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HHS wrestlers first at meet

01/24/01

MICHAEL KIRAL

JEFFERSON - Stewart Candella, Barrett Naquin and Brent Matis placed first in their respective weight classes at the Riverdale Invitational held Saturday in the Riverdale High School gym.

Matis placed first in the 152-pound class, pinning Archbishop Shaw’s Jonathan Robin 37 seconds into the second period. Matis took a 2-0 lead in the first period on takedown. Robin scored on a reversal to tie the match at two.

Matis had a reversal of his own to regain the lead at 4-2. Matis then nearly pinned Robin as the time expired in the period, taking a 7-2 lead. Matis had another take down at the beginning of the second period, then took a 10-2 lead on a near fall before getting the pin with 1:23 left in the period.

Naquin also got his victory in the 145-pound class on a fall, pinning Beverly of Higgins 1:08 into the third period. Beverly scored first on a take down in the opening seconds of the match but Naquin came back to score on a reversal and a take down of his own.

Beverly tied the match at four at the end of the period on an escape. Naquin used a near fall to take a 9-7 lead at the end of the second period before getting the pin in the third period.

Candella defeated Grahm of St. Martin’s twice in round robin competition in the 130-pound class. Candella got the second victory with a pin with 47 seconds left in the first period.

East St. John’s Chance Miller was pinned by John Curtis’ Tony Duplain 22 seconds into the second round in the championship match of the 171-pound class. Duplain led 11-2 after the first round behind a take down and four near falls.

Hahnville’s Steven Sigmon pinned East St. John’s James Genovese 38 seconds into the second round to take third in the 189-pound class. Sigmon took a 5-0 lead in the first round with a take down and a near fall, then added a take down early in the second period.

Sigmon won his first match of the day, pinning St. Martin’s Senner with 13 seconds left in the second period. Lozano of Riverdale then took an 18-2 technical fall over Sigmon in the second match, dropping Sigmon into the consolations.

Sigmon advanced to the third-place match against Genovese with a pin of St. Martin’s Brandon Daly with 1:42 left in the first quarter. Sigmon held a 5-0 lead at the time on a take down and a near fall.

Genovese also won his first match, pinning Daly 1:32 into the first period. Genovese went ahead, 5-0, on two near falls before Daly came back to make it 5-2. Matt Smith pinned Genovese 46 seconds into the first round in the second match. Genovese then moved into the third place match with a pin of Senner with 18 seconds left in the first period.

Smith won the weight class, pinning Lozano 1:03 into the second period.

Brandon Banks came in second in the 275-pound class. Banks opened the meet against Jerry Sevin of Curtis. Sevin took an early 5-0 lead but banks came back to make it 6-4 at the end of the first period with a reversal. A near fall at the end of the second period gave Banks a 10-9 lead.

After Sevin tied it up at 10 with an escape early in the third period, Banks went ahead for good with a near fall with 40 seconds left. A escape by Sevin cut the lead to one but Banks came back with a take down to sew up the match.

Sevin came back to pin Banks with 1:24 left in the first period in their second match of the day. In the 103-pound varsity class, East St. John’s Melanie Maurin finished second after falling 7-6 to Bourgeois of Fisher.

East St. John’s Michelle McGhee finished fourth in the 119-pound JV class. In her first match, McGhee was pinned by St. Martin’s Duplass 52 seconds into the first period. In the consolations, Larchenx of Riverdale defeated her in a 16-1 technical fall.

Larchenx took a 5-0 lead after the first period on a take down and near fall. That lead grew to 12-0 in the second period on a take down and two near falls. After another take down, McGee scored on an escape before Larchenx closed out the match with a take down.

Hahnville’s Ezra Garza placed third in round robin competition in the 125-pound class. Riverdale’s Chris Cade pinned Garza 46 seconds into the second period, then pinned Medina of St. Martin’s 41 seconds into the second period after Medina had defeated Garza.

Jonathan Butts of Hahnville also placed third in round robin competition in the 135-pound class. In his first match, Butts was pinned by Hertz of John Curtis with 11 seconds left in the first round. Jason Cortez won a technical fall, 22-6, over Butts in the second match. Cortez went on to defeat Hertz, 19-5, to win the weight class.

Hahnville’s Anthony Ayo finished third in the 160-pound class, dropping his first match to Curtis’ Eddie Mendez. Mendez went on to pin Reese of St. Martin’s 31 seconds into the second round to win the class after Reese pinned Ayo in the first round.

Check out Mel's (Melanie's) new homepage.
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TOEHOLD ON SUCCESS; GIRL BECOMES WINNER ON BOYS' WRESTLING TEAM

1/23/2001 Daily News Of L.A.

CALABASAS - The kid's record so far this year on the Calabasas High School boys' wrestling team is 25-6 - not bad for a girl.

Meet 16-year-old Laura Felix. She's gone from being a high school discipline problem to the kind of student teachers point to when they want to motivate other kids having a hard time finding their stride in school.

Laura found hers a few years ago as a freshman when she already had one foot out the school door well ahead of the bell.

''I would have bombed out of school if not for wrestling,'' she said Monday on her way to practice. ''I'd probably be in jail by now.''

Tough words from a tough, little girl. Just ask her coach and the boys she wrestles in the 103-pound weight class division.

The joke in the locker room is that an awful lot of boys in Division V schools - smaller high schools in the area - come up sick or injured on the day they're supposed to be wrestling Felix.

''In my league, I think a lot of the boys are scared to wrestle me,'' Laura said, smiling. She's not cocky, just confident. Her winning record allows that.

''Sometimes they don't show up or they'll complain about having to wrestle a girl. But that all changes when I wrestle the boys in bigger schools in the Valley. They kill me. They don't cut me any slack for being a girