Sara Fulp-Allen gets a warm embrace from her mom Joan upon returning to the Bay Area Saturday.
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Preps: Olson taking wrestling to higher level
By CRAIG REMSBURG, Senior Sports Writer 7/14/05
ISHPEMING - Senior Shasta Olson of Ishpeming High School will be able to hone her wrestling skills on a higher level later this month.
Olson has been selected to compete with Team Michigan at the USA Junior National Wrestling Tournament in Fargo, N.D. beginning July 27.
She will leave for downstate Lake Orion Saturday for three days of practice before heading to Fargo with the Michigan delegation.
"This is a chance for me to earn a college (wrestling) scholarship by placing at this tournament," Olson, 17, said. "I've been training with the women's wrestling team at the U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette."
The 119-pounder said she has been wrestling on the prep level for three years, but has been primarily competing against junior varsity boys as she has been unable to crack the Ishpeming-Westwood starting lineup.
"It will be a good experience - a good test for her - at the nationals," USOEC women's freestyle wrestling coach Shannon Gillespie said Wednesday. "It will open her eyes.
"There haven't been a lot of opportunities for her to challenge other female wrestlers. Even if they're good, it's hard for girls to get adequate training or competition against boys. Boys are stronger."
Gillespie said Olson, who has been to 20-30 practices with the USOEC squad, has potential.
"She's pretty green, but in time, can develop into a good wrestler," he said. "She has a good work ethic, but it's hard to compare high school wrestlers with Olympic-caliber athletes."
Said Olson: "Shannon is an awesome coach. Without his help, I wouldn't be able to do this. He believes in me and has given me a chance (to practice at the USOEC)."
Olson, who said she landed a spot with Team Michigan with the help of a USOEC wrestler, also runs track at IHS and is a Hematite cheerleader.
She said she began wrestling in the seventh grade because "the boys were too big for me to play football. So I decided to try a different sport."
Anyone wishing to help with Olson's traveling expenses to the nationals can contact her at 145 New York St., Ishpeming, MI, 49849 (486-4117).
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Wrestler Wilborn finds her welcome mat
By Karen Pearlman
UNION-TRIBUNE
July 15, 2005
She wasn't flipping for gymnastics. She didn't dig volleyball. She was guarded about basketball.
San Carlos resident Katrina Wilborn has tried a variety of sports in a quest to find one that fits her best.
Football was fine for a while. She played flag and tackle, including two years at Helix High. The 5-foot-6, 144-pounder said she's undecided about suiting up for the Highlanders this fall.
Entering her junior year with a 4.06 grade-point average, Wilborn still plans to compete in the long jump and triple jump for the Helix track team.
Wilborn's favorite place to compete is the wrestling mat, where this weekend she will be among more than 7,000 athletes participating in the California State Games. Spread across venues throughout the county, the Cal State Games is the largest amateur sports festival in California, a grass-roots program of the U.S. Olympic Committee now in its 17th year.
"I think some of the top wrestlers from Los Angeles will be coming down and one of them is pretty good," Wilborn said. "I'm pretty nervous, but I'm pretty sure I can beat her."
Before wrestling tomorrow at Coronado High, Wilborn will serve as a torch runner at the opening ceremonies tonight at 7 at Qualcomm Stadium.
"We're really proud of her," said Wilborn's mother, Karen Mylerberg, who will be cheering with husband Peter and Katrina's younger sister, Stephanie. "Katrina kind of stumbled into wrestling. Now she wants to wrestle in college and is thinking about the Olympics."
Later this month, Wilborn is to compete in the Asics Tiger Junior National Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Fargo, N.D.
Despite suffering a dislocated right elbow in January, Wilborn has had a stellar year, including a second-place finish for her club team in the Junior Girls Division at a California USA Wrestling tournament in April.
Wilborn also earned All-America status with an eighth-place finish at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association National Championships in March at Lake Orion, Mich. She was runner-up at the Body Bar Women's Nationals, FILA Cadet Division in April in San Diego and in June was selected to go to Austria to compete against some of Europe's top female wrestlers.
"Some people thought we were crazy to let her play football and wrestle, but I truly believe kids need to experience as many things as they can and do what they need to do to make themselves happy," Karen Mylerberg said. "She's training hard this summer and hasn't had a lot of time to be with her friends, but she told me, 'Mom, I'm OK with it because I like wrestling so much.' "
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Vagle coaches all-star wrestlers at Dream Team Classic
By Michael Jacobson 7/13/05
In April, Virg Vagle - who led the Bulldogs to 17 state tournaments and four state titles in 38 years of wrestling coaching before retiring - coached the U.S. Team at the Dream Team Classic in Texas.
The ninth annual Dream Team Classic pits a team of the best high school wrestlers in the country against a team from the host state. Vagle, as second-winningest retired wrestling coach in the country, was asked in January to coach this year's U.S. Team.
Vagle and his wife Pat, who accompanied him on the trip from April 7-10, stayed with the team in Arlington, a suburb between Dallas and Ft. Worth. In addition to coaching, Vagle chaperoned the team during its four-day stay in Texas. They toured Ameriquest Field, where the Texas Rangers play baseball in Arlington; visited Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated; and the stockyards in Ft. Worth, a National Historic District that had 120 acres of pens in its heydey.
Former Paynesville wrestling coach Virg Vagle posed for a picture with Cael Sanderson, the Olympic gold medal winner and four-time NCAA champ who finished his collegiate wrestling career undefeated. Vagle coached Sanderson's brother at the Dream Team Classic in April.
