Ellissa Hutton with her state and regional wrestling medals.
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Wrestling for the love of the sport
New Oxford’s Rachael Groft was never out to prove a point, but she broke new ground anyway.
By TOM HUNT
Daily Record staff
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Dave Conaway remembers one of his first wrestling encounters with Rachael Groft during an elementary program years ago.
“I officiated one of her matches and she was a little fire ball. She was physical and a little nasty,” said the New Oxford varsity coach. “I knew she was (in the program). ... The question was always, ‘Is she going to stay?’”
Nearly 10 years later, Groft is completing her “stay” with her fourth postseason for the Colonials at this weekend’s Class AAA Section IV tournament at South Western.
The 119-pounder is the first female in YAIAA history to compete at the varsity level for more than a season. In fact, she’s a four-year starter. But it’s never been about making a statement, according to Conaway.
“She loves the sport as much as any boy we’ve ever had,” he said. “She kept getting better, liking it more. She got tougher and stuck around. She’s done a wonderful job for us.
“Once people realized she was there for the wrestling and not to prove a point, there was no problem (with acceptance).”
Groft started wrestling in third grade and was drawn to it for the same reasons most boys are — friends and family.
“I use to watch my brother (Dan Herfel) at practices and tournaments,” she said. “I played soccer with boys, so I was used to hanging out with guys. I had a lot of friends who wrestled and encouraged me to do it.”
Groft wrestled all the way through New Oxford’s elementary and junior high programs. But the jump to varsity was a different story, especially during a 6-17 freshman year that found her questioning the decision to compete at that level.
“I was pretty nervous my first couple of matches. I started out really shaky,” said Groft, who was the 103-pound starter then.
“Some nights, I totally got beat up and I’d worry about it that night. But the next day I’d be OK again.”
These were the times that Conaway knew would eventually pay off for Groft, not just in wrestling but in life.
“All the bumps in the road have made her a lot tougher. ... She’s gained a lot of character from this sport,” he said. “She’s going to be a well-rounded person, willing to jump into something with both feet.”
During that freshman season, Groft was recognized at the prestigious Top Gun Tournament in Ohio as the first female to compete in the annual event, which draws top teams from all over Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“I was really surprised. I didn’t expect that at all,” she said.
Groft has been a multi-sport athlete since becoming a Colonial. She is a two-time York Daily Record all-star field hockey player, compiling 17 goals and five assists this season for the team. She also competes in track and field.
Two years ago, she took a break from track to concentrate on freestyle wrestling. It paid off immediately when she placed second at the national freestyle championships in Fargo, N.D.
Last season, she returned to the upper Midwest and finished fourth.
“There’s just a few girls on the (Pennsylvania) team,” she said. “We just go out with the boys’ team. ... You wrestle the finals on a raised mat. It’s pretty cool.”
Her final season in the red, white and blue of the Colonials has been an eventful one.
At the season-opening Philipsburg-Oceola tournament, the 119-pounder placed third, the best high school tournament finish of her career. And during her final trip to Ohio, she received a large ovation when she won her first-round match.
This weekend’s tournament could spell the end of her scholastic career. That would raise a familiar question for Groft: Is she going to “stay”?
She’s received recruiting letters from colleges with women’s wrestling teams. But she’s also talked to the Lock Haven University field hockey coach.
“I’ve definitely thought about wrestling in college,” she said. “During field hockey season, I thought about just playing that. But once wrestling started, I don’t want to stop (wrestling).”
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Roseville’s Troxel falls short in Vallejo
Senior will rejoin the boys this weekend at Placer
By Bruce Burton 2/12/04
It has the same name, but as Roseville High’s Stacey Troxel learned over the weekend, the girls California Wrestling Champion-ships isn’t the same tournament it was a year ago.
Troxel, a senior, was third in the 138-pound weight class at last year’s championships, billed as the unofficial state championships for high school girls. This year, wrestling at 132 pounds, Troxel lost two of her three matches at Vallejo High School and failed to place.
The difference? Both Troxel and Roseville coach Eric Oxford cited a couple of factors for her disappointing performance, but the most important factor may simply be the growth of the sport.
More participants this year meant a tougher draw for Troxel, and ultimately an earlier demise.
