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Sisters to wrestle for Cooperstown this year

By ERIC AHLQVIST

Editor 12/8/05

The Cooperstown wrestling team has a number of newcomers on the squad this season, including a pair of sisters, freshman Rachele and sophomore Sara Ruggiero.

The Ruggieros won't be the first girls to wrestle for the Cooperstown wrestling team. Jolene Bachorik wrestled for the Redskins for two years in the 1990s.

Cooperstown wrestling coach Jim Jordan said he does not have a problem with girls wanting to wrestle on a boys team, but it does pose some challenges.

"There are times when they will just be physically overmatched and I worry about sending them out there," Jordan said. "But they have wrestled before, so they know what they're getting into. I think they may even win some matches."

The girls both wrestled for Section 10's Franklin Academy near Lake Placid last year, Rachele on the modified and Sara on the junior varsity, and the family has a rich tradition of wrestling.

Vincent Ruggiero, the girls' father, was the varsity wrestling coach for 28 years at Franklin Academy and said the girls decision to wrestle was their own individual choice.

"They grew up around it and this is something they wanted to do on their own," he said. "I didn't push them into it, they just both enjoy it."

Ruggiero added both girls attended a wrestling camp at Clarkson University last summer run by Mitch Clark, a former state champion at Ohio State.

"They were the only girls there with 500 boys and that was quite an experience for them too," he said. "More and more girls are starting to wrestle, it's becoming quite popular. I have to say, Cooperstown has been great to us, and the guys on the team have been very accepting."

Sara said she qualified for sectionals after moving up to the varsity at Franklin Academy last year, and her goals are the same for this season.

"I want to make sectionals, that's my goal," Sara, 15 said.

"There are times when they will be physically overmatched, but that's when they have to rely on good technique," Vincent Ruggiero said. "The higher the weight class, the more physical strength becomes and issue."

Rachele will wrestle in the 125-pound weight class, and Sara at 145 pounds this season.

Sara added that she and Rachele, 14, have been wrestling since the age of 10 in a Pee Wee Wrestling club their father ran.

Cooperstown athletic director Mike Cring said the girls had to take a physical fitness test before the season, and their parents attended some wrestling practices to see first hand what the girls were getting involved in.

"When Jolene wrestled, she never won a match but I think she got everything out of it she wanted to," Cring said. "She got in shape, the guys always treated her well, and she got to compete."

This season will be a rebuilding year for Jordan, who lost two-time state finalist Brendan Hill and Ted VanBuren, who like Hill had over 100 career wins, to graduation.

"This is going to be a tough season," Jordan said. "We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores with no experience, but if they stick with it for the next few years they have the potential to do well down the road."

Senior Taylor Powers and junior Josh White will captain this year's team. Powers will wrestle at 160 pounds, while White, beginning his third varsity season, will wrestle in the 130 or 135 pound weight class.

"Josh is probably our best wrestler right now," Jordan said. "He has a good chance of qualifying for sectionals at the end of the season."

Cooperstown began the season last night (Wednesday) at Herkimer, and will compete in the 10-team Jeffrey Calkins Memorial Tournament on Saturday. Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. and continues all day.

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Wrestling Soldier ranked No. 1 in world

By Tim Hipps 12/8/05

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Army News Service, Dec. 8, 2005) --Army wrestler Sgt. Iris Smith received a No. 1 world ranking in the women’s 158.5-pound freestyle division, according to TheMat.com, the official Web site for USA Wrestling.

Selected by five international journalists, TheMat.com’s rankings list the top 15 wrestlers in the world in each weight class and discipline – men’s Greco-Roman and freestyle and women’s freestyle. The rankings, which will be updated bi-monthly through August, are the first published by a panel of independent journalists, said Gary Abbott, director of communications for USA Wrestling.

Smith pinned 5-time world champion

Smith, a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, won a gold medal Sept. 30 in the women’s 158.5-pound freestyle division of the 2005 World Wrestling Championships at Budapest, Hungary. She defeated five-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan, 3-1, 1-1, 1-0, to become the new world champion in her weight class. To reach the championship match, Smith grappled to victories against Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria, Angnieska Wieczczek of Poland, and Germany’s Anita Schaetzle.

The lone American to win a gold medal, Smith became the fourth U.S. female wrestler to win a world crown, joining Tricia Saunders, Kristie Marano and Sandra Bacher.

A four-time national champion, Smith has competed twice in the world championships, finishing seventh in 2000. She also made Team USA’s roster for the world championships in 2001 but missed the event to attend Army basic training.

WCAP wrestlers Staff Sgt. Dremiel Byers, a 2002 world champion, and Sgt. Tina George are ranked No. 8 in the world in the men’s 264.5-pound Greco-Roman and women’s 121-pound freestyle divisions respectively.

