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Pan Am: Huynh wins gold in wrestling

Canadian Press

7/26/2007 10:46:06 PM

Carol Huynh (top)

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CP) - All four of Canada's female wrestlers reached the podium at the Pan American Games on Thursday, but with only one gold in the mix, the team wasn't doing much celebrating.

Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., was the lone member of the Canadian squad to reach the top of the podium, winning gold in the 48-kilogram class.

Olympic silver medallist Tonya Verbeek of Beamsville, Ont., was ousted in the semifinals of the 55-kilogram division and had to settle for a disappointing bronze while teammate Ohenewa Akuffo of Brampton, Ont., was pinned in the 72-kilogram gold-medal final.

Megan Dolan of St. Catharines, Ont., also captured a bronze at 63 kilograms.

"I was hoping to have at least a couple champions here, I'm not going to lie," said Canadian women's coach Leigh Vierling. "I expected all four to be on the podium but we want to be better than that."

Huynh, a native of Hazelton, B.C., dominated Ingrid Medrano of El Salvador to take the gold in the 48-kilogram class in two rounds.

"I was very confident going in," said Huynh. "And I think the result kind of spoke for itself."

Verbeek won the first round of the best-of-three semifinal bout against American Marcie Vandusen 7-0. But Vandusen took the second 2-1 then scored a 7-2 victory in the third round to secure the win. The American went on to lose in the gold-medal match after she was called for an illegal move against Colombia's Jackeline Renteria.

Verbeek easily defeated Tahamara Barron of Mexico in the bronze-medal match.

"It's hard," said Verbeek, who captured a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. "You have expectations of yourself and you know what you're capable of and when you fall short of that out there it's very frustrating."

Verbeek has beaten Vandusen a number of times in the past.

"Tonya I know will rebound," said Vierling. "She's one of those people that puts a fire in her belly."

Akuffo's match was over in a flash after she was pinned by Kristie Marano of the U.S. in the first round.

"You're disappointed because second is not exactly what I came here to do," said Akuffo. "But then I look at the big picture and it's like I have world championships coming up."

Vierling said the loss will be an important learning experience for Akuffo, especially with the world championships coming up in Azerbaijan.

"Ohenewa's got the tools to do it but she's going to have to be focused and tough and all things we expect of our wrestlers to perform," said Vierling

"She's getting there. This is a good measuring stick and in lots of ways this gives us some things to work on.

"This would have been an important stepping stone here and we're going to have to use it a lesson instead of a confidence booster," he added.

Akuffo and Verbeek said they would rather they get the kinks out in Rio than at the world championships, where there will be Olympic berths on the line. The top eight in each division will qualify for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

"You're not happy, but it's a learning experience," said Akuffo. "Like anything that doesn't break me will make me stronger. That's a goal I have for myself. This is a great competition, but it doesn't qualify me for the Olympics and the world championships will. I will take this and then it's building a plan over the next few weeks."

Verbeek said she's going to try and look at the brighter side of the disappointing result.

"If you stick to that negativity it's going to hang on to you forever," she said. "You really can't. You've got to say what's done is done now move forward and look ahead.

"It's best that I make my mistakes here as opposed to worlds or in Beijing."

Canada and the United States were the favourites coming into Rio. All three bouts that the Canadians lost came against American opponents. The two countries often train together and a healthy rivalry has developed between their athletes.

"There's lots of highs and lows," Vierling said of the tournament. "We lost three matches in this tournament and they were all to the U.S. Coming in, we're two of the top teams in the world and I think we showed that. but we have performed better against the U.S."

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Canadian Medal Winners

TSN tracks Canada's top performances in Rio.

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Eight Oklahoma City recruits become All-Americans

DATE: 7/28/2007 2:23:00 PM
Fargo, ND
By Rich Tortorelli
Oklahoma City University

Eight Oklahoma City University women’s wrestling recruits placed and became all-Americans at the Junior National Championships this week at the FargoDome, highlighted by Nicole Woody’s 102-pound junior national title.

Woody, a freshman from Gambrills, Md., won her fourth national title.

“We have an outstanding recruiting class,” OCU coach Archie Randall said. “OCU was the talk of the tournament. We have high expectations for our new program.”

Three others made the finals. Ashley Hudson, a freshman from St. Louis, finished as runner-up at 124, Samantha Phillips, a freshman from Manteca, Calif., was runner-up at 130 and Marina Piccolotti, a freshman from Pacifica, Calif., took second at 139.

Four others placed. Carrie Clark of Cedar Park, Texas, finished third at 165. Stephanie Waters of Joliet, Ill., placed fourth at 95.

Jennifer Peabody of Defiance, Ohio, was fifth at 124. Also at 102, Lene Wood of Frisco, Texas, finished sixth.

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NCWA To Create A Womens Collegiate Style Wrestling Division

07/19/2007 -
Dallas, Texas, July 20, 2007 --

The National Collegiate Wrestling Association has officially announced the addition of a Women’s Collegiate Division for the upcoming 2007-2008 season. This monumental addition will provide the only post high school collegiate style venue for women, thus catering to a deeply underserved wrestling population.

“We are excited to lead the way and act as pioneers for women’s wrestling” said NCWA Executive Director, Jim Giunta. “Women’s wrestling is rapidly growing across the nation on the youth and high school level, but there are very few options for them on the college level.”

Currently there are just under 5,000 girls wrestling in high school nationwide. Only a total of six colleges offer women’s freestyle teams and until this announcement, absolutely zero post high school opportunities to wrestle women’s collegiate style wrestling.

Going into its 11th year, the NCWA currently has nearly 150 colleges and universities across the nation with successful men’s wrestling programs. With a strong core structure already in place, adding a women’s division to run along side the men’s should allow for a seamless and well received inaugural first year.