“It was a big tournament,” Oxford said. “It was cool being there watching it. To see the girls competing at that level, it was special.
“(Troxel’s performance) was kind of a heartbreak. Some girls she had beaten before were in the semifinals. But that’s how wrestling tournaments run. Sometimes you get a bad draw.”
Troxel received a bye in Friday’s first round.
Then, competing against wrestlers from Bay Area schools, she lost a seven-point match, pinned her second opponent, and lost a one-point match that would have qualified her for the second day of the event.
“I thought I would it least place, but the tournament wasn’t the same,” Troxel said. “There were a lot more people.”
This week Troxel rejoins the Roseville boys and will take an 11-8 record into Thursday’s Sierra Foothill League championships at Placer High.
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CV girls win elite state tourney
By Billy Ortiz, STAFF WRITER 2/11/04
FIRST THINGS first. Congratulations are in order for the Castro Valley
girls wrestling team. The Trojans won the team title at the, ahem, California
Girls State Wrestling Championship held over the weekend at Vallejo
High. Sharlee Solis (126 pounds) and Summer Scott (132) earned individual
titles to pave the way for Castro Valley to win the team title by 221/2 points
over San Leandro. Stella Brown (144) of San Leandro and Berkeley's Jere
Summers (160) were the only other locals to win their respective classes.
Castro Valley also got third-place finishes from Katrina Dutchover (144) and
Danielle Freitas (235). San Leandro's Estella Pino (138) and Juana
Juarez (154) finished third as did Berkeley's Lily Dorman (114), who beat
Amador Valley's Lauren Neves in the third-place match. While I applaud the
girls for their efforts in a rapidly growing sport, I just don't agree with
the name of the tournament -- California Girls State Championships. Is it a
true state championship? I don't think so. According to the California
Interscholastic Fedration it most definitely is not. There is no doubt
this event is a collection of some of the top high school girls wrestlers in
California, but were the best girls at the tournament? I am sure many
of them were, but not so sure all the best competed. While some schools in
the East Bay -- San Leandro and Castro Valley, for example -- do have
separate boys and girls teams, there are those schools that still consider
wrestling non-gender specific, like football. In such cases those girls are at
the mercy of the team, meaning they travel to whatever tournament the team
goes to. I also question the qualifying process. There were four such
qualifying tournaments, and they were held in San Diego, San Mateo, Stockton and
San Leandro. So if a girl in Bakersfield wanted to wrestle at this
so-called state meet, she would have had to travel through San Diego or Stockton
to qualify. That's a drive I am sure many did not make. Lastly, I looked
at the results of this tournament. In two weight classes, there was a school
represented twice. How can that be? If there were a true qualifying
process, then there should be only one representative from each school. Period.
The bottom line. This tournament is not an official state championship, and
it should not include such wording until it is recognized by the CIF as
such. How about naming it the California Open? California Invite? Anything
but State Championship. That is what CIF events are for.
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Vero Beach pioneers successful girls wrestling team
WRESTLING NOTEBOOK
By Bob Pacitti staff writer
February 6, 2004
Sam Cassara believes that girls wrestling will one day be sanctioned as an official sport by the Florida High School Athletic Association.
He's spent the last four years at Vero Beach preparing young ladies for that day, and this season took a squad of eight to Kissimmee-Osceola High for the Girls State Championship.
"The sport could be sanctioned in the next three years," Cassara said. "The (2004) Olympics will have women's wrestling, and that should help. So far, six colleges have wrestling programs."
Senior 125-pounder Alina Mathis and senior 135-pounder Mallory Sample won individual state titles to help Vero Beach to a third-place finish behind Osceola and St. Cloud.
Some of the 43 participating schools had full squads, according to Cassara, while others were represented by just one wrestler.
"We didn't have qualifying district or regional meets," Cassara said. "We just brought the girls up and had them seeded."
Mathis said she's going to extend her season by traveling to Lake Orion, Mich., and competing in the United States Girls Wrestling Association Tournament, a national tournament for high school wrestlers. A softball player since she was 8, Mathis went out to practice this season and quickly returned to the gym to train for the event.
"I'm not going to play softball this year. I'd rather be running sprints and lifting weights to get ready," Mathis said about the Michigan trip.
Mathis hopes she's noticed by a college coach during the Michigan event so that she can continue her wrestling career, but she knows it's a longshot.
