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There was the excitement of a double-dual wrestling meet at Soddy-Daisy, and
then there was the electricity when the girls got their turn.
“It’s always exciting when you have four teams going on two mats, but when
the girls took over, you could feel the electricity in the air,” Soddy-Daisy
coach Steve Henry said.
After the Trojans beat Greeneville and Johnson City Science Hill and
McCallie split with the upper East Tennessee teams, Soddy-Daisy’s girls
wrestled their Science Hill counterparts.
“It’s an emotional difference,” Science Hill coach Jeff Price said. “The
girls wrestle harder. With them, wrestling is more emotional and less
cerebral.”
They didn’t keep official scores, but Science Hill won seven of the 14
matches and there was one draw. It was a preview of the first girls’ state dual
tournament, a four-team invitational that will take place during the Division I
boys’ state duals Feb. 1-2 in Clarksville. There will be 10 weight classes —
four fewer than the guys’ competition — and those weights are 103, 112, 119,
125, 130, 138, 148, 155, 165 and 185 pounds.
“There’s no other sport that gets the adrenaline pumping like this one,”
said Soddy-Daisy’s Melissa Downs, a petite freshman who also plays soccer and
runs track.
Joining Downs with wins for Soddy-Daisy were Rachel Albrecht, Madison
Murray, Taylor Oakes, Taylor Lewis and Brook Hensley.
“They bring a special excitement to the gym. The girls don’t know how to
stall. They go full speed the whole time,” Henry said.
Girls’ wrestling is in its infancy in Tennessee, but some states have had
the sport for years.
“I don’t know if I had a daughter if I would let her wrestle,” said Mark
Witt, father of Taylor Witt, 130-pounder for the Soddy-Daisy guys. “I might be
a little more lenient if it was girls wrestling girls. Taylor has never
wrestled a girl, although we were sweating it out one time when it looked like
he might have to. For him and other guys that might have to wrestle girls, it’s
a no-win situation. You win and it’s, ‘So what, you beat a girl.’ But if you
lose you’d never live it down.”
Taylor wasn’t sure he’d want to wrestle a girl. He blushed when asked about
the possibility.
“It would be kind of weird, different,” he said. “There are moves I use on
guys that I feel would be inappropriate to do on a girl.”
His mother, Mary, agreed.
“If we had a daughter, I’d rather her wrestle a guy than for Taylor to
wrestle a girl,” she said.
Girls elsewhere in Tennessee, as close as Cumberland County and McMinn
County, have wrestled against boys. That may no longer happen if support for
girls’ wrestling continues to grow across the state. Science Hill
administrators already have approved a coaching supplement for next season.
“It’s a good sport. A member of our school board was in the crowd today,”
Price said. “I always thought we could have a good girls’ team, because there
are a lot of good girls’ athletes at Science Hill.”
Jeanne Henry, Steve’s wife, has been around the sport for years. The Henrys
have twin daughters of middle school age, and one replied in the affirmative
when asked if she would wrestle. Jeanne rolled her eyes.
“They do it in the living-room floor all time, and it drives me crazy,” she
said. “But seeing that they live with the coach, I think I would get outvoted
if they wanted to wrestle. But there are good points. You talk about exercise —
think about the strength and endurance it takes.”
Coach Henry believes it is a step in the right direction. It keeps girls
from wrestling guys and it could provide some Title IX relief to beleaguered
high school and college wrestling programs.
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A 25-year wrestling coach, Todd Stoke was not about to allow his daughter to take up the sport.
"He said that I wouldn't be strong enough," said Pacifica High junior Michi Stoke.
Without telling him, Stoke joined a wrestling club during her freshman year at Rio Mesa. He found out that week, but surrendered to her wish.
"Ever since I've won some matches, he's always been there for me," said Stoke.
So it was fitting that moments after pinning Mayfair's Crystal Espinosa in 2 minutes, 48 seconds in the 165-pound final at the 2008 CIF Girls Southern Regional Wrestling Tournament at Channel Islands High on Saturday, Stoke sprinted across the mat and jumped into the arms of her father, who is a Pacifica assistant.
