Tatiana Padilla, 14, placed in a national wrestling tournament this year and attends Northview High. (SGV Tribune/staff photo by Greg Andersen/svsports)
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Valley wrestlers shine at nationals
By John Honell , Correspondent April 04, 2005
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Tatiana Padilla, 14, placed in a national wrestling tournament this year and attends Northview High. (SGV Tribune/staff photo by Greg Andersen/svsports) |
San Gabriel Valley wrestlers brought home the gold from the USGWA national championships in Lake Orion, Mich.
Two girls won national championships and another was named to the All-America team. They were part of the California contingent that captured the state title at the event.
California scored 286 points, far ahead of runner-up Michigan's 201.
"California was just way ahead,' West Covina coach Donnie Stephens said. "We kept track and just the girls from the Southern California section would have beaten all the states.'
State champion Tatiana Padilla of Northview High School won the 114-pound high school division, defeating formerly top-ranked Caitlyn Chase of Illinois. Chase was seeded first in the division and Padilla second.
"I had the mind-set of getting the gold,' Padilla said. "I was seeded behind Caitlyn. She went to the Olympic Trials last year and finished fifth. There is no question that she's the best girl I've faced this year.'
Samantha Lopez of West Covina won the middle school championship at 108 pounds.
Amy Hoffman, a junior at Northview, was named to the USGWA All- America team at 126 pounds. Wrestlers who finished among the top eight in each weight class were named to the team. Hoffman was second at the California State Championships earlier in the year.
Padilla capped a sensational year with the national title. She won the California State Championship at 110 pounds in February. She was the 2004 national middle school champion at 100 pounds and she is the state champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, an event that includes boys, at 50 kilograms.
She also won the Mexican National Junior Championship in 2004 while representing Coahuila de Zaragoza her father's birthplace.
Padilla became the first girl in two years to win the USA Wrestling Triple Crown Award after winning the Girls State Folk Style Wrestling event in Bakersfield in early March.
The easy win over the top-ranked wrestler in the country was not the first time Padilla has turned the trick. She dominated Katherine Fulp-Allen, a two-time state champion and undefeated at 110 pounds, 16-0 in the California State Championship event.
"I am so proud of them,' Northview coach Dave Ochoa said. "Amy is only a second-year wrestler. Tatiana has been doing it since she was a little girl. They have come a long way.'
Padilla will take another step toward her ultimate goal of becoming the first American female to win an Olympic gold medal when she travels to the FILA Cadet National Championships in San Diego on Sunday and Monday.
The top three wrestlers at FILA qualify for international meets to be held in Austria, with the first-place finisher having her expenses paid.
"I would love to go to Europe,' Padilla said. "I really want to win the FILA Cadets and just keep winning to make it as far as I can because my goal is still to make it to the Olympics.'
Padilla's brother, Chris Lopez, drove to Michigan to coach her in the Nationals. Lopez, a 2001 graduate of Northview, won a state championship at 171 pounds in 2000 and was a runner-up at 189 pounds in 2001.
"Chris has accomplished so much I can't keep track of everything,' Padilla said. "He has had a chance to travel to Russia and he traveled from Missouri (Lindenwood University) to Michigan to coach me. That was the best.'
Christina Tran, a senior at South Hills, narrowly missed a top- eight finish at the National Championships. She did finish third in the California State Championships, avenging a loss to eventual 105- pound champion Jazzy Green of Santa Monica. Tran beat Green, 5-4.
Sophomore Teri Milkoff of South El Monte finished ninth at 152 pounds in the high school division, but was second in the collegiate division after losing in overtime.
Milkoff is a track and field standout for the Eagles, competing in the shot put, discus, long jump and pole vault.
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Queen of Martyrs wrestler a success -- and survivor
Copyright Dayton Newspapers Inc. Apr 14, 2005
DAYTON -- You haven't met a survivor until you've met Ashley Rickman.
But the gritty Queen of Martyrs School seventh-grade athlete comes by
it naturally. Surviving runs in the family.
Rickman, already an established girl wrestler with two state
championships under her belt, has been raised by parents who wrote the book on
survival.
Her father, David Rickman, a former Wayne High School wrestler, lost a
leg to diabetes, and her mother, Cheryl, survived two strokes.
But Ashley Rickman would have to be one of the main chapters in that
book. She's a test tube baby who was the only triplet to live when she and
her two little sisters entered the world on Oct. 10, 1991. The sisters were
stillborn.
Ashley Rickman weighed in at four pounds, two ounces at birth -- and
today she competes around the country as a healthy, scrappy and strong
150-pounder in the middle school division's heavyweight category of the U.S. Girls
Wrestling Association.
She recently claimed championships in two states -- Ohio and Kentucky
--
then wound up a respectable fourth-place finisher in the USGWA
Nationals at Lake Orion, Mich., winning seven of nine matches.
"There were at least 1,000 wrestlers from as far away as Hawaii
competing in Lake Orion," her mother said. "So we were proud of her showing. Our
family went to the nationals as a group to cheer her on."
The family, which recently relocated from Dayton to Harrison Twp.,
includes 5-year-old Belinda, who isn't keen on wrestling and oddly enough
prefers dancing. She appeared in the Nutcracker Suite at the Schuster Center.
"I tried dancing when I was younger and didn't care for it," said
Ashley, who also plays volleyball, softball, soccer and basketball. "I just
love the competition in sports, especially wrestling."
When she was in the third grade, she received permission and became the
first girl wrestler representing a Catholic school in Dayton.
And, competing as a member of the Miami Valley Kids Wrestling
Association, she isn't partial toward gender -- meaning she tackles the boys, too.
According to her mom, she's 12-8 against the boys and 9-2 against the
girls this year.
In between a bloody nose now and then on the mat, Ashley gave football
a shot when she became the first girl to play in Chaminade- Julienne's
Junior Eagle program three years ago. She played offense and defense and,
despite a few bumps and bruises, always came back for more.
"I finally gave up on football because I wanted to focus more on other
sports, mainly wrestling," the honor student said. "Besides, I also
became very active with the Girl Scouts in many projects."
She has received various honors and awards in the past year, but the
one she may prize the most is the Bronze Stars her Girl Scout Troop 401
received for a variety of community services, including comforting and assisting
cancer patients.
"My girls got the highest award a troop can receive at that age level
when they received Bronze Stars," troop leader Cheryl Rickman said. "They
chose their own projects, and Ashley wanted to work with cancer patients."
Another highlight involving the troop occurred recently when it acted
as Honor Guard at the funeral of Huber Heights native Jim Hastings -- one
of the cancer patients the girls had assisted. "They did his yard work and
had fund-raisers for him when he became ill," Cheryl Rickman said.
Ashley Rickman also dabbles in poetry and said "I like to write poems
in my spare time -- poems about everyday life -- but I'm not sure what I'll
study in college. But I like Ohio State or Michigan State, or maybe
Cumberland (Ky.)."
Asked about her normal position on the softball teams, she gave an
answer that reflected on her good Samaritan nature: "I play wherever I'm
needed."
She said her father initiated her interest in wrestling "when we used
to watch it on TV together when I was 3 or 4."
Two years ago, she was the first girl to attend the University of
Buffalo Wrestling Camp and, according to her mom, escaped with two black eyes
and a busted lip.
Miami Valley youth mat mentor Randy Carter, who has coached Rickman for
seven years, said the young athlete "deserves all the credit and honors
she has received because her work ethic and desire to help others are
second to none."
Make that also a survivor second to none.
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