The NCWA is committed to providing and expanding athletic leadership opportunities through involvement in collegiate style wrestling.

With a strong commitment to providing and expanding collegiate style wrestling opportunities, the NCWA’s Goal is to have over 300 Universities actively competing intercollegiately by 2012. That’s more teams than the NCAA DI, DII and DIII currently have combined. With a bold Goal, so comes a bold Vision. The Vision of having a team at every college…every private, every public, every junior, every community college, every trade school, every secondary institution that wants to grow leaders.

Although the men’s and women’s wrestling divisions will be conducted separately, they will operate under almost identical rules and regulations as set forth by the National Collegiate Wrestling Association and the team’s respected institutions.

Since 1997, NCWA events have provided over 100,000 additional college matches to over 9,000 student athletes. These graduates would not have been afforded college competition without the expanded opportunities provided by NCWA member institutions’ coaches and volunteers.

About the National Collegiate Wrestling Association:

The National Collegiate Wrestling Association is committed to providing and expanding Athletic Leadership Opportunities through involvement in Collegiate Style Wrestling.

The NCWA is designed to be a spawning ground for America’s Leaders. NCWA Students not only excel athletically and compete well with their NCAA counterparts, but NCWA Wrestlers take athletics to another level. NCWA Student Athletes learn more than just how to wrestle, they Learn Leadership skills. Through a wrestling team model students not only learn, but get practical applied leadership skills. Some of which include: group organizational management, business budgeting, proposal and presentation planning, fund raising, motivational speaking, winning attitude, transportation coordination, and many other leadership skills necessary to make their team a success both on and off the mat.

NCWA Administration is 100% Volunteer. From the Executive Director and Board to the Conference Chairmen and Committees, the NCWA is the only National Wrestling Association that is 100 % Volunteer. That means 100% of any money earned goes to work providing serious opportunities for today’s young people.

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Canada wins women soccer bronze at Pan American Games, Verbeek loses wrestling semi at

15:57 on July 26, 2007, EST.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CP) - The Canadian women's soccer team rallied from a pair of embarrassing losses to capture a bronze medal at the Pan American Games on Thursday while Canada also won its first gold medal in diving.

Christine Sinclair and Kristina Kiss scored to lead Canada to a 2-1 win over Mexico. The win was some consolation after earlier disappointment for the Canadians in Rio and a positive ending to the tournament as the team heads into the World Cup in China.

The Canadians were using the Pan Ams as a tuneup for China, and had a major wakeup call when they were thrashed 7-0 by Brazil in their final preliminary-round game. They then went on to lose 2-1 to the U.S. - which fielded an under-20 side at Rio - in the semifinals.

"Overall, it was a better performance than before," Canadian coach Even Pellerud said after the win. "So it's good to finish off on a good note, but it was never great. This is not the World Cup level, we need to get better."

In diving, Emilie Heymans of Longueuil, Que., and Marie-Eve Marleau of Laval, Que., finished first in the women's 10-metre synchronized platform competition with 327.30 points.

Mexico's Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz Galicia were second with 325.14 while Americans Haley Ishimatsu and Mary Beth Dunnichay were third, 29.76 points back.

It's Canada's second diving medal of the Games after Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Arturo Miranda of Pointe-Claire, Que., won bronze in the men's three-metre synchro on Wednesday.

Despatie was favoured for gold in the men's three-metre springboard later Thursday. He was leading after the preliminary round.

Meanwhile, Tonya Verbeek, a native of Beamsville, Ont., who won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, lost to American Marcie Vandusen in the semifinals of the women's 55-kilogram wrestling division. She will wrestle for bronze later in the day.

Ohenewa Akuffo of Brampton, Ont., won her 72-kilogram semifinal to advance to the gold-medal bout while Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., was a semifinal winner in the 48-kilogram class to move on to the final.

Megan Dolan of St. Catharines, Ont., will go for bronze at 63 kilograms.

Sinclair, who was playing her 100th game for Canada, scored in the 21st minute. The striker from Burnaby, B.C., knocked a cross from Brittany Timko of Coquitlam, B.C., past Mexican 'keeper Anjuli Ladron de Guevara.

Kiss, from Ottawa, stretched Canada's lead to 2-0, connecting on a penalty shot in extra time before the break after Sinclair was taken down from behind in the box.

Teresa Worbis scored Mexico's lone goal on a penalty shot in the 65th minute, slotting the ball to the right corner past Canada's 'keeper Karina LeBlanc of Maple Ridge, B.C.

In other early events Thursday:

-Angus Mortimer of Ottawa and Benjamin Russell of Dartmouth, N.S., are through to two more finals in canoe/kayak. Mortimer finished second in his heat to advance in the men's K-1 500-metre kayak competition while Russell won his heat in the men's C-1 500-metre canoe event. Both paddlers advanced Wednesday in their respective 1,000-metre events. On the women's side, Jill D'Alessio of Middle Sackville, N.S., won her K1 500-metre heat to advance straight to the final.

-Canada is second after the team technical routine in synchronized swimming. Montrealers Jessika Dubuc, Marie-Pierre Gagne, Eve Lamoureaux and Tracy Little, along with Dominika Kopcik of Surrey, B.C., Elise Marcotte of Ancienne-Lorette, Que., Jennifer Song of Calgary and Isabelle Rampling of Burlington, Ont., combined for 94.833 points. The U.S., was first with a score of 95.000.

-Marie-Pier Beaudet of Levis, Que., and Kristen Niles of Fredericton, N.B., were both eliminated in the second round of the women's individual archery competition. Beaudet lost 103-99 to Natalia Sanchez of Colombia while Niles fell 110-99 to Larissa Pagan of Cuba. Kateri Vrakking of Toronto lost her first outing 106-105 to Brazil's Petra Ruocco.