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Two Lady Vikings reach international meet finals

Thursday, February 12, 2004
By Chris Allen/Sports Editor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Behind the second-place finishes of sophomores Stephany Lee and Kelly Branham the Missouri Valley College women's wrestling team came in fourth over the weekend in the Dave Schultz Memorial International Open at Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Lady Vikings tallied 13 points to finish behind two club teams -- Burnaby Mountain (21 points) of Canada and the Sunkist Kids (19) -- and the national squad from Germany (14). Valley was first among seven colleges, which competed with 15 clubs and three national teams.

Lee lost a pair of decisions while rolling to a silver medal at 72 kilograms: 10-5 in the first round against world silver medallist Toccara Montgomery of the New York Athletic Club -- who had won the previous meeting by fall during the NWCA National Duals last month -- and 7-6 to 2003 European champion Anita Schaetzle of Germany.

In between, Lee -- a former high school national champion from Honolulu currently ranked second in the U.S. Senior Women's poll by TheMat.com -- pinned four foes, including Katie Downing of the Sunkist Kids and the U.S. Army's Iris Smith. Downing is ranked No. 1 in the 67 Kg class and the fourth-rated Smith is a former U.S. national champion.

Branham's 67 Kg field wasn't quite as strong, but she whipped through the preliminaries in fine style by beating two ex-Vikings: the Stars and Stripes' Malissa Sherwood by technical fall and pinning the NYAC's Ashley Sword, ranked seventh at 63. The Apache Junction, Ariz., native's gold-medal clash was against Canadian champion Shannon Samler of the University of British Columbia, a loss by technical fall.

Freshman Debbi Sakai of Mililani, Hawaii, split six matches in the rugged 51 Kg class to finish fourth. Her most impressive wins were a 14-7 decision over Lauren Lindsey of Cumberland (Ky.) -- No. 2 among North American college women -- and a 10-4 win against India's Neha Rathi.

A 6-1 decision over former Valley all-American Grace Magnussen of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club gained 10th place for sophomore Brooke Bogren (59 Kg), who missed the cut for the medal matches due to a narrow 6-2 loss to finalist Lauren Lamb of the Michigan Wrestling Club -- No. 4 among U.S. senior women at 63 Kg.

Senior Kiersten Hyatt (55), sophomore Keli Hinton (55) and freshman Maika Watanabe (51) and Clarissa Calibuso (59) also represented MVC at the meet.

The Lady Vikings are scheduled to be in Forest Grove, Ore., Friday and Saturday for the College National Duals

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Summers' season of perfection: 23-0

By Bill Kolb 2/13/04

STAFF WRITER

VALLEJO - Unbeatable? Maybe.

Unbeaten? Emphatically.

Berkeley High School wrestler Jere' Summers maintained her perfect run through the girls tournament season on Saturday in the California Girls State Wrestling Championships at Vallejo High School, adding two more pins to her already burgeoning total.

After her two matches at state, Summers, a junior, has wrestled 23 times this season. She is 23-0. She has 23 pins.

Read that last sentence again. That's right, Summers is 23-0 with 23 pins.

Only once has she gone into the second round this year -- against the girl she beat Saturday for the state title, Rachel Knight of Etna. Last week in the state qualifying tournament at San Leandro, Knight battled Summers to a stalemate through the first two minutes of 162-pound action, only to get tossed on her back and pinned 46 seconds into the second period.

Berkeley girls coach Hugh Johnson appreciates what he has in Summers.

"It's a real treat to be able to work with elite level girls," Johnson said. "It's kind of a kick."

In the state final, Summers and Knight spent a good minute sizing each other up before things got interesting. Much to her credit, Knight shot a nice single-leg on Summers, but was unable to do anything with it.

Summers quickly countered, wrapping Knight up with her devastating head-and-arm 1:20 into the first period, flipping her on her back and pinning her at 1:23.

It is Summers' first state championship.

"It's cool," she said after the match. "Since we had a qualifier, this year is better than last year."

