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WIAA state wrestling preview: L-C’s elite 11 seek titles

By Terry Anderson 2/23/05
tanderso@greenbaypressgazette.com

When all is said and done, this may be the most storied wrestling squad in the storied history of Luxemburg-Casco wrestling.

The Spartans, ranked No. 1 all season in both the Wisconsin Wrestling Online and Crossface polls, will send 11 wrestlers to the WIAA Division 2 individual state tournament that begins Friday morning at the Kohl Center in Madison.

That’s the most of any squad in any division this year, and more than the Spartans ever have sent in a single season. Seven of the 11 wrestlers have drawn a bye and won’t wrestle until the second round on Friday afternoon.

“I’m very pleased with the way our kids have wrestled, and they still seem hungry yet,” Spartans coach Bob Berceau said. “The draw looks pretty good, but you have to warn your kids that this isn’t a seeded tournament, so they have to be prepared from the start. A lot of good wrestlers have gone down in that first match.”

The Spartans will send a pair of wrestlers looking to repeat as state champions.

Senior Brian Barbiaux has won the title the past two years at 103 pounds and will try to claim a third championship at 112 pounds.

Fellow senior Eric Metzler, who won a title last year at 119 pounds, will seek to claim a title at 125 pounds. Metzler is one of 33 wrestlers who enter the tournament with an unblemished record. He is 34-0 this year and finished 47-0 last year.

“Brian is wrestling tough right now, and it’s going to take a darn good kid to beat him,” Berceau said. “Eric is having a heck of a year, and he has it in his head that he’s going to be unbeaten all year. They have the attitude that ‘I’m going down to state to win,’ and it feeds our younger kids.”

One of the more interesting preliminary matches could be at 103 pounds between freshman Adam Zehren and Alyssa Lampe of Tomahawk.

Last year, Lampe made history by being the first female wrestler to qualify for the state tournament. This year, she returns with an impressive 40-6 record.

“We saw her at Oshkosh last year and she’s tough,” Berceau said. “Adam is going to have to go into that match with the attitude that she’s a tough wrestler, not that she’s a girl wrestler.”

Berceau said he doesn’t put much faith in scouting other wrestlers at the state level.

“When you go into a match telling them to watch for a headlock or a high crotch, they have a tendency to be worried,” he said. “I want them to wrestle their own match.”

“When you look at a lineup, you have to say they all have a chance of taking first place,” Berceau added. “We may assume that Barbiaux and Metzler will be there, and maybe they will. But to say these kids will win and this kid doesn’t have a chance, that isn’t realistic.”

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Hanke wins title as Dayton finishes third

Published: February 22, 2005

By ALLEN MOODY
Of the News-Register

SALEM — Dayton's Chad Hanke won his first state wrestling title Saturday, defeating Glide's Garrett Manske 6-4 in the finals to win the 145-pound division. That, along with Barry Johnson's win at 140 pounds, helped propel the Pirates to a third-place finish in the team standings behind Nyssa and Culver.

"We did real well," said Dayton coach Larry Finnicum. "It was great for the kids."

Hanke was trailing Manske 4-2 late in the second round, but was able to get a reversal with 10 seconds remaining to tie the score at 4. Starting from the bottom position in the final round, Hanke's attempts to escape were constantly thwarted by Manske, but he never stopped working and was able to get another reversal with 28 seconds remaining and hang on for the win.

"That was outstanding," Finnicum said. "Chad wrestled the best match of his life. He's worked hard all year and it was good to see him win."

The Pirates had their share of disappointments, as well, including Derek Palmer injuring his knee on Friday and being forced to forfeit both matches on Saturday. Even with the forfeits, Palmer still took home a medal by placing sixth.

Another disappointment came in the form of a tough overtime loss by Jesse Marines to Culver's Miguel Baltazar in a match where Marines couldn't catch a break. Both wrestlers were able to escape from the down position to start the final two rounds, tying the score at 1 in the third round.

With time winding down, Marines was able to gain the upper hand but just missed being credited with a takedown as time ran out in the third period.

In the overtime session, the two were on the verge on being called out of the ring, but Baltazar was credited with a takedown to win the match and avenge his loss to Marines at the district meet.

"That was disappointing," Finnicum said. "The two of them have went at it four times this year and they've all been close."

Barry's younger brother, T. J. Johnson, who won the 140-pound class last year, finished fourth in an upset-filled 152-pound bracket that saw Johnson, the No. 2 seed, and the No. 1 seed, Olin West, both suffer tough losses on Friday.

