News Page

Four women advance to the Athens Olympics

By Michael Pointer
michael.pointer@indystar.com
May 24, 2004

Tela O'Donnell Miranda had a bruise on her right cheek, a knot on her forehead, and a cut on the bridge of her nose at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Sunday at the RCA Dome.

It was well worth it because O'Donnell is heading to this summer's Olympics. Three other U.S. women will join her in Athens, where women's wrestling will be included in the Games for the first time.

"Ever since I was little, I wanted to be on the Olympic team in figure skating or something, even though I don't ice skate," said the 21-year-old O'Donnell, who avenged a loss to Tina George at this year's U.S Nationals by pinning her twice in the 121-pound finals on Sunday.

"Then I forgot about it and said, 'I'm not a gymnast.' I didn't think I would get this chance."

But she is a wrestler. She got that elusive chance. And she's off to Greece.

"You just hoped it wasn't a dream," said Sara McMann, who beat Alaina Berube twice by technical fall in the 138 finals.

Joining O'Donnell and McMann on the U.S. team are 106 champ Patricia Miranda and Toccara Montgomery, who twice beat seven-time world championship medalist Kristie Marano to win the 158 title.

"They're all real different in their styles and strengths," said U.S. Olympic coach Tricia Saunders, a four-time world champion. "But they all have a fighting spirit in them."

Miranda remembered asking to have the mirrors removed from her high school wrestling room. She was a member of the boys team. She didn't want to be reminded she was a girl and use it as an excuse.

"I never really thought of myself as a female as I was coming up," said Miranda, who beat Clarissa Chun 6-3 and 10-0 in a match ending by technical fall.

Marano-Montgomery was a clash between two of the most successful wrestlers in U.S. women's wrestling history. Marano held a 6-5 edge in individual meetings and won when the two last met in December.

But Montgomery rallied from a 6-3 deficit in the final minute of Sunday's first match to beat Marano -- a gold medalist in last year's world championship -- 9-6 in overtime. She then won 4-3 in the second match.

--------------------------------------------------------

Given chance, wrestler soars

(Published: May 24, 2004)

Vanessa Oswalt, left, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, works to pin Anchorage's
Iris Mucha during their 138-pound freestyle match in the first round of the
U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials on Friday. Oswalt won 4-3.
History was made this weekend at the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials in
Indianapolis, where the United States named its first women's wrestling
team for the Olympics. Two Alaskans competed in the tournament. One of them
was my daughter, Iris Mucha.

Back in March, Iris' grandmother and I went to Washington to watch her
wrestle in a preliminary tournament. It was the first time I watched
Iris compete in freestyle wrestling.

I cried and shook as I videotaped her matches. My hands poured sweat.
It was the same way I've felt ever since the first time I saw her on the mat.
Pride filled my heart as I recalled how it all started.

Iris was in seventh grade when she said, "I want to wrestle, Mom.'' Her
dad was leery -- he had done a lot of damage to other guys when he was a
high school wrestler. But he relented.

I went to Romig Middle School to talk to the wrestling coach. His
response: "No girls on my team.'' I reminded him of her right to at least try. He
tried to talk me out of it, but in the end he too relented. By the end
of the year, coach Pete felt differently about girls and wrestling. Iris
and her teammate Nikki Kellum -- it turns out there were more girls
interested in wrestling than just Iris -- were there to learn, not to play around.
Iris even won a few matches that year.

The next year there were three girls on the team. Coach Pete retired
and the new coach was recovering from an illness, but he worked hard to teach
the girls and the rest of the team members. He was always so encouraging.

I've talked to lots of other mothers of female wrestlers. Some tell me
they never had any problems with people accepting their daughter's choice of
sports. But some say their daughters got picked on or, worse yet, were
deprived of the chance to join the team.

When Iris reached high school and joined West High's wrestling team,
she was not a hit with the seniors her freshman year. They tried to run her
off. But she stayed, worked hard, and coach Stan Brown gave her a chance. She
was part of the team.

The strange thing was, I became part of the team too. I was "team
mom,'' along with Teri Hendricks. We did it all by ourselves some years. Some
of the kids worked so hard at their sport, yet received little or no
support from their parents. I couldn't understand why parents didn't come to
watch their children compete. Meet after meet, the turnout of parents was
low. Each year the West team was filled with great kids, yet I never met
some of their parents. One year, the wrestlers gave me a team hug at the
year-end banquet. It was the best award I ever got.

During the four years Iris wrestled in high school, she often had to be
twice as determined as a guy, because often her opponents were much
taller or more buff than she was. Iris is only 5 feet 11/2 inches tall. Some
boys seemed to have arms that long.

Iris won her team's respect and was always upset when she learned the
parents of some boys, or the rules of some private schools, prevented
their kids from wrestling against her. Whenever that happened, Iris won by
forfeit. I can't help wondering what message is sent when you tell a
young man, "It's a girl. She does not belong here.'' The alpha males have
everything in sports, and women allow that to continue when they tell
their sons "no girls allowed.'' Is it a wonder we have so few strong women
leaders?