Summers, who opted out of last year's tournament, was referring to the fact that, for the first time in the four-year history of the event, the Girls State Championship was not an all-comers occasion. Wrestlers were forced to compete in regional qualifying tournaments to earn the right to compete for a state crown.

More than 200 wrestlers from 137 teams across the state qualified and competed in Saturday's championships.

"It's hard to get too excited about it because I kind of expected it," Johnson said of Summers' title. "But this tournament is getting better and better. Winning it at any weight is pretty prestigious."

Summers was a little more excited.

"I like (being a state champion)," Summers said. "I wouldn't like to get beat. I didn't want to lose one match. It's an ego thing, I guess. ... I set high goals for myself this year. I shot for an undefeated season, and I shot for pins."

And she got them.

In fact, Summers is so dominant at 162 that other wrestlers in the state have either tried to drop down to 154 or bump up to 173 to avoid her.

"(Knight) confirmed what other coaches have said," Johnson said. "A lot of girls dropped to other weights to avoid Jere'. That's a pretty big compliment."

Summers' teammate, 116-pounder Lily Dorman, also won a medal on Saturday. Dorman, also a junior, dropped a tough 8-6 overtime decision to Balboa-San Francisco's Hanna Carlberg in the semifinals, but battled through the consolation semifinals and finished with a pin of Amador Valley's Lauren Neves at 2:57 to place third.

"Lily has wrestled really well," Johnson said. "She pretty much handled all of her other opponents."

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Casa's Blonski in top 8 state wrestlers

Girls' teams from Casa Grande, Petaluma High compete at championships

February 13, 2004
By BRIAN ARNOLD
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The girls' state wrestling championships were held last weekend in Vallejo and both Casa Grande and Petaluma high schools were among the 115 teams represented.

Among the 220 wrestlers entered at the state meet were four Gauchos and one Trojan.

Of the five local wrestlers, Casa's Tesia Blonski, a 138-pounder, was the only one who ended up in the top eight.

Blonski, a senior who came out for the team halfway through last season, finished with a match record of 3-2 and her coach, Damien Mason, says she deserved it.

"I would say it's a surprise that she placed at state but I would also say it wasn't really a surprise because of how hard she worked," said Mason, who's in his second year as head coach of the varsity though he's been a part of the program since he wrestled for the Gauchos in 1988.

"She wanted to do well and she did extremely well. She put in a lot of hard work at camps over the summer to help work on her physical attributes."

Other Casa wrestlers were 128-pound senior Carrie MacDonough, who won two matches the first day before being eliminated in her first match Saturday; 132-pound senior Ania Zackrocka, who was ousted Friday with a 1-2 record; and 103-pound freshman Christina Cervantes, who finished 0-2.

Mason said Cervantes has the making of a great wrestler if she sticks with it.

"She could be extremely successful," Mason said. "She is athletic and a perfectionist. She did a lot of observing and when it came her time, she put that knowledge to work. She didn't overpower people. She won most of her matches (throughout the season) with her technique, which is her strongest point."

The Trojans' lone wrestler was junior Nikki Tucker, who's in her third year of competitive grappling.

Tucker, who qualified with a 4-1 record that netted her third place at the NorCal Region One championships Jan. 31 in San Leandro, didn't fare as well as her crosstown rivals from Casa.

Tucker finished 0-2 but she's still got her senior season.

"Things are starting to come together for her," coach Denny Plyler said. "Next season I think she'll do well. She has the mentality and wrestles with the boys during practice. That has definitely made her better."

Things went bad right from the start as she faced off against the eventual state champ from Castro Valley, Sharlee Solis.

Tucker was pinned in the first minute.

"Solis was in a class of her own," Plyler said of the two-time defending state champ.

Tucker lasted a bit longer in her second match but once again was pinned, this time in the second round.

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Tualatin High School wrestler Samantha Lang hopes to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. Tualatin coach Matt Hamilton (left) says Lang’s background in water polo and judo have prepared her to become a great wrestler.

