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Grappling with gender: Evergreen's Crystal Simms holds her own on wrestling mat

by Dan Johnson 1/20/05

Before stepping on the mat, the 103-pound wrestler from Evergreen knows the obstacles that lie ahead.

The opponent is a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger. To overcome that, the Evergreen wrestler has to be strong mentally and focus on the task at hand: try not to get pinned.

The crowd at Clear Creek High School, site of the Jan. 6 triangular match between Evergreen, Platte Canyon and Clear Creek, wanted to see what this 103-pound wrestler, adorned in a blue and gold wrestling singlet, blue headgear and blue hair net that covered long red locks, could bring to the table. So they all inched forward in their seats, with eyes locked on the center of the wrestling mat.

Bobby Riley of Clear Creek is the opponent for the Evergreen wrestler. He's a little nervous, as the 14-year-old freshman is about to take part in his first-ever varsity match.

Little did he know that his first match would be against a girl.

Crystal Simms of Evergreen offers her right hand to Riley and he extends his as the two engage in a quick handshake before the start of their match.

A little over twelve months ago, Simms, 15, was sitting in her geography class when Evergreen varsity wrestling coach Steve Hitchens entered the classroom in an attempt to recruit students for the Cougars' wrestling team.

Simms, who is a member of the Evergreen Marching Band's drumline and on the debate team, received a little nudge from one her friends and decided to go out for the team.

She wanted to prove to herself that she could do a sport that not many girls compete in. Not everyone was sure she'd stick with wrestling, including her father. That skepticism became a source of motivation for Simms, as she wanted to prove him and everyone else that their doubts were unfounded.

She wrestled on the junior varsity team last season and can still recall crying prior to her first match.

"I was so nervous," Simms said. "Now it seems like so

long ago."

Simms lost more than she won that season but improved with each match. This season Simms made the jump to the varsity team and has continued to impress her teammates and opponents with her increasing skill. She's won three matches so far this season.

"Everyone's really nice," Simms said. "(Jesse Vasquez) from Lakewood said that I totally worked his butt during our match. Everyone for the most part are really nice and will give me pointers. I get some negative responses and see some people pointing, but there are so many more who are kind that I don't pay much attention to the other people."

For the most part, Simms' teammates at Evergreen were supportive from the beginning. While Simms says that initially some of the upperclassmen didn't talk to her at first, they soon became friends.

"It was cool because you don't see girls wrestling too often," said teammate Ben Troup, who wrestles at 189 pounds. "It's a neat thing to see more diversity in wrestling because there are some really good girl wrestlers."

Simms now has some female company, as her friend, Alicia Hagen, recently joined the team and will compete at 125 pounds. Having Hagen on the team has been good for Simms, as the two share car rides home and discuss various topics, including how they are doing on the wrestling mat.

Wrestling, though, is an individual sport, and when it's your turn to wrestle, most of the eyes in the gymnasium are on you. But, when you're a girl, everyone's eyes are fixated on the mat.

Such was the case in Simms' match against Riley.

Riley quickly took advantage of his strength in the first period, as he slammed Simms down to the mat seconds after the match began and managed to keep a hard-fighting Simms on her back for most of the first two minutes. Simms was able to grab hold of Riley's right leg and tried to fight her way out of her opponent's grasp, but the horn sounded, ending the period with Simms down 2-0.

The second period began with Simms starting off on top with Riley underneath in the set position. Riley quickly sprang to his feet for an escape and another point and a 3-0 lead. Simms though, came right back and scored her first two points of the match with a takedown. She again grabbed Riley's right leg and attempted a cradle but Riley managed to get out of bounds to break the hold. A two-point reversal by Riley upped his lead to 5-2, but late in the period Simms scored a point on an escape. With two minutes left in the match she still trailed by two, 5-3.

Riley, just as he did at the start of the second period, used his strength to score a point on an escape from the set position.

Down 6-3, Simms quickly trimmed the deficit to one with a nice takedown. Riley was in trouble and the crowd sensed it, as they began to scream louder than they had at any point in the evening. Eventually Riley escaped the attempted cradle and went up 7-5.

