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McNutt adds another Pipe to growing trophy collection
photo by: - Dave Lee/Gazette
THE MOST DOMINATING PRESENCE SINCE RAVISHING RICK RUDE. Terri McNutt brings home her third Purple Pipe after winning gold at the CIS championships.
Friday, March 10, 2006
the Gazette, London, Ontario, CANADA
By Erin Baker
This week’s Purple Pipe winner is Mustangs women’s wrestler Terri McNutt, who won a gold medal at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling championships.
Saturday, McNutt defeated Simon Fraser’s Sarah White in the 51 kg category. She carried the women’s wrestling team to fifth place overall with a score of 27 points, trailing Simon Fraser, Calgary, Brock and Saskatchewan.
McNutt added to her long list of victories, having already won three CIS medals and four Ontario University Athletics gold medals. Now in her fifth and final year of graduate nursing, McNutt’s hard work and dedication to the wrestling team will be missed next season.
The Gazette caught up with McNutt to gab about wrasslin’.
How did you get interested in wrestling in the first place?
I used to do martial arts. I started it when I was six years old. I went to a high school that had wrestling, so I thought I could try it because it’s really similar to jujitsu. I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it.
Do you have any interesting pre-game rituals?
Sometimes I throw up (laughs). I haven’t done that in a long time. I just warm up really well with my coach.
As a nursing student, do you ever feel bad about beating people up?
(laughs) They’re just two separate worlds. No, I don’t feel bad, but I never really hurt anybody, intentionally anyway. It’s an ongoing joke at the hospital though — because I still work at the hospital — about code whites, which are violent patients.
What was the worst injury you’ve ever suffered while wrestling?
I sprained my neck in Grade 12, so I was stuck with my head cocked to the side for eight weeks.
How does it feel to win gold in the CIS championship?
It was very exciting. I’ve been close a couple of times but never made it. It was kind of cool to [win gold] in my last year.
What are your thoughts on pro wrestling?
It’s not a real sport... it’s entertaining for guys. It’s a guy soap opera.
Do you have any plans to continue wrestling after graduation?
Yes, I’m going to try until 2008. Maybe try the Olympics.
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Vintage wrestlers medal at NorCal event
By MARTY JAMES, Executive Sports Editor
Sunday, March 12, 2006 1:10 AM PST
NOTES AND QUOTES for a Sunday in the Napa Valley:
Three members of the Vintage High School girls wrestling team — Michele Querin, Danni Beltran and — medaled at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association-Northern California Championships last weekend at Springstowne Middle School in Vallejo.
Querin led the Crushers with a second-place finish, including a pin of Vallejo’s Angie Miller, whom Querin had faced four times previously without a victory. Beltran and Farace each finished fourth while performing well at the event.
Querin, competing with Team California, wrestled the previous day in Portland, Ore., at the USGWA Oregon Championships and placed fourth there. Then Team California drove all night to get back in time for the event in Vallejo.
Next up for the team is the USGWA Nationals in Lake Orion, Mich., April 1-2. Joining the team for this event will be Lauren Philipps of Napa High and Megan Wiles of Etna High School in Siskiyou County.
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Jackets earn eight All-District spots; n Parker, Davis, Mallette repeat as district champions in 2006 Eastern Shore District Wrestling
Eastern Shore News 3/11/06
EASTVILLE - All-District honors for area wrestlers were earned last month at the Eastern Shore District Wrestling Tournament, held at Northampton High School. Unlike other sports where All-District honors are voted on by coaches, in wrestling All-District honors are eared on the mats.
Winning All-District honors this year were eight wrestlers from district champion Northampton: Nicole Beasley (103), Thomas Heath (112), John Hickman (130), Derek Davis (140), Ryan Rock (145), Jeremy Ayersman (152), Richard Evans (160) and Sherman Rogers (189).