Women's wrestling: a 'gold' opportunity
Tualatin's Samantha Lang is shooting for her Olympic dream

By CLIFF PFENNING Issue date: Fri, Feb 13, 2004
The Tribune

Samantha Lang is in the second half of her senior year at Tualatin High School and has no idea what she's going to do about college.
But college can wait.
She is more concerned about the U.S. Olympic Trials in women's wrestling, May 21 in Indianapolis.
She is more nervous about the Pacific-9 Conference district meet, which starts today in McMinnville.
Lang says just about every match makes her a little nervous.
"I worry about wrestling up to my potential, especially now," she says. "I really want to be a district champion. I've been waiting for this chance since my freshman year.
"College? I'll worry about that after the Olympics."
In the last 10 years, Lang has wrestled her way into Olympic team contention by steadily defeating male and female competition. She has won three straight national titles in the fledgling U.S. Girls Wrestling Association. She is ranked second in the nation in women's wrestling.
Lang, who turns 18 on Feb. 20, is 22-2 and seeded third at 160 pounds heading into the Pac-9 district meet. If she finishes in the top three, she will be the second girl ever to qualify for the Class 4A state tournament.
Her wrestling coach, Bobo Umemoto, thinks she could finish in the top eight from among 27 entrants if she gets to state.
"She's been wrestling with guys all her life, and she's doing extremely well this year," says Umemoto, who coaches the USA Cobra girls team. "I think it would be absolutely great if she were to win a medal at state."
And that would just be the start of what could be a spectacular year.
"If she can just get to the Olympics, she'll win the gold," Umemoto says. "The best wrestlers at her weight are here in the U.S. If she gets to the Olympics, she'll be a gold medal winner before she even gets to college."

A natural

Lang fell into wrestling in elementary school after picking up a flier for a local camp. She blossomed quickly, winning every match for two years, she says, mostly against boys.
In the Tualatin High wrestling room her ability and work ethic have earned her plenty of respect.
"She knows pretty much everything about wrestling," says junior Bret Voorhies, one of her most frequent sparring partners. "I've learned a lot of things from her."
Tualatin coach Matt Hamilton says Lang's background playing water polo and competing in judo helps her wrestle. Lang's two losses this season were by decision, not by pins.
"She's got a good shot, and she has great balance," Hamilton says. "Having that judo background gives her a lot of insight on how to throw people. A lot of guys just want to muscle her, but that's not a really good tactic."
Voorhies says Lang uses wrestling strategy and the gender issue to her distinct -advantage during matches, which last for three, two-minute rounds.
"A lot of guys get tired in the first round because they think they have to pin her," Voorhies says. "That's when she moves in. She's very smart."
Voorhies, a defensive end on the Tualatin football team, says when he beats Lang in practice, it's a big deal.
"One time I beat her and I was really pumped up," he says. "Then she let out that she wasn't feeling so well. I remember thinking, 'Why did you have to tell me that?' "

Bound for Athens?

Lang might be ranked second in the United States at 158.5 pounds, but there's not much difference between her and top-ranked Toccara Montgomery of Cumberland College in Cleveland. Lang rates her chances of beating Montgomery in the U.S. Trials at 50-50.
Montgomery is in Forest Grove this weekend for a college tournament at Pacific University. She has a slight edge in the series of nearly a dozen matches against Lang.
The U.S. women's team is coached by Terry Steiner, who was an assistant coach at Oregon State from 1994-96. This is the first time there will be a women's wrestling competition in the Olympic Games.
Lang says she's trying not to get too far ahead in the season. She doesn't want to overlook the district meet.
But her mother, Julie Lang, who works in accounting during the day, says she's thought many a night about going to Athens, Greece, for this year's Olympics. And that gives her goose bumps.
"It took me awhile to become a wrestling fan, but now I like it," says Julie Lang, who has become an organizing force within girls wrestling. "And the Olympics, that's so cool, it's unimaginable."
Samantha Lang says she's just hoping the pressures of the year don't get the best of her. She can look forward to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, as well.
"It's just a matter of me stepping up at the right time," she says. "And waiting for that is a little nerve-racking."