Cassara, who coached Vero Beach wrestlers in the mid-1970s, hasn't made up his mind if he's going to return for a fifth season.
Either way, he's hoping the state adopts the sport.
But that day doesn't appear any closer now than when Cassara first turned his attention to the girls.
Paul McLaughlin, director of athletics for the FHSAA, said criteria have to be met before a sport is recognized.
"We have a process in place that says we have to have letters from 32 schools that say they have teams in place," McLaughlin said. "It is the same like we did for boys volleyball, bowling and girls weightlifting."
FHSAA director of communications Jack Watford, whose office would field inquiries about new sports. said he had not received one letter, telephone call or e-mail recommending the state recognize girls wrestling.
While last week's state meet drew 43 girls teams, 333 Florida schools field boys wrestling teams sanctioned by the FHSAA.
Cassara said most schools don't want to be bothered supporting two teams since girls are eligible to wrestle with the boys. But girls are generally restricted to the lower weights.
Eight of the 16 girls who came out for this year's team stuck it out.
"At the state meet, we were some of the best technicians in the tournament," Cassara said. "We were also in the best shape."
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Once taboo, girls' wrestling growing in popularity
2/10/04
Teens: About five years ago, a girl wrote to me saying she was not permitted to try out for the school wrestling team because she was female. I agreed with the ban on girls participating in a contact sport that is otherwise all-male. As the only female, she would have to wrestle with male opponents.
I had problems with this, and I wasn't the only one. I asked our readers to give their opinions and 98 percent of the boys who responded, and 75 percent of the girls, agreed that girls should not wrestle boys.
Boy, how times have changed! There is now a U.S. Girls Wrestling Association, with nearly 5,000 girls competing nationally this year. Girls also wrestle at the high school level in many states, although it is only officially sanctioned in two of them, Hawaii and Texas. Elsewhere, they may or may not be allowed to wrestle, depending on local school board rules.
But the sport is already producing many female stars. One of them is Jen Kellogg, a freshman at San Marino High School. Besides being on the wrestling team, she sings in the school choir, has a leading role in the school play and is a straight-A student. She is extremely feminine, but once she hits the wrestling mat, she is tough and competitive. This year her record against boys is seven wins and seven losses.
Females also have an opportunity to wrestle in college. Right now, seven U.S. colleges and universities and more than 20 in Canada give scholarships for women's wrestling. A few years ago there was none.
And for the first time this summer, women's wrestling will be a medal sport in the Olympic Games. This exposure is certain to create a dramatic increase in the number of female wrestlers.
Nevertheless, some male wrestlers don't like to wrestle girls because they feel it's a lose-lose proposition for them. If the guy wins the match, people say, "Aw, you beat a girl." But if he loses, he is humiliated.
Many wrestling coaches remain concerned about girls wrestling boys. And boys who have to compete against girls say they are apprehensive, feeling that moves they have been taught to use might seem indecent.
I'm happy that girls are enjoying the wrestling challenge, but I hope that, in the near future, there will be enough girls competing so that they no longer have to wrestle boys.
Females around the country are now participating in many "male" contact sports besides wrestling. They have also broken the gender barrier in ice hockey, lacrosse, water polo and football.
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She's Holding Her Own in a Boys' Sport
By: Kate Scott 2/13/04
POPLAR BLUFF, MO -- When you think about high school wrestling, you probably don't think of ponytails. But that just means you haven't met Fatma Haiderzad, the Poplar Bluff High School junior who's bringing a fresh face to a sport dominated by men.
The small seventeen year old is the first girl to make it on the school's varsity wrestling team. But Fatma didn't join the team to make a statement. "I just wanted to stay in shape and just wanted a challenge," she tells Heartland News. "And it looked like fun. I just wanted to see how hard it was and see if I could take it."
She soon learned that wrestling is hard work. Even for the boys. Three other girls who started the season with her have since dropped out. But Head Coach Dave Williams says Fatma is holding her own. "She does a lot more than the guys sometimes," he smiles. "She never cries. She never whines. You never hardly hear anything out of her. From a male's point of view, you don't want the girl to outdo you. So in theory, she kind of pushes the guys."