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Yori named interim Mount View wrestling coach

By Tim Collins Downer
Sports Reporter 12/8/05

Liz Yori has been named the interim wrestling coach at Mount View High School. (Photo by Tim Collins Downer)

THORNDIKE (Dec 6): The first girl to wrestle at Mount View High School has become the first woman to coach the wrestling team.

Officials scrambled to find a replacement when Mount View’s varsity wrestling coach, Hamilton Richards, was called to active duty with the Maine Army National Guard. Richards had to leave barely more than a week before the start of the season.

Bob Donar, the new Mount View athletic director, had been on the job for a matter of hours. He had only days to find an interim head coach.

Donar turned to Liz Yori, the wrestling coach at Mount View Junior High School. She was the first female wrestler in the history of Mount View, wrestling from 1996-98.

Yori attended St. Joseph's College in Standish, where she was a pre-medical student. She has been involved with the middle school wrestling program for four years, and last season was the head coach.

"It is my plan to still work with the junior high team," said Yori, who works as an education technician in the special-education resource room at the high school. "I knew that they were looking for an assistant coach for this season. Many schools have the assistant coach head up the junior high program, which is kind of nice, to keep the continuity between the two programs."

Yori said she became interested in wrestling because, "I fouled out of too many basketball games. The first year [that] girls were allowed to wrestle, I was here."

It caused quite a stir around the school when she joined the wrestling program, according to Yori. She credits her mother, who died recently, for helping her gain the courage to follow through on her dream.

"I said, 'Mom, I want to do this, I think I want to try out and see where it goes.' She said, 'I want you to do this, because if you can do this, you can do anything,'" said Yori. "She was an avid fan of wrestling, and I think of her from time to time — like when I decided I was going to step in for [Hamilton Richards]. It's a huge commitment. It will be five months straight through, if I go from here straight to the junior high program, six days a week."

"I think it's a fantastic sport. I think that it offers you a chance to stand on your own in a way that no other sport really does," she said. "I ran cross country, I ran track, I did basketball, I did field hockey, I started up a swim program at St. Joseph's College and I was part of that club, and wrestling never gets out of your blood. Once you start, you either love it or hate it. There is no gray area."

The upbeat Yori said her main goal is to raise awareness of the program. "For me personally, I love the program, and I hope to stay involved with it for a long time," she said. "I've been a fan since I started wrestling. But as far as this program itself, I just want to be here and support the kids. I'd love to see it grow."

Before leaving, Richards spoke highly of this year's group of wrestlers and was excited about the team's potential. Yori shares Richards' optimism, and said she's counting on two wrestlers in particular, captains Walter Harding and Thom Yori, her brother, to help lead the team.

Because she lacked upper body strength, Yori had to focus on leverage and technique more than most. She hopes her experience will benefit both the female wrestlers [the Mustangs have two] and the males, by making them more well-rounded.

"I think … it's that extra step that a lot of them aren't really applying," she said. "It is a very macho sport, and you really think — grrr! — get up there and throw them around with my massive biceps! And you can't always do that."

She said when Richards returns, which could be 18 months from now, she would like to stay with the team as the assistant coach and also remain as the junior high head coach.

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Girls out to prove they can compete with boys in high school wrestling

By Mike Bellmore-Sports Editor 12/5/05

Kayla Betz and Kahla Dyer are a couple of young athletes with similar first names and similar thoughts and feelings about girls competing with the guys on the high school fields of competition.

They're currently the only two females in the Devils Lake High School wrestling program for the second consecutive year, and they're definitely out to prove they belong.

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Meet Juli Burke, groundbreaker

By Peter Brewington
12/06/2005

New coach, lots of returning talent, and a girl wrestler.

Given all that's going on with the Liberty wrestling program this season it's a tough call to say what's the most important element as the season opens this month.

Let's go with the girl wrestler. In a county that long fought the concept until the School Board rescinded its policy three years ago, 160-pound Eagle freshman Juli Burke will make her debut as Fauquier County's first female wrestler in a JV meet on Dec. 17 at James Wood. Word is she's into it.

Burke "is doing fine, she's progressing," said new coach Dean Spahr. "She's knows a little bit -- but like all freshmen it takes your first year to learn." Stay tuned.

In the meantime, Liberty enters the season with four or five guys experienced enough to make the Group AA state meet. Leading the parade is heavyweight Aaron Hull, who may be the best in the state; followed by 119-pound sophomore Dylan Carr, a district champ last year as a freshman; 130-pound Billy Geris, who placed at states last year; and 145-pound Scott McGaffic, who was third at regionals last year and made states.

Sophomore Eric Moran, at 160 pounds, finished at .500 as freshman and has potential. So does Greg Hawkins, a 189-pound senior.