Earning All-District honors from second place Nandua were: Derrick West (119), Quenton Parker (125), Brennan Waldorf (135) and Zack Mallete (171).
Earning All-District honors for third place Arcadia were Montego Johnson (215) and Robbie Harris (275).
Beasley, a sophomore, became the first female student to earn an All-District spot in wrestling when she pinned her opponent in the 103-pound weight class.
Parker, Davis and Mallette each repeated as district champions.
Davis and Rogers went on to win regional championships this season for Northampton.
This year's head coaches are Brian Harman of Northampton, Kevin Haxter of Nandua and Jason Bruce of Arcadia.
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By J. Michael Coons Colorado Daily 3/9/06
Boulder, CO (CSTV U-WIRE) -- It's safe to say that nobody on the Colorado club wrestling team can remember the last time CU hosted a meet.
Mostly because none of them were alive at the time.
Back when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and Devo was whippin' it, Colorado was saying goodbye to wrestling meets in Boulder. When CU decided to eliminate varsity wrestling from the athletic department in the early '80s, the sight of grapplers on campus disappeared along with it.
"I was 4 when that happened," head coach Richard Moutoux said. "I was a 4-year-old back in Virginia."
Moutoux, the team's first-year coach and an engineering grad student, led the Buffs into their second home meet of the season - and the second home meet in 25 years - last month. The Buffs faced off against 12 teams in the CU Recreation Center as part of the Colorado Tournament.
CU took home the trophy, beating out teams throughout wrestling's Southwestern Conference, home to some Big 12 schools.
For most of the squad, it was the first time wrestling in front of a home crowd.
"At our away matches it was a few parents who could make it and stuff like that," junior Darren Legge said, "but here we've got a chance to invite our friends and show them what we're about - what it is we work so hard for."
For the athletes on the mat, the home crowd provided more than just a showcase for the resurging sport. It gave them the extra oomph to win the match, Moutoux said.
"(The support) helps a lot," he said. "When you've got the crowd there, it always lifts your guys up a little."
A little lift is well deserved for a club team that had to experience its growing pains on the road.
"My first day of practice, there were five people," senior team captain Sean Baran said.
Baran joined at the infancy of the program. Although it had been two decades since the varsity wrestling team was dissolved, none of the club teams seemed to stick. They would be around for a brief period and then disappear.
Baran joined the program when former head coach Shane McGurk had just taken control. McGurk helped build the foundation for the club, Baran said, with solid coaching and by building CU's popularity through word of mouth.
McGurk left the team this year, citing conflicts with work. But the impression he left was strong enough to keep the wrestling team from dissolving again.
Now it was just a matter of letting everyone know that CU has a club wrestling team.
"It's just getting the word out and getting guys to come out," Baran said. "Basically it's just word of mouth. The more you hear about it the bigger it gets."
Nowadays, the wrestling team usually fetches between 16 and 18 wrestlers per practice, including one female, Jen Brouilette.
"It's been primarily guys noticing that 'hey, there's a wrestling club,'" Moutoux said.
The Buffs are able to fill most weight classes in meets and have become more competitive each year. The icing on the cake was to start hosting meets this year.
"Mainly it's just effort on the part of the officers," Legge said. "They really stepped up to help us put this tournament together, but mainly we just decided that these were things we wanted to do for the team."
A big help came in the form of the team's reclassification in the CU club sports system. The wrestling team moved from being a tier 5 sport to being a tier 4 last year, meaning that they were given more recognition by the club sports council.
"We get a little bit of money from club sports and some funding for nationals," Legge said. "Other than that we still do fundraising."
The support and the fundraising were enough for the wrestling team to start arranging its first meets this year. Before the Colorado Tournament, the Buffs hosted their first meet in a quarter-century, the CU-Colorado State Black and Gold Tournament, on Jan. 24.
CSU won seven of the 10 matches, winning by an overall score of 40-15.
"It was a loss, but we still look at it as a big success," Baran said.