Senior wrestler Shawn Wrinkle agrees with his coach. While he admires Fatma, he also says, "You don't want to get beat by a girl. You don't want her to work harder. So usually the guys pick it up more, because they just don't want to get beat." Not only does Fatma inspire the boys on her own team to work harder, she knows she's giving her competitors extra incentive to win. "When we meet other guys, I'm sure they're like, "Okay, I'll take her down real fast," she laughs. And while she says that happens a lot, it wasn't the case at one junior varsity tournament in Sikeston. That's where Fatma pinned her male competitor in the 112 weight class for her first real victory of the season. It was a proud moment for both her and her coaches. "She does a good job," says Coach Williams. "She gets out there and she's tough. She's had the busted lips and bloody noses, and sore body parts, and strains and sprains and everything else. But it doesn't hold her down. She gets back up and goes right back at it again."
But Fatma is quick to point out that she never could've "gone at it" in the first place, if her coaches hadn't given girls a chance. "My coaches are the best," she claims. "Coach (Brian) Wisdom and Coach Williams, from day one, they were just encouraging me to be here and pushing me. I've had other girls come up to me at wrestling matches. They're usually the stat keepers and managers, and they're like, 'My coach wouldn't even let me come out the first day. He said I didn't have enough stamina.'" Fatma says she tells those girls, "That's really sad, because not only did my coaches let me, but they encouraged me and wanted me here. They make me feel like I belong."
For Coach Williams, the decision to include girls on the team was a no-brainer. "I welcome everybody," he says. "And I have a daughter of my own that wants to wrestle. She is wanting to follow in Fatma's footsteps. Fatma is on a pedestal right now with my daughter Darcy." Williams says he'd like to see more girls on his team, and in the sport as a whole.
Fatma tells Heartland News that she plans to work on her wrestling moves over the summer, and try out for the team again next year. She's also a cross country runner, and is thinking about taking up soccer.
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From dancing to wrestling to state medal
By Steve Gerace Updated: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 12:51 PM PST
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Ellissa Hutton with her state and regional wrestling medals. |
After 4 1/2 years of dancing, Ellissa Hutton was ready for a change.
She said she decided to get involved in a sport her boy friend, cousin and other friends were doing - wrestling.
Now Ellissa finds herself in the wrestling spotlight, following a first place finish in the girls regional finals and a sixth place finish this past weekend in the California Girls State Wrestling Championships in Vallejo.
In her second year with the Bears, Ellissa was the first Mount Shasta wrestler to win at the regional level and first to place as high as she did at state.
"It's an experience I'll remember the rest of my life," Ellissa says of her wrestling success, which included two pins and a "technical fall," in which the match is stopped because of a 15-point lead.
"Pins and technical falls are rare at the state meet," said Mount Shasta coach Rodney Grier.
Grier says Ellissa, the only girl on Mount Shasta's team, "works as hard as anyone in that wrestling room. She has a great attitude and is a good team leader."
Ellissa won four matches against boys during the regular season, before advancing into the postseason in the all-girls wrestling division.
She said "it feels great" to beat the boys, "except I know they probably feel pretty bad."
She said both dancing and wrestling "take a lot of strength," but the comparisons end there.
While her school mates have to accepted her as a wrestler, Ellissa said her parents, Cindy and Glenn Hutton, "thought it was weird I went from dancing to wrestling."
The medals she brought home from the region and state championships reflect a bright light on the success of her switch.
She lost three matches at state, two to one girl from the Vallejo area and one to a girl from Napa who placed third at the meet and is a former national champion in freestyle wrestling.
Ellissa says she plans to continue wrestling and enjoys the familial feeling amongst the competitors from all the schools at the meets.
"We're friends with everybody," she said. "Then you get on the mat and it's like, 'I'm going to kill you.' But we're all laid back when we're not wrestling."
Ellissa said she also enjoys the physical aspect of the sport.
"I like to do physical sports," she said. "I can't just sit at home and be lazy. I danced 11 hours a week. Now we practice two hours after school everyday. We run two miles before we start wrestling."
"You've got to give it everything you have," Grier said of wrestling, "and Ellissa does."
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-By Alex Bill- 2/12/04
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Kerri Ann Evely is a second year student on the women’s wrestling team. She recently placed first in her weight class at the UNB Open against some tough competition.
What do you think of not being able to have any home matches?