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Top teams in state face off in Pac-9 championships

DOUG BINDER and JOE FREEMAN 02/13/04

Tualatin senior Samantha Lang should draw attention as she tries to become the first female from the Pac-9 to qualify for state. Lang, who is 20-2 this season, was given a No. 3 seed in the 160-pound division despite no losses at that weight class this season.

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Twin takedowns

L.D. Bell brother-sister duo aim for state berths at Class 5A Region II meet

February 12, 2004

By RICK KRETZSCHMAR / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

If a radio is on, L.D. Bell wrestlers listen at their own risk if
teammate Jessica Surratt is near.

"If there is a song on the radio that I like, I'll sing along with it,"
she said. "The guys will all tell me to shut up. If they want me to, they
can turn the radio off."

If things had turned out differently, Jessica would be singing a lot
more. But thanks to her twin brother, Jared, and L.D. Bell wrestling, just
about the only singing Jessica does these days is with the radio.

Instead, the Surratts are known for quality wrestling.

Both seniors will compete in the Region II meet today and Saturday at
The Colony.

It's quite an accomplishment considering the Surratts have been
involved with wrestling for only three years. It started with Jared's desire to
lose some weight.

"I weighed 250 pounds three years ago. I thought about football and
basketball, but playing in front of everyone wasn't appealing," Jared
said. "In wrestling, you don't compete in front of everyone."

At the same time Jared was starting to wrestle, Jessica had been
participating in choir but quit. Jared said that when the two were
discussing what Jessica wanted to do to fill the void, he halfheartedly
suggested she come out for wrestling.

"My mom didn't want me to do it," Jessica said. "I guess to her, I'm
her baby girl."

Jessica eventually convinced her mother, Paige Surratt Metz, that she
could do it, but she and Jared struggled that first year.

Out of shape, they would often fall short of the required times in
running drills. As punishment, they had to do pushups.

Yet they didn't quit. Both of them credit then-coach Chuck Brown for
keeping them going. Brown now coaches at Frisco, where he has had state-title
contending girls programs.

"Coach Brown would tell us how tough it is to be a wrestler, but I
think he knew we wouldn't quit, either," Jessica said. "He was always so
positive. Whenever we were down, he would always pick us back up."

The fortunes of the Surratts improved last season. Jared qualified for
the Region II meet. Jessica qualified for the state meet, and she advanced
to the semifinals.

This season, Jared won the 275-pound title in the District 11 meet,
despite being light for his weight class at 235 pounds. Jessica expects to
advance to the state meet again.

"They both ride well. Once they get a lead, they'll usually hold on,"
L.D. Bell coach Scott Pope said. "Their work ethic is second to none. Jared
has progressed from not much of anything to being a good wrestler in his
senior year."

The Surratts' time as teammates probably comes to an end this weekend
or at the state meet in Austin on Feb. 27-28. To qualify for state, Jared has
to finish in the top four in his weight class, while Jessica has to finish
in the top two of her 185-pound weight class.

Pope said Jessica has received attention from two schools with women's
wrestling: Missouri Valley and Cumberland (Tenn.). Jared said he
probably will concentrate on academics next year.

Even though Jessica qualified for state first, the twins say there is
no jealousy between them.

Jessica said Jared is a big reason for her success, giving her support
that only a twin can.

That support does not apply to sparring. Jessica said that Jared's
50-pound advantage in weight makes sparring awkward, and that she senses that
Jared holds back, anyway.

"I don't like wrestling her because she's smaller, shorter and her
style is totally different from the guys," Jared said.

"Besides, my mom would kill me if we tore up the living room."

