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Gold Diggers

By JOHN KALTEFLEITER 2/26/04
john.kaltefleiter@amarillo.com

Chasing a Title: Caprock's Lindsey Bohensky, top, and her Lady Longhorn teammates go for their second UIL state title this weekend in Austin.

Just call it the final stop of Redemption Tour 2004.
Today, six wrestlers from the top-ranked Caprock girls wrestling team will depart for this weekend's UIL state wrestling tournament at the Austin Convention Center.

To hear the six-pack of Lindsey Bohensky, Amenda Howland, Hope Jones, Nina Rodriguez, Erica Martinez and Shanda Roberts tell it, leaving the state capital without their second UIL state title in four years is unacceptable.

"I get a tingly feeling every time I think about state," said Bohensky, a first-time state qualifier who captured her first Region I title after beating El Paso Hanks' Awbrey Lowe 10-4 two weeks ago.

"We understand that when we get down there, we're going to face our toughest competition. But we've seen that you can win state with four girls and we've got six."

The Lady Longhorns saw it happen last year.

A four-wrestler contingent from arch-rival Palo Duro, which hadn't won a dual all season, stormed into Austin and secured its second state title in three years.

The memory of watching Palo Duro take home the golden trophy still resonates with Howland, who along with 128-pounder Jones, are the only state-tournament veterans out of the six Caprock qualifiers.

"All last year, they (the Lady Dons) were really cocky," said the 138-pound Howland, who enters the state tourney as the regional runner-up and will square off against Houston Lee's Jade Prudent in Round 1 Friday.

"This year, I want to show them who really is the best."

Doing that won't be easy for Caprock, however. Not only is Palo Duro shipping four talented and seasoned grapplers to Austin, the Lady Longhorns will be without their best all-around wrestler in 95-pounder Crystal Valdez.

A state runner-up in 2003, Valdez suffered a dislocated elbow a week before the District 5 tournament and eventually missed the Region I tournament.

Valdez's absence has become a rallying point for the Lady Longhorns, though.

"If we had Crystal, I could almost guarantee we'd win state," Caprock wrestling coach Scott Tankersley said.

Besides not having Valdez's services, Caprock is having to overcome a collective mental block that has plagued the Lady Longhorns during past state tournaments.

In 2002, Caprock was ranked No. 1 entering the Region I tournament. The Lady Longhorns lost there, then went on to see a small, upstart Tascosa squad capture the state title.

It was more of the same last season, as Palo Duro upset Caprock at regionals and followed that up with the Lady Dons' second state title.

The Caprock six are determined to prevent that from happening this weekend.

"After last year's state tournament, they came up and told me that it was never going to happen again," said Tankersley, who remains a bit concerned about the lack of state-tourney experience in his contingent.

"We've worked them really hard so that when they go to state, they won't be too surprised. But if they become tentative, they're in trouble. That's what happened last year. They must execute the plan."

The plan's quite simple: Win and win often. And if a loss comes, fight back through the loser's bracket and pick up as many points as possible, he said.

Rodriguez says her fellow qualifiers realize what is at stake.

"We've been practicing five times a day. We're so ready," said the 148-pounder, who upset defending state champ Annie Thomas 4-3 in double overtime at regionals. "It's all about hard work and having faith.

"I'd say we've got a lot of both."

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Lampe thrust into spotlight

By Kareem Copeland
Wausau Daily Herald 2/26/04
kmcopeland@wdhprint.com

TOMAHAWK - In a little over a week, Tomahawk sophomore Alyssa Lampe has become the media darling of the state of Wisconsin.
Since becoming the first female to qualify for the WIAA state wrestling tournament, she has been quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and by The Associated Press with more media attention to come this weekend.

"It's kind of weird," Lampe said about her sudden celebrity status. "It's a little different. I just like to do my thing."
Tomahawk coach Kurt Weyers says she's not the type of person who likes a lot of attention. He says that's what makes her special, the fact she just wants to work hard and wrestle well.

"It has been a little overwhelming for her," Weyers said. "She's really a quiet girl, in fact she's really gotten better at (doing) interviews this week. She was really rough at it most of the year.

