nicole woody photo from baltimore sun:
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Girls Get A Grip Coed wrestling has its critics, but they aren't on the mat
03.01.2005:Time Magazine Covers CoEd Female Male Wrestling
Tuesday, March 1, 2005 at 15:32
Lori Victoria Braun in female freestyle wrestling and judo
from time.com:
By MIMI HARRISON
Monday, Mar. 07, 2005
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nicole woody photo from baltimore sun: |
Friday-night wrestling at Annapolis High. As in countless other high school gyms, there are mats on the floor, crowds in the risers and bunches of well-muscled teenagers warming up. The wrestling teams from Annapolis and Arundel high schools in Maryland are stretching, jumping, rotating their heads and shaking out their hands. Nicole Woody, 16, is the only girl on either team. It is unclear whether the 105-pounder will get a chance to wrestle this evening. She'll have to see if anyone on the Annapolis squad matches her weight. A female wrestler is still a curiosity, but Woody is no novice, having just returned from Russia, where she competed with the U.S. women's wrestling team.
CLICK FOR REST OF ARTICLE AT TIME.COM
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Gassman Makes History for Herndon
Freshman grappler becomes first girl to make state tourney.
By Greg Wyshynski
February 25, 2005
It was a conversation between spectators at last weekend's Northern Region wrestling tournament, but it could have occurred during any of Herndon freshman Firen Gassman's matches this season.
"There's a girl wrestling in this one," said a female fan, at the start of the 103-pound third-place consolation match in which Gassman — the first female district champion in the history of the region — faced Jared Takahshi of Edison.
"Wait," said her male companion. "That's a girl?"
Jon Andersen, Gassman's coach, thinks dwelling on Gassman's gender is missing what really makes his young wrestler extraordinary.
"She's 43-7 as a freshman, which in itself is a huge accomplishment," he said.
But at regionals, held at Hayfield Secondary last week, the focus was less on Gassman's record than her rewriting the record books. Her 8-4 victory against San Mencarini of Marshall in the consolation semifinals clinched a spot for Gassman in this weekend's Virginia AAA state wrestling tournament at Oscar Smith High School. According to the Virginia High School League, she is the first female wrestler to ever qualify for the state tournament.
"I've been wrestling for six years, and ever since I started wrestling, I said, 'I'm going to go to Herndon, and I'm going to go to states. Be the first girl,'" said Gassman. "So my dream is finally coming true, and it's awesome."
GASSMAN ENTERED regionals as one of the top four seeds after winning the Concorde District title the previous weekend. Her first-round match was a 25-10 technical fall dismantling of James Erickson of Herndon, with the match called at 5 minutes, 2 seconds.
"I think I was more excited [than nervous]. I won districts, I knew I would have a good seed [in the] first match. I wrestled really well," she said.
Gassman faced Robinson's Zach Stewart in the following round and defeated him 12-6. That put Gassman in Friday's 103-pound tournament semifinals against Langley's Michael Bowman, one win away from competing for a Northern Region championship.
Andersen said the match's first period set an unfortunate tone for Gassman, who lost to Bowman, 4-0, and dropped to the consolation bracket.
"We gave up a crucial two points at the end of the first period. Then we had to play catch-up, and we couldn't get our offense the way we wanted it," he said.
Langley coach John Belyea said his wrestler executed the game plan against Gassman. "She's very smooth, and she knows what she's doing," he said. "The key was that we were going to have to beat her on her feet, and then get on top. I think we wrestled a little scared there overall."
That tentative approach, Belyea said, had a lot to do with Gassman's gender.
"I think anytime you're wrestling a girl, it's tough," he said.
"But she's a very talented girl ... and I shouldn't even call her a girl. She's a very talented wrestler."
GASSMAN defeated Mencarini to set up her third-place match against Takahshi, who lost to Bowman (19-6) earlier in the tournament.
Gassman went up 5-2 in the first period, but Takahshi came back with a reversal at 1:34 of the second to cut the lead to one point. But it was all Gassman after that, and the Herndon freshman won the match, 12-4, to earn third overall in the region at 103.
"All I knew [about Takahshi] was that he was funky, top/bottom. Coach told me to let him get up right away," she said. "It's awesome. An uplifting experience. I wanted to win, by coming back for third is really great because I know I only lost once."
Gassman's first high-school season has mimicked her success in club and national tournaments. Robinson senior Brent Jones, who won the regional title at 215 pounds last Saturday, trained with Gassman as his father helped coach the rising freshman last year.
