News Page
Steinhoff making strides
DDSS ALUMNA AIMS TO BECOME ‘COMPLETE PACKAGE’ AS A COLLEGIATE WRESTLER
Neate Sager - SIMCOE REFORMER
Friday January 06, 2006
— Kirby Steinhoff is like a kid back at school after Christmas break when she talks about wrestling.
Every nuance and new move the 19-year-old Delhi District Secondary School graduate has absorbed as a rookie grappler for the University of Western Ontario is like a new toy.
“I’m developing my leg shots, trying to become a complete package,” says Steinhoff, 19, who capped her high school career with an OFSAA title last winter. “Now I’m learning a five-point throw, I’ve acquired a move where I grab the other girl’s legs, plus a belly-to-back suplex.
“I’m learning to open up the scope, learning to vary the throws, how to wrestle defensively, offensively, how to instigate.”
It’s hard to imagine a smoother transition to university wrestling for Steinhoff, who has won three medals in as many meets for the Western Mustangs.
“It’s been awesome,” she says. “I really like the coaching staff. They’ve been helping me a lot. They’re so technically-based, which was something that I was lacking. I’m grateful for the coaching I had before, but I’m learning so much here.”
Steinhoff, who is studying political science at the London university, won her first meet, taking gold at the Toronto Open in mid-November. She also had bronze-medal showings at the McMaster Open and the recent Matman Classic in Brampton.
“She’s been doing very well,” Western coach Ray Takahashi says, adding, “We can’t ask for much more from her. She works really hard, takes her school and sport very seriously.”
Wrestling requires perhaps the greatest time commitment of any collegiate sport. Steinhoff relishes the challenge of keeping up her studies while training 30 hours per week.
“My time is limited, which is tough sometimes,” she says. “My roommates, they have Saturday, Sunday, all night to study, but my time’s limited because I spend 30 hours a week in the mat. Sometimes during a meet you have to force yourself to sit in the corner studying.”
Steinhoff was dominant last winter for Delhi. At OFSAA, she pinned her opponent in the final in about the same time it takes to walk to the mailbox (65 seconds, to be exact).
While she is proud of such feats, that was kid’s stuff. Along with becoming smarter on the mat, Steinhoff has also improved her stamina. She wrestled at 77 kilograms (about 170 pounds) last year. This year, she’s in the 72 kg class, although Takahashi notes she may move to another division later in the year to suit the team’s needs.
“My cardio is the best it’s ever been,” Steinhoff says. “I can definitely wrestle a lot longer and with more intensity than I ever did before.”
Steinhoff has a few dates on this month’s calendar, beginning with the Jan. 21 Guelph Open, which draws top-notch competition. The following weekend, there’s the Ontario Junior Championships and the Queen’s Open in Ottawa and Kingston respectively.
“The meet in Guelph is going to be big,” Steinhoff says. “If you can even get a top-six placing at the Guelph Open, that’s respectable.”
The Ontario junior meet is particularly paramount.“For Kirby, Ontario juniors will be important,” Takahashi says. “We use that as one of our gauges when we decide who to take to the Canadian juniors.”
The Canadian juniors are in Fredericton, N.B., in March. Prior to that, there’s the Ontario University Athletics championships next month in Thunder Bay, although Western can only enter one wrestler in each weight class.
Bottom line, Steinhoff has had a productive rookie season. She acknowledges that reaching the sport’s mecca, the Olympics, is pie-in-the-sky stuff, but knows she is good enough to dream.
“I’m excited that (women’s wrestling) is in the Olympics now,” she says. “I’m excited just to have that option.”
---------------------------------
Olympic, hobbled by injures, falls to the Wolves.
By Eric D. Williams, ewilliams@kitsapsun.com
January 6, 2006
Ho-hum.
Another year of Narrows League wrestling matches began in earnest Wednesday night, and South Kitsap High’s long-running streak remains intact.
The Wolves pushed its Narrows League duals winning streak to 125 with an easy 49-24 victory over Olympic High in the Trojans’ gym.
South last lost a Narrows League dual match to North Thurston in 1992.
"We just try to keep things in perspective," South coach Chad Nass said. "We don’t worry about the streak. We just want to wrestle to our potential every time we go out there. And we feel like if we do that, the streak will take care of itself."
Olympic was not at full strength, however, forfeiting four matches due to a couple injured wrestlers.
Had the Trojans been at full strength, Olympic head coach Rick Griffith believes the result might have been different.
"I think it would have been a match that wrestling fans would have loved," Griffith said. "But with the team we put out there, I think our kids did well."
Nass had no reason to be nervous about losing this one as South took a commanding 43-0 lead before Olympic got on the scoreboard.
Nass said it was important for his wrestlers to get some match experience with postseason tournaments just a month away.
