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Indians' Philipps is queen of ASICS Napa Valley Classic
From Register Staff 1/15/06
Vintage's Chaundra Cox struggles to avoid a pin by Portola High School's Misha Furniss (Portola, CA) during the 8th annual Napa Valley Girls Classic wrestling tournament. Cox ended up losing to Furniss, leaving her with a 1-1 record on the day. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register |
Out of an impressive field of 227 grapplers representing 54 schools, Napa High’s Lauren Philipps was one of the few girls standing on top of the mountain at the end of the day.
Philipps, competing in the 138-pound weight class of the two-day ASICS Napa Valley Girls Classic at Vintage High School, won the championship in her bracket with a 12-4 decision over Vallejo’s Lauren Knight on Saturday.
“She wrestled awesome,” said Indians coach Nacho Franco.
Knight came into the tournament as the top-ranked wrestler in the state in her class, according to Vintage assistant girls coach Rob Lanterman.
Lanterman’s wife, Yvonne, coaches the Crusher girls.
“It was a great tournament,” said Lanterman, who added that the eighth annual Classic is the oldest high school girls wrestling tournament in the country.
Another Indian, senior Devery Mitchell, placed fourth in the 158-pound class.
“That was a great accomplishment for her,” said Franco of Mitchell, a first-year competitor.
Lanterman said that most weight classes featured 32 wrestlers apiece, and medalist honors were awarded to the top eight finishers in each class.
Vintage posted several medalists — Michele Querin, third at 154; Nastassia Michalek, seventh, 118; Heather Farace, eighth, 114; and Danni Beltran, eighth, 165.
Ironically, Philipps may come out of this year’s Classic in the same spot in which she began last year’s event.
As a junior last year, Philipps was ranked No. 1 in 138s by the California Women’s Wrestling Association coming into the tournament.
However, Philipps made a mistake during her first match at the 2005 Classic while attempting to pin her opponent using a move called the “cradle” — she forgot about the position of her own shoulders and pinned herself.
Philipps won her next six matches — five by pin — on the way to posting a 6-1 record and a third-place finish, but did even better this weekend.
“This was some sweet redemption for her,” said Franco.
Photos from this years N.V.C. :
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Logger wrestlers split the week
Julie Woolf
THE-BEE
Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 01:35:58 PM
Last week was a week for wrestling with two meets and a JV tournament. On Jan. 3, the Loggers wrestled Spencer, and on Jan. 5, they wrestled Tomahawk.
The meet against Spencer turned out to be quite exciting. The night started with Joe Gehring receiving a forfeit. At 119 lbs., Casey Williams wrestled Beth Williams. In the first period, Williams of Phillips had a quick takedown and the Loggers first pin of the night.
At 125 lbs., Fred Freeman took a forfeit along with Steve Gago at 130 lbs. which brought the score to a quick 24-0.
Doug Warren wrestled David Ress at the 135 lbs. weight class. Ress quickly took Warren down for Spencer's first pin of the night.
At 140 lbs., Tim Pierrard wrestled Dustin Kaufmann. Kaufmann quickly pulled ahead. Although Pierrard fought with might, Kaufmann pinned him in the second period.
During the 145 lb. match, Jesse Heinz wrestled Aaron Baumgartner. In the first match, both wrestlers fought for the lead. At the end of the first period, Heinz was ahead 8-4 over Baumgartner. At the beginning of the second period, Heinz had a quick reversal which resulted in the second pin of the night for the Loggers and another to add to Heinz's record.
Axel Hoogland wrestled Jamis Keding at 152 lbs. Though Hoogland fought relentlessly, Keding controlled the match and pinned Hoogland.
Une Jun Chung wrestled Zac Franklin at 160 lbs. Chung racked up the points during the first period with three take downs and three near falls. The score at the end of the first period was 16-6. Chung controlled the whole second period and pinned Keding bringing the score of the meet to 35-18.
