Elizabeth Yori
News Page
2005 USA Wrestling - Kansas
All-Kansas Girls High School Wrestling Team Announced
March 15, 2005
Media Contact: Jeff Mercer
(785) 331-3736
The state's best girls high school wrestlers are being honored by USA Wrestling-Kansas with the announcement of the first annual All-Kansas Girls High School Wrestling Team. USA Wrestling - Kansas is the governing body for all USA Wrestling sanctioned wrestling clubs, tournaments, and camps in Kansas.
The All-Kansas Girls Wrestling Team is the only Kansas all-star team for which female high school wrestlers competing on all four grade levels are eligible. Athletes from across the state were considered for their achievements in high school wrestling, as well as freestyle and folkstyle competitions. There are currently over 230 girls with USA Wrestling memberships in Kansas and roughly 50 girls compete on Kansas high school teams each year. As is the case in most girls high school wrestling programs, competition in Kansas is most intense at the light-middle weight classes.
"We’re proud to be a sponsor of the All-Kansas Girls Wrestling Team," said Mike Juby, Executive Director of USA Wrestling-Kansas. "We see this sport having a huge potential for growth, and look forward to the day when many high schools and colleges across the country offer wrestling programs for the female athlete. These might be our future Olympians in women's wrestling and we are proud to recognize their achievements."
Stand-outs on the First Team were Kate Hicks of Hope, the only girl to qualify to compete at the recent KSHSAA Wrestling Tournament, and three nationally ranked girls who compete primarily against other girls in amateur club wrestling programs. National rankings published by the United States Girls Wrestling Association includes senior Jenny Schridde of Great Bend (110 lbs.) 6th in the nation, freshman Beth Johnson of Garden City (118 lbs.) 3rd in the nation, and senior Krisha Childres of Goodard (126 lbs.) 3rd in the nation.
The All-Kansas Girls High School Wrestling Team is selected by a statewide panel of wrestling experts. Ed Edison, director for the USA Wrestling women’s wrestling program in Kansas chaired the selection committee. "We feel it is time to acknowledge the efforts of these women’s wrestlers. They accept the challenge to compete in one of the most demanding contact sports possible. Instead of just tolerating their existence in a male dominated sport, we need to celebrate their spirit and determination and acknowledge their accomplishments."
In addition to serving as director for the women’s wrestling program, Ed Edison serves as head coach for the Kansas Krusaders, the official girls wrestling program of USA Wrestling - Kansas. The Kansas Krusaders is the name given to Kansas entries at major regional and national tournaments. These girls generally wrestle with local clubs and on school teams within the state then come together to represent Kansas at major folkstyle and freestyle wrestling competitions.
A total of twenty-one high school girls from eleven different weight classes were selected for All-Kansas honors. These included six seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and six freshmen.
2005 All-Kansas Girls High School Wrestling Team
Weight Wrestler / School-Club / Yr in School
95 lbs. 1st Team - Hannah Geer / Silver Lake / Freshman
102 lbs. 1st Team - Danette O’Hara / Columbus / Freshman
2nd Team - Regina Ward / Lakin / Freshman
110 lbs. 1st Team - Kate Hicks / Hope /Junior
2nd Team - Jenny Schridde / Great Bend / Senior
3rd Team - Chelsea Arnold / Marion HS / Senior
119 lbs. 1st Team - Beth Johnson / Garden City YMCA / Freshman
2nd Team - Emma Mercer / Lawrence High / Sophomore
3rd Team - Jill Wingate /Richmond-Central Heights/Junior
128 lbs. 1st Team - Krisha Childres / Goddard / Senior
2nd Team - Tina Karol / Derby High / Sophomore
3rd Team - Chandra Engel / McPherson High / Freshman
138 lbs. 1st Team - Rachel Lopez / Paola High / Sophomore
2nd Team - Britnay Seitz / Olathe North HS / Sophomore
148 lbs. 1st Team - Tiffany Ince / Onaga High / Junior
2nd Team - Cherasa Leak / Washburn Rural HS / Sophomore
160 lbs. 1st Team - Sara Hilliard / Free State High / Senior
2nd Team - Kailen Scott / Wellington High / Freshman
175 lbs. 1st Team - Libby Bowser / Holton / Junior
195 lbs. 1st Team - Colette Curtis / Gardner-Edgerton High / Senior
220 lbs. 1st Team - Tiffany Hanson / Mulvane / Senior
Notes about rankings:
Rankings are always open to debate. Without a state-wide girls wrestling program featuring head-to-head competitions to determine state champions by weight class, the selection did their best to compare records, compare results against common opponents, and consider first hand accounts of scouting reports from coaches and tournament directors. Making the challenge even more difficult is the fact that some girls choose to only wrestle either freestyle or folkstyle and the fact that some girls choose to compete only against girls while others continue to compete predominantly against boys. Selection committee members tried their best to take all factors into consideration when making these selections. As is the case in most high school girls programs, the number of participants is greatest in the light-middle weight classes. The selection committee, while challenged to select three wrestlers per weight class, decided to select fewer wrestlers to honor in specific weight classes when, in their judgment, the skill levels of wrestlers did not meet All-Kansas Team standards.
