News Page
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Alan Loignan, Biddeford senior: A two-time Class A state champion, who went 39-1 last season, Loignan returns to defend his titles at 160. "Alan has worked very hard to attain his two state championships," Biddeford Coach Ron Zellers said. "He has molded himself into an excellent high school wrestler."
Bobby Dedovic, Bonny Eagle senior: After finishing third at 119 at last year´s Class A state meet, Dedovic moves up to 130. "He is very intelligent and completely dedicated to wrestling," Bonny Eagle Coach Mike Kane said. "He is aware of everything going on around him and keeps his cool."
Jacob Berry, Camden Hills junior: Berry moves up to 152 after winning his first Class B state title at 140. "He´s the type of wrestler people like to watch," Camden Hills Coach John Kelly said. "He´s very aggressive and likes to score points quickly."
Kristi Pearce, Camden Hills junior: After going into overtime to finish as the Class B runner-up at 103, Pearce returns in her quest to become the first female to win a state title. "She seems to be a little more motivated to achieve that goal that slipped from her last year," Camden Hills Coach John Kelly said.
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Daigle duo continues to impress at Skyview
By Ben Stuart
Staff Writer 12/14/06
The Mariner wrestling team finished sixth out of eight teams at the Skyview Invitational Saturday and was bolstered by several strong performances.
Topping that list was 112-pounder Ben Daigle who beat Skyview’s Michaela Hutchison, last season’s state champion at 103 pounds, 3-2. Hutchison is currently ranked third at 112 pounds according to akmat.org.
It was the first time second-ranked Daigle beat Hutchison.
“We planned out what I was going to do and it worked,” said Daigle.
Daigle also knocked off Colony’s fifth-ranked Kyle Wilson 2-1 to go undefeated for the weekend.
He’ll likely get a chance to wrestle his weight division’s top-ranked wrestler, Service’s Anthony Ricketts, this weekend when the Mariners wrestle at the West X-Mas tournament in Anchorage. The duo have split two previous meetings this season. But to get to Ricketts, Daigle will likely have to beat Hutchison again.
“It’s going to be a hard tournament,” Daigle said. “It’s all on one day.”
Daigle’s older brother, Simeon, also was undefeated over the weekend at 130 pounds. Simeon now has more than 20 wins this year and is the state’s top ranked wrestler at that weight.
Robbie and Tris Brymer both earned 3-1 records over the weekend.
Colony won the Skyview Invitational, beating Soldotna. Homer’s smaller team had to forfeit four weight-classes.
The Mariners dual West on Friday, then battle 15 other teams at the West X-mas on Saturday.
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By: John Power
12/14/2006
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If you watch wrestling practice at Liberty High School you will see 34 athletes churning in pairs across the practice mat, sweating and grunting while coaches walk among them, exhorting them to work harder. What is difficult to pick out from the crowd is sophomore Juli Burke, the only girl on the team and the first female wrestler in Fauquier County, because she appears to meld nearly seamlessly with this all-male team.
In her second season on the JV she is breaking ground at the high school level just as she did at Metz Middle School in Manassas, paving the way for female athletes and showing boys and girls alike the face of determination.
"The Burke-inator" as she is known to her teammates and friends has a long history of wrestling for a 15-year old. At Metz she wrestled during her sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade years after her shop teacher, Tim Weaver, suggested she try out.
She was reportedly the first female to participate on a boys team in Prince William County and her efforts emboldened other girls to try out. By eighth grade, four girls were on the wrestling team. She now describes Weaver as one of her heroes. It was his accepting attitude that gave her the confidence to tap the potential hidden inside her athletic 5-foot-5, 170-pound frame.
I grew up as a tomboy. My father had always wanted a boy and the doctor's sonogram told them I was a boy," says the blue-eyed sophomore. "I never thought of myself as attractive, I've always been pudgy, overweight. I used to get teased all the time and coming out here and seeing guys that I used to know back then and they see me and say 'Aw man, I don't even want to mess with her now, I don't want to make fun of her.'...I do think sometimes I have something to prove."
Metz athletic director Ronda Brown wasn't sure if it was a good idea to allow Burke to wrestle. "It is an unusual situation for a girl to try out for a male athletic team, and I was concerned, but after speaking with Juli and her parents and seeing her drive and determination I thought it would be a good experience for her. Juli was a very determined girl even at a young age and clearly knew the direction she wanted to go in," she said.
It was after speaking with her parents that she saw that wrestling was in Juli's blood. Her father, Thomas J. Burke, won a state heavyweight wrestling title at Manassas Park High in 1984. She credits him with instilling a strong competitive spirit, which might even be described as carrying a chip on her shoulder. She inherited some of his natural athletic ability, as well as a superstition for wearing pink shoelaces when she competes.
After her parents divorced, she moved to Fauquier County with her mother Yolanda Burke-Tines and sister Crystal. At Liberty she tried out for both football and wrestling. She did not make it onto the football team, instead landing a job as its manager.
"I tried," she said of the effort. "But as an actual sport, going out there on a Friday night, I don't think I could do it."