"She's one of my favorites," said Jones. "I've known her when she was real small, like a little sister to me. I have all the confidence in the world in her."
FIREN WON'T be the only Gassman at states — her brother, Kelby, lost in the regional 130-pound finals to Jonahon Romero of Hayfield, 12-4. Herndon's Ben Haynes (third place, 152 pounds), David Russell (fourth, 215) and Trey Small (second, HWT) also qualified for states.
Andersen said his deep, competitive roster has helped Firen Gassman to succeed this season.
"She's a part of a team. It's not 'Firen's a girl,'" he said. "She's our district champ, and we're looking for her to place to help the team. She wants to do stuff as a wrestler, not as a girl," said Anderson, who coached Gassman during the summer on a national wrestling squad.
"Her concern is getting to states. It's not being the first girl to get to states. Whether she can place or not, I don't know. It depends on the draw."
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Written by Peggy Fox
Created:3/8/2005 10:08:51 AM
Last Updated:3/8/2005 11:32:26 AM
Related Video |
One of these wrestlers has a certain physical advantage over the other - hips. And that's not all this girl uses to her advantage.
“I have big quads and can use them to squeeze guys.”
Fifteen-year-old Firen Gassman has been wrestling since she was 9-years-old. She gave up ballet to follow in her brothers footsteps. Then she signed up for Herndon High School's wrestling team as a freshman.
Firen is now the first female wrestler to make it to the Virginia State Championships.
“When I did a throw, the crowd went crazy.”
She's happy to be a pioneer for women in a sport, but says she gets a little embarrassed at all the attention.
“Hundreds of guys made it to states and they’re not getting any press. I know it's a great accomplishment, but I hope it's less shocking to people.”
Wresting was the first Olympic sport, but it took until 2004 for women wrestling to become an Olympic event. Firen plans to be in Bejing, China in 2008.
“I want to get a full scholarship. I want to make the team.”
Because of how hard Firen works to get what she wants, Coach Anderson says he'll be more surprised if she doesn't make the next Olympic team.
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Women's squad a surprising third at nationals
By Wray Maracle
Published: Tuesday, March 8, 2005
The Badgers' women team wrestled their way to third place in the CIS Wrestling Championship held at the Bob Davis Gymnasium this past weekend.
Brock's women watched the men's team capture their seventh straight national team title with no less than six Badger men winning gold medals.
The smaller contingent of Brock women's wrestlers finished a strong third, behind Simon Fraser (50 points) and Calgary (34 points) with a total of 32 points.
It was the Clan's third consecutive national team title.
The Brock women finished the tournament by winning gold, silver, bronze and also had two fifth place finishes.
"The women almost broke into the top two," head coach Marty Calder said. "They were only two points behind Calgary, which we thought was not even a possibility. I think they overperformed. Bill Smith and Tonya [Verbeek] have done an amazing job getting the girls prepared. We are going to lose two, but the other ones are all young. There is the good and bad, but we are certainly very positive about our future."
"Most of the [Brock] women are young, in their first or second year," Badgers' assistant coach, Saeed Azarbayjani said. "I'm pretty sure that they're going to be stronger next year."
Saturday afternoon, during the championship matches, Olympic silver medallist, Tonya Verbeek was presented with a portrait of her during an Olympic match by local artist Perry Wakulich.
"Yes, I'm extremely shocked by the presentation," a surprised Verbeek said. "I had no idea. Actually, I was just talking to the artist a few days ago and I said 'so when are you going to do a painting of me?' He had been bugging me a few years before. He had been wanting to get a good action picture of me ... he kept a good secret from me."
Verbeek is still competing and she is helping out as the Badgers' assistant coach.
"I've been helping out in their corner for the whole tournament. We've seen progress in a lot of the girls," Verbeek said.
The Badgers placed two women - Megan Dolan and Heather Sweezey - in the gold medal match, but it was Dolan being the only Brock women to win a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) title.
Dolan finished her wrestling career off at the university level with an upset victory over number one ranked, Heidi Kulak of the University of Alberta Pandas in the 65kg weight division.
"That is the best match I've seen [Dolan] wrestle, tactically," Calder said. "She was injured, she couldn't put her knee on the mat. Those are things that you just don't know about. But she wrestled a very good and tactical match. I couldn't be any more proud of her today."
"This was my first CIS title and my last one," Dolan said. "I have international championships in about a month and a half. I'm leaving in a couple of days for an international tournament."
Verbeek has been a mentor for a lot of Badgers including Dolan.