Javan Miner at 130 pounds and Quincy Lyman (135) dominated their matches for South. State champion Brent Chriswell won by forfeit, and Josiah Kipperberg, who placed fourth in state a year ago, pinned Jeremy Huffman at 112 pounds in one minute.
The Trojans won three matches in a row to make the score respectable. Sophomore Laurice Gerig made quick work of Carl Welch, pinning him in 49 seconds. Trojan heavyweight Kevin Siperek followed with a pin over South’s Ryan Sparber.
Olympic’s Camie Yeik and South’s Kurt Fenton battled in one of the more entertaining matches, at 103 pounds.
The two wrestlers were tied at 3-all with under a minute remaining. Yeik, a sophomore, took Fenton down for two points, then held off her opponent for a 5-4 win.
One of the few girls wrestling in the state, Yeik has national wrestling experience and could make the state tournament in February.
Another close match came at 125 pounds, where Oly’s Joe Flores faced South’s Rodger Nuttall.Nuttall beat Flores by a point last year to advance to the state tournament. But Flores got some revenge, earning a 7-4 win over his nemesis.
South Kitsap 49, Olympic 24
103 — Camie Yeik (O) d. Kurt Fenton 5-4. 112 — Josiah Kipperberg (SK) p. Jeremy Huffman (O) 1:00. 119 — Ken Nelson (O) won by forfeit . 125 — Joe Flores (O) d. Rodger Nuttall (SK) 7-4 130 — Javon Miner (SK) d. Dan Cho (O) 12-1 . 135 — Quincey Lyman (SK) p. John Adamson (O) 3:12 . 140 — Jessie Barich (SK) won by forfeit. 145 — Chris Hogan (SK) p. Caleb Williams (O) 1:00. 152 — Bobby Arnsee (SK) won by forfeit. 160 — Dylan Watkins (SK) d.. Ryan Boddy (O) 7-1. 171 — Chris Burns (SK) won by forfeit. 189 — Brent Chriswell (SK) won by forfeit. 215 — Laurice Gerig (O) p. Carl Welch (SK) :49. 275 — Kevin Siperek (O) p. Ryan Sparber (SK) 1:44.
----------------------------------------------------------
By DAVE THOMAS 12/18/05
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
For two local wrestlers, it was a familiar walk to the top of the Mat Classic medals stand.
For another, getting to the top was a case of sweet redemption.
East Valley's Kellen Hopkins continues to make the annual wrestling tournament in the SunDome a personal highlight reel as the junior captured his third straight Mat Classic title, winning at 119 pounds Saturday night.
Toppenish's J.J. Garza outdueled longtime friend Eddie Pedroza from Prosser to win the 103-pound crown, his second straight in this event.
On the flip side, West Valley's Deven Stelter-Moorman erased the bad memory of his loss to Hopkins in last year's 112 final by grinding out a victory over Ephrata's Jake Horn this time around.
Those were the only local champions in the 15th edition of the state's largest single-day wrestling tournament, although Ellensburg's Zach Haberman recorded a runner-up finish at 171. That helped the Bulldogs record a fifth-place finish in the team standings — tops for area teams in the 25-team field.
Of all the champions Saturday, perhaps no one was more impressive than Hopkins.
Competing in his third different weight class in this event, Hopkins methodically rolled up points on Othello's Matt Garza, eventually scoring a 17-5 major decision.
"This feels great. I expected to win, but I thought he'd put up a better fight," said Hopkins, who allowed Garza to escape four times, accounting for four of his five points.
Hopkins, who previously won titles at 103 and 112, said the transition to this latest weight class has been smoother than the previous one.
"I made the move late last year and in practice I wrestle with bigger guys, about 145," said Hopkins, who won each of his first three matches Saturday by pin in pushing his season record to 9-0 and his career mark to 66-9.
"There's a lot of good wrestlers here, not just in (Class) 2A, so this let's me know where I'm at," Hopkins said.
Garza also returned to the winner's circle but his rematch of the 2004 final was more demanding as he earned an 8-2 decision over Pedroza in a match delayed several times to reseal a cut on Pedroza's face.
"He was a lot tougher this year; he's gotten a lot stronger," Garza said of Pedroza. "This feels good."
The familiarity factor also made the match more difficult.
"We've known each other since we were little, and we've gone back and forth but I've managed to have the upper hand since high school," said Garza, who moved to 7-0 this season. "It's a little harder (wrestling Pedroza). Our friendship has become a rivalry."
Although Pedroza was a challenge, Garza said it wasn't as difficult as his previous match in which he wrestled a girl, Camie Yeik of Olympia.
"She was no pushover; that was the toughest match I had," Garza said of the 5-4 decision.
Stelter-Moorman also said his semifinal match was his biggest challenge, but for a different reason.
