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Young wrestler sets sights on Olympics
By Amanda Daniels
UNION-TRIBUNE COMMUNITY NEWS WRITER
April 12, 2006
RANCHO SANTA FE – Lauren Thompson is prepared to wrestle her way to the top.
She was recently named outstanding wrestler for the county in her weight and age divisions, and Lauren, 14, hopes to eventually take her skills to the Olympics.
She is participating in an Olympic development program with special instruction at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado.
Locally, Lauren trains three to four times a week, and she competes almost year-round against girls and boys.
“To wrestle all year-round, you have to wrestle boys,” she explained.
Her work paid off, and she made it the national championships for the United States Girls' Wrestling Association earlier this month.
In March, the San Diego Imperial Kids Wrestling Association named her an outstanding wrestler.
The sport is mentally and physically exhausting, but that is what Lauren likes about it.
“It's very challenging. There's no easy way to do it, and it really weeds out the weak people,” Lauren said.
She also likes the fact that the sport is individual, even though she competes with a team.
Her father, Brian Thompson, said he was surprised when Lauren took up wrestling three years ago. It can be challenging for parents to watch their children in hand-to-hand combat, and the competitions can be emotional, he said.
Before Lauren began wrestling, she played volleyball and rode horseback.
She started wrestling after a friend, who is like a brother to her, began wrestling, she said.
She saw how much fun it looked and thought she could do just as well, if not better, so she enrolled in a summer wrestling camp and found she liked it.
Since then, Lauren has joined San Diego Hot Beaches, an all-girl team of about 20 of the best teen wrestlers in the county, she said.
She competes half the year with girls and the other half with boys, which is fairly common for female wrestlers, she said.
An eighth-grader at R. Roger Rowe School in Rancho Santa Fe, Lauren is active in student government, editor of a school newspaper and maintains a 4.0 grade-point average, she said.
She does it all through organizational skills, she said.
“You have to be organized,” she said. “It's not an option; you have to be. I'm missing three to four weeks of school this year.”
Maintaining strong relationships with her teachers, friends and family also provides strength and motivation, she said.
Lauren is seeking sponsors to help her attend competitions across the country.
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Club Madison wrestles to 21 gold medals
Courier Sports Staff 4/11/06
Club Madison dominated its own wrestling tournament, taking home 21 individual gold medals to win the team competition easily over the weekend.
The team, based at the Lide White Boys & Girls Club in Madison, hosted the two-day tourney Friday and Saturday at the Madison Junior High School. On Friday, only 14 girls competed in the Women’s Open Freestyle Tournament but 170 wrestlers took to the mats Saturday for the Open Freestyle Tournament.
Club Madison scored 151 points to beat Jennings County’s 106. Columbus East was third with 103, Team Jeff was fourth with 85, the Prime Time Wrestling Club was fifth with 78 and Charlestown sixth with 72.
Madison dominated the action, winning four golds Friday and 17 more Saturday. In addition, the Club picked up 11 silver medals and four bronzes for a total of 36 medals.
Thirty-two local wrestlers also qualified for the ISWA State Freestyle Finals to be held in Indianapolis at the State Fairgrounds May 3-5. Club Madison now has 43 wrestlers qualified for the State Finals.
Gold medal winners for Club Madison were: Cameron Stewart (M-55), Trenton Dempler (M-60), Jimmy Breeck (M-140), Braylon Long (PW-40), Camden Cline (PW-65), Austin Banks (B-45), T.C. O’Neal (B-60), Tavian Cosby (B-70), Robbie Taylor (SB-85), Danny Williamson (SB-125), Keith Stewart (N-105), Austin Banks (N-120), Dalton Arbuckle (N-130), Cody Banks (N-165), B.J. Messmore (C-140), Tray Whalen (J-140), Jonathon Spitler (J-275), Alicia Dean (B-105), Brittany Cook (M-55), Shelby Messer (M-65) and Rachel Schafer (M-60).
Silver medal winners were: Caylee Dempler (X2)(N-75), Trenton Anderson (M-50), Brittany Cook (M-55), Chayce Young (M-60), Shane Applegate (M-65), Gage Sproles (PW-50), Taylor Cosby (N-95), Zach Robbins (N-140), Andy Marthin (C-125) and Scottland Sons (C-171).
Bronze medal winners were: Kendall Spiller (M-65), Josh Meskowski (B-45), Chuck Whalen (C-119) and Phillip Wimpee (C-125).
“We had two great tournaments over the weekend, thanks to the great volunteers that helped us,” Lide White executive director Ray Black Jr. said. “It’s really nice to see wrestling clubs and teams compete against each other on the mat and turn around and help each other put their tournaments on. We couldn’t have done it without our wrestlers’ parents, coaches, and wrestlers. Special thanks also to Hanover, Jennings County, Scottsburg, Charlestown, and Columbus East Wrestling Clubs. They were great.”