Follow-up questions may be directed to:
Ed Edison, Kansas Krusaders
(316) 721-5122 http://eteamz.active.com/ksgirlswrestling/
Mike Juby, USA Wrestling-Kansas
(620) 663-1312 http://www.usawks.com/
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Breaking the mold on the wrestling mat
by Michael Brown 3/15/05
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Elizabeth Yori |
THORNDIKE - Mt. View's junior high wrestling coach Elizabeth Yori is used to being the only woman in a sport dominated by men.
As a high schooler back in 1996, Yori was one of only a handful of female wrestlers who competed in the state of Maine. Today, the Brooks native is back in a familiar position, as possibly one of the only female wrestling coach in the state.
"There aren't any other female coaches that I can think of," she said.
Yori has coached the junior high Mustangs for three seasons in the Pine Tree Wrestling League. Her passion for the sport stems from her high school career, when she competed for the Mustangs and helped break the gender barrier in high school wrestling.
"It was very, very uncommon to have a girl on the wrestling team," said Yori. "It has come a long way today. There is that girl from Marshwood who did really well at states and there were some other girls that also did very well this season."
Yori got her start on the mat once a rules change was made.
"When the Maine Principals' Association made it legal for a girl to participate in high school wrestling, I really want to join," she said. "I fouled out of too many basketball games."
Although girls were able to compete in wrestling meets prior to Yori's arrival, several stipulations in the rulebook existed that prevented girls from competing on equal ground.
"If the other team didn't want their kids to compete against a girl, the girl had to forfeit," she said.
Yori no longer feels like the only female in the sport, nor does she feel at a disadvantage. Instead, she views herself as a coach, first and foremost.
"I don't even really think about it," said Yori. "I mean, I grew up on a dairy farm, so I have always done things that are typically a-female. In high school, I think it was sort of a novelty. People would say, 'Oh, isn't that nice.' But now, coaches come up and shake my hand and tell me they remember me from high school, so there isn't any discrimination or anything like that. There has been a lot of support, especially from areas like Belfast and Camden."
Yori has focused her efforts towards building on the successful wrestling program already in place at Mt. View. She often works with Hamilton Richards, the varsity head coach, and coordinates points of emphasis for the young grapplers.
"The program has come a long way," said Yori. "My first year, I worked as sort of a special assistant and learned a lot about the program. Basically what I am trying to do now is trying to get them to focus less on the big power moves and more towards total body control and hip coverage. These are great kids and they are always willing to learn new things and also what I have been teaching them. So, we have great program going here."
Yori has quite a background in the sport of wrestling, which certainly makes her more than qualified for her position. In addition to her high school career, her younger brother Thom was one of the Mustangs' most talented wrestlers this past season. The two also have a younger brother who plans to follow in their footsteps. It should therefore come as no surprise that Yori has learned a few tricks over years, tricks she is now passing on to a new generation of eager grapplers.
"What I teach the kids is basically what I remember from high school and what I've seen my brother do in his competitions," she said. "I've always been a big fan of Mt. View wrestling. I didn't miss very meets, so I got to see my brother wrestle a lot, even when I was in college."
In addition to coaching, Yori works in the Mt. View Junior High library as an Ed-Tech.
The Pine Tree Wrestling League wraps up its regular season Wednesday. A regional championship will be held Saturday, March 19 in Wiscasset, followed by the state meet Saturday, March 26.
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Girls step up
Gender increasingly doesn't matter on the mat
By Jeremiah Johnke
spt3@wyomingnews.com 3/15/05
Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - Selina Garcia stalked the mat. She went right and then left, looking her opponent squarely in the eyes.
She wildly fought her opponent's arms, trying to find a window that would allow her to shoot and score a takedown.
Garcia, 7, is one of four girls in the Cheyenne Wrestling Club. They are part of a slowly changing climate in which females are accepted as wrestlers more each year.
"When I was a kid growing up, there weren't such a thing as girl wrestlers," wrestling club coach Charlie Farris said. "Only in the last 20 years have girls started participating in it.
"Within in the last few years since they've had wrestling in the Olympics, there have been a lot more girls participating."
In the mid-1990s one could use a few fingers to count the number of girls taking part in USA Wrestling's spring youth circuit in Wyoming, Farris said. It has increased to more than 30.
"It enough for the girls to have their own little tournament," Farris added.
The Wyoming Amateur Wrestling Association sponsors a girls championship in addition to its co-ed championship.
