Monica Gonzalez had to make up for last year.

So she did, and earned a national title at the same time.

The Hogan senior wrestler took first at 154 pounds Saturday at the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals in Oklahoma City.

Last April, Gonzalez was expected to contend for the title at the USGWA National Tournament in Detroit, but bowed out early in the tournament.

Saturday, Gonzalez won the national title that eluded her last year, even if it was in a different tournament.

Gonzalez won two matches on Saturday, and was awarded the title because of a medical forfeit in the championship match.

She was, however, dominant in her matches and managed to go injury free throughout the day.

Hogan temamate Christine Alcantara took fifth at 95 pounds.

Both will compete for the state of California today in the USAW national dual meet.

Oklahoma

Cumberlands wins women's college wrestling national title

Associated Press - March 16, 2008 12:35 AM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Cumberlands of Kentucky crowns four champions, including Theresa Fennell at 95 kilograms, as the Patriots hold off host Oklahoma City University today to win the Women's College Wrestling Championships.

Cumberlands scored 118 team points while OCU had 117. The two teams finished well ahead of third-place Missouri Valley, which had 68 points.

OCU had three individual winners in Briana Conway at 63 kilograms, Melissa Simmons at 72 kilograms and Carrie Clark at 82 kilograms.

The event was 1 of the first qualifiers for the Olympic Team Trials, which will be held June 13-15 in Las Vegas. OCU's Conway and Simmons received automatic berths in the trials by winning today.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Oklahoma

OCU looking to contend at Women's College Wrestling Championships

DATE: 3/14/2008 11:26:00 AM
By Rich Tortorelli
Oklahoma City University

Oklahoma City University’s women’s wrestling team has exceeded expectations for a first-year program.

OCU coach Archie Randall talked in the preseason about building a foundation for the future. Instead, the Stars captured the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Dual championship, rose to No. 1 in the national rankings, have three top-ranked individuals and will be a contender for the national championship in the Women’s College Wrestling National Championships on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena.

Randall said Ashley Hudson at 55 kilograms (121 pounds) and Nicole Woody at 48 kilos (105 pounds) will play key roles in determining OCU’s national-title chances.

Woody, Carrie Clark at 82 (181) and Lacey Novinska at 72 (158) are ranked No. 1 nationally in their weight classes. Briana Conway (63 kg/138 lbs.), Karon Scott (95/209), Melissa Simmons (72/158) and Ashley Sword (67/147) are each slotted No. 2 in their weight-class rankings.

Randall said Hudson and Woody would need to place at their weights for second-ranked OCU to upend top-ranked defending champion Cumberlands (Ky.).

“We’re going to have to perform well in the light weights,” Randall said. “We have to place higher than Cumberlands at each weight. Our upper weights are really good. We can win five weights. We have a good shot to be national champions.”

The tournament starts Saturday at 9 a.m. Semifinals are expected to begin at 1 p.m., third-place matches at 4 p.m., and the championship finals at 7:30 p.m., all at Abe Lemons Arena.

National titles are at stake at 44 kilos (97 lbs.), 48 (105), 51 (112), 55 (121), 59 (130), 63 (138), 67 (147), 72 (158), 82 (181) and 95 (209).

The champions at 48, 51, 55, 59, 63, 67 and 72 will qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 13-15 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

World Champion, Olympic Team Coach, and Hall of Fame wrestler Trish Saunders will conduct a free women’s wrestling technique clinic at noon at Abe Lemons Arena sponsored by Body Bar Systems, a USA Wrestling Women’s National Team sponsor. For information on the clinic, call Randall at 208-5379.

New York
Shorna Brown, Sportswoman of the Week
03/14/2008

Kingston High's Shorna Brown has blazed her own trail in the sport of girls wrestling the past few years.

A two-time New York state champion, Brown continues her path and consistenly finds her way into the national rankings.

Brown, a winner this year in the state competition, is the Freeman Sportswoman of the Week.

The senior captured the 146-pound title at the recent state tournament held at Fredonia High and will try for another at the United States Girls Wrestling Association tourney this coming week at Cobleskill-Richmondville High.

Brown finished the state tourney with a record of 4-1 after winning her weight class crown and then competing with a group of wrestlers in the 129-155 divisions.

In the third match of the tournament, Brown faced the defending 155 champion, Kelsey Suchocki, and came away with a win by decision, 6-2.

She is currently ranked eighth in the nation at the 146.

Brown is also a standout at Kingston in both volleyball and outdoor track and field.

Last spring, Brown won the pentathlon championship in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association, then followed with a medal-winning fifth-place performance in the high jump at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.

Washington

YVCC wrestling dodges bullet

By ROGER UNDERWOOD
Yakima Herald-Republic 

YAKIMA -- For now, wrestling at Yakima Valley Community College lives.

But for how long?

That seemed the paramount question after Thursday's meeting of the college's board of trustees, during which a motion to discontinue the sport died because it did not receive a second.

"I'm grateful for the board members we have who did some research," co-coach Mike Schmitt said after a sometimes tense and occasionally contentious meeting in the Hopf Student Union building. "The problem we have with our administrators is that they don't think outside the box. They see a problem and they only see limited ways of solving it."

The problem for YVCC, since 2002, has been a complaint regarding Title IX, a 36-year-old federal law banning sex discrimination in schools. Women comprise approximately 64 percent of Yakima Valley's student body -- a higher percentage than compete in the college's varsity sports -- thereby putting the college in violation.

In January, Tomas Ybarra, vice president for instruction and student services, suggested the elimination of wrestling and the addition of women's cross country to satisfy the ongoing conflict with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Schmitt countered with a proposal to start a women's wrestling team, and asked that a decision on whether to terminate the men's squad be delayed from February's meeting to Thursday's.

At a study session preceding the board meeting, Ybarra and board member James Carvo spoke to the school's dilemma.

"This is a very emotional issue for everyone concerned," Ybarra said. "It's very difficult to even contemplate. But we do have to consider what's in the best interest of the college."

Said Carvo, "I've spent a lot of insomnia and green tea on this deal."

Schmitt and former YVCC wrestling coach Bob Spain said women's wrestling in Washington has grown rapidly in recent years, thus increasing the likelihood of attracting a large number of participants.

Spain added that he would donate $5,000 to start women's wrestling as a club sport, with the hope that it would later achieve varsity status.

"I have no doubt," Schmitt said, "that if we were given the go-ahead to start this that we could get at least 15 girls in the next 90 days."

Kaminsky, however, said her discussions with OCR attorneys indicated that the college didn't necessarily have such an option.

"They have made clear that they are the ones who determine what, if any, sports are added," she said. "When we added women's soccer (for the 2006-07 school year), that was their idea, not ours."

Kaminsky also said that YVCC stuggled financially to add women's soccer, and that adding another sport create further budgetary stress.

It was also emphasized to the board -- with members Carvo, Patricia Whitefoot, Lisa Parker and chairman Paul McDonald present and member Larry Sanchez said to be in Olympia -- that the only action to be considered Thursday was whether to terminate men's wrestling.

After Whitefoot said, "So moved," when Kaminsky read the motion, McDonald's request for a second went unanswered in the crowded Martin Luther King room.

What happens next, regarding the Title IX problem and wrestling, remains unclear.

"It's basically putting the question on hold," Ybarra said after the meeting. "Unfortunately, the situation has not changed. It's not better. And I can tell you, regarding the funding for an additional sport, that there is not a single S and A (students and activities) program that I would cut in favor of doing so."

Said Schmitt, "There's got to be a better way."