The entire event was "super organized," said Vagle, who only had to coach one practice - mostly to help his team members to make weight - and the match on Saturday, April 9, at South Grand Prairie High School.
Texas actually was chosen as this year's host of the Dream Team Classic because of its strong girls' wrestling program. Its male team was not much of a match for the elite wrestlers on the U.S. Team.
Vagle said it was sort of like having a team of the best Bulldogs wrestlers over the past 40 years, starting with the nine state champions Paynesville has produced. Of the 15 wrestlers on the U.S. Team - using the same weight classes as the Minnesota State High School League with the addition of an 180-pound class - 12 had picked the Division I school where they planned to wrestle and the other three were just undecided about where they planned to go. The team, chosen before the 2005 National High School Senior Championships, nevertheless had seven of the 14 champions, two runners-up, and 11 placewinners at that elite tourney.
The team included a five-time state champion from New York; a four-time, one-class state champion from Indiana; a four-time state champion from Michigan who went 228-0 in high school; and Cyler Sanderson, a three-time state champion in Utah and the younger brother of Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson. Cael won four NCAA titles at Iowa State and became the first wrestler to finish his collegiate career unbeaten.
Meeting Cael, who came to watch his brother wrestle, was a highlight for Vagle. At the end of the week, Vagle got autographs from the entire U.S. Team and looks forward to following their wrestling careers in college, all the way, hopefully, to the Olympics, he said.
The U.S. Team beat Texas 63-12, winning three pins, six technical falls, three major decisions, and one decision. The closest match was a 4-1 decision at 180 pounds. The U.S. Team's only two losses were by forfeit (a California wrestler did not make weight) and by injury default (the Indiana wrestler had an injured knee and did not compete).
"It was just impressive to watch the physical skills of these guys," said Vagle.
"This was fantastic," he added. "They call it a 'Dream Team,' and that's exactly what it was."
Vagle wasn't the only one impressed by the Dream Team Classic. "Personally, the experience was especially enriching in getting to meet a legend of the coaching community like Virgil Vagle," said Tim Marzuola, coach of the Texas team. "What a class act and what a phenomenal coaching career."
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By Paul Jacob 7/8/05
Jerry Conners wants to sue because boys from two private religious schools in the Puget Sound area would not get into the ring with his daughter and wrestle. The bouts were forfeited and she won by default.
Why did the boys forfeit? Maybe chivalry. Maybe fear of litigation relating to injury . . . or even sexual harassment.
One can understand the frustration of girls who want to compete with the boys. The frustration of their dads too, I guess. But, I mean, come on. This isn't bowling we're talking about. Or badminton. Or golf. Or Frisbee. And the kind of father who would sue somebody because you forfeited a match, well, any chance he might sue if his daughter gets injured while wrestling?
Mr. Conners says there should be limits to how much private schools can "get away with" on religious grounds. He says: "If my religion says that once a year on a full moon, I had to get into a hit-and-run accident, I think the cops would take exception to that. That's an extreme example, but if you come into the public domain, you can't develop a policy that discriminates against people."
EXTREME example? Uh, let's try "irrelevant." Forfeiting a match ain't a crime, so the comparison is meaningless. Any kid is free to forfeit a match.
What dad is really saying is he doesn't like what some people choose to do, entirely within their rights. So, actions he doesn't like should be illegal -- whether or not they violate anybody else's rights. No. Sorry. That's a wrestling match with common sense that nobody can win.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
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Fulp-Allen second at junior worlds
By Mark Foyer--Half Moon Bay Review 7/13/05
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Sara Fulp-Allen gets a warm embrace from her mom Joan upon returning to the Bay Area Saturday. |
The conversation was short but sweet.
"We're all very proud of you," Joan Fulp told her daughter, Sara Fulp-Allen.
"Me, too," Fulp-Allen said.
The call was made a few hours after Fulp-Allen finished second at the Junior World Women's Wrestling Championships, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday.
The two had more to say Saturday, when Fulp-Allen, and her coach and father, Lee, returned.
Fulp-Allen began her quest in the 48-kilogram/105.5-pound division with victories over Yuki Katafuchi of Japan. That was followed by a win over and Cristina Croitoru of Romania. She then defeated Lyudmila Balushka of Ukraine, advancing to the finals.
It was the win over Balushka that had Fulp-Allen do something that she normally doesn't do.
"I'm not one for jumping up and down after a win," Fulp-Allen said. "But I was very excited after that win."
Fulp-Allen lost in the finals to Lorissa Oorzak of Russia.
"I didn't know what to expect from her," Fulp-Allen said. "But I knew she was good."
Oorzak finished fifth at last year's Olympics. She won the junior world title in 2003 and claimed the European title this year.
"She's a very skilled wrestler," Lee Allen said.
Fulp-Allen, a 2003 graduate of Half Moon Bay High School who just completed her sophomore year at Menlo College, won the U.S. Senior National Title this year.
Fulp-Allen has been busy since finishing up at Menlo College. She finished sixth at the World Cup Female Wrestling Tourna-ment, held in France in May.
She was second at the U.S. Trials in Ames, Iowa last month.
She will be in town for a few more weeks before heading back to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., for a week of training. Then, it will be off to Ankara, Turkey to participate in the World University Games.
The downtime allows her to take stock of what transpired in Vilnius.
"It was a good feeling to finish second," Fulp-Allen said. "It was real exciting. I have never been to a world championship meet before. I didn't know what to expect."
She knows about her own capabilities, based on the mile-long resume of accomplishments she has made since she starting wrestling 10 years ago.
"You never know what's going to happen at such a meet," Fulp-Allen said. "To beat other people who are ranked is an awesome feeling.
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