Like all of the girls in the Cheyenne Wrestling Club, most females start wrestling because it's part of a family tradition. Rather than being dragged along from tourney to tourney from March to Mother's Day weekend and being bored beyond belief, they pull on singlets and compete.
"I started wrestling because my brothers did, and it looked like fun," said Alisa Best, 16.
Added 11-year-old Angel Garcia, Selina's sister: "Our uncle Mike (Martinez) got us into it because he thought we'd have fun. He told us about all of the different moves you could do and the different styles of wrestling, and it sounded like a lot of fun."
Best and Selina Garcia have won girls titles in their respective age groups. Angel Garcia was a runner-up last season.
Representatives from Team Braves in Cheyenne couldn't be reached for comment. Shylo Myers, Cheyenne Wrestling Club's other female, wasn't at practice last Wednesday.
Best, who has been wrestling for eight years, said the Garcias will see success against their male counterparts now, but it will get harder as they get older.
"It has gotten a lot tougher because (boys) have more upper body strength, and I have to try to overcome that using skill and technique," she said. "A lot of times guys think they can't wrestle you because you're a girl. That's never mattered to me.
"My opinion is once you step on the mat, you're not a girl, you're a wrestler."
Part of the credit for the rise in the number of girls wrestling comes from social acceptance, the females say.
"My friends all say it's really cool and they wish they could do it," Selina Garcia said.
Farris said those changes should continue to bring more girls to the mat.
"It's definitely growing, but it takes time," he said. "It's just like in the fashion industry. The East Coast gets it, then the West Coast gets it, then the Midwest and then finally it hits us. And it's almost out of date and old news by that time."
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Downing second in voting for USOC Female Athlete of the Month for February
3/14/2005
USOC Media Services/
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After winning two international tournaments during the month, wrestler Katie Downing (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) placed second in the voting for the U.S. Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Month for February.
Downing won two major international tournaments in February, claiming a gold medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in Colorado Springs, as well as a gold medal at the Gilbert Schaub Open in Tourcoing, France at 67 kg/147.5 lbs.
At the Dave Schultz Memorial, Downing opened with a 1-0, 2-0 victory over Teresa Mendez of Spain. In the semifinals, she pinned Ashley McManus of Canada in 29 seconds. In the gold-medal finals, she stopped U.S. wrestler Heather Martin, 4-1, 1-1, for the title. Downing rolled through her three opponents at the Gilbert Schaub Open, not allowing a point before defeating Benita Zarzecka of Poland, 3-1, 7-2, in the gold-medal bout.
The winners of the USOC Athlete of the Month Awards were skeleton athlete Noelle Pikus-Pace for women and skier Jeremy Bloom for men. The USOC Team of the Month honor was awarded to the U.S. American Cup Gymnastics Team.
Pikus-Pace (Orem, Utah) capped an unforgettable season with a bronze medal at the final World Cup race of the year, clinching the World Cup overall title. She's the first American woman ever to earn that accolade. Pikus-Pace ended the skeleton season with a silver medal at the World Championships in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Bloom (Loveland, Colo.) reached the podium in all five events he participated in during February, extending his podium streak to seven. He captured the gold Feb. 5 as U.S. skiers took four of the top six places in a freestyle World Cup at Inawashiro, Japan. He won his fourth straight World Cup event as he defeated teammate Travis Cabral in a dual moguls competition Feb. 6 in Inawashiro. He earned his fifth consecutive win with his moguls victory in Naeba, Japan Feb. 11. Bloom tied a record with his sixth consecutive moguls win Feb. 18 in Sauze d'Oulx, Italy - on the moguls course of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. His winning streak came to an end Feb. 26 in Voss, Norway, where he finished second.
Competing in the first-ever gymnastics World Cup event on U.S. soil, the young American squad led all nations with nine medals, including a meet-best four gold, at the 2005 American Cup. Alicia Sacramone (Winchester, Mass.) and Chellsie Memmel (West Allis, Wis.) earned gold on vault and uneven bars, respectively, Nastia Liukin (Plano, Texas) tied for gold on the balance beam, and Alexander Artemev (Lakewood, Colo.) won gold on the pommel horse to lead the U.S. effort against a field that included more than 20 Olympic and World champions among the 80-person field.
Speedskater Hyo-Jung Kim (Colorado Springs, Colo.) placed third in the women's vote. The 16-year-old Kim earned the overall title at the U.S. National Short Track Championships, Feb. 24-27 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Second place for the men's ballot went to short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, Wash.). Ohno concluded the 2004-2005 World Cup Series as the overall winner. After six grueling events, he finished with an impressive score of 200 points. At the U.S. National Short Track Championships, Ohno won his seventh national title, winning every race in every distance.