Spahr, who replaced Ken Mullins, inherits a roster with a smattering of tested wrestlers, but many greenhorns, too. "It's a good lineup, it's a little bit of both, and our numbers (around 40) are good," said Spahr, a former coach in Stafford County. "Three or four should win the majority of their matches," he continued. "Three or four should win 70 percent and the rest could go either way."

Liberty went 4-1 at its opening meet last Saturday at Orange. The Eagles lost only to Orange 49-21. They beat Harrisonburg 54-18; Robert Henry 46-36; Waynesboro 57-24 and Madison 58-18.

Spahr took 20 wrestlers to the meet. Hull was not one of them. He stayed home to take his SATs. McGaffic and Moran went 5-0, Geris went 4-1. Carr was 0-1.

Freshman Ryan Campbell (125) sophomore Sam Stephenson (189) and Hawkins (also 189) were solid, the coach said.

"We did well, but overall I wish we'd wrestled better against Orange," said Spahr, whose varsity next competes in the Dec. 17 Mountain View Quad.

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Mantas flex a little girl power

12/6/05

ENGLEWOOD -- The Lemon Bay wrestling team could make Southwest Florida history when it takes the mat tonight at Booker.

The Manta Rays will start two girls -- junior Fleetwill Hernandez at 119 pounds and sophomore Audrey Shockley at 112 -- on the boys varsity squad.

Whether that's ever happened in Southwest Florida is unknown.

The Florida High School Athletic Association only records participation of girls among boys wrestling, not if they start. But FHSAA director of athletics Paul McLaughlin said he couldn't recall ever hearing of two girls starting.

"It doesn't happen all that often," McLaughlin said of one girl starting on a boys varsity team. "It would be unusual to have two."

Charlotte athletic trainer Bill Hoke, who coached wrestling for 26 years in Southwest Florida, also couldn't recall two girls starting for the same team.

"I know there have been teams that had multiple girls on a team," Hoke said, "but I don't know about starting."

Even St. Cloud (Osceola County) wrestling coach Vic Lorenzano couldn't think of a team anywhere in the state ever starting two girls at the same time. Lorenzano, who has coached high school wrestling in Florida the past 20 years, has served as the state chairman for the Florida Athletic Coaches Association and the state representative for the FHSAA the past 10 years.

"It's not normal," Lorenzano said. "There are schools out there that have girls starting on boys teams. But in the past few years, with the emergence of the girls programs, we've seen less of it."

Two girls have started on a boys varsity team outside of Southwest Florida, however. Dana Kearney and Jessica Wirthington both started for Land O' Lakes (Pasco County) in 2003.

"I can't say for sure that it was the first time its ever happened in the state, but I've never seen it before," Land O' Lakes coach Brent Coleman said.

The FHSAA reported 216 girl wrestlers among its 341 high school teams in the 2004-05 season and a record of 467 in the 2003-04 season. But the majority of those girls reside in Osceola County, where girls wrestling leagues have become immensely popular in recent years. Girls leagues also have begun to flourish in Seminole and Duval counties, according to FHSAA communications coordinator Laurel Ring, who handles the participation surveys for the FHSAA.

The popularity of girls leagues also has spawned non-FHSAA sanctioned state tournaments. One such tournament, which was sanctioned by the United States Girls Wrestling Association, was held at Lemon Bay last season. Both Hernandez and Shockley competed, with Hernandez getting the best of her teammate in the championship match of the 114-pound weight class.

The duo also competed at the girls national folkstyle tournament this summer in Michigan. And Shockley traveled to Fargo, N.D., for the girls national freestyle tournament.

"I think it was a real eye-opener for both of them," Lemon Bay coach Greg Rivera said. "They realized just how many really tough girls there are out there."

That experience paid off when it came time for the Mantas' wrestle-off, which determines who starts at what weight class.

Shockley pinned freshman Tommy McClaughlin, her homecoming date, midway through the first period to earn the starting nod at 112.

"It's addicting -- just beating boys and still being girly," said Shockley, a cheerleader during the football season.

Hernandez, however, lost a 9-8 decision to McClaughlin at 119. But McClaughlin missed a practice and lost the right to defend his position the following week, forfeiting it to Hernandez.

But Hernandez is no stranger to starting for the boys team. She started as a freshman and sophomore.

"I'm used to it," Hernandez insisted. "I played (Pop Warner) football. And I tried playing basketball, but I got in trouble for being too aggressive."

Both will face challenges from McClaughlin all season, but Rivera wouldn't be surprised if the girls maintain their starting positions.

"Everybody can't win; that's part of the game," Rivera said. "But it's up to them -- how hard they work, how hard they wrestle."