It kinda sucks that we’re kind of isolated from all the other teams. Teams can’t come down to compete against us; we always have to go away, and no one [locally] can see us.
Before you wrestle somebody, do you like to build up a lot of anger, or is it more technical thinking?
Sometimes it’s a bit of adrenaline, [and] you pretend it’s someone else. Instead of the girl, you pretend it’s one of the guys [from practice].
I hear the teams are always looking for more members. Do you ever try to convince people on campus or your friends to join?
All the time. Whoever wants to come in, can come in. We got four new girls in the last two weeks, so we’re pretty excited about that.
Would you beat someone up if you thought it would make them join?
Sure, I said to [my friend] Geena: ‘If you don’t come in, I’m going to drag you in!’
Are the men’s and women’s team laid back and comfortable with each other?
Well, because our guys’ and our girls’ practices are combined, our team is closer. It’s not like the girls’ team or the guys’ team; it’s like one big team.
What do you think of the lack of wrestling programs in high schools?
Actually, wrestling is starting to build up in Newfoundland, I find. There’s a new team in Bay Roberts now, and there’s a team that’s about three or four years old in Carbonear. There’s a nice few around the province; it’s just getting the money for the competitions and the facilities to practice in.
Were you expecting to come first in your weight class?
I went out there not expecting to beat her, because she won last year. I just went out there. I figured I’d just do what I knew how to do.
Is there a lot of accidental contact in wrestling? Do you end up getting hurt more than you should?
Not really. Sometimes, you do it to yourself. I’ve had two black eyes [that] I’ve done to myself. No one else has done it.
What are your expectations for the championships?
I’m hoping to place first, but I have no idea from the other universities. . . . We haven’t seen McGill or Concordia yet. I’m hoping a lot of our team will make [CIS Championships (CI)]. It would be nice to come home from AUS and say that we have a fairly big team going to CIs.
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By Earl Williams
Staff writer 2/11/04
Jackie Cataline made Moore League wrestling history at the finals Tuesday night and possibly CIF Southern Section, state and national history as well.
Cataline out-maneuvered John Beard of Lakewood, 4-2, to win the league crown, avenging an earlyseason loss to him. In January, she lost, 9-3, at their dual meet which ultimately decided the league team title.
With her win, the senior became the first female to be league champion at the varsity level in wrestling and advance to the upcoming CIF-SS individual tournament.
"It didn't sink in until I arrived at school,' Cataline said. "Everyone was talking about it.'
Cataline improved her record to 25-15 with 12 pins.
"Being that he was a senior and captain of the team, it gave me a lot more confidence,' she said. "I am just proud of what I've accomplished and I am looking forward to CIF.'
Thom Simmons, the information director of the CIF-SS, said the organization doesn't have a record of a female winning a title at the varsity level in a male-dominated sport locally or on the state level. Internet searches failed to identify anyone to equal or surpass her accomplishment.
"I felt like she had a chance to win,' Millikan coach Marshall Thompson said. "But the other kid is an experienced senior. He was just a good wrestler. But she is also good. The match was real close. What happened, I think, was that he was getting a little bit tense about the situation. The score was tied. He tried to force something.'
Cataline had an opposite tactic.
"She had a little more patience,' Thompson said. "I think that was why she scored the points. I think he was coming into her, trying to take her over, and she kept her balance, stepped back and she (ended up) on top right as the period ended.'
All season long, Cataline has been running five miles around Long Beach every night to build her endurance. It certainly helped as Beard labored in third period.
"It's a pretty phenomenal feat,' said Stephanie Cataline- Harper, Jackie's mother. "For a pretty gal to beat the captain of the varsity is unheard of. Some of the coaches felt that Jackie was a novelty. But she has proven that she is the real deal.'
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By Earl Williams
Staff writer 1/20/04
There aren't male-only signs at thr entrances of gym doorways. Nor do coaches or wrestlers openly say that females aren't wanted.
The reality is that many guys do not like to wrestle Jackie Cataline or any girl for that matter.
Every time out, their reputations and self-esteem are on the line.
Their pride and egos will not allow them to see that there's nothing to be embarrassed about if they lose to the 5-foot-5, 125- pound sophomore from Millikan High.