"He has never been down on me," said Stoke.
Stoke, the No. 2 seed, didn't have much mat time in the two-day tournament. She pinned three opponents in less than a minute.
"My goal was to not get scored upon at this meet. I didn't think it would happen this easy," she said.
Her unblemished record was one of the highlights of the third CIF Southern Regional, which drew 309 wrestlers, making it the second largest girls' wrestling tournament in state history, according to longtime wrestling official Jim Stych. Only the 2005 state championships, for club wrestlers, drew more (320).
Tiffany Leon of Pacifica and Santa Paula's Nicole Harvey were the only other county wrestlers to advance to the championship matches.
Leon was pinned by Great Oak's Mahriah Johnson in 56 seconds in the 136-pound final and Harvey was pinned by Gabie Corona in 2:52 of the 146-pound final.
Harvey beat three seeded opponents, including No. 1 Jazmine Parham of South Hills and No. 4 Diana Casiano of Mayfair, to reach the final.
"This is the best that I've ever done," said Harvey, who was a seventh-place finisher at the 2007 state tournament. "After competing here last year, I wanted to show what I could do. I got to work and it paid off."
Bringing home fourth-place medals were Royal's Amelia Castillo (103 pounds), Fillmore's Rose Smith (154), Pacifica's Raelynn Pinkard (146) and Kiara Hodges (235).
South Hills won the team title. Pacifica was third.
Among the champions was Northview's Tatiana Padilla.
Padilla, a nine-time national champion and a candidate to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic girls' wrestling team, won the 126-pound title with a 21-4 win over Audrey Morehouse of Canyon Springs. Padilla's championship match nearly came to an abrupt end when she slumped to the mat with a shoulder injury just seconds into the first round. She recovered to totally dominate her opponent.
In a match featuring two nationally ranked opponents, Lauren Thompson of Cathedral Catholic pinned Ashley Mathews of Canyn in 49 seconds.
The biggest winner was the sport of girls' wrestling.
The record turnout of individuals and teams is a significant item for CIF event official Shari Ross to take back to the section office.
"This was originally a two-year pilot program," said Ross. "I think I have to commitment from the executive director (Jim Staunton) to make this a permanent event. We are working at it.
"It is great to see the increase of girls' interest in the sport. The entire Channel Islands staff has done a great job at running the event."
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TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's five-time world wrestling champion Saori Yoshida's winning streak has been brought to an end after 119 matches, ahead of her Olympic title defence in Beijing, press reports said Sunday.
She lost to American Marcie Van Dusen 2-0 in the 55-kilogramme category at the women's freestyle wrestling World Cup team competition in Taiyuan, China, on Saturday, Jiji and Kyodo news agencies reported.
It was 25-year-old Yoshida's first defeat since losing to two-time world champion Seiko Yamamoto at the 2001 national championships.
It was also her first loss in an international meet and marked the end of a 114-match winning streak against foreign competitors.
"It went wrong because I thought I could surely win and took it easy," Yoshida said. "The biggest shock is that I was beaten for the first time in an international meet."
"I realised that I needed to train much more ahead of Beijing. I definitely want to triumph at the Beijing Olympics," she added.
Yoshida, a quick tackler at 156 centimetres (5 feet 2 inches), won a record fifth straight world title in September at Baku, Azerbaijan, when the Japanese women won four out of seven golds.
Japan are the dominant force in women's wrestling, having won 54 titles in the past 19 world championships.
Yoshida and Kaori Icho in the 63kg category won two out of four gold medals on offer in Athens in 2004, when the sport made its Olympic debut.
Icho, 23, also set a record in Baku by winning a fifth straight world title, while her elder sister Chiharu, 25, won the 48kg division.
TAIYUAN, China--One of the most impressive winning streaks in Japanese sports history came to a stunning end here Saturday when Olympic champion wrestler Saori Yoshida lost for the first time in nearly seven years--and to a non-Japanese for the first time ever.