"I've been training with her for about 10 years, since I was 14, 15." Dolan said of Verbeek. "So she has always been a mentor to me and one of my best friends. It was awesome to have her in my corner to win this title. Having the championships here is awesome. The home crowd helped pump me up a little bit."
The Badgers' three time CIS champion, Heather Sweezey, went into the 57kg division final ranked number one, but was forced to settle for a silver as she was upset by the third seeded Brit Laverdure of Calgary.
"I'm really disappointed in myself," Sweezey said. "I didn't hustle like I can and I didn't wrestle to the best of my ability. Brit wrestled a fantastic match. I give her that. But I didn't wrestle to my potential."
"Sweezey didn't set the pace for the match," Verbeek said. "Maybe nerves get in the way when the pressure is high. I know that she is capable of wrestling better than that. She always gives her full heart."
Alana King captured a bronze medal in the 48kg division with a 4-1 win over Hajar Ashtiani of Regina.
Two other Badgers, Jessica Bondy (53kg) and Jocelyn Dresser (70kg) won their final match of the weekend for a fifth place finish in the respective divisions.
Bondy shut out her opponent, Carla Bryant of Memorial 13-0 in her match while Dresser defeated Jess Fitzgerald of the Western Ontario Mustangs, 11-4.
"We are building a tradition with not only the men's wrestling, but with the women's wrestling as well," Calder said. "Now they are starting to come, so we can recruit off that."
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Katy ISD trio bring home titles
Cinco Ranch's Hale joins undefeated Aston, Benavides as champs
By MIKE TENNEY 3/1/05
Chronicle Correspondent
Katy ISD had three wrestlers crowned state champions in their respective weight classes last Saturday at the 5A state boys and girls tournament at the ISD Delco Center in Austin.
Katy senior James Aston capped a dominating scholastic career by winning the 215-pound championship, giving him a third consecutive individual state championship and an incredible 103-0 record during that time.
The other two came from Cinco Ranch with senior Jim Benavides completing a 45-0 season by capturing a gold medal in the 145-pound class and fellow senior Haley Hale making history by becoming the first girl state champion in school history with her 119-lb. class title.
"There were only two undefeated boys this year in the entire state and Jim was one of them," said Cinco Ranch head coach Bill Dushane. "James Aston was the other. I think that says a lot about the level of wrestlers we've got in our programs around here."
Aston, whose next matches will be later this month at the nationals in Cleveland, OH, before he embarks on his college career, was pleased at the final results, but not totally thrilled with his performance.
"I'm glad I was able to end it with a win and complete the streak without losing, but I didn't think I wrestled real well in my final match," he said. "I don't know why but my head wasn't into it. It shouldn't have been as close as it was."
Aston defeated Tom Fortner of Klein Oak, 8-5 in the finals and was greeted by well-wishers and teammates as he exited the mat victorious.
Benavides was a 4-1 victor over Juan Alvarez of Hereford in the 145 finals, winning three matches en route to his championship.
"I was really proud of Jim," said Dushane. "He worked hard and he had some tough matches along the way, but he stayed focused and kept working and I was really happy for him."
Hale swept through four matches in two days, knocking off Jenny Franco of Hanks, 7-3, in the 119 girls finals. Dushane said she was on top of her game mentally.
"The best thing about Haley was she wrestled smart," said Dushane. "She was always aware of the situation. She knew the score. She knew the time. She knew what her next move needed to be. She was just aware of every situation and I think that was the difference for her. She just wrestled so smart."
Katy girls Ashley Weber in the 165; Kacee Ravenburg in the 185 and Kiki Williams in the 215 were all third place finishers, winning their last matches by pinning their opponents.
Weber beat Jamie White of Pflugerville in 28 seconds to win the 165 while Kacee Ravenburg needed 1:39 to beat Tiffany McFarland of Adamson in the 185 and Kiki Williams used 4:28 on the clock to whip Jessica Williams of Arlington Bowie.
"The girls all did a great job," said Aston. "It was nice to have so many teammates go with me. I went to the state tournament two years as the only person from my school, so it was nice to have someone to drill with and talk to and cheer for. I thought the girls did a great job."
As a team, Katy finished fifth in the 40-team girls standings with 64 points.
Mayde Creek senior Tommy Perez in the 119 and Cinco Ranch senior Andrew Vasquez in the 152 each placed fourth.
Perez lost his third place match to Sean Kitchen of Plano East in a heartbreaker, 7-6, and Vasquez fell by that same score to Ryan Aug of Austin Westlake.