E-mail rkretzschmar@dallasnews.com

Class 5A Region II wrestling meet: today and Saturday at The Colony.
Girls matches begin at 10 a.m. each day. Boys matches begin at 3 p.m.

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Girl grapplers wrestle with tradition
Some school coaches are troubled over intergender matches

By CLIFF PFENNING Issue date: Fri, Feb 13, 2004
The Tribune

Brian Singhai might be the most motivated wrestler on the David Douglas High School wrestling team, because he's got a girl chasing him.

David Douglas High School wrestler Na’Tasha Umemoto gets the upper hand on teammate Brian Singhai during a practice match. Both wrestle in the 119-pound weight class.

She doesn't want to date him, she wants to beat him, straight up on the mat. And Na'Tasha Umemoto is good enough that Singhai, who qualified for and won his first match at the state tournament last year, doesn't take a moment off in practice.
"She's been after my spot for three years," says Singhai, a junior who wrestles at 119 pounds. "I've been fortunate enough so far that it hasn't happened, but I worry about it.
"When she gets her head together, she's pretty tough. She can be unbeatable."
Umemoto, a junior who won a state title with a wrestling club against boys before entering high school, says she doesn't mind being the underdog in a macho sport. It comes with the territory.
"I work just as hard as the guys do," she says. "I've heard things about girls wrestling for much of my life, that girls shouldn't be wrestling.
"I just want to compete because I love wrestling."
She's not alone. Across the state, girls are taking up wrestling as a competitive sport in increasing numbers. By some estimates, there are as many as 100 girls competing on high school teams in Oregon and another 150 on junior club teams or in college.
And they're not just competing, they're winning.
Umemoto, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation against high school girls, finished third in a recent tournament versus boys. Samantha Lang, a senior at Tualatin, is 22-2 against boys this year and is seeded third at 160 pounds for the Pacific-9 Conference district meet that begins today at McMinnville High.
Lang has a strong chance of not only qualifying for the state tournament, but winning a medal as one of the top eight at her weight.
If that happens, there's likely to be even more discussion of whether girls wrestling boys should even be allowed.
Most people associated with the sport, including Umemoto's father, would argue they shouldn't, but until there are enough girls competing to create a separate sport, there isn't much of a choice.
"Ultimately, I think girls should wrestle against girls and guys should wrestle against guys," says Bobo Umemoto, Na'Tasha's father and coach of the state's top girls wrestling club team, USA Cobra. "But that's not going to happen for a while, so this is what we're left with."

A growing trend

Girls wrestling has become enough of a movement that the third annual Oregon state championship for girls club wrestlers is set for March 6 at David Douglas. The Girls Wrestling Association national championships will be held for the seventh time, March 27-28, in Michigan. Both Lang and Umemoto were national champions last year.
One of Umemoto's female teammates at David Douglas, senior Shawn Swartzlender, is a former national champion as well.
Lang, Umemoto and Swartzlender are ranked either first or second at their weight in the most recent national rankings issued by the GWA.
Nationally, seven colleges, including Pacific University in Forest Grove, have organized teams. And the Olympics will debut women's wrestling this year during the Athens Games.
Lang is ranked second nationally at one of the four Olympic weights and already has zeroed in on becoming a U.S. representative to the Games. Umemoto, who competed in the prestigious Dave Schultz Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo., last weekend, also plans to be at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in May.
Umemoto, who has been wrestling since she was 4, fell into the sport because her father was coaching and she had frequent access. And she was good from the outset.
"I really enjoy the elements of wrestling," says Umemoto, who at age 10 qualified for the Greco-Roman national meet in Fargo, N.D., competing against boys. "I like the discipline I get out of it. And I love the competition."
Lang began wrestling more than 10 years ago, but says it took her more than a year to get her mother's permission. When she did start, she didn't lose for two years. She still doesn't lose very often, even though she wrestles at a weight that frequently includes guys who play running back or linebacker during football season.
"I just go out and wrestle whoever is in front of me," Lang says. "I don't really think about whether it's a guy or not."