Long track speedskater Shani Davis (Chicago, Ill.) finished third in the vote. Davis won the overall title at the World Allround Championships, Feb. 9-11 in Moscow, Russia, grabbing a gold in the 1500m and a silver medal in the 500m along the way.
The U.S. Women's Bobsled Team took second place in the team vote. The duo of Jean Racine (Waterford, Mich.) and Vonetta Flowers (Birmingham, Ala.) claimed the bronze at the final World Cup race of the year in Lake Placid, N.Y. Jill Bakken (Park City, Utah) and Bethany Hart (North Grafton, Mass.) finished fifth, Shauna Rohbock (Orem, Utah) and Valerie Fleming (Foster City, Calif.) placed sixth, and Sara Sprung (Leadville, Colo.) and Amanda Moreley (Auburn, Wash.) were eighth at the event. At the World Championships in Calgary, the team of Rohbock and Fleming broke the start and track records on their way to winning the bronze. Racine and Flowers finished fifth and the team of Bakken and Moreley tied for sixth.
Finishing in third on the ballot were figure skaters Tanith Belbin (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) and Ben Agosto (Chicago, Ill.). Belbin and Agosto won the ice dancing competition at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. They skated to a personal best final score of 219.29, more than 35 points better than the second-place team, on their way to their second consecutive Four Continents victory.
USOC Athlete of the Month Results for February 2005
(first-place votes in parentheses)
WOMEN
1. Noelle Pikus-Pace, skeleton 31 pts. (8 first place votes)
2. Katie Downing, wrestling 26 (4)
3. Hyo-Jung Kim, short track speedskating 22 (4)
Also receiving first place votes: Julia Mancuso (Skiing) and Cassie Johnson (Curling)
MEN
1. Jeremy Bloom, skiing 34 (7)
2. Apolo Anton Ohno, short track speedskating 25 (3)
3. Shani Davis, long track speedskating 17 (2)
Also receiving first place votes: Jack Skille (Ice Hockey), Patrick Harris (Field Hockey), Eric Bernotas (Skeleton) and Pete Fenson (Curling)
TEAM
1. U.S. American Cup Gymnastics Team 35 (8)
2. U.S. Women's Bobsled Team 28 (5)
3. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, Figure Skating 27 (3)
Also receiving first place votes: Cassie Johnson rink (Curling)
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Copeland wins third consecutive state girls wrestling championship
BY STAFF REPORTS 3/15/05
Toni Copeland is on her way to the United States Girls Wrestling Association National Championships this weekend.
And she'll be going in with some momentum.
For the third straight year, Copeland emerged victorious at the USGWA New York State Championships, held Sunday in Solvay.
The Oxford junior won the high school division title in the 163-173-pound weight class, pinning both her opponents in the three-wrestler weight class.
She pinned Marina Shafir of Shaker High School in 1:49 and also pinned Kylene Multer of Penn Yan in 3:32.
Despite the pins, Copeland felt winning the title was a little bit tougher than last year, when she won the 152-pound title at Oxford.
"I had to wrestle this one girl (Shafir) who did judo, and all she knew was the headlock," Copeland said. "That was a tough match, I had to make sure I didn't get thrown, and you really didn't know what to do, whether to shoot or wait for (her) to do something."
Nevertheless, Copeland was impressive in winning the title, and now she'll shoot for a national title this Saturday and Sunday in Lake Orion, Mich.
Last year, Copeland finished second in the 165 weight class at the USGWA Nationals, losing to Juanita Russell of Galway by fall in 1:12 in the finals.
This year, Russell will move up to heavyweight (over 165 pounds), possibly clearing the way for Copeland to win the title.
"I feel I'm the strongest person in my weight class," Copeland said. "Everybody else is juggling around, either going down or moving up."
Copeland was the lone local winner in the high school division at Sunday's New York State tournament, though Billie Jean Dill of Otego and Ashley Lohan of Oxford each placed third.
Dill, a former champion who will be joining Copeland at the Nationals this weekend, placed third in the 104-106.8 weight class, and Lohan placed third in the 129-131 weight class. Both went 1-2.
Shawna Hurlbert of Marathon won in the middle school 119-126 weight class. Hurlbert went 3-0, pinning each of her three opponents.
USGWA NY GIRLS CHAMP.
Top local finishers from Sunday's tournament in Solvay.
HIGH SCHOOL
104-106.8 pounds-- 3, Billie Jean Dill (Otego).
129-131-- 3, Ashley Lohan (Oxford).
163-173-- 1, Toni Copeland (Oxford).
MIDDLE SCHOOL
84-90-- 2, Kateri Sibley (Windsor); 4, Alexis Welch (Windsor).
103-108-- 3, Karalin Frederick (Windsor); 4, Natasha Breen (Walton).
119-126-- 1, Shawna Hurlbert (Marathon).