After all, Cataline is a legitimate varsity wrestler who currently has a 20-13 record with nine pins this season. She has received a letter from the women's wrestling program at University of Pacific in Oregon.
Last year, while competing at 112 on the JV team, she finished with a record of 28-6 with 12 wins by pin, and became the first girl in Moore League history to win a title in any weight class on any level.
She hasn't changed the attitudes of some athletes and coaches who feel the sport should be males only.
But she is gradually earning their respect.
"My first time out, (guys) were like it's a girl. Most girls lose. After I started winning, they started taking me seriously because I have more skills than most girls,' Cataline said. "They wrestle me 10 times harder than they wrestle guys because of their pride, mostly. If they could hurt me, they would.'
Cataline said she can't afford to let their strength intimidate her. "I don't think of them (wrestlers) in terms of if it's a boy or girl. If you look at them as a boy, and say, 'They are stronger than me,' you are going to lose. I use my technique to beat them.'
Michael Cataline, Jackie's father and a Millikan assistant coach, said: "It's mentally challenging for guys. Jackie sees their attitude and uses it against them.'
In December of 2003, junior wrestler Alex Solis of Downey faced Cataline at the Vikings' tournament and felt the anxiety of competing against her.
Solis knew that one moment of hesitation could cost him the match and respect among peers.
He'd become a locker room joke, and the long bus ride home wouldn't be the end of it. Nearly everyone on campus would know he lost, and his teammates would tease him until he was old and gray, he acknowledged. Solis was extremely relieved to outpoint her, 9-1, before a home crowd.
"She is pretty good,' Solis said. "It was like wrestling a guy. She would do the moves perfectly. She is the best girl I have wrestled. She is pretty strong. It would have been hard for me to pin her.
"Losing to her went through my mind. My teammates would have looked down on me. It would have been depressing,' he continued. "It would have lowered my spirit and I wouldn't have felt like continuing the season. Losing to a girl, I wasn't brought up that way.'
Solis' experience and strength proved to be too much for Jackie.
"Usually when the ref blows the whistle to start the competition, you forget about everything. You forget that she's cute and your teammates are teasing you,' Solis explained. "I had wrestled her over the summer and I kind of knew what to expect. (At first), I was hesitant because she's a female and I didn't want to hurt her.'
Why is Jackie excelling in a sport that many others who came before her have failed?
Since age 12, she has practiced against her father, who wrestled for Jordan High in the late 1970s, and against her older brothers, Richard and Joseph Harper, both of whom competed on the 2002 Millikan CIF Southern Section Division III championship team and advanced to the CIF-SS Individuals. Recently, Joseph, a junior, suffered a fractured to a vertebra in his lower back, ending his season and possibly his career. Richard graduated.
Her father, Michael, introduced her to the sport three years ago, allowing her to compete in freestyle for his Wildcat youth wrestling club.
"I saw my brothers win tournaments, and I thought it was something that I would like to try,' Jackie said. "I can't beat them. They are a lot bigger than me.'
Boys aren't on her mind right now. She doesn't plan to date until she's a senior.
Jackie, who possesses a Blue Belt in Shaolin Kenpo Karate, said she has wrestled attractive guys, but she hasn't allowed it to distract her. She'd implement a takedown on them like any other athlete.
Off the mat, she dresses and conducts herself like other teenage girls who want to be appreciated for their beauty and intelligence.
"If someone came up to me (on the street), they wouldn't know I wrestle,' she said. "They treat me like a lady. Most guys respect me. They aren't rude. If I'm wrestling, they treat me like a wrestler.'
Jackie is fearless and confident. So are her parents.
"As a mother, of course, I worry about all my kids getting hurt. But Jackie is a very skilled wrestler. She hasn't had any injuries from competing. I am confident in her skill level,' said Stephanie Harper-Cataline, Jackie's mother.
Right now, Jackie's goal is to lead Millikan to another league crown and to earn a berth to CIF- SS Individuals. "If I train hard enough, I think I can get there,' she said.
Marshall Thompson, Millikan head coach, said: "Jackie has very good technique and balance. She is extraordinarily tough and can hang with just about anyone she wrestles. She doesn't get overpowered. She has been pinned only a couple of times this season. But it hasn't discouraged her. I don't know if she can be a league champion this year, but certainly by the time she graduates.'