Simms would not give up. She again forced Riley down to the mat, tying the match with a takedown. Just seconds remained in the match and the referee blew his whistle and asked the wrestlers to return to the center of the mat. Coach Hitchens gave a quick roll of the eyes, as he sensed what was about to happen.

With Riley on the ground and Simms on top in the set position, the referee blew his whistle to re-start the match.

The fans, coaches and other wrestlers were all on their feet and screamed loudly for each wrestler. Riley quickly popped up to his feet, and as the final horn sounded, the referee awarded him a point for an escape, enough to give Riley the victory, 8-7. The two wrestlers exchanged another handshake and a handshake with the opposing coach before they headed back to their respective team bench. Simms threw on her warm-up suit and talked with a few teammates about the match.

"I could've done some things better," Simms said. "But I didn't get pinned, and I fought as hard I could."

"I was pretty surprised at how strong she was," Riley said. "I was impressed with how she wrestled; she's pretty good."

That's not the first time Simms has heard that comment, and it likely won't be the last.

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These days, she makes small things special and time slow down

Posted: Jan. 20, 2005

She is asleep, and then she is awake.

Darlene Crowley. She's so, so tired. It is a mile or two to the other
side of her bed. The bathroom, the kitchen, the living room are other
continents. She drifts back to sleep. Then she is awake. Asleep again, then awake.
Time passes. Sluggishly, like the gray river 19 stories below her apartment
window.

She is 37 years old. She inhales the oxygen that streams through a
plastic tube beneath her nose. She prays, then she journeys to the edge of her
bed. She stands.

Twenty years ago she was in all the papers. Girl wrestler at North
Division High School. First girl wrestler in the state. Ninety-eight pounds. She
pinned a boy in 47 seconds. Left him crying on the mat.

She regrets that. The way that boy felt. But not the competition. Not
the challenge. Those things she loved. Loves still.

All the way to the bathroom to check on Divine, her 5-week-old
Chihuahua, then all the way to the kitchen. She makes instant grits for herself,
adds butter and sugar. She pours fruit punch into a wine glass, which is a
trick she's learned. The trick is to make small things special. The trick is
to celebrate everything.

She puts in a DVD and sits with her breakfast in front of the
television. She watches the same movie every morning: "Patti LaBelle, Live in New
York." It makes her heart soar.

She takes her pills. Tamoxifen for the cancer, which started in her
uterus and then metastasized in both lungs. Prednisone to breathe. Ritalin for
energy. Morphine for pain. Washed down with red fruit punch sipped from
a wine glass.

Oh, man, she was something else 20 years ago. You should have seen her.
A slip of girl, but a force to be reckoned with. Girl wrestler. A real
fighter.

And now what does she do with what remains of her life? She paints,
sculpts, photographs, writes. Her subjects are fleeting things: falling snow,
passing clouds, rising steam, fading beauty, emerging love. All things are
altered by time.

When she paints, time slows. She transcends it. There is no weariness,
no troubles, no sense of here and now. It's like when she wrestled, and
time slowed down, and she had all the time in the world to reach for an
ankle, a wrist, a thigh, time to spare as she flipped her opponent onto his back
and pressed his straining shoulders into the giving mat and held them there
forever.

That is how death must be. No weariness, no troubles, no sense of here
and now. She believes that when she dies she will be with God, who she
believes is with her even now, manifesting his perfect love through her, though
her once-mighty body is a fleeting thing, nearly ruined.

She hopes that, after she dies, her art endures. What she has suffered
and what her suffering has taught her are there, contained in her art,
immutable as any earthly thing can be.

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Athlete mixes it up
Fowlerville's Paige Rife wrestles and cheers for Gladiators

Friday, January 21, 2005
BY JASON DEEGAN
News Staff Reporter

When Paige Rife's varsity jacket was finished last spring, an employee of the store that created it made a worried call to the family.

"I'm afraid we've made a mistake," the caller told David Rife, Paige's father. "They put cheerleading and wrestling on the back."