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People at play-Steve Coad takes a look at local people involved in the world of sports.
By STEVE COAD, FREE PRESS SPORTS REPORTERWed, April 12, 2006
Katie Patroch of London was honoured recently as Lakehead University's female athlete of the year, a nifty feather in her cap at the conclusion of her wrestling career with the Thunderwolves.
Patroch, 23, is a Saunders secondary school grad completing her teaching degree at Lakehead in Thunder Bay.
Her achievements this season included winning the silver medal in the women's 61-kilogram class at the Ontario university championships and the bronze medal at the national championship meet.
Patroch was named a second-team Ontario all-star and her team's MVP.
While her university athletic days are behind her, Lakehead coach Owen Dawkins says there's plenty of wrestling ahead for Patroch.
"I'm hoping she'll stick around (Thunder Bay) for her international stuff. University is just one level," Dawkins says.
"This is actually just the beginning of her wrestling career. There's a lot she wants to do internationally."
Leading the cheers for Katie are her proud parents, Sally and Dave Patroch.
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Community: Girls can wrestle too
By VERN MILLER, JR.
Herald Sports Writer 4/12/06
Not every American Idol is singing on television.
A thumbs up from Simon Cowell doesn't count for much in a Blairstown gym.
Frelinghuysen Elementary School sisters Skylar and Brielle Grote don't get to just cast a vote for their idol.
They get to wrestle her.
As members of the Blairstown Wrestling Program, the eight- and nine-year-old girls wrestle North Warren High School wrestler Samantha Fee, the reigning New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York high school United States Girls Wrestling Association champion.
"It's excellent, I really enjoy the opportunity to work with the kids," said Fee, a 17 year-old senior. "It's a lot of fun showing the kids combinations and being able to help out the coaches.
"And the Grote kids are just awesome."
Skylar and Brielle are second-year wrestlers, and were hooked by their father, Dr. Walter Grote, a 1978 alternate member of the U.S. Olympic team and volunteer at Kittatinny and Blair Academy.
What started out in the basement of the family's home, has grown with the Blairstown program.
They also work with North Warren's Matt Ritchie, who works with kids of all ages every Tuesday and Thursday.
Skylar has also trained at Blair Academy with coach Jeff Buxton.
The youngest of seven children from an athletic family — brother Michael pitched at Pope John, Luke quarterbacked Kittatinny, Eric played baseball at West Morris and sister Mary field hockey at Kittatinny — Brielle plays softball and might rather be horseback riding with sister Vanessa than on the mat.
She finished fifth at the USGWA New Jersey Championship on March 18.
Skylar finished first at the Kittatinny Christmas and Bangor, Pa. tournaments, and finished second at the New Jersey State Championship and Great Western, Pa. events.
Both have expressed admiration for Fee.
"Samantha is their idol," said the girl's mother, Debbie Grote. "She is absolutely wonderful to the girls and is such a nice, nice young lady.
"They love when Sam throws them around the mat."
Fee has been nursing a sore shoulder since the end of the Patriots' season, but won the 146-pound USGWA New Jersey Championship on March 18 and the Pennsylvania title the following day.
A week later, she traveled to Long Island and won four matches for the New York Championship.
The first week of April, she competed against 32 girls at the National Championship in Michigan.
Fee wrestled in the 138-pound division, in what she called "a really tough bracket, with the toughest middleweight competition."
After two wins Saturday, she suffered a 1-0 defeat in the pre-quarterfinals. She pinned her first opponent in the wrestle backs, won a 9-2 decision followed by a 5-1 decision.
In her fourth match, she notched a 3-1 decision over Rachel Tiedeman of Wisconsin, avenging her Saturday loss.
She is now rehabbing her shoulder with an eye on resuming her training on April 19.
She hopes to be able to wrestle at the upcoming Body Bar Tournament in Colorado Springs, but the financing necessary for travel and accommodations is lacking.
Colorado Springs is home to the U.S. Olympic training site, a place Fee hopes to train at one day.
Dr. Grote, a physician at the New York Athletic Club, hopes to sponsor her.
"Sam has all the tools needed to make the Olympic team," Debbie Grote said. "Plus she's just a great person, very humble and very appreciative of anything someone does to help her out."
Fee hopes to attend Missouri Valley College and will exhibit the same effort towards her studies that she shows on the mat.
"I've just got to keep working," she said. "I have to work as hard on my grades as I do on my wrestling.
"But I can't wait for the 19th to get here so I can start wrestling again — I'm really anxious."
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