"She's really nonchalant about most things, quiet and low-key. I think that has been part of her success. Most kids would be frazzled by now."
Lampe says she's just eager to get to wrestle at the Kohl Center. She was a spectator in 2003 and wants to experience the atmosphere from the mat.

"It's really exciting," Lampe said. "We went to watch and the crowd is so awesome, they're all pumped up. They did the wave last year and they throw a beach ball around and stuff.

"It's going to be even better being down there on the floor."
The 103-pound blond with mat burns under her eyes doesn't like to talk about the fact that she is breaking down barriers. She acknowledges the significance of her feats, but doesn't dwell on them.

"A lot of people have been calling my house and talking to my parents and stuff," Lampe said. "I guess because (other girls) see that a girl made it to state, they think they have a chance. I guess I'm paving the way for girls to join wrestling."
Paving the way hasn't always been smooth. To this day she is stereotyped by other teams and wrestlers. Not only has she been the subject on various wrestling boards via Internet, but every person she wrestles is determined not to lose to a female.

"They think that they can just pin me right away," Lampe said. "So that kind of makes me mad and then I end up pinning them. Then they're like, 'I didn't know she was that good.'
"On the Internet they were saying that she'll never make it to state. That just motivated me even more. I wanted to make it to state so bad because of those remarks. That helped a lot."
Her teammates have made the road much easier for Lampe. Her brother Anthony wrestles at 112 pounds and Weyers said that the team is very protective of her. He said his other wrestlers think of her as a little sister, but they also beat up on her like a sibling.

"They treat me like one of them," Lampe said. "They joke around and we wrestle around. I've been with them since kindergarten.

"It has been really great having the seniors around, just making it to state, knowing that I learned a lot from them is even better."
She says that wrestling with the boys doesn't intimidate her because she has been doing it all of her life. Lampe just gets concerned if she thinks the other wrestler is simply better than she is. But on Friday, Lampe says, she'll be as ready as possible.

"I'm going to be really nervous," Lampe said. "But once I start wrestling it'll just go away. I'm just going to have to focus on what I'm doing and know that I worked hard and my goals are reachable. Winning two matches would be awesome, that's my goal."
Of the 560 student-athletes competing in Madison, Lampe will be the only girl. During the 2002-03 season, 3,769 girls wrestled for their high schools in 34 states, according to a spokesman for the National High School Federation in Indianapolis. Only Texas and Hawaii have girls state wrestling championships.

"If I was her age I'd be a lot more frazzled," Weyers said. "I've been very impressed with how she has handled everything and keeping her focus. Part of it is her personality. She's used to it a little bit because she has always been the first (to do these type of things).
"It's kind of a pioneer type attitude.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Wrestling notebook

2/22/04

Colin Mulvany
Riverside girls wrestler Tirzah Spackman gets congratulations after one
of her three wins.
That was all it took to pin her opponent, one of three falls the
Riverside senior had during a grand experiment at Mat Classic XVI. Seventy girls
were divided into four-wrestler pools for exhibition competition. If
interest warrants, and WIAA officials say it will take at least 20 schools to
field teams, girls wrestling could become a Washington interscholastic sport
as early as 2007.

Until then, girls who aspire to reach the state tournament must content
themselves competing as part of a boys team, such as Newport of
Bellevue's Leilani Akiyama, who lost two straight to male counterparts in the 3A
state tournament.

Spackman is a four-year wrestler at Riverside who has had some success
against boys locally.

It gave her an advantage during the exhibition Mat Classic with all
three pins coming in the first round, two of them quickly.

"It's good to compete against the guys, but it's better to knock
yourself against the girls because then you know how good you are," said
Spackman. "A guy has strength and little more skill than I did. With girls in the
same weight class, there's no huge disadvantage."

Spackman comes from a wrestling family. Older brother Travis was a
state placer and sophomore brother Robert placed fifth this weekend at 103
pounds. Tirzah got into wrestling, said her father Brian, instead of weight
lifting to help her for pole vaulting in track and field.

"The first day she comes home crying and says `I don't want to
wrestle.' The second day she comes home and didn't want to wrestle," he said. "I told
her I was tired of hearing about it and to quit. She said `I'm not
quitting."'