An uneasy solution

Grant wrestling coach Karry Cameron is more than happy to talk about girls wrestling at his school because there are none at the moment.
"We had girls wrestling here the last three years and they worked hard and we were happy to have them," Cameron says. "But it's just easier to coach the team when there's only boys. You just have fewer things to deal with."
There are numerous problems with girls wrestling boys, coaches say. Wrestling is a physically demanding sport and includes plenty of contact in the chest and groin areas. Guys are generally a lot stronger than girls and there is an increased chance they can hurt their female counterparts during a match.
David Douglas coach Wayne Snoderly says girls are welcome in the Scots' program as long as they realize wrestling is a challenging sport for anyone, boys included.
"We tell them right away that wrestling is a physical sport and they might get touched in areas they don't want," he says. "We put that out before they start."
Snoderly says some girls showed up for the team in the late '90s, but they didn't stay around for long.
"I think they just showed to see if we would stop them," he says. "The girls now, they're here to wrestle."
Snoderly has experience coaching a son against girls competition. Justin Snoderly, who wrestled at Portland State last year, faced a female opponent before he was on the high school team.
"I just told him to wrestle her as though she were any other wrestler," the elder Snoderly says. "And that's what he did. He pinned her in a minute."
Snoderly has experience coaching boys who have lost to girls, too.
Heath Parker, a junior who switched from basketball to wrestling this year, wrestled Lang during a tournament this season and got pinned. Snoderly says he prepped Parker mentally before and after the match.
"He handled it really well," Snoderly says. "I told him that she was a national champion in girls wrestling and has a lot of experience as a wrestler."
"When coach told me about her background, that helped," says Parker, who is wrestling with a .500 season record. "It would have been a lot more disappointing if she didn't have that experience. But she's a good wrestler.
"She's really strong for a girl. She's strong for a boy, too."
Bobo Umemoto says his three years as a girls coach have shown that Cameron and Snoderly are part of the mainstream as coaches -- essentially forced by federal nondiscrimination acts to deal with girls on their teams.
"Wrestling coaches don't recruit girls," he says. "They recruit every guy in the hallways they can, but they don't recruit girls.
"Once a girl shows up, though, they give them the respect they earn and coach and treat them well, just like any other wrestler."
Tualatin coach Matt Hamilton, in his third season as head coach, says Lang is the first female wrestler he's coached.
"I feel lucky she's my first, too," Hamilton says. "Because she's really into the sport. She works hard, she knows the sport and she's a great asset to our team.
"I don't look at her as a girl who wrestles, she's just another member of our team."
Recruitment is a key issue in separating girls and boys wrestling, Umemoto says. If wrestling coaches were to recruit more girls, that would allow for the creation of a separate sport, as has been done at the Olympic level.
Brad Garrett, an assistant executive director with the Oregon School Activities Association, says girls wrestling is well behind water polo and lacrosse as sports that would warrant a sanctioned state championship.
Umemoto thinks girls wrestling might work as a club sport, just like water polo and lacrosse.
"We could become affiliated with USA Wrestling and work it that way throughout the state," he says. "But we would still need more girls to wrestle."

Onward to Athens

If Lang and Na'Tasha Umemoto are good enough to qualify for the Athens Olympics, they'll have plenty of boys in Oregon to thank for helping them, according to Bobo Umemoto.
"The reason why there are so many girls in Oregon who are highly ranked in the U.S. is because they wrestle against boys," he says. "They get a big advantage by wrestling against tougher competition."
Lang, who plans to travel to Siberia later this month as the U.S. representative in an international tournament, has frequently beaten the top-ranked women's wrestler at her weight, Toccara Montgomery, a college-age competitor from Cleveland, Ohio.
Ultimately, though, Bobo Umemoto sees wrestling against boys as dangerous for girls as their ages increase.
"The guys just get a lot stronger and they can really dominate the girls on the mat," he says. "Before high school, it's really not that big of a deal if it's boys or girls, but by high school, the boys have a significant advantage in strength."
His daughter, one of the Scots' two entrants at 119 pounds at the Mount Hood Conference district meet that begins today at Centennial, agrees. Only one high school girl has ever qualified for the state wrestling meet, Lebanon's Shoni Plagman in 2001. She lost both of her matches there.
"When I got to about age 13, the boys started getting significantly stronger," Na'Tasha says. "It became a lot tougher to wrestle them after that."
Na'Tasha is excited about the future of women's wrestling, though.
"I'd like to wrestle at Pacific, or even start a program at Portland State," she says. "And I want to go to the Olympics.
"I'll be a wrestler for quite a while longer."