In his case, it was because he had to wrestle his half-brother, Derek Stelter of Othello.
"That was the worst thing ever. That was not a good victory," Stelter-Moorman said of his second-period pin.
Turning to the title match, Stelter-Moorman said it was some advice from his brother that helped him bounce back to earn a tight 3-1 decision over Horn for his first Matt Classic title.
"This feels good," he said, noting that Horn had won a previous meeting two weeks ago in the West Valley Invitational. "I've never won here and I wanted to win real bad."
Now, he hopes this victory will be a springboard to get him over the top at state, were he's finished second each of the past two years.
"I plan on taking first this time," he said.
Overall, Wenatchee cruised to the team title behind five finalists and four individual titles.
The Panthers had 208 points, 19 1/2 more than runner-up Mariner, helped by champions Cesar Iniguez (130 pounds), Tim Whitley (135), Dayvin Knemeyer (152) and Cody Varner.
Wenatchee's win ended the two-year winning streak of Ferndale, which was 13th although 275-pounder Derek Altona won his third individual title
---------------------------------------------------
Havens, Garlinghouse excel in wrestling tournaments
By Vince Vosti - Sports Editor 1/7/06
While other peers were relaxing, enjoying the holidays, fixing ornaments on trees, Paradise High School senior Amy Havens was hard at work.
In other words, Havens was busy pinning opponents to mats.
Havens, the third-ranked 152-pound prep girls wrestler in the nation, won her weight class in three girls wrestling tournaments in December. Havens wrestled 10 matches while capturing championships at San Leandro, Castro Valley, and in Hawaii, with only one of those matches extending beyond the first period.
Havens wrestled at the 165-pound class at the tournaments in California, and won the Holiday Classic wrestling tournament in Hawaii at 175 pounds. Her win at the Roger Briones Invitational in San Leandro was her fourth straight title. She was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler.
High school wrestling teammate Eva Garlinghouse accompanied Havens to the three wrestling tournaments in December. Garlinghouse placed fifth at the two California tournaments at 146 pounds and dropped down to wrestle in the 140-pound weight class in Hawaii.
Paradise freshman Holly Thien also wrestled in San Leandro, winning two matches at 132 pounds.
Garlinghouse won three of four matches in Hawaii, reaching a tournament championship bout for the first time in her career. Garlinghouse lost that match by decision, 6-3.
Each of Garlinghouse's wins in Hawaii was by fall.
I was stoked, Garlinghouse, a senior, said of reaching the finals. At the beginning of the season, I wasn't putting it together. But (in Hawaii), I chose to experiment and try some things out. I was nervous about making the finals, and really, really, overwhelmed.
Havens has her sights set on the United States Girls Wrestling Association (USGWA) national championships, which will be held in Michigan in March. Before the national meet, however, Havens will wrestle in a state-qualifying regional, then defend her 2005 state championship.
Right now, I am just trying to stay healthy, and try to get the pin record at the high school, Havens said.
Havens is 12-1 in exhibition matches as a member of the Bobcats this season.
--------------------------------------------------
Senior proves her toughness on the wrestling mat
Thursday, January 05, 2006
By Zeke Jennings
zjennings@citpat.com -- 789-1250
When East Jackson High School senior Melanie Webb took an interest in wrestling after watching older brother Darren compete while she was in middle school, she was apprehensive about taking it up herself.
After all, a girl participating in a sport like wrestling is no longer a novelty, but it still tends to draw extra attention.
"It kind of bugged me at first because everyone would stare and feel bad," Webb said. "But now I look at it as an advantage, because if I do well then everyone will say: 'Wow, girls are tough.'"
Webb, who has been wrestling at 112 and 119 pounds this season after competing at 103 for much her career, won't have people looking past her anymore. She was a regional qualifier last season and has set her goals much higher this season.
"I want to qualify for state this year," said Webb, who is hoping to get back to 103 pounds before the tournament. "I'll be OK at 112; but if I can get down to 103, I'll have a much better chance."
Her coach thinks she has a chance to make it.
"She's focused and serious," East Jackson coach Josh Cunningham said. "She wants to go to state, and I don't think it's out of the question."
Webb admits she didn't begin to gain confidence until last season, when she started winning more than she was losing. But Cunningham said it wasn't because a of lack of hard work.
"She makes it really easy on me," he said. "She busts her butt and works harder than a lot of the guys I've coached in the past."
That work included time with Darren learning how to compensate for a lack of strength early in her career.
"I had a really hard time during my freshman and sophomore years because I was underweight and didn't have a lot of upper-body strength," Webb said.
Webb was quick to offer advice to up-and-coming female wrestlers.
"You can't get discouraged right away," she said. "Stick with it -- sooner or later you'll get better."
Melanie Webb sure has.