Her coach, Randy Miller, said he respects Tirzah for her determination
and competitiveness in a sport that can be difficult to get boys to commit
to.

"It takes the right type of girl," he said. Miller would put together a
girls team, but nly if it could maintain the same standard he expects
of the boys program.

Tirzah said she was on a par with boys while competing at 103 pounds,
but that at 119 pounds it was more difficult, she said, because of the
difference in upper-body strength. So the exhibition in Tacoma was a
welcome compromise.

The wrestlers were given awards prior to the finals as if they had
competed for a state title.

"It was fun," she said. "Winning is awesome."

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Wong rising to Olympic challenge

By David La Vaque 2/24/04
dlavaque@woodburybulletin.com

Jenny Wong (has never asked anything from wrestling she wasn’t ready to give, and all she’s ever given is total effort.

U.S. Women’s National Wrestling team coach Terry Steiner oversees a roster full of female grapplers who have overcome long odds during their careers. Wong, a 1999 graduate of Woodbury High, stands out to even Steiner for her tenacity.

Since joining the Royals wrestling program as a ninth-grader

in 1995, Wong has used every challenge as a stepping stone. Her far-sighted ways helped Wong work her way onto the U.S. National team, but even now there are bigger goals on her mind.

“She’s an overachiever,” Steiner said. “But she’s in it for the long haul. She’s looking not just as this Olympics but the next one, also.”

Getting to Athens will be an interesting challenge for Wong, who must put on weight in hopes of qualifying. The seven weight classes on the women’s team are reduced to four in an Olympic year. Normally a wrestler at 51 kilograms (112.25 pounds), Wong will wrestle at 55 kilograms (121 pounds).

“Jenny’s shown she can compete with those people,” Steiner said. “Tina George probably would be considered the front-runner for the Olympics spot at that weight. But Jenny’s won a one-point match from her also.”

Wong will compete this weekend at the Ivan Yarygin Tournament in Karasnoyarsk, Siberia. The international competition will be another tune-up for the U.S. National Championships taking place in April in Las Vegas. The top eight finishers from Las Vegas are invited to compete in the U.S. Olympic team trails May 21-23 in Indianapolis. From there, the top finishers in each weight class head to Athens.

Because she’s a past World Team member, Wong is already eligible to compete in Indianapolis. However, winning in Las Vegas puts a wrestler in the gold medal finals in Indianapolis and allows them to avoid the challenge tournament. Therefore, Wong will wrestle in Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, Wong must rise to the challenge of wrestling at 55 kilograms, though her entire career has been about accomplishing difficult tasks.

Her work on the mat is the only thing that’s succeeded in keeping her attention. As she said, “With wrestling, if you’re not paying attention you’ll get your face planted in the mat pretty quickly.”

Wong received such treatment often in her career early on at Woodbury High. She joined the team because a group of boys talking about wrestling in math class at Woodbury Junior High piqued her interest. One of those boys was Austin Crow, a wrestler who recalls just how tough Wong had it for her first two years.

“She probably had to wrestle guys who took a match with a female more seriously,” Crow said. “You can’t take a match off against a female because no guy wanted to lose.”

Though pinned often, Wong’s trademark work ethic helped her stay the course. Coach Gary Diamond remembers how Wong would often stay after practice to improve herself.

“She would work hard like the guys, and in some cases work harder just to prove her worth as a team member,” Diamond said. “Not because she was a girl, but because she had an inner desire to make the venture work for her.

“No one will say it, but having her on the team, in my opinion, made us work harder.”

Wong was not the first female wrestler at Woodbury. Molly Moskiewicz, who was a senior when Wong joined the fold as a ninth-grader, blazed that trail. When Wong wasn’t staying after practice, she hitched rides home with Moskiewicz, who introduced Wong to a St. Paul wrestling club.

A former cheerleader and gymnast, Wong learned to use her flexibility to her advantage on the mat. Moskiewicz said Wong was one of the few cheerleaders who could execute the “Russian,” a jump that required the cheerleader to extend her legs to opposites sides of her body and touch her toes.

With her limber body and steel will, Wong finally began picking up victories as a junior. And when she wasn’t winning, Wong wasn’t embarrassing herself, either. Diamond said Wong was not pinned during her last season and a half on the mat.