Now that Iris is in college, she only wrestles against other women. I'm
pleased to see women's wrestling grow, and I hope to see Anchorage high
schools add girls teams. What would it cost? A few singlets and an
extra bracket. What could it do? Maybe give a few more Alaska girls a chance
to go to the 2008 Olympics.

Iris didn't have a coach in her corner that day when her grandmother
and I watched her wrestle in Washington. I didn't have enough coaching
credentials to get on the floor -- like I could have done her any good anyway.

Iris placed third that day, all on her own. As I watched her receive
her medal, I cried.

She didn't make the Olympic team at the trials in Indianapolis. But to
me, she is a hero anyway.

She is returning to Alaska this summer to fish with her dad, and she
will attend UAA this fall as an art major. She intends to remain involved
with wrestling.

And me? I'll continue to support women's wrestling, and all high school
sports. I hope you will too.

Nan Mucha of Anchorage is the mother of Iris Mucha, who competed in the
68-kilogram freestyle class at the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials in
Indianapolis, winning one of her three matches. Iris is the top-ranked
collegiate wrestler in the nation at 121 pounds and won her weight
class at this year's U.S. Girls Wrestling Association national championships.

---------------------------------------------------------

Bittersweet day for area

Monday, May 24, 2004
Mary Schmitt BoyerPlain Dealer Reporter
Indianapolis

A beaming Toccara Montgomery was overjoyed at making the first U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team.

"It's unbelievable," the 21-year-old East Tech graduate said after beating Kristie Marano of Albany, N.Y., for the second time in the 158.5-pound class in the best-of-three championship round of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the RCA Dome on Sunday. "To be an Olympian, period, and then to be a pioneer is just a phenomenal feeling."

And yet there was a tinge of sadness, too, at the news that fellow Clevelander and one of the cornerstones of women's wrestling, Tina George,would not be accompanying Montgomery on the trip to Athens, Greece. George, 25, from Cleveland Heights, a two-time national champion and two-time silver medalist at 121 pounds, was upset by Tela O'Donnell, 21, of Homer, Alaska. O'Donnell pinned George twice.

"I was very surprised," Montgomery said. "It was really heartbreaking to see it. I expected me and Tina to be there together. I think she helped set the steppingstones."

If Montgomery was surprised, Kip Flanik, who coached both women, was shocked.

"It's very hard not to see Tina with Toccara," he said softly, his voice breaking. "It was my dream to have them both together. Tina is such a big part of Toccara. If there was no Tina, there would be no Toccara."

Flanik was an assistant coach at Cleveland Heights High School, where George competed on the boys wrestling team. "She was so tough and worked so hard, it opened my eyes to what women were capable of," Flanik said.

When he became the head wrestling coach at East Tech, Montgomery became his next protege, and he continued to coach her at Cumberland College. She became a four-time national champion, won two gold medals in the Pan American Games and two silvers in the world championships.

And now she's an Olympian, after beating Marano, 25, the most decorated U.S. woman wrestler in history who failed to make weight at 138.75 pounds and had to move up one class. In the first match, Marano led, 6-4, before Montgomery tied the score with a two-point exposure with 30 seconds left and then won, 9-6, with a three-point takedown 19 seconds into overtime. In the second match, Montgomery led, 4-1, and held on for a 4-3 victory.

George came out strong after being pinned at 5:57 of her first match with O'Donnell and built a 6-1 lead after the first period. But O'Donnell made it 6-2 at 3:43 and then used a half-nelson to pin George again at 4:12.

A stunned George sat alone in the middle of the mat for a long minute, then sobbed all the way out of the main area of the arena. Three hours later, the tears were still streaming from her eyes as she spoke with reporters.

"I'm still a champion," she whispered. "This doesn't take anything away from what I've done or what I will do in the future. I'm not done yet. I'll come back and try it again.

"This is part of the joy and pain of being an athlete. When you give all you have, it's not always going to be great. But the way you react to it and handle it is what's important."

George, a specialist in the U.S. Army who dreams of attending medical school one day, recovered her composure and tried to smile. But her eyes filled again when told of Montgomery's comments.

"If I can't go," George said, her voice breaking along with her heart, "I hope she wins a gold medal."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Athens bound , Wrestler, shooter secure Olympic berth

By KEVIN KLOTT
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: May 24, 2004)

Tela O'Donnell of Colorado Springs, Colo., celebrates her 121-pound
freestyle finals win Sunday over Tina George, also of Colorado Springs,
at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials in Indianapolis. O'Donnell,
originally from Homer, won two finals matches to earn a spot on the
Olympic
team.

Homer's Tela O'Donnell loves history when the topic is wrestling and
the learning happens in the land where the sport originated.

O'Donnell, 21, earned a place in history Sunday by capturing a spot on
the U.S. Olympic wrestling team. She will be among five American women who
will compete in Athens, Greece, this summer when women's wrestling makes its
Olympic debut in the country where the sport took root.

"It's going to be so neat to get the chance to wrestle in a place where
wrestling started," O'Donnell said Sunday from Indianapolis, where she
secured her Olympic berth with a pair of victories over the national
champion at 55 kilograms.