Gunard Hoogland wrestled Jared Bodendorfer at 171 lbs. The match stretched through all three periods. Hoogland wrestled hard but succumbed to a 4-6 loss.
As Don Yahn wrestled Dan Baumgartner at 189 lbs, he worked to finish at the top. Though his effort was great, Yahn was left with a loss to Baumgartner.
At 215 lbs, Brandon McGuffin had to settle for a forfeit. Wayne Schnautz wrestled to 275 lbs. match against Travis Stroetz. Schnautz had the first takedown of the match but was left with a disappointing loss during the second period.
At 103 lbs., the last match of the night, John Kind wrestled Max Wienke. Kind scraped by the first period with a score of 4-5. Kind came out with a bang during the second period and pinned Wienke for the win. The final score of the meet was 47-31.
The home meet against Tomahawk started with Fred Freeman wrestling Nick Hagar. Freeman wrestled Hagar for three tough periods but lost the match 4-12.
Clay Kramer faced Scott Harkness at 135 lbs. Kramer earned one reversal in each period to finish out the match with a 6-5 win against Hagar.
Tim Pierrard's match at 140 lbs. went three periods and Pierrard fought every minute. When it came down to the wire, Pierrard barely lost with a close score of 13-15.
Jesse Heinz, leading the Loggers with pins, wrestled Taylor Schmidtbauer at 145 lbs.. Heinz did not disappoint the crowd. He pinned Schmidtbauer during the second period.
Following Heinz's lead, Axel Hoogland wrestled Blair Otterholt at 152 lbs.. With the match close in score the first two periods, Hoogland took charge during the third and went for the pin and win earning the team another six points.
Une Jun Chung, also not to be left in the dust, won his tough match against Jack Lilek with the third pin in a row for the Loggers.
Even though Gunard Hoogland tried to keep the ball rolling, he was quickly pinned by Dan Silvernale. At 189 lbs., Don Yahn also lost to his rival Kyle Schultz.
Wayne Schnautz wrestled 215 lbs. against Jeremiah Moran. In a tough match, Schnautz ran out of time and lost by points 7-10.
Brandon McGuffin at the 275 lbs. match against Kevin Murphy lost by points. John Kind faced the state qualifier Alyssa Lampe at the 103 lbs. match. Even though Kind tried his hardest, Lampe quickly pinned him in the second period.
During the 112 lbs. match, Joe Gehring faced Nick Vanstrydonk. Quickly overturned, Gehring was pinned in the first period. Casey Williams wrestled Anthony Lampe, also a state qualifier, at 119 lbs. Williams wrestled relentlessly during the three periods but lost to Lampe 2-12.
In the final match, Don Warren received a forfeit at 125 lbs. The final score of the meet was 27-42 in favor of Tomahawk.
The results of the JV tournament in Tomahawk are as follows: Ron Brink, first place; Jesse Tolle, first place; AJ Martini, first place; Jesse Gomez, second place; Don Warren, third place; and Doug Warren, third place.
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JUSTA WRESTLER;
Samantha Montoya doesn't want to stand out because she's a girl - she wants
to stand out because she's good
JAMES YODICE Journal Staff Writer 1/14/06
The highest praise anyone could pay Samantha Montoya is to simply refer
to her as a wrestler.
Not a girl wrestler.
Just a wrestler.
It would be easy, perhaps, to make her gender part of the equation.
Understandable, even. After all, you can probably count on two hands
the number of girls who are wrestling for a varsity program in New Mexico.
And, while female wrestlers are not novelties per se, it's still an unusual
sight to see a girl competing in a male-dominated sport.
Around the halls and inside the wrestling room at Valley High School,
Montoya might be a girl, and she might be the daughter of the head
coach, but she is, above all else, a wrestler.
"Even though she's a girl, it doesn't matter," says Valley's
112-pounder, junior Aaron Taylor. "We all give her the same respect as the other
guys. She's a teammate."
Montoya, a sophomore, is the Vikings' 103-pounder.