"I know T. J. was a little disappointed, but he'll be back next year," Finnicum said.

Barry was quick to agree with Finnicum's assessment.

"He's still young," Barry said of his brother. "He'll come back next year and finish strong."

Summer Mercier followed in the footsteps of Bonanza's Cheryl New, who was the first female to qualify for the 2A/1A tournament in 1997, and certainly proved that she belongs with the best in the state, losing 8-2 to the No. 2 seed in the 103-pound class, Brian Toncray, and dropping a 10-5 decision to Myrtle Point's Scott Bettencourt.

"I think she surprised some people," Finnicum said. "She went two and out, but it wasn't just walk out there and get pinned. I look for her to have a chance to place next year. She's good enough."

The Amity Warriors placed two wrestlers in the tournament, Josh Brown at 119 pounds and Jeff Whitman at 160 pounds. Brown finished sixth after a pair of hard-fought losses on Saturday and Whitman took fifth after a 3-2 victory over Joseph's Lance Strickland in the fifth-place match.

Sheridan had five wrestlers at the tournament and were led by Alan Dickey's third-place finish at 135 pounds. Dickey's only loss was to eventual champion Ryan Vandercoevering, of Neah-Kah-Nie, who Dickey beat at the district tournament.

"I could have done better, but it didn't happen," Dickey said. "I had an off match and he responded better."

Even the disappointing loss couldn't put a total damper on Dickey's thoughts about competing at the state tournament.

"It's great," he said. "It's a fun experience."

Three of Dickey's teammates, Ryan Swift, Dustin Millsap and Jordon Branson, reached the second day of competition, and Dickey thought that was a good sign for the future of Spartan wrestling.

"It's cool bringing more people and building the program up," he said. "More of them want to get here and do better next year."

The Spartans' Kevin McMahon dropped his two matches Friday, but will be back for another year to make amends.

Willamina brought three wrestlers to the tournament and were paced by Denny Derum, who finished second at 171 pounds. Derum fought back from an 8-2 deficit against Clatskanie's Tyler Best in the championship match, but came up a bit short in an 8-5 decision.

"He was a better wrestler today," Willamina coach Ariah Fasana said of Best. "It was a good match."

Brody Collins finished fifth at 189 pounds in his junior season and Fasana is looking forward to good things from him in his senior season, while the Bulldogs' other wrestler at the tournament, Jared Staben, fell one match shy of placing and finished his high school career with 108 career wins and three trips to state.

"We did all right," Fasana said. "All three of the guys won a few matches. I wish they could have won them all, but that doesn't happen all the time."

Fasana said he was happy for the three that advanced to state.

"The guys that were here were the ones working hard in the practice room all season and they deserved it more than anybody else," he said.

Derum and Staben will be gone from next year's team, but the Bulldogs will return a solid group of kids and have some very promising kids that will be coming up from middle school.

"We have a lot coming back," Fasana said. "We'll have a couple of great freshman. We're looking forward to it."

The Yamhill-Carlton Tigers had four wrestlers participate in the Class 3A and saw Josh Sherbaugh finish sixth at 119 pounds.

"I was hoping for top three, but there were a lot of upsets in the tournament," Sherbaugh said. "Other than that, I think I did all right. I have to give all the credit to my coaches. They really help out a lot."

Sherbaugh, a junior, was captain of the Tigers' wrestling squad this past season in what most people thought would be a rebuilding period, but Y-C surprised everyone and won the Val-Co League dual meet title and saw Daniel Nelson, D. J. Fair and Tim Maca also advance to state. He said it was great for so many of the younger wrestlers to get the experience of a state tournament.

"It's really fun out there," he said. "It's a great experience."

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toughness' provides wrestler's upper hand

After beating up boys, girls have been a cinch for Frisco wrestler

By TODD WILLS / The Dallas Morning News 2/21/05

FRISCO – Something stood out about Vanessa Epps as she fought and
scrapped for rebounds during freshman tryouts for Frisco.

It wasn't her bleached hair or her pinpoint shooting touch.

It was her aggressiveness. Her willingness to be rough-and-tumble under
the boards. That physical want-to led Frisco's ninth-grade basketball
coaches not to put her on the basketball team, but to suggest to wrestling
coach Chuck Brown that the sport new to girls in Texas might be for Epps.

It was a very good idea.

Epps, in her second year in wrestling, is on her way to Austin, where
she will be a favorite to win the 138-pound division at the UIL State
Wrestling Championships, which begin Friday at the Austin ISD Delco Center.