"Andrew did a great job, considering he lost his first match on Friday," said Dushane. "To lose his first match and come all the way back to get to the finals, that's pretty difficult to do. He had to wrestle perfect after the early loss and he did. We had all our other guys, who lost early and never recovered from it, but Andrew did."
He was referring to sophomore Jamie Sheets in the 125; CAS Roman in the 160; and Josh Ruland in the 171, each of whom were eliminated in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Katy senior Alex Slack in the 180 and Mayde Creek senior Sara Cevallos in the 119 won their fifth place matches.
Slack pinned Cody Kenner of Vernon in 3:49 while Cevallos, who was second at state last year, defeated Katy Brackin of Austin LBJ, 9-5.
Taylor's Lara Hamilton in the 110, who was undefeated at 44-0 coming into the tournament, and Madeline Jones in the 215 each were sixth to complete the scoring for their team.
Hamilton, who lost twice in Austin, was pinned by Bethany Pina of El Paso in 1:46 and Valerie Ward of Sam Houston High pinned Jones in 31 seconds.
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From homecoming queen to college wrestling team
By Jane Havsy 3/3/05
Daily Record
The first time Lorraine Infante asked to try out for the Morris Hills
wrestling team, she was told to stick to cheerleading.
For a girl who would go on to become chosen Homecoming queen as a
senior, it was the wrong answer.
Infante knew she wasn't welcome, but that didn't stop her from coming
back the following year and earning a place on the Scarlet Knights junior
varsity. She had never wrestled before, but learned quickly. Infante
went on to represent Morris Hills for two years, winning an all-girls
tournament in Brookline, Mass. She beat two Iron Hills Conference boys in 135-pound
JV matches during her junior year, as well as girls from Newton and
Kinnelon.
"At first they were awkward towards me,"Infante said. "They didn't know
what to touch. As soon as I was on the team, they accepted me all the way."
Then-JV coach Scott Rosenberg, who had also coached Infante in soccer,
wound up as her workout partner much of the time. With natural aggression
honed on the soccer field and agility picked up through cheerleading, Infante
was good on her feet. She was stronger than most of her female opponents,
but had trouble against more physical boys.
As a senior, Infante won an in-house wrestle-off and earned a handful
of opportunities on the varsity mat.
When Infante went on to Montclair State, she asked Rosenberg whether
she should try out for the wrestling team there.
"I said she was nuts," recalled Rosenberg, now the Kinnelon athletic
director.
"I thought she was nuts to come out for us too. ... She wrestled with
the smelliest guys, the toughest guys. Most people, if they were going to
quit, that would do it. She stuck with it."
Rosenberg always encouraged Infante, and promised to attend one of her
matches, even though he had to drive to York, Pa., to do it.
Infante pinned Jen Rosenblum of Hunter in 42 seconds in an exhibition
match
on Dec. 13, 2003. She also entered a New York Athletic Club tournament
during her sophomore year, and despite wrestling freestyle for the
first
time, finished first in her division.
"The guys on the team have always accepted her," Red Hawks coach Joe
Sabol
said. "They look to her almost as a sister. ... Lorraine has gotten
that
respect because of her work ethic and dedication to the sport."
Infante attended the first USGWA New Jersey championship as a volunteer
coach for young female wrestlers. More than 120 wrestlers are expected
to participate in the second annual state tournament at Hackettstown on
Sunday, traveling from as far as Maine and Washington D.C.
Infante is also co-captain of Montclair State's competitive
cheerleading squad. So she did listen to the advice she received back at Morris
Hills, sort of.
"I was trying to defeat the idea that a girl can't (wrestle)," said
Infante, who will graduate in May with a degree in business administration and
hopes to be an apparel buyer. "I liked defying that. A girl can do this."
Jane Havsy can be reached at (973) 428-6682 or jhavsy@gannett.com.
Local participants in New Jersey girls wrestling championships
Elementary School Division
Jade Allen, Newton
Ashley Iliff, Newton
Rein Tranfield, Morristown
High School Division
Kristen Musciano, Boonton Twp.
Shannon Carter, Pope John
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Iliff, 11, wins gold again in girls wrestling
By Jordan Rubenstein 3/6/05
special to the daily record
HACKETTSTOWN --Ask Ashley Iliff about her wrestling accomplishments and
a smile begins to shine on the 11-year-old's face. Then again, when you
are the best at your craft, you deserve to glow with pride when discussing
your credentials.