Rife could only smile, and laugh. "You've got it right," he recalls saying

Paige Rife, a sophomore at Fowlerville High School, has been competing in wrestling and cheerleading in the same season for so long, she can't remember anything else. The two sports that seem like total opposites work well together for her.

"Some people find it unique that I wrestle and do cheerleading together," she said. "After doing it so many years, it feels normal. Wrestling is very male-dominated, but so many more girls are coming into it. It's not just a manly thing. It's a part of who I am."

Rife's recent performances at top national tournaments for girls have proven that she's one to watch. She finished fifth at the ASICS/Vaughan Girls Junior Nationals in the 138-pound weight class last July and is nationally ranked in her weight class. She has an open invitation to train with the U.S. women's Olympic wrestling program in Marquette.

She's been out most of this high school season with torn ligaments in her right elbow suffered in a junior varsity match at the season-opening tournament at Howell High School. But the 15-year-old has a bright future if she decides to commit herself to training for the Olympics. Women's wrestling became a sanctioned sport in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

"My dad tells me all the time, 'You don't know how good you are'," she said. "I just don't think about that I'm nationally ranked. It's just wrestling practice to me.

"But I realize the 2008 Olympics are not that far away. I'm excited to start training for it. I would be in heaven if I made it there. It's slowly coming to me what wrestling can do for me."

All in the family

Paige, then 8, attend her first wrestling practices to watch her younger brother, Travis. She rolled around on the mat so much, her parents signed her up for the Fowlerville's TNT wrestling club team the next season.

Wrestling has grown into a Rife family tradition. David Rife said both his sons, Travis, 12, and Mason, 6, have won a pair of Amateur Athletic Union national championships. Paige Rife hasn't won a national title, yet.

David Rife, 41, who wrestled at Fowlerville High School, graduating in 1982, said he picked up the sport again four years ago to coach his children. Within two years, the professional monster truck driver captured his weight class in the Ironman Wrestling World Championship in Nashville, Tenn.

"I started to wrestle just to show them (my children) moves and found out it was not as easy as it used to be," he said. "It added credibility (to my coaching) that I go to nationals."

Taking on the boys

Both David and his wife, Trish Rife, admit they don't like their daughter wrestling boys. But it's the only way to learn the sport.

"She had to work at it to get good," her father said. "That first match she won (against a boy), we cried like babies. It took her a good six-eight tournaments before she won. She kept getting beat up."

As she grew older, Paige Rife said she grew more comfortable wrestling guys. Her flexibility and determination are her only weapons against boys who are stronger and quicker. Being an underdog makes a victory all the more sweet.

"The best part (about wrestling) is if you beat a guy," she said. "They wrestle so different when you're a girl. They feel they have to beat you. You get a different feeling out of it when you beat the guys. That is what's cool."

Trish Rife said her daughter has a killer instinct on the mat. "She will not back down from anybody," she said.

As she watches Fowlerville's wrestlers practice, Paige Rife sits near the mat, the large bulky brace a reminder that she's stuck on the sidelines.

She worries her injury might keep her from several important upcoming national tournaments - the U.S. Girls' Wrestling Association championship in Lake Orion in March and the Body Bar Cadet Nationals in San Diego, Calif., in April.

Her arm doesn't bend well. She flinches in pain, trying to straighten it. Doctors have told her that surgery is an option, but she's staying positive.

"It won't set me back too far," she said. "I know when it's time to buckle down and get ready for nationals."

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WRESTLING: Mat respect
Hutchison is turning heads by beating the boys

By ERIC SMITH
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: January 20, 2005)

Shy and soft-spoken off the wrestling mat, Michaela Hutchison says plenty on it.

Hutchison, a freshman at Skyview, is the only ranked female wrestler in Alaska. She is currently fourth at 103 pounds, though she was third as recently as last week.

She is ranked because she routinely dispels the notion that girls can't compete with boys.

And she does this by routinely beating many of them.

At last weekend's Glenn Vandergaw Classic at Dimond, Hutchison lost only once, a heartbreaking overtime decision in the semifinals, and took third at the tournament.

Because of her prowess against boys or girls, Hutchison has quickly established herself as a torchbearer of sorts for girls wrestling.