Headed into the Joe Vivian Classic which began Friday afternoon at
Cibola High School, she was a respectable 5-5 this season, including three
pins - two of her victims being boys.
She's wrestled off and on since the third grade, so it's not like
wrestling is a hobby. It's been a passion for years, she admits. Montoya gave up
the sport for two years in grades 7-8, but returned her freshman season at
Valley.
"I don't know why I gave it up," she says. "I think I'd be a lot better
now if I would have continued wrestling."
When her father, Gary, became Valley's head coach two years ago, the
decision to get back into a singlet was fairly easy, said the
15-yearold.
She split time between the varsity and junior varsity last season but
is entrenched with the varsity this season.
And she earns her keep, says her father.
"All the guys on our team really respect her a lot," says Gary Montoya.
"She goes out and works hard. Everything we ask of them, she does."
Says Taylor, "She busts her butt. She works harder than most of the
guys on our team."
Key is quickness
It's precisely that type of gogetter attitude that quickly endeared her
to her peers, who Taylor admits only needed a short amount of time to
acclimate to this unique teammate.
"She started coming along, getting tougher, and that built up the
respect," says Taylor.
On the mat, Montoya's style is defined by quick feet. She's a shooter,
says Taylor.
That's by necessity.
"I don't have strength like guys do, so I have to depend on quickness,"
says Montoya. "And that's kind of hard, because strength is a big part of
wrestling."
Fortunately, her natural athleticism serves her pretty well. She also
plays volleyball and golf at Valley, and is well versed in softball and
soccer, too.
Opponents, Montoya says, treat her about as her teammates do, which she
finds enormously satisfying.
"It does mean a lot, because I love this sport," she says. "You have to
love this sport to be out here putting your whole body out there. It means a
lot that people respect me."
Montoya says there have been a couple of times where she felt
mistreated, but adds that it wasn't anything too serious.
"I've actually heard a team when they're huddled, saying, oh, she's a
girl, don't worry about it. She'll be easy. She's a fish. But I just blow it
off, because I'm out there to wrestle, and I'm not gonna worry about what
anybody else says."
'A coach first'
As for her coach/father, Gary Montoya says it's all business at school
and at tournaments.
"The biggest thing is, we have to go home together," he says. "I try to
keep myself as a coach first. I think it makes it more comfortable for her.
As a dad, I don't want her to feel like I'm being a dad out there. Whatever
happens on the mat, we'll talk about as coach to wrestler. Then after
that, we'll deal with the family situation."
Gary says he did not encourage or discourage his daughter to wrestle.
"I let her make the choice," he says. "I felt that was important for her to
make the choice, because it is a maledominated sport, and I knew it was
going to be tough for her."
If it is tough, it doesn't show.
"He's been my coach, so he's harder on me than he is anyone else," says
Samantha. "He expects more from me."
Montoya says she may eventually be able to challenge for a state title
before she graduates. For this season, she says she'd be content
placing fifth or sixth at state.
"I need a lot more work to be up there in the top four," she says.
On Friday, Montoya had to wait nearly three hours before her first
match of the Vivian tournament which is arguably the state's most prominent
competition, including next month's state meet.
And it was worth the wait. Montoya recorded a takedown with eight
seconds left in the third period to tie her match against Las Cruces High's
Kevin Chavez at 6-6. Montoya didn't waste the second chance, winning 8-6 in
overtime with a takedown midway through the OT.
She was 6-5 for the season headed into late-round action Friday night.
And Montoya already was proving to be a crowd favorite at Cibola. The
spectators in that part of the big gymnasium gave her a spirited
ovation after her tremendous win over Chavez who looked pretty disappointed.
Montoya didn't smile, didn't flinch. She walked off the mat, peeled off
the ski cap which during matches covers her long, brown hair and walked
back to her seat in the bleachers, awaiting her next match.
Just another wrestler.
"When you're out there on the mat, wrestling, you forget about
everything," she says. "It's just a great feeling."
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