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Palo Duro's girls look to repeat upset of top-ranked Caprock

By JOHN KALTEFLEITER
john.kaltefleiter@amarillo.com
The Amarillo Globe-News 2/13/04

Once again, the Palo Duro girls' wrestling team is vying for a measure of respect this weekend in the Region I tournament at the Caprock Activities Center.
The No. 1-ranked Caprock Lady Longhorns are coming off another District 5 title and appear to be the favorite to win a regional championship.

But this situation is nothing new for Palo Duro.

A year ago, the Lady Dons were winless in duals but gathered momentum late in the season, edged out then-No. 1 Caprock and Tascosa at regionals and went on to capture their second state championship in three seasons.

The top two from each weight class advance to the state tournament that begins two weeks from today in Austin.

The biggest development at this year's regional is the return of PD's Stormy Grear. The senior, who won back-to-back gold medals in Austin in the 95-pound division, will be making her first appearance in quite some time. And she will compete in the 102-pound division, a division features Caprock's Lindsey Bohenski and Tascosa's Angel Diaz, the defending state champ who is 21-0 this year.

Meanwhile, if Caprock wants to return to the top of Region I, the Lady Longhorns will need strong outings from Chelsea Colarelli (110 pounds), senior Alicia Phelps (119), Hope Jones (128), Amenda Howland (138), Nina Rodriguez (148) and 215-pounder Shonda Roberts.

The Lady Longhorn with the toughest assignment appears to be Jones, who likely will face either 2003 state qualifier Astrid Gomez from Hereford or Palo Duro's Brandi Kenyon if she can navigate through the first two rounds.

Amarillo High's Clarissa Dalke and Hannah Skinner also have solid chances of qualifying for state. At 165 pounds, Dalke has placed third at regionals the past three years, just missing a trip to Austin each time.

Dalke, who received a first-round bye, is likely to meet either Teressa Yocum (21-0) from El Paso Eastwood or Caprock's Krista Guzman.

Skinner might have the least resistant avenue to the final. The 138-pound junior is opposite of Howland on the bracket. There's a good chance that the two familiar foes will meet in the final. They are 2-2 in their meetings this season.

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Local grapplers ready for WMass

By Paul Gaeta 2/13/04
North Adams Transcript

Greylock sophomore Nicole Darrow, runner-up at 103 in 2002, will be looking to become the first female to capture a WMass title. It won't be easy, as No. 1 seed Tim Mack of Monument Mountain and No. 2 seed Jeremy Wolfe of Mount Everett stand in her way. Darrow has gone 0-4 against that duo this season.

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Pittsburg senior one of state's top female wrestlers

Damin Esper, Special to The Chronicle 2/13/04

Click Here

The trudging toward equality in the sports world over the years has produced some spectacular results for girls and women. Basketball players running the court on national television, pole vaulters soaring higher and higher -- 14 feet, 15 feet, soon 16 feet?

But there's been progress in the less-glamorous sports as well. Pittsburg High senior Halley Leta-Pombo just finished the wrestling season at the girls' state tournament.

Her season included rankings as high as No. 1 in the state in the 114- pound weight class and lows such as a defaulted match at the regional tournament and throwing up twice at the state tournament en route to a 2-2 finish and no medal.