That's fitting because Hutchison's older sister, Melina, was one of the first-ever female place-winners at a state wrestling tournament when she took third in 2000 at the 4A championships alongside Homer Olympian Tela O'Donnell, who took sixth that same year.

Michaela is still considered by many coaches and fellow wrestlers as the likeliest girl to win a state title, if not this season, then possibly as a sophomore or junior.

"She's got as good a shot (to win state) as any boy her weight or age," said Skyview coach Neldon Gardner.

Her coach isn't the only person saying this. Accolades for Hutchison come from coaches around Alaska.

"She's one of the best 103-pounders in the state, boy or girl," said South coach Tom Ritchie Jr. "She is the real deal."

And Kodiak's Pat Costello, who has been coaching that program for 15 years, says: "Michaela is the best girl wrestler I've seen."

Despite the praise, Hutchison remains modest, even self-effacing.

"I still don't feel like I'm very good," she said. "I just want to get better."

Clearly, Hutchison is at the forefront of the dozens of girls who wrestle varsity in Alaska, even though she doesn't feel anything like a role model.

She views herself as just a wrestler -- not a "girl wrestler" either -- and many are beginning to view her and the growing number of girls competing in a boy-dominated sport the same way.

"They're getting technically way better," Costello said.

Almost technically as good as boys, especially at the lower weights. Girls know they are still at a disadvantage at the middle and heavy weights because they're not as strong as the boys in those divisions.

That doesn't prevent Hutchison, or the other two girls on Skyview's team, from challenging boys, even if they're heavier and stronger.

"We'll wrestle anybody that's close in weight," Hutchison said.

It's that attitude, and the ability to back it up, that has people taking note of the strides female wrestlers have made in Alaska.

But while Hutchison and many other girls in this state have come a long way, earning respect and establishing themselves as equals on the mat, they can go further still.

INSPIRATION

The history of girls wrestling in Alaska is cloudy. Many of Alaska's large-school coaches said girls first began showing up for wrestling tryouts in the mid-1990s, although former ACS wrestler Jason Hofacker -- who just last month hung up his whistle as the ACS wrestling coach after seven years -- remembered girls wrestling at the small-school level in the late 1980s.

Regardless of when girls started going toe-to-toe with boys on the mat, they didn't truly make their mark until 2000. That's when Melina Hutchison and O'Donnell became place-winners at state -- and instant pioneers.

On Dec. 16, 2000, Melina Hutchison, wrestling at 112 pounds, placed third and O'Donnell, wrestling at 119, placed sixth at the fall state wrestling championships in Kenai, solidifying their legacy in the sport.

"I think Melina and Tela did wonders for girls wrestling," Gardner said. "When they came into the picture, it wasn't like guys were saying, 'Oh, you got this one.' They beat a good portion of the boys."

Numerous girls cited both Melina Hutchison and O'Donnell as either the reason they got involved with wrestling or their motivation for sticking with it once they reached high school.

For all the influence Melina Hutchison and O'Donnell have had on girls wrestling in Alaska, however, it was Michaela Hutchison who actually turned her older sister onto the sport.

"I started before her," said Michaela, who has wrestled for seven years.

Long before that, in the early 1970s, the roots of girls wrestling in the United States were forming. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX legislation to provide equal educational and athletic opportunities for women.

Due to Title IX, many universities eliminated wrestling because it was for men only. But over time, universities that wanted to keep wrestling instead decided to create equitable women's programs.

The popularity of those programs -- and the added scholarship opportunities -- created the need for developing wrestlers at the high school level.

At the same time, high schools began allowing girls to compete alongside boys in wrestling.

The numbers have grown ever since. In Alaska, the number of girls wrestling has steadily increased. Of the 1,267 high school wrestlers during the 2004-05 school year, 74 were girls, according to the Alaska School Activities Association.

That's roughly 6 percent of wrestlers. That also represents an increase of about 50 percent from the reported 36 girls who wrestled during the 2002-03 school year.

