Wednesday, April 02, 2008
She'll wrestle today at 73 pounds in a field of 101 girls from across the nation. If she prevails, Vulgamore will compete Sunday for the national championship.
News Page
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| Wednesday, April 02, 2008 |
| Sierra Vulgamore won the United States Girls
Wrestling Assocation national title during the championships last
weekend in Lavonia, Mich. Wednesday, April 02, 2008 |
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| Vulgamore a standout for Westfall youth wrestling |
| Sierra Vulgamore not only has beaten almost every
boy she has faced this year, she has beaten every girl, going 28-3
along the way. Vulgamore, who is the only girl in the Westfall youth
wrestling program, left with her family yesterday for the United States
Girls Wrestling Association National Championships in Lavonia, Mich. She'll wrestle today at 73 pounds in a field of 101 girls from across the nation. If she prevails, Vulgamore will compete Sunday for the national championship. |
In the last three weeks, Hillcrest High School senior Brittany Delgado has won two national championships in wrestling and decided on her college destination.
Delgado recently returned from Livonia, Mich., where she claimed the title in the 250-pound division at this past weekend's United States Girls Wrestling Association national championships. She's the nation's No. 1 heavyweight, according to the USGWA's high school rankings.
That victory came on the heels of Delgado's performance at the first-ever Girls Folkstyle National Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla., in mid-March, when she pinned her way to the title in the 185-and-over division.
The day after the folkstyle championships, Delgado toured the campus of Oklahoma City University and decided to commit to the first-year program. Oklahoma City fell one point shy of the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) in the race for the women's national championship.
"I figured if they're that good just starting out, then they're doing something right," Delgado said. "And it's a beautiful campus, so that always helps."
Delgado won a USGWA national championship for the third time. She also has a pair of national titles in USA Wrestling Junior Olympic competition.
"I think the only edge I have over most girls is I've been doing this longer than most of them, so in situations where I've been before, I know how to counter it," she said. "Some girls haven't been wrestling long enough to know what they need to do. A lot of the girls I've wrestled have been wrestling for five or six years, whereas I've been wrestling for 14. They have a lot of experience. It's just that I have a little bit more, and it helps in sticky situations."
Delgado has become accustomed to the favorite's role, but she cautions that she can't let her guard down.
"You have to expect to win, because if you wrestle not to lose, then you end up losing," she said. "Then again, you can't go in there all cocky, or you'll get thrown."
Baldwinsville,
NY.---About 900 wrestlers from over 20 states are competing today at
the Gene Mills Eastern National Pin 2 Win Wrestling Tournament, held at
the Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena.
The seventh annual event was expected to attract about 5,000 people,
said Gene Mills, event organizer and four-time SU All-American
wrestler. Competitors ranged in age from four through 18, and about 100
girls participated in the competition.
Dan Foster, an eleventh-grader at Cortland High School, won his first
match and was excited by the tournament's strong level of competition.
"Wrestling is one of those sports that keeps me training harder and
harder. I can't get enough of it," Foster said.
Contributing
writer Christina Clarkson will have a full report on this story in
Sunday's Post-Standard.
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