O'Donnell was one of two athletes with Alaska ties to qualify for the
Olympics on Sunday. University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate and riflery
shooter Matt Emmons claimed a berth in air rifle.

"It's so exciting to be a part of this," O'Donnell said in a phone
interview. "I'm pretty smiley right now."

O'Donnell is grinning not only because she realized her dream but
because she conquered the best to earn Olympic status.

She defeated arch-rival and defending national champion Tina George in
a best-of-3 tournament at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. It was an
impressive feat considering George was coming off a weeklong rest and had
regularly defeated O'Donnell in previous meetings.

"I'm not good at remembering how many times we've wrestled against one
another," O'Donnell said. "It just feels good that I'm the one who
finished on top."

Her triumph came with no shortage of drama. The first match was tied
when O'Donnell pinned George with three seconds remaining in the third and
final period. In the second match, George led 6-1 in the first period when
O'Donnell turned things around -- and won the title -- with a technical
fall.

"She came out strong and physical," said O'Donnell, whose first name is
pronounced "Tayla.'' "But I just kept my composure."

O'Donnell's victory came in front of a huge crowd that packed the dome,
which seats 57,890. But she said she was so focused on winning that she
hardly had time to soak in the atmosphere. She'll get another chance to
do that in Greece at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall, which holds 9,150
spectators.

Emmons, meanwhile, will display his marksmanship at the Markopoulo
Olympic Shooting Centre in Athens.

The four-time NCAA champion from Browns Mills, N.J., will compete in
the air rifle event after finishing three days of competition at Fort Benning,
Ga., in second place with a score of 1,985. The top two men made the Olympic
team.

Emmons, a 2002 world champion in prone, will attempt to qualify for the
prone and three-position events on Tuesday.

"I still need to stay focused," he said in a press release on USA
Shooting's Web site. "It is really easy to get hung up on the score and the
pressure, but I know I need to concentrate on the things I can control."

Joining Emmons in Tuesday's competition will be former UAF shooters
Amber Darland and Melissa Mulloy-Mecozzi and current team member Jamie
Beyerle, who each failed to make the women's three-position team on Sunday.

Darland finished third with 1,931.1 points, Mulloy-Mecozzi placed fifth
with 1,929.2, and Beyerle wound up sixth with 1,925.3.

O'Donnell will be the first Alaskan to compete in the Olympics in
wrestling, and she was one of three wrestlers from the state who qualified for the
trials. Philip Johnston of Anchorage competed at 96 kilograms in
Greco-Roman, and Iris Mucha of Anchorage competed at 63 kilograms in
women's
freestyle.

---------------------------------------------------------

Making history
Saratogan wins spot on 1st women's team

Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer 5/24/04

Indianapolis -- Despite his attempts over the years to get his daughter Patricia Miranda to give up wrestling, Jose Miranda of Saratoga turned into her biggest fan Sunday, as she clinched a spot on the first women's U.S. Olympic wrestling team.

"Yeah, Patricia!" he screamed, moments after she defeated Clarissa Chun of Hawaii in the 105-pound division.

Patricia's father, sister, brother-in-law and two brothers jumped to their feet in the stands, wearing white T-shirts with red letters spelling out "T-R-U-X-A," which is Portuguese for Tricia, her nickname.

"Oh, Jesus Christ," Jose said, flopping back in his chair and clutching his heart.

It was only the fourth time Jose Miranda had seen his daughter compete, and for good reason. He death-grips the arms of his chair, leans forward, and licks his lips in an instinctual panic as he watches his daughter get thrown to the ground.

He admits he doesn't understand how the game is scored, but he knows she has to beat the other girl.

"Turn her around, turn her around!" he yelled, when Chun got trapped under his daughter.

Now he's buying a ticket to Athens, where Miranda is considered a medal contender -- so much so that she's been dubbed the face of women's wrestling -- something she never anticipated as a young girl tussling with the guys in middle and high school.

"We're all so proud of her," Jose said. "Whatever she's done, she did completely on her own. There are no athletes in this family, and I certainly tried to stop her."

After her win, she turned toward her father in the stands and raised both fists in triumph. It meant everything to her to have his support.

"We've never been a very emotional family, and my wrestling has brought us together to a new level of open expression," she said. "It's yet another thing wrestling has given me."

Jose became a reluctant sports fan after raising his two daughters and two sons to put books before sports. A Portuguese immigrant who believed in the American dream, he told Patricia he'd let her wrestle only if she maintained a 4.0 grade point average.

At Stanford, Miranda was the first woman to join the wrestling team. She trained for five years with only one win against a man, and was able to graduate with honors. She postponed an acceptance to Yale Law School for the Olympics.

"She kept her end of the bargain," Jose said.

After her win Sunday, she put an American flag bandana on her head -- eager to represent the United States in Athens.

There Miranda will face the woman who swiped the gold medal from her at the World Championships last year, Irini Merleni of the Ukraine.

"Athens will be my redemption."

------------------------------------------------------------------