If the numbers continue to increase, credit might go to one Alaskan, O'Donnell, who in 2004 earned a spot on Team USA for the debut of women's wrestling at the Summer Olympics.

O'Donnell's journey to Athens, Greece, and her matches there, were chronicled extensively by local and national media.

Before O'Donnell earned her trip to the Olympic Games, though, she was just a student at Nikiski High, living with the family of former Nikiski wrestling coach and current Sitka assistant wrestling coach Steve Gillaspie and undergoing the training that would eventually make her a wrestling icon in Alaska and in the United States.

Gillaspie's daughter Abby, who still talks with O'Donnell regularly, has fond memories of O'Donnell living under the same roof and ultimately convincing the then-seventh-grader to give the sport a try.

"I never saw a girl wrestle until Tela," Abby said. "She was my inspiration to get into the sport."

SISTER ACT

Though O'Donnell isn't related to Gillaspie, she nonetheless played a sisterly role for the aspiring wrestler, and it's clear that many girls get into wrestling because of an older sibling's influence.

West sophomore Aubrae Putnam's older brother Cody formerly wrestled for West, and his practice sessions at home all but guaranteed that little sis would end up on the mat someday.

"He used me as his wrestling dummy," Putnam said. "Now I get to fight back."

Putnam loves fighting back, and she loves fighting aggressively, especially when it's a boy across the mat from her.

"It's the best feeling beating a guy," she said. Especially the guys who tell Putnam, "I'm going to beat the crap out you."

Like Putnam, Lathrop sophomore Leah Bachert's older brother wrestled when he was in high school. So did Bachert's sister. Since she looked up to her older siblings and thought wrestling "looked really cool," Bachert wound up in the sport.

She's been wrestling for seven years, first as a freestyle and middle school wrestler and now as a varsity wrestler. She's never been made to feel like an outsider.

Girls today say they are welcomed into the testosterone-fueled wrestling rooms, but that wasn't always the case.

Tom Ritchie Sr., the longtime Lathrop coach who also coached at North Pole, remembers being "shunned by some people for allowing it" after first allowing girls in the mid-90s.

Even Skyview's Gardner remembers a little hesitation.

"The first time a girl walked into my room I was like, 'Oh, I don't know,' " he said.

Now Gardner and the rest of Alaska's coaches know that girls have as much right to compete as boys. They've become fixtures in wrestling rooms across the state. And they've become the sisters, to each other and to the boys they compete alongside.

"They're totally accepted," Gardner said.

There are still some gender issues being resolved, like ensuring there are separate locker rooms and separate weigh-in facilities before meets and tournaments. But the biggest issue surrounding girls wrestling arises after a match -- when a girl beats a boy.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

One of Putnam's favorite T-shirts was a gift from former West wrestler Iris Mucha. It reads: "You wish you could wrestle like a girl."

Putnam is one of two girls wrestling for West, a school that also figures into the lore of girls wrestling history because as a sophomore, Mucha became the first girl from Region IV -- and the fourth statewide -- to qualify for a state tournament.

When Mucha wrestled and beat boys to qualify for state, or when Melina Hutchison and O'Donnell did the same, they began eradicating the notion that losing to a girl wasn't the end of the world.

Girls today encounter the same thing, albeit less often.

"When I first started, I'd hear people say to them, 'Oh, you got beat by a girl!' " Bachert said. "Lately it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. People are more accustomed to girls wrestling."

And the girls are more accustomed to succeeding at a sport where they've sometimes struggled.

"The stigma against wrestling girls isn't what it used to be," Costello said. "They have beaten enough guys to earn respect.

Girls have earned the respect of most boys, like Chugiak sophomore Brady Schultz (112), who learned first-hand to respect girl wrestlers. He lost to Bachert last season, although he beat her at the end of last season and also at last weekend's Glenn Vandergaw Classic.

"You're kind of nervous cause you don't want to lose and get made fun of," Schultz said. "But you respect what they can do."

Schultz, along with other guys, said they must go as hard against girls as they do against other boys, and coaches all said they instruct their wrestlers to do that too.

"We don't coach 'em any other way," said Chugiak coach David Bierria.