The Newton resident swept all three of her matches in the Elementary
School Division's third weight class at the United States Girls'Wrestling
Association's 2nd Annual New Jersey All-Girl Wrestling Tournament at
Hackettstown High School on Sunday. The feat earned her yet another
gold medal.
Last year, she took home the gold at the same event and followed up
that outstanding performance with a top finish in the 56-pound weight class
at the 7th Annual USGWA National Championships in Lake Orion, Mich.
However, constantly finding herself in first place is not what the
fifth-grader enjoys most about the sport she has been working hard at
for four years now.
"I just like getting out on the mat and competing," Iliff said. "It's
so much fun for me and I really enjoy everything about it. I practice
really hard to get better everyday."
Iliff was not the only combatant at the tournament who proved she had
been working hard and giving it her all.
More than 110 girls from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Maine, Massachusetts and Delaware put on quite a show.
Each girl competed in anywhere from three to five matches and they all
seemed to revel in the opportunity. Victoria Galardo even used her day
off from the United States Military Academy to take part in the tournament.
And that is just the kind of interest the head of the USGWA wants to
create.
"My brother started the organization so the girls could compete against
each other. Normally, female wrestlers have to compete against the males,"
Sam Bailo, who drove from Novi, Mich., to manage the tournament, said.
"This kind of excitement is what we were hoping for from the beginning.
"It's obvious that there are more girls than ever who wrestle because
the tournaments across the nation are getting bigger every year. This one
here in New Jersey, though, is the biggest one of the season."
The round-robin tournament was broken down into brackets based on age
and then by weight. The three different age groups were elementary school,
middle school and high school. Some college students even competed in
the high school division.
Bailo noted that the weight classes are not decided upon ahead of time
because he has to find out how many entrants there are before splitting
them up. That is why he cannot use a preset formula and does not categorize
the wrestlers by actual pounds.
Although the grapplers have become accustomed to facing off against the
bigger, heavier boys, the all-girl tournament was a much enjoyed change
of pace.
"I prefer to wrestle the girls because I do better and I have a better
chance to win," said Shannon Carter, who won gold in the high school
division's fifth weight class and wrestles at 119 pounds at Pope John
High School. "The girls are a lot better than I expected, so it's really
good practice for when I have to face off against the boys again."
The event is one Nadia Musanovic uses as a way to determine just how
good she really is. She also hopes to continue on for many years because she
believes there is a place for girls in wrestling and that they should
be at the forefront of the age-old sport.
"This is only my second year wrestling and I love it," said Musanovic,
a sophomore who wrestles in the 119-pound weight class for Mount Olive
High School. "The guys are definitely stronger than the girls, so it's good
to get some work in against other people with my capabilities. Don't get
me wrong, there are some very good wrestlers at this tournament, which is
why I like it. It allows me to see what I have to do in order to become an
elite wrestler.
"I'm very appreciative, and I think the other girls are also, that we
have the opportunity to go at it with one another in this type of setting.
It's a chance we never really get, so I hope I can come back to this
tournament and compete for years to come."
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Wellington wrestler driven to win
www.wgtndailynews.com 3/7/05
The Blue Knights added an extra wrestler to their roster at mid-season and with that addition, came notoriety.
Seventh grader Kiersten Howell became the first female wrestler at Wellington Middle School in recent memory.
She competed in the 85-pound weight class and earned a record of 5-6 on the season.
Howell says her dad and brothers were also into wrestling. She grew up with them wrestling around the house and felt it was something she'd like to do.
She wrestled in juniors when she was 7 years old then began in the middle of this season at WMS.
She says there isn't one thing in particular she likes more than another but "it's more fun when you win."
"My dad likes it a lot," she said. "He likes it when I win because he likes to see the look on the boys' faces when I beat them."
She said her mom wasn't too sure about it at first but once she started, her mom started liking it more. She said her younger sister would also like to wrestle.
She plans on continuing through the remainder of middle school. She said she's not sure about continuing to wrestle in high school.
Blue Knight wrestling coach John McComb is in his second year coaching middle school and said he feels Howell is at an advantage in this age group because girls tend to be more mature then the boys they are wrestling against.
"They're more focused and easier to coach," he said.
He said the only disadvantage he can think of is experience at this level. He says he can tell with each match that she's getting more confident.
"She's tough," said McComb, along with being very athletic and physical.
He says he wrestled with her dad so he knows where she gets her toughness from.
"She kind of breaks that barrier between being a girl and being a boy. She believes she can do both and she's going to show everyone she can do both," he said.