Yoshida lost 2-0 to American Marcie Van Dusen in the 55-kilogram class at the women's team World Cup, ending a 119-match winning streak that dated back to 2001.
A five-time world champion and the 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist, Yoshida was stunned by the loss and came off the mat in tears.
"The biggest shock was that I lost to a foreign opponent for the first time," Yoshida said later. " I realize I have to practice harder and harder before Beijing. I definitely want to win in Beijing."
Yoshida had jammed her right thumb during practice on Tuesday and, had it not been a team competition, might have withdrawn from the competition.
Yoshida was not able to finish off her trademark double-leg tackle, which the 25-year-old Van Dusen countered to score decisive points in a 4-1, 2-2x victory.
Van Dusen, the 2007 Pan Am Games silver medalist, finished 10th at last year's world championships , where Yoshida won the gold.
The World Cup consists of the top six nations, split into two preliminarhy groups. The top two in each group compete for the title.
Earlier in the day, Japan beat Ukraine, with Yoshida posting her 119th straight win.
But Yoshida's loss, combined with the withdrawal of 63-kg world champion Kaori Icho due to a back injury, proved costly as the United States won the duel meet 4-3 to advance to the final.
Going into the U.S. match, Yoshida had built up a 115-0 record against non-Japanese opponents--with one of those wins over Van Dusen, although it goes back quite a way.
At the 1999 world cadet championships (for 15-16 year olds), Yoshida scored an 11-0 technical fall over Van Dusen.
Yoshida's last loss came in December 2001 at the Japan championships, when she fell 3-2 to Seiko Yamamoto in the semifinals of the then-56-kg class.
Miyabiyama became yokozuna fodder for the second day in row on Saturday in Tokyo.
It wasn't a walkover though; the No. 2 maegashira went down fighting against Hakuho a day after he gave Asashoryu similar kinds of trouble.
Hakuho, who leads the tournament with a perfect 7-0 record, struggled to contain the makuuchi division's heaviest man before eventually throwing 185-kilogram Miyabiyama (2-5) to the dirt to close the first week of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
One win behind Hakuho are four wrestlers led by Asashoryu. The yokozuna beat komusubi Dejima in Saturday's penultimate bout to keep a share of second place with komusubi Kotoshogiku, No. 7 maegashira Takekaze and No. 10 Kyokutenho.
Asashoryu worked Dejima over at the Yokozuna Deliberation Council practice on Jan. 8, lending his chest to the former ozeki until he was almost vomiting. The scene here was very similar, as Asashoryu allowed the Musashigawa stable veteran to slide him toward the bales before stepping aside. Gravity did the rest as Dejima spun down to the dirt for his fifth loss.
Meanwhile, ozeki Chiyotaikai, struggling with an injured right elbow, decided to call it a tournament after suffering his seventh straight loss, his longest-ever losing streak to open a basho.
Chiyotaikai could do nothing against No. 1 maegashira Tokitenku (2-5), wh
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Won Lost
Kaiho 4-3 *Hakurozan 2-5
Ichihara 5-2 Tamanoshima 2-5
Tosanoumi 1-6 Yoshikaze 3-4
Tochiozan 4-3 Kakizoe 1-6
Kyokutenho 6-1 Iwakiyama 5-2
Takamisakari 3-4 Wakanoho 4-3
Wakakirin 1-6 Futeno 5-2
Kokkai 5-2 Toyohibiki 2-5
Kasugao 4-3 Kakuryu 5-2
Takekaze 6-1 Hokutoriki 3-4
Baruto 4-3 Homasho 3-4
Asasekiryu 5-2 Roho 2-5
Wakanosato 3-4 Tamakasuga 3-4
Kisenosato 5-2 Goeido 1-6
Kotoshogiku 6-1 Toyonoshima 3-4
Ama 4-3 Kotomitsuki 3-4
Tokitenku 2-5 Chiyotaikai 0-7
The Mount Baker girls’ wrestling team won the inaugural Dream Duals girls’ tournament with a 36-18 defeat of Kelso in the finals on Saturday.