That's fine by most girls, who view wrestling boys as a way to make them better.

"I like wrestling guys cause most of the girls I wrestle aren't as into it," Bachert said. "The guys are more of a challenge."

Boys face a pretty big challenge if they lose to a girl -- deciding whether or not to stick with the sport. West coach Paul Kongaika said he has seen boys quit the sport after losing to a girl because there still exists an undercurrent, "If you get beat by a girl, it's time to find a different sport."

Ritchie Jr. agreed, noting that if a boy this season loses to anyone but Michaela Hutchison, it can be devastating.

"Michaela is pretty well respected, she's beaten hundreds of guys in Alaska," he said. "But people who aren't around the sport don't know that. It's kind of a no-win situation for the guys."

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

Abby Gillaspie has to endure almost five more months as a junior at Sitka High, but she is about to begin working on her senior project -- coordinating an all-girls open wrestling tournament in Sitka that will follow the Class 4A state tournament in February 2006.

She hopes to draw the top varsity girls from around Alaska as well as up-and-coming junior varsity girls. She also hopes to get O'Donnell to town to hold workshops and provide some motivational speeches.

That could be a portent of things to come for girls wrestling in Alaska. Some coaches and athletes said they'd like to see a separate girls division at the large- and small-school state tournaments, although the numbers statewide would need to increase before that becomes a reality.

With the growing number of girls becoming interested in a sport long dominated by boys, however, the prospect of an all-girl division at state -- something other states have done -- could happen, even if the numbers seem slim at first.

"There won't be very many at first, but there will be soon," Costello said. "The girls are here, they wrestle hard and they're good. There's no doubt (an all-girl division will happen)."

Most of the girls wrestling in high school today are less concerned with how much they draw newcomers to the sport than how well they do in their respective matches.

But there's no doubt that as ambassadors for the sport, wrestlers like Leah Bachert and Abby Gillaspie are there to inspire young girls the way Melina Hutchison and Tela O'Donnell have inspired them.

"I would encourage them," Bachert said, "even if they're not getting it right away."

Michaela Hutchison -- by no means a crusader for girls wrestling with her words but certainly with her ability -- also would encourage young girls to take a chance and follow their heart. Her one simple piece of advice?

"I'd just say, 'Do it.' "

Daily News reporter Eric Smith can be reached at esmith@adn.com or 257-4335.

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Religious tenets forbid girls to wrestle with boys at two Anchorage schools

Girls wrestling hasn't been welcomed everywhere.

Two Anchorage private schools, Anchorage Christian and Grace Christian, won't allow girls to wrestle.

The schools, each affiliated with local churches, have policies prohibiting girls on the team, rules rooted in religious tenets.

Jason Hofacker, a 1991 graduate of ACS who returned to his alma mater to coach, has spent the past nine years as the school's wrestling coach and the past three as athletic director.

He said the policy is in place for a simple reason -- it would contradict everything held sacred at Anchorage Baptist Temple and Anchorage Christian Schools.

"We teach these kids at church and at school that girls are to be respected, and then we tell them, 'Now go and beat them up'?" he said.

Unlike public schools, ACS and Grace Christian write their own policies and codes of conduct.

"We are a private school so we hope that people respect our rules," Hofacker said.

Hofacker said no one has ever challenged the school's policy of refusing to let girls wrestle, but if someone did it could mean the end of wrestling at ACS.

"We would probably shut down our program before we allow that to happen," he said.

Back when Hofacker was a freshman at the school in the late 1980s and found himself paired against a girl at the regional tournament, he had to forfeit his match because ACS wrestlers weren't allowed to compete against girls.

ACS now requires its wrestlers to have parental consent to compete against girls should such a pairing happen at a tournament.

A huge proponent of girls athletics and of wrestling, Hofacker was quick to point out that he "would be in full support of girls having their own season" and their own team.

Grace Christian athletic director Susan Cantwell-Long echoed that sentiment.

"As an athletic administrator I think now is the time to have schools form girls-only teams," she said in an e-mail. "It would help balance Title IX mandates as well as I think bring out more participation by females if they didn't have to wrestle guys."