Wong’s college wrestling days were spent briefly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania. She made the U.S. National team in 2000 and has continued to impress. She was ranked No. 1 in the world this year at 51 kilograms.

The 2004 Games will be the first time women’s wrestling will be an Olympic sport. Whether or not Wong makes the cut, she has succeeded in showing the world the power of women in wrestling

“Before, the U.S. was mediocre,” she said. “Now, we’re one of the world powers. A lot of women have come from being afterthoughts to being the focus of the program. Everyone has their story.”

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Wilson earns fourth OUA gold

Greg Dunnnett
Assistant Sports Editor 2/26/04

Athletes who are able to utterly dominate their sport are few and far between. One such athlete is McMaster’s Pam Wilson (Wash.) who recently earned her fourth consecutive Ontario University Athletics championship.

The top-ranked Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestler in the 80-kilogram weight class, Wilson had little trouble in earning yet another provincial championship. She helped lead the McMaster team to a third-place team finish at the OUA championships.

“I was very proud of how our team did. We finished with the most wins out of any team in the tournament,” said Wilson.

Next up for Wilson and her teammates are the CIS championships on March 4 to 6. She will look to earn her second consecutive and third CIS championship overall in her four-year career at Mac.

Shockingly, when Wilson came to McMaster in 2000 she had never stepped on a wrestling mat. In her first tournament, after a mere five practices, Wilson placed second against top competition. She has not looked back since.

A major reason for Wilson’s success was her previous experience in judo. Wilson had competed for over 13 years in judo and was able to make a seamless transition into wrestling, able to utilize many of the skills learned from judo against her competition in the ring.

“Judo has helped me with my balance as well as where to be on the mat,” said Wilson.

McMaster wrestling coach Nick Cipriano points to Wilson’s judo background as one of the reason for her success.

“Pam has the whole package.” Said Cipriano. “The combination of judo and wrestling techniques give her a big advantage over her competitors.”

Wilson has helped to build the McMaster women’s program from a “few girls” to a top-five national program. Her triumphs have not been limited to the university level, though. The most successful moment of Wilson’s young career came in 2002 when she won the Canadian Senior Nationals.

““I had to pin this girl to win and I did it with two seconds left,” said Wilson.

For her last-second, come from behind victory, Wilson was also named wrestler of the National Championships.

Internationally, Wilson recently traveled to France to compete against top-level wrestlers. She placed third in the tournament, losing only one match. Wilson utilized the tournament to benchmark where she stands on the international scene.

“The gap between me and the high level athletes is narrowing. The things that are in the way for me to get that level, I am working to get rid of,” said Wilson.

Wilson’s incredible success has given her aspirations of competing for Canada at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Her coach believes that Wilson will do more then just compete at the highest level.

“If a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games is her goal, I have every confidence that she could emerge as Olympic Champion,” said Cipriano.

If Wilson is able to make the Olympics, she will become the first woman on the growing list of Olympians developed by the McMaster wrestling program. Lawrence Holmes, Gary Holmes, Chris Woodcroft, Greg Woodcroft, Paul Ragusa and Karlo Kasap have all competed at the Olympic level.

Despite their incredible talents, no McMaster wrestler has been able to bring home an Olympic medal. Coach Cipriano believes that Wilson is talented enough to become the first.

“Pam has the gift and capability to accomplish what has eluded all of the great male wrestlers—a medal at the Olympics,” said Cipriano.

Cipriano also pointed to Wilson’s competitive nature, willingness to learn and big heart as reasons for her current and future success at all levels.

The need to succeed has helped Wilson continue to develop at an incredible pace. If her development continues, McMaster may be able to lay claim to that elusive Olympic medal.

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Commentary -- Girls Wrestling: Grappling for glory

Thursday, February 26, 2004
NICK DASCHEL, Columbian staff writer

Years ago when my oldest daughter was 5, I suggested she try a year of youth wrestling at a local club to toughen her up a bit.

My wife reacted as if I had decided to hire Osama bin Laden as a babysitter.

Little did we know that this could have been the entry point to building an Olympian. Starting with this summer's Olympics, women's wrestling becomes a medal sport.