The Buffs looked beyond the loss to the big step they made in the resurgence of the sport on the Boulder campus.
"We had a lot of turnout on both sides," Legge said. "It was very well attended and it was a very lively atmosphere."
The lively atmosphere moved on from the Rec Center to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association's nationals meet in Grand Rapids, Mich., last weekend.
The Buffs sent seven wrestlers to the nationals after qualifying at the Southwestern Conference Championship Meet a week earlier. Baran was the top finisher, going 2-2 and finishing in the top 16. Most other wrestlers were eliminated in two matches.
"We were definitely disappointed with our showing at Nationals, but it's a place to build from," Baran said. "The team has grown closer than we ever have been in previous years, we have two great coaches and next year will be even better."
Considering the late-night practices with just five wrestlers per night when he started, Baran said the season was a huge step forward for the return of wrestling at CU.
"We hosted two wrestling competitions at CU, the first since the varsity program was cut over two decades ago, and every wrestler improved during the season," he said. "This season has been a great success."
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Double Trouble! Macdonald Cartier wrestlers win gold
BY SCOTT HADDOW
scott@northernlife.ca 3/10/06
Celeste Rodrigues (left) and Teena Lalonde, students at École secondaire Macdonald Cartier, both won gold at the 2006 OFSAA wrestling championships in their weight classes. |
The Macdonald Cartier wrestling program is about quality, not quantity. The school recently sent two wrestlers to the OFSAA wrestling championships, and they went on a rampage, accomplishing a rare feat by winning two gold medals.
Other schools sent massive contingents of grapplers, but the efforts put forth by Teena Lalonde and Celeste Rodrigues helped their school take fourth place overall in the team standings out of 139 schools.
Sacrificing their social lives, among other things, the teens have set a precedent at the school. Lalonde is the school’s first two-time OFSAA champion ever, and they both are the school’s first two gold medal winners at an OFSAA event. Lalonde won in the 41-kilogram division and Rodrigues won in the 64-kg class.
Lalonde couldn’t help but feel pride in defending her title. “I faced the same girl I wrestled last year,” said the 17-year-old. “She had beat me at the provincial club championships in January. I was nervous, but won. It showed I improved. I would rather win the OFSAA medal than the club championship. It means more to me.”
Lalonde is proud to be a two-time mat champ. “It’s great to be the first person to ever win twice. I trained a lot harder after losing at the club championships. It was a lot harder to win this year because the girls I faced were a lot better.”
For Rodrigues, earning an OFSAA gold meant more to her than just getting the honour to be called champion.
“I am really excited that I won,” said the 16-year-old. “A lot of university wrestling coaches scout at the tournament, so it’s really important for Northern Ontario athletes to do well there.”
Rodrigues’ win caught the attention of one coach and earned her a special trip.
“The McMaster coach offered me an invitation to their March training camp after I wrestled,” said the Grade 11 student. “I am going. When I get out of it,
I am sure I will know a lot more about wrestling.”
Both girls sacrificed plenty to reach their goals, especially Rodrigues. “We sacrifice eating, a social life, family time...I even had to quit my job because they wouldn’t give me time off to wrestle,” said Rodrigues.
Coach Guy Quenville is proud of the teens. “Celeste had an outstanding performance. She worked hard for it. I call her the animal because she just attacks all the time and never backs up.
“Teena is a girl who when she wants something, she goes out and gets it. She wanted to repeat as champ. Her dedication to that...took her to the gold. No one was going to stop her this year. We’re proud of them. It’s the first time in Sudbury that any school has two gold winners in the same year, male or female.”
Both wrestlers have their eyes set on the club national championships, which will take place in Edmonton in April.
Rodrigues also has her sights set on another event that could propel her to the international stage. “I will compete in the Fila Trials,” said Rodrigues. “It’
s right after nationals. If I win that, I get to be on Team Canada and go to the world championships and other international events.”
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