Eagle wrestling coach Dean Spahr had a reaction that Burke has seen many times when she said she wanted to try out. One can only imagine how many rolling eyeballs she has endured. Spahr is a serious no-nonsense coach and a strong motivator, but he was not prepared for Burke.
"I was a little nervous at first, but it all worked out," he said with a smile. "She's been great. The only difference between her and the guys is she has a different locker room."
The reactions have not always been good ones and Juli has been heckled at times. One one male wrestler (who wrestled for a Christian school) forfeited rather than compete against her, citing his religion. Burke was asked if she thought there was a prejudice against female athletes playing male sports.
"I think there is," she replied. "People saying things like 'She's gonna get beat five steps in' and then they see me go off, they see me pin a guy. It's good to know it kind of opens their eyes."
Burke has opened a lot of eyes and seems to truly enjoy doing so, although that has never been her primary focus. Opinions by male rivals vary from begrudgingly acceptance to downright rejection. Once an oddity to her teammates, now they hardly notice she is a girl.
That doesn't mean she is completely accepted though. One Eagle summed up his feelings this way: "I'll tell you what, she goes out there with me and I won't show her any mercy. This is a men's sport, women have no business being in it."
Burke has grown used to that attitude and it seems to fuel her fire. She did not intend to be a groundbreaker or make waves, she just loves a male-dominated sport. "I am not going to always be on a guys team. I am going to look forward to a girls team, but for right now this is what I have to work ... I think it's good because I get to work with guys that are stronger than me, guys that may have been wrestling since they were five years old."
She did not make an impact her first year on the JV squad. She was a passenger in a serious car accident that ended her season before it really had a chance to begin. A metal plate from the seat in front of her hit her, slicing a four-inch scar across her forehead.
That scar has faded to near invisibility. But last summer she endured the loss of a very close aunt, as well as a cousin. "I went through a lot of loss this summer," she said.
Those experiences have only strengthened her resolve as she pursues her second season wrestling at LHS. She has also found a second love in drama class and is considering pursuing an acting career later in life. "I pass my classes but I am not good at anything except drama," she says.
She has remained a typical teen with an enthusiastic air about her. She dyes her hair red, a bright shade that has earned her the nickname "Clementine" (there is a red-headed teammate called "Tangerine"), lists her favorite movie as "Army of Darkness," and likes to paint in her spare time and listen to music. "I literally mean this when I say I love every genre of music there is."
The love of music and drama came from her mother Yolanda, who tried to interest both of her daughters in the arts. Yolanda said she supports her daughter's decision to wrestle.
"She has always had a great sense of humor, she loves to laugh and sing ... She loved to play matchmaker after her father and I were split up and she even managed to get me a date once when we were swimming at the public pool," said her bemused mother "We're even still friends," she added.
Liberty enters its second season under Spahr. Last year the squad sent seven wrestlers went to region competition and three to the Group AA state championship.
For Juli, this season has been a mixed bag. "I got my win stolen from me," she recalled heatedly about her first meet of the year. "He was on his back or stomach the entire time. I kept taking him down, taking him down. All you heard was 'Whap!' And then everyone in the crowd going 'Ooooooh!' Guys don't know they are wrestling a girl until we are called up and then they are like 'Oh god...'"
Spahr was asked if he had thought the ruling was unfair as well. His reply showed how she is really like every other wrestler on the team: "Everybody that loses a match thinks they got robbed. She lost."
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Gord Garvie Championship special to U of S
HUSKIES THIRD AMONGST CANADIAN TEAMS
The tournament was capped off with an All-Star Dual, USA vs. Canada. Huskies Amy Dyck (59 kg) and Beth Thompson (82) both represented the University of Saskatchewan and Canada in this final dual.
Thompson was a late addition as there was an injury: "She had an exciting match, but came up short in the final dual of the competition," said Hinds.
Dyck came from behind in her match to cap off a perfect weekend in an epic battle against Othella Lucus of Cumberland University, to help Team Canada to win over the USA in a very close and competitive dual.
The Huskie Wrestling Team will be training throughout December to make a run for the Canada West and CIS Championship hosted in Saskatoon Feb. 16-17 and Mar. 1-3, respectively.
RELEASE FROM LAKEHEAD:
THUNDER BAY ON - The Calgary Dinos women's wrestling team from Calgary, Alberta posted a perfect 4-0 record in round robin action and then went on to defeat the Cumberland College Patriots of Williamsburg, Kentucky in a hard-fought final to claim the Lakehead Gord Garvie North American Duals Championship held in Thunder Bay on Friday.
Cumberland also posted a 4-0 mark in round robin pool action but the Dinos proved too much in the final. Simon Fraser University of Vancouver, British Columbia took the team bronze while the United States Olympic Education Centre team from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan took fourth.
Lakehead North American Women's Duals Championships Final Team Results
1) Calgary (5-0)
2) Cumberland College (4-1)
3) Simon Fraser (4-1)
4) Northern Michigan USOEC Team (3-2)
5) Missouri Valley (3-2)
6) Cumberland College B Team (2-3)
7) Saskatchewan (2-3)
8) Lakehead (1-4)
9) Memorial (0-4)
10) Brock (0-4)
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