-- Eric Smith

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Sanderson, McMann and Men’s Freestyle Olympic Team honored as 2004 USOC Athletes and Team of the Year

1/21/2005
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has honored its 2004 Wrestling Male and Female Athletes of the Year, as well as its Wrestling Team of the Year.

The Male Athlete of the Year is 2004 Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids). The Female Athlete of the Year is 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann (Lock Haven, Pa./Sunkist Kids). The 2004 Wrestling Team of the Year is the 2004 U.S. Olympic Men’s Freestyle Wrestling Team. It is the first time that either Sanderson or McMann have won this award.

Each year the USOC recognizes the top male and top female athletes and the top team as selected by their respective member organizations. The names of the athletes and teams are placed on ballots used to select the USOC SportsMan, SportsWoman and overall Team of the Year. Members of the USOC Board of Directors along with representatives of the national media participate in the voting to select the USOC SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year.

Honored last year for their accomplishments in 2003 were cyclist Lance Armstrong, figure skater Michelle Kwan and the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team.

Forty-nine males and 49 females, as well as 39 teams, are being honored by the USOC for their athletic accomplishments in 2004.

Sanderson won the Olympic gold medal in men’s freestyle wrestling at 84 kg/185 lbs. at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. He was the only U.S. wrestler to win a gold medal during the Athens Games, one of six U.S. medallists in all three styles.

Sanderson won five matches on the way to the title, and he defeated 2000 Olympic silver medalist Moon Eui Jae of Korea in the gold-medal finals, 3-1.

His semifinal victory was a thrilling 3-2 decision over 1999 World champion and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero of Cuba. Sanderson scored two second-period takedowns for the margin of victory. He had lost his previous two meetings with Romero prior to the Olympic showdown.

In the quarterfinals, in an exciting match, Sanderson stopped 2002 World bronze medalist Majid Khodaei of Iran, 6-5. Sanderson fell behind. and battled back with some outstanding wrestling late in the match. He also captured two matches in his pool competition, beating Magomed Kurguliev of Kazakhstan, 4-2 and Siarhei Borchanka of Belarus, 9-1.

Sanderson earned his spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, winning the title at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling in Indianapolis, Ind in May. He defeated Lee Fullhart (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) in the championship series, two matches to one.

Sanderson won both of his matches at the Titan Games, held in Atlanta, Ga in June. He also won a gold medal at the Manitoba Open in Canada, and a silver medal at the Ivan Yarygin International in Russia. At the Yarygin Tournament, he defeated 2000 Olympic champion Adam Saitiev. He also won a silver medal at the U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas, Nev.

In 2002, Sanderson achieved national attention in college at Iowa State, when he became the first athlete to go undefeated and won four NCAA wrestling titles. Sports Illustrated said it was the No. 2 achievement in college sports history.

McMann won the Olympic silver gold medal in women’s freestyle wrestling at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. She was one of two U.S. women wrestlers to claim a medal during the Athens Games, and the highest placement of the U.S. women wrestlers. It was a historic performance as women’s freestyle wrestling was contested at the Olympic Games for the first time.

McMann was impressive in reaching the gold-medal finals, scoring pins in two of her first three bouts. In her opening match, she pinned 2001 World champion Lili Meng of China in 2:01. Her second bout was a 5-2 loss to Canadian Viola Yanik, but McMann’s pin over Meng allowed her to win the pool and advance. In the semifinals, she pinned Stavroula Zygouri of Greece in just 50 seconds, silencing the pro-Greek crowd and guaranteeing McMann a medal at the Olympics.

In the gold medal finals, facing her archrival, McMann lost a very close 3-2 decision to two-time World champion Kaori Icho of Japan.

McMann earned her spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, winning the title at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling in Indianapolis, Ind in May. She defeated Alaina Berube (Escanaba, Mich./New York AC) in the championship series, two matches to zero.

McMann also won a gold medal at the Olympic Testing Event held in Athens, Greece in February. She won a gold medal at the Manitoba Open in Canada, and a bronze medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in Colorado Springs, Colo. McMann won her match during the Titan Games in Atlanta, Ga., scoring a pin. She was a silver medalist at the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas, Nev.