So how did Leta-Pombo get into wrestling?

"I actually started my freshman year," she said. "I was pretty good friends with a guy who was a wrestler, and I got him to go out for cross country, and he got me to go out for wrestling."

The friend was Matt Lasey, who graduated two years ago. "I wanted to do football freshman year, and my dad said no because I was too small," Leta- Pombo said. "Matt was talking about wrestling, and I asked if I could do it. At first he (her dad) wasn't up for the idea -- because I'm under 5-foot (she's 4-11). But then he talked to my coach and found out I wouldn't be wrestling people who were bigger than me. On top of that, my dad doesn't know anything about wrestling, so he can't tell me what to do."

Girls' wrestling is in its infancy; this is the third year of the state tournament, but few schools have enough girls to field anything close to a full team. Most girls have to wrestle boys for at least part of the season. Participation numbers are increasing but are still very low compared with boys wrestling. There were 957 female wrestlers in 2003 in California, according to the California Interscholastic Federation

In Leta-Pombo's freshman year, five girls turned out for the team, but by the end of the season she was the only girl remaining. There were three girls on the team her sophomore year and nine her junior year. This year, 13 girls turned out, and eight made it through the season.

As a result of the low numbers, girls' teams can't get a separate coach at most schools. Leta-Pombo has been coached by boys' coach Brett McNamar because she has been good enough to wrestle in the Bay Valley Athletic League dual meets over the years (dual meets have no sex distinction).

McNamar said Leta-Pombo is a legitimate talent.

"She's just a great athlete," he said. "She's got that mentality for that one-on-one competition. She has real good, sound fundamentals. She's solid. She has that little attitude. And she stuck with it for four years."

Leta-Pombo has more wrestling to go: The North Coast Section championships are scheduled for Feb. 29. After that, things are up in the air. Female wrestling is growing from the ground up. That means there are only a handful of colleges with women's wrestling programs, and they're all Division III schools, so she's unsure whether she will pursue the sport after this season.

"I went over to Menlo (College), but they're a business school, and I don't really want to go there. There's only five schools in the country that have girls wrestling teams. Canada has 13. But My dad wants me to pursue it. Its going to be in the Olympics this year for the first time.''

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Megan Richardson wins State Girls' Championship again!

By Brian D. Wilson
Sports
Published on: February 13, 2004

Megan Richardson has won the Girls’ California Wrestling Championship for the third year in a row.

Richardson, who started wrestling in the eighth grade at Isbell Middle School, has been undefeated in her three years at Santa Paula High School.

Competing in the 171-pound division at the Vallejo championship meet, Richardson got a first round bye because she was seeded number one in her division. Her second round opponent was a no-show, so she got a forfeit win in that round. Finally, in the quarterfinals she easily pinned her opponent from Castro Valley at 1:32 of the first period. In the semi-finals Richardson faced a girl from Vintage High School in Napa, pinning her at 3:07 of the second period. In the championship round Richardson took on a girl From Ramona High School in Riverside. She won this mat with a pin at 3:40 of the second period. Richardson had no points scored against her throughout the tournament.

Megan says she was pretty confident going into the meet. “I was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be anybody new and there wasn’t,” she said.

Richardson’s hope is to go on to the Nationals next month in Michigan. She’s trying to raise the funds needed for that trip now. She may also compete in the State Freestyle Championships, which she’s also won three years in a row.

Richardson says it hasn’t been difficult being one of only a few girls in high school wrestling. “The guys are great,” she said. “Most of the guys are wonderful about it. The sport is difficult. I can’t speak for guys but I know that everybody finds it difficult. If you like the challenge then no, it’s not hard.”

Richardson is hoping that some colleges will approach her next year. She’s had some attention from a few college coaches, but they can’t recruit her yet. “I’m really hoping that I get some scholarships to go to college for wrestling,” Richardson noted.

Her twin sister started wrestling at the same as Megan, but didn’t choose to continue with the sport in high school.