Not that we would have viewed the Olympics as incentive. Only the roughest and tumble of tomboys make a career out of wrestling, right?

That's not what I observed this past weekend at the state's inaugural girls invitational wrestling tournament, open to any girl who wrestled at least four times for her school's boys team this season.

Among the 67 competitors were girls who could have been gymnasts, cheerleaders, figure skaters and dancers.

Sports and activities that ooze femininity.

"You think of girls wrestlers looking like a guy," said Kennon McNeal, whose daughter, Katelin, a sophomore at Woodland, was among the state competitors.

"Well, she's definitely all girl. She's really cute and little and you wouldn't think of her as a wrestler. Wears the makeup and all. Her best friend is a cheerleader."

Katelin is cute and little and all, that is, until she puts on a wrestling singlet. Then Katelin is a wrestler to fear, as she won one of the state invitational 17 weight classes by pinning all three of her opponents.

What's her attraction to wrestling?

"Same reason why a guy turns out," Katelin McNeal said.

Ridgefield's Melissa Simmons also whipped three girls by pin to win her state class. Nationally ranked fourth at 138 pounds by the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association, Simmons is probably the best female high school wrestler in Clark County. Simmons often wrestles with Ridgefield's boys junior varsity, and occasionally, the varsity.

"I have never, ever had an opponent come off the mat and say that's a tough girl or anything about a girl. They say, that's a tough opponent," Ridgefield coach Brett Jones said of Simmons.

Slowly, girls are turning out. The U.S. Girls Wrestling Association said approximately 5,000 high school girls wrestled this school year, a 200 percent increase from five years ago. Seven colleges offer women's wrestling, including Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore.

But girls and women's wrestling has miles to go before it can numerically step on the same mat with the males. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 239,845 boys participated in high school wrestling during the 2002-03 school year. Washington alone, with almost 8,000 high school wrestlers, overshadow the girls' national numbers.

Because wrestling is a natural boy activity, participation in girls high school wrestling is unlikely to ever approach boys. But before girls wrestling is to be taken seriously, participation probably has to increase ten-fold, minimum.

That's not going to happen unless high schools decide there is a need for separate boys and girls teams. It is a long way from reality.

Only Texas and Hawaii recognize girls wrestling as a high school sport. Most are like Washington, which allows girls to wrestle on the boys team.

Mike Colbrese, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's executive director, said he hasn't heard of any movement statewide to develop girls wrestling teams. Mick Hoffman, athletic director at Hudson's Bay and president of the Greater St. Helens League, said the subject of girls wrestling is rarely discussed among his peers.

"There has not been a lot of interest shown," Hoffman said.

In the meantime, girls wrestle with boys. At the high school level, it's an unhealthy situation for both sexes.

Kennon McNeal said she often worries that stronger boys in Katelin's weight class will unwittingly hurt her daughter. There are people who question whether the boys are groping, and not grappling, the girl wrestlers.

"There are a lot of positions in wrestling that are not good positions for people of the opposite sex to be in," said Dave Carlile, Battle Ground's wrestling coach the past 25 years.

Coaches, mostly male, are placed in an uncomfortable situation when they teach moves to girls that involve the breast and crotch areas. There's also the daily checks for skin disease, where wrestlers strip naked for examination.

"I'm sweating more talking to you about girls wrestling than I did sitting out there coaching those (boys) matches," Carlile said.

Carlile isn't alone. Boys aren't exactly wild about wrestling girls, either. Asked what happens when she beats a boy, McNeal bluntly said, "They cry."

Nothing wrong with a good cry, but it shouldn't be the typical reaction upon losing a regular-season high school wrestling match.

"A boy in his developmental years, beat by a girl, could cause anything, from quitting to psychological problems to suicide," Carlile said.

Perhaps a groundswell will start this summer when the public is introduced to world class women's wrestling in the Olympics. Maybe it will intrigue girls looking for an indoor sports alternative during the winter.

For the sake of boys and girls, let's hope the Olympics stimulate interest in women's wrestling.

Boys ought to wrestle boys. Girl wrestlers should be able to shoot for gold, not a mud pit.

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