The 2004 U.S. Olympic Men’s Freestyle Wrestling Team won three medals during the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The Men’s freestyle team was the discipline that won the most medals for the United States in wrestling during the 2004 Olympics.

The U.S. men freestyle wrestlers placed second behind Russia in the medal count in freestyle wrestling, and was also second in the unofficial team standings.

Claiming a gold medal was Cael Sanderson (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) at 84 kg/185 lbs. Winning silver medals were Stephen Abas (Fresno, Calif./Sunkist Kids) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Jamill Kelly (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

Daniel Cormier (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) placed fourth at 96 kg/211.5 pounds. Joe Williams (Iowa City, Iowa/Hawkeye WC) was fifth at 74 kg/163 lbs. Kerry McCoy (Bethlehem, Pa./New York AC) placed seventh at 120 kg/264.5 pounds. Competing at 60 kg/132 lbs. was Eric Guerrero (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC).

Coaching the U.S. team were Kevin Jackson of Colorado Springs, Colo., Tom Brands of Blacksburg, Va., Zeke Jones of Morgantown, W.Va. and Bobby Douglas of Ames, Iowa. The team leader was Jim Ravannack of Metairie, La.

Click here for list of USOC Athletes and Teams of the Year, by sport

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Cumberland College opens season with top spot in TheMat.com U.S. Women’s College Poll, with Missouri Valley at No. 2

1/18/2005
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

The January 18, 2005 TheMat.com U.S. Women’s College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals have been released. This is the first poll of the 2004-05 season.

Cumberland College, a NAIA school in Kentucky, opened the year at No. 1 in the poll, with all three first-place votes. Cumberland , coached by Kip Flanik, has had an active fall season, highlighted by the team title at the Championship Cup of Women’s Wrestling, held at Lakehead Univ. in November, a top women’s college dual meet competition.

Missouri Valley College, a NAIA team coached by Carl Murphree, came in at No. 2 with all three second-place votes. Missouri Valley wrestles a heavy second-semester schedule, and had only limited competition so far this year.

Cumberland College and Missouri Valley College are expected to battle this weekend, as they both enter their “A” and “B” teams at NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 22-23.

Coming in at No. 3 is Pacific Univ., a Div. III team in Oregon, coached by Scott Miller. The No. 4 team is Lassen College, a junior college program in California, coached by Paul Gomez. Taking the No. 5 spot is Menlo College, a NAIA program from California, coached by Lee Allen.

Rounding out the top 10 were two teams tied at No. 6 with MacMurray College and Cal-State Bakersfield, No. 8 Princeton and two clubs tied at No. 9, the Univ of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine WC and the WOW club of Pennsylvania.

The poll can be found at:
http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=740

The team ranking poll is elected by a panel of three U.S. women’s college coaches. Eligible for ranking are college varsity and club women’s wrestling programs.

Cumberland College dominated the individual rankings, with No. 1 ranked individuals in five weight divisions.

Among Cumberland’s No. 1 athletes are 2004 Olympian Toccara Montgomery at 158.5 pounds and 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials runner-up Alaina Berube at 138.75 pounds. Montgomery is a senior and Berube is a junior.

The other No. 1 athletes from Cumberland College are sophomore Othella Lucas at 121 pounds, sophomore Suekoilya Shelly at 130 pounds and freshman Heather Martin at 147.5 pounds.

The other three No. 1 athletes come from different programs. At 105.5 pounds, sophomore Sara Fulp-Allen of Menlo College holds the top ranking. At 112.25 pounds, sophomore Kapua Torres of Pacific Univ. earned the No. 1 position. At 176 pounds, senior Satrinina Vernon of Missouri Valley College is the top-ranked athlete.

The January 18, 2005 TheMat.com U.S. Women’s College Individual rankings can be found at:
http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=739

The individual rankings are selected by TheMat.com. Athletes who are considered for ranking are eligible full-time college students, and are members of their college women’s varsity or club program, or a member of their college men’s wrestling team.