“I thought we wrestled solid,” Mount Baker coach Ron Lepper said in a phone interview. “It was not our best day overall, I think we got a little distracted, but I thought we got things done when we had to and I’m pleased with the outcome.”
Roxanne Rosas (103 pounds), Alex Lepper (135) and Angel Ortiz (160) all went 3-0 individually. Lepper was down 10-1 at one point in her second match of the day, but came back to regain the lead and eventually won with a third-round pin. Ron Lepper also singled out the wrestling of Samantha Mount at 112 and Kristen Fogg at 119 pounds as being key to the championship.
The Mountaineers defeated Mary Walker 54-0 to start the day and then Warden 42-12 in the second dual.
It was only fitting that Lalelei Mata'afa represented the San Diego Chargers in the NFL's Punt, Pass, and Kick national final for youths in Indiana.
Mata'afa shocked her competition in the four-person, 8-9 age girls division on Jan. 12 in Indianapolis, a day before the Chargers rolled into the RCA Dome to stun the Colts and advance to the AFC championship.
Mata'afa, 9, of Lahaina, posted a cumulative score of 240 feet, 9 inches in the three events, more than 50 feet longer than the runner-up. She's believed to be the first winner of the event from Hawaii, going back to 1961.
"Once I did it, I looked out and it was at least 30 yards on each one," said Lalelei, who returned home early this week. "When I usually practice, I get nervous sometimes because we're at the park and people are watching me. When I got to the field I just did what I do."
Her score was even better than the winner of the 10-11 girls bracket, and 25 feet greater than the 8-9 boys winner.
But. as Lalelei's family back home knew, that was just about normal for her.
"She blew away the competition," said her father, Sama. "That's my baby. She's good in every sport she plays."
Having the contest in the empty dome the day before the Colts-Chargers game as opposed to halftime on gameday -- when the results and awards were shown on national TV instead -- turned out to be a blessing for Mata'afa, a fourth-grader at King Kamehameha School.
"I was kind of feeling nervous," she said. "We're on the Colts' field and in some way I know that people are like ... there's a lot of people there. I get nervous sometimes, and my throwing's off."
There turned out to be nothing wrong with that -- her throw turned out to be nearly 86 feet, her best of the three categories (73 feet, 11 inches in the punt; 81 feet, 2 inches in the kick). Those distances were about the norm as she worked her way through competitions on Maui, on the Big Island (the state P.P.K.) and in San Diego (the regional) for the second straight year.
Athletic success runs in the Mata'afa family. Lalelei's 13-year-old sister, Ginabella, also advanced to the regional, though she did not qualify for the national final. Lalelei had an "off-day" in San Diego, but was good enough to be handpicked as the fourth and final person in her division invited to the national.
During the winter before New Year's Day, her parents and some of her six siblings worked with her on kicking and throwing dead ahead several times a week -- the contest rewards distance along a straight line. But Lalelei's actual "practice" started many years earlier.
"She started at maybe 3 or 4 years old with the soccer kicking," said her mother, Sophie. "Just always being involved with sports, basketball and wrestling since 4. It's something she enjoys."
As the days wound down before the day of the contest, though, she tried not to listen to the advice of onlookers and well-wishers. Mata'afa's technique was being critiqued, and a change in her style in the final days before her round could have been uncomfortable and disastrous. Thankfully, her family told her to go with what felt natural from her countless, year-round sessions at Lahaina Park.
"Yeah I was just blocking out everybody's advice and I just did what I felt like was right," Lalelei said.
Part of her practice involved using heavier NFL-regulation footballs, which made it easier to use the smaller, lighter P.P.K. balls in competition.
The AFC game was full of nervous moments at the Mata'afa residence, but unfortunately no actual clips of Lalelei's competition were actually shown -- just the awards. Still, her parents were proud.
Besides her dominating win in the competition, the best part of the NFL-sponsored trip was seeing snow for the first time with siblings Hercules, 12, and Samalia, 28, as she flew in on the plane.
"The way I look back on it is I had confidence in myself that I could do it, then I came through with it," Lalelei said.