Epps has momentum heading into state. She was voted the outstanding
wrestler last weekend at the Region II meet at Arlington Martin. She capped a
stellar meet in the finals when she beat her rival, Arlington's Sasha McElroy,
who handed Epps a defeat earlier this season when Epps was forced to
default because of a knee injury.

Epps was down 3-0 in the regional final with a minute to go. She
rallied to win five points.

"I've always beat up boys," Epps said. "So I know I can do it to girls.
I have a natural toughness that I can express in this sport without being
fouled out for it."

Epps got by on her toughness as a freshman, making it to regionals and
earning a spot as a state alternate. She has improved her technique
this year, going 37-2. She can still come out and overpower the opposition,
but like in the regional finals against McElroy, she can also use her
skills to win close matches.

"When you watch her wrestle, it's hard to remember she's a sophomore,"
Brown said.

Where her wrestling acumen came from is hard to tell. Her mother,
Nicole Parker, is a dancer. Epps hasn't spoken with her father in years, but
says he wasn't an athlete either. Wrestling has just worked for her.

"I wouldn't say it was hard for me; it came natural," Epps said. "Now I
have stuff I need to work on as far as technique. It's frustrating having
him [Coach Brown] on my back all the time."

Brown, who coached at Hurst L.D. Bell and DeSoto, gets on Epps because
he believes she can be the best girls wrestler ever to come out of Texas.
But don't expect Epps to follow Allison Hopper, Frisco's first female
college wrestler, to Cumberland College, the nation's top women's program.

Epps wants to follow Patricia Miranda, who won a bronze medal at the
2004 Summer Olympics, to Stanford. Epps wants to wrestle for a club team
there and study pediatrics because of her affection for children.

You get the feeling that, with how her high school wrestling career has
started, Epps is a good bet to make that happen, too.

"She has a will not to lose," Brown said. "She's always going to find a
way."

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Woody - Athlete of the Week

Athletes of the Week

Sun selections
February 23, 2005

GIRLS

Nicole Woody

Arundel, wrestling

The 103-pound freshman became the first female wrestler to place in the top
three of last weekend's Anne Arundel County tournament, an effort that also
makes her Maryland's first female to qualify for a regional tournament. If she
places in the top four of next weekend's 4A-3A East region event, Woody would
become the first Maryland female to qualify for the state tournament.

Woody blanked Annapolis' John Graham, 8-0, for third place. She also defeated
Broadneck's Josh Taber, 13-4, and Matt Tomitz of South River, 4-3. Woody lost to
Chesapeake-Anne Arundel's Vincent Scardina, 6-3, after having led 3-1.

Woody improved to 6-1 on varsity and 23-2 counting junior varsity. Last month,
Woody competed with the women's Olympic and world team members in Russia, with
an eye toward making the 2008 Olympic team.

See the Athletes of the Week Sundays at 11:50 p.m. on Replay Sun High School
Sports on ABC2, and online at www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool.

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Old Mill shakes off Chesapeake for Arundel title

Arundel's Woody is first female to make regionals; Hammond takes Howard

February 20, 2005

There was some of the same and also something new at yesterday's Anne Arundel
County wrestling tournament at Annapolis High.

With titles coming from Greg Saumenig (103), Chris Volker (152) and Adam
Chisholm (171) combined with a typical solid team performance, defending champ
Old Mill captured its 14th county crown by a 209.5 to 191 margin over runner-up
Chesapeake.

As for firsts, Arundel freshman Nicole Woody finished third in the 103-pound
weight class to automatically qualify for next weekend's Class 4A-3A East region
tournament, becoming the first female wrestler in Maryland to ever qualify for
the regional tournament.

Chisholm's 6-5 decision over Chesapeake's Jake Couch, a defending county champ,
best depicts the Patriots' continued excellence.

"The tradition at Old Mill is one of the biggest things. It keeps everyone going
year after year," said Chisholm, a senior captain who rebounded from two
regular-season losses to Couch. "We preach it to the new kids and they buy into
it and that's why we're so successful."

Woody, who replaced starter John Kotsis, opened with a major decision over
Broadneck's Josh Tabor, dropped a 6-3 decision to Chesapeake's eventual
runner-up Vincent Scardina before coming back to get a decision over South
River's Matt Tomitz and an 8-0 major decision over John Graham from Annapolis in
the consolation final.

"It's great [to qualify]," said Woody, who is now 6-1 on the season. "Next
weekend at regions is going to be a lot tougher, so I'm going to have to keep my
head into it. I really want to make it to states."