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PD girl wrestlers wipe out Tascosa

By STEVE BELVIN December 13, 2000
Globe-News Sports Writer

Janice Gooden came, saw and conquered. So did her teammates as the Palo Duro Lady Dons defeated the Tascosa Lady Rebels 48-9 in wrestling action Tuesday night at the Tascosa gym.

Gooden, last year's state runnerup, pinned Shelbee Hutchens in 1:34 in the 148-pound weight division. Gooden won despite nursing a pulled muscle in her chest cavity.

"It tightens up and makes it hard for me to breathe," said Gooden, who lost last in the state championship to former Caprock wrestler Tori Adams, the No. 1 wrestler in the nation last year.

"Coach had told us they were an upper body team so we could shoot for their legs. I told him I wanted to pick her up long enough to enjoy it, slam her down and pin her. He said it sounded like a plan to him."

Gooden was holding a 2-0 lead when she pinned Hutchens with a bar-arm-half. She admits her many battles with Adams last year are paying off.

"I wrestled her 10 times last year," she said. "A lot of times she didn't go as hard as she could just because she needed the mat time. We talked some. I learned a lot from her. I look up to her."

One of the main reasons for the lopsided score was that Tascosa forfeited three matches, but the Lady Dons still outscored them 30-9.

Tascosa coach Johnny Cobb said his team's goal is to be ready for district.

"We eventually hope to have a full team, all the girls ready to compete, injury free," said Cobb. "We've been working on this for a long time. Maybe by district we'll be able to rattle some cages. But the girls did well, considering they're wrestling against maybe the No. 1 team in the country."

Tascosa's three wins came via a forfeit in the 110-pound division; Jennifer Brantley nipping Stormy Grear 12-11 in the 102-pound division, and Houston Shepard pinning Tabitha Powell in 1:59.

Brantley, a sophomore, started out quickly against Grear, getting three back points and a near pin to take a 7-2 lead. But the Palo Duro freshman battled back, tying the score at 7-apiece with a chicken wing move. But Brantley reversed the hold for two points and never trailed after that. The match ended with Grear going for a barbed wire hold but never being able to get it on.

"I was just thinking I've got to get up. If I don't I'm going to get my but kicked," said Brantley. "This is her first year wrestling and I've been wrestling since the seventh grade. I have a little more technique than she does."

Grear who is 1-4 in matches this year, said all of her matches have been close.

"I didn't know the score was that close, mostly I was just trying to pin her with the barbed wire. She had real good technique and was real strong in her upper body."

Getting pin wins for the Lady Dons were Lauren Lindsey in the 119-pound division, Viviana Rios (128) and Casey Brittan (165).

"I think we had some girls that wrestled really well and some that didn't wrestle as well as they could've," said Palo Duro coach Lisa Hunt. "I'm real pleased with the way Stormy (Grear), Lauren (Lindsey) and Viviana (Rios) wrestled. Tabitha (Powell) can wrestle a lot better than she wrestled tonight, but their wild techniques threw us off."

In a scary moment, Palo Duro's junior varsity wrestler Roberta Gallegos injured her back and had to be taken out on a stretcher. She was released from Northwest Texas Hospital Tuesday night.

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Area wrestling hits the mat tonight

By STEVE BELVIN 11/13/2000
Globe-News Sports Writer

Wrestling season officially begins tonight and what better way to start it off than with two of the top girls programs in the state going head-to-head in a dual match?

That's what happens tonight at the Palo Duro gym when the Lady Dons and Lady Longhorns square off at 7 p.m. Other season opening action has the Caprock and Palo Duro varsity boys squaring off at 6 p.m. at Palo Duro and Boys Ranch and Amarillo High getting started at 7 p.m. at the Amarillo High gym. Saturday, a lot of the area teams will be in action at the Dumas tournament.

The Caprock Lady Longhorns are coming off a state championship season, where they finished ranked No. 1 in the country according to United States Girls Wrestling Association.

Last year Caprock won the girls state title with 90.5 points, three points more than Arlington Sam Houston. Palo Duro finished third with 69 points.

But even though Caprock got the last laugh last year, Palo Duro had its share of laughs in between, winning the district dual championship and district team championship.

But there's one distinct difference from the teams this year- Caprock lost almost its entire state championship winning team to graduation while Palo Duro returns virtually its entire team.

"We have our whole team back and they lost most of their kids. But they are still the defending state champs," said Palo Duro coach Steve Nelson. "On paper, they're probably the favorite because they're still ranked No. 1 in the country, But with all the kids coming back, we expect to win."

The Lady Dons are so deep that its heavyweight, senior Dyana McIntire, won't be competing in this match because she was beaten out by sophomore teammate Juanetta McCampbell. McIntire is ranked No. 2 in the nation by the USGWA.

Also back for Palo Duro is Kruncy Inthirath, the defending state champion in the 95-pound division. There's also Jennifer Fuller (102), Lauren Lindsey (119), Viviana Ross (128), Tabitha Powell (138) and Janice Gooden (148). Gooden was beaten in the state finals by Caprock's Tori Adams, considered the best prep wrestler in the country last year. This year, Gooden is ranked 7th nationally.

Casey Brittan (165),who ranks 7th nationally, and Rachael Morgan (185) round out the squad.

Caprock assistant coach T.J. Johnson said the young wrestlers on his squad are showing vast improvement.

"If we had the same girls back as last year defending our championship, that would be great. Unfortunately we don't have them back so it's going to be hard," joked Johnson. "Honestly, these young girls are working hard, they're really shinning. We have a couple that have not wrestled before."

The Lady Longhorns return junior defending state champion Maria Hernandez in the heavyweight division and Dedra Puentes (110).

Johnson said he and head coach Scott Tankersley have let the girls know what's ahead of them being the defending state champs.

"I'm sure coach Nelson will have his girls jacked up for us," he said. "We're the defending state champs and people are going to come after us whether we like it or not, so we might as well get used to it."

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Wrestling: Palo Duro girls beat defending state champs

11/17/2000

The Palo Duro Lady Dons won Round 1 of the battle of wrestling powers as they dominated the defending state champion Caprock Lady Longhorns 45-8 in the season opening match at Palo Duro gym.

Caprock, which lost virtually its whole team from last year, managed only two victories in the match. In the 110-pound weight division, Hope Jones defeated Stormy Grear 15-0 and 119-pounder Dedra Puentes defeated Lauren Lindsey 9-4.

Perhaps Palo Duro's biggest victory was sophomore Juanetta McCampbell pinning Marie Hernandez in 3:13. Hernandez is the defending state heavyweight champion.

Palo Duro also got four other pins in the match. Ninety-five ponder Kruncy Inthirath pinned Monica Harris in 45 seconds; 102-pounder Jennifer Harris pinned Nadia Hernandez in 1:28; 165-pounder Casey Brittain pinned Amanda Flores in 1:02 and 185-pounder Rachael Morgan pinned Christine Parker in 1:45.

Palo Duro coach Steve Nelson was very pleased with his team's win.

"In July of this year in Dayton, Ohio, I was inducted into the United States Hall of Fame for my silver medal finishes in the 1991 and 1994 World Amateur Wrestling Championships." Nelson said. "The joy of that honor does not even compare to the excitement I get out of seeing my kids be successful. I am very proud."