstanding hustle. Participating in AAU and USA Track and Field events, she was a local, state, and regional champion, and was a national qualifier for the AAU Junior Olympic Games and Championships and the USAT&F National Junior Olympic Championships. She was a Hershey Track and Field local and state finalist. She also won various medals in wrestling, long distance running, and track & field in the Cowboy State Games. She competed in the Bolder Boulder High Altitude 10K for several years.
She was an elementary school sports referee for volleyball and basketball. She also was an assistant wrestling coach for the Casper Junior High Schools.
Active in the Wyoming Amateur Wrestling Association, the governing body of wrestling in Wyoming, she served several terms on its Board of Directors, and was its first female athlete representative. A member of the Casper Wrestling Club, and the Windy City Wrestlers, she was WCW's first female wrestler. She also volunteered as a timer, scorekeeper, and runner for tournaments when she was not wrestling. She was a USA Wrestling Bronze Certified Coach, and a United States Wrestling Officials Association nationally licensed category M2 mat official and category PA pairing official.
In College, in addition to wrestling, she also participated in intramural volleyball, basketball, and softball. She also loved to play soccer, but did not participate competitively.
Her wrestling awards, honors, and recognitions are numerous, for which she was known internationally.
She was the first Wyoming female wrestler to be a high school All-American and a college All-American. She was the silver medalist at the 2002 University National Championships. An inaugural member of the United State’s first female University World team, she placed 5th in the world at the 2002 University World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
She was a national team member for the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club and a USA World Team Trials qualifier. In 2000, she was the first female from Wyoming to compete at the U.S. National Championships. She won medals at several prestigious international wrestling tournaments. She wrestled in Bulgaria and France on a cultural exchange tour with other elite U.S. women.
Wrestling against boys before high school, she was a medalist for 3 years at the Wyoming Kids/Cadet Freestyle State Championships and for 4 years at the Wyoming Kids/Cadet Greco-Roman State Championships. She was a qualifier and Wyoming Team Member for Western Regionals in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman.
A 2 time Girls’ Freestyle Wyoming State Champion, she was the first female athlete to receive the Wyoming Governor’s Award for Excellence in Freestyle Wrestling, and first and only Wyoming athlete to receive the Governor’s Award 4 times.
The first Wyoming female wrestler to compete nationally and internationally, she placed at Women’s Cadet National Championships, the Women’s Junior National Championships, and medaled at the FILA Junior Women’s National Championships, and also medaled at the Girl’s High School National Championships.
Winning the gold medal four times at the Rocky Mountain Regional Championships in Laramie, she also received the award for most pins in the least amount of time and was selected as outstanding wrestler. She also won the gold medal at the Southern Plains Regional Championships In Tulsa where she was also selected as the outstanding female wrestler. Following that tournament, she was selected as Senior Women’s National Wrestler of the Week; and recognized by Wrestling USA Magazine among the top women wrestler’s in the Nation.
During the summer of 2002, she was among the first women wrestlers to be allowed to live and train as resident athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
She was regularly ranked in the top ten in the nation of the best female high school wrestlers, of the best FILA Junior World Women Wrestlers, of the top USA College Women Wrestlers, the top North American College Women Wrestlers, and the top USA Senior Women Wrestlers.
As an avid photographer, she enjoyed taking pictures of nature and people. Her wrestling pictures have been published nationally and also on the web. She often times traveled with her college men’s wrestling team as a photographer.
During college, she worked part time for her parents in her father's law firm, at the Casper College Day Care Center, and at Sherrie’s in Casper. In Kearney, NE she worked at Target and at the University of Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team camps. She occasionally helped her brother at the Kearney Country Club. In Norman, OK she worked part time for Pizza Hut and at Dungarvin Oklahoma for 2 years as a receptionist and secretary. She also published Dungarvin Oklahoma's monthly newsletter, for which she was very proud and received recognition throughout the Dungarvin company.
David Boren, the President of the University of Oklahoma said that "she was widely loved in the OU and Norman community. She excelled both as a student and an athlete. She will be remembered most of all for her kindness and her concern for others."
Survivors include her parents; her older sister, Cece of Orlando, Florida; her younger brother Josh, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, Kearney, Nebraska; and her youngest brother David, a sophomore at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada; her maternal grandparents, Dennis and Dorothy Davison of Riverton, Wyoming, Frances and Chuck Steinmetz of Eden, Idaho; numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Sidney and Cecelia Tolin of Casper; maternal great-grandparents, Earl and Dorothy Young, Faye and Anne Barger, all of Pinedale; and her first cousin, Miguel Villanueva of Casper.
Memorials may be made to the Sarah Tolin Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 50001, Casper, WY 82605-0001.
Bustard’s Funeral Home and Crematory, 600 CY Avenue, Casper, Wyoming 82601, was in charge of arrangements.
Last Updated
04/06/2005 03:38 AM
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