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Palo Duro girl matters rally to beat Caprock

By STEVE BELVIN Friday, January 12, 2001
Globe-News Sports Writer

The Caprock Lady Longhorns gave the Palo Duro Lady Dons quite a scare, but once the Lady Dons regained their composure, they lived up tho their No. 1 ranking, defeating the Lady Longhorns 33-15 Thursday night in dual wrestling action at the Caprock gym.

Caprock jumped out to a 15-0 lead before the Lady Dons responded to the challenge.

"I think Caprock sent a message to us," Palo Duro coach Steve Nelson said. "They'll be ready for us come time for the state tournament."

Although it wasn't indicative of Thursday's showing, Nelson said his squad can hold its on in the lighter weight divisions.

"We're strong in the light weight division, but tonight we didn't have our 95-pounder, (Kruncy Inthirath), who's the defending state champion; she was sick. Then we took our 104-pounder (Jennifer Fuller) and moved her up to 112 just so she could have a match. I think this can humble some of our egos a little."

Caprock coach Scott Tankersley said the experience factor was the major difference Thursday.

"We've improved a lot," said Tankersley, of his squad that was beaten by Palo Duro 45-8 in a district match in mid-November. "The problem is experience. We have a lot of young kids and I felt like they did a super job tonight. Palo Duro did a good job. It's just that their experience paid off."

The Lady Longhorns, the defending state champions, started off well as Monica Harris in the 102-pound division, Deedra Puentes in the 112-pound division and Yvette Madrid all won, giving the Lady Longhorns their 15-0 lead.

Harris pinned Stormy Greer with a cradle hold in two minutes, two seconds and Puentes pinned Fuller with a half-nelson hold. Madrid held off Lauren Lindsey for a 4-2 win. With less than a minute left, Madrid rallied with an escape and a near pin to gain the victory.

But after those four wins, it was all Palo Duro, starting with Vivianna Rios outpointing Misty Turlington 9-5 in the 130-pound match. Rios rallied for the last five points in the last period to snatch the win from Turlington.

"I just remember the last time I wrestled her. I was trying to take her down and she wouldn't let me. Tonight she had me on my stomach. I finally got up and landed on top of her."

After that it was Tabitha Powell (140), Janice Gooden (150), Casey Britten (167), Shelia Valdez (187) and Dyana McIntyre (heavyweight) getting pin wins. The marquee match pitted McIntyre, who finished third at state last year, against Marie Hernandez, the defending state champion. McIntyre held a 5-0 lead when she pinned Hernandez in 1:45, running her record to 29-2 over the past two years.

"I've never lost to her," said McIntyre of Hernandez. "At state, she beat the girl that beat me. I'm always cautious. I don't know anything until they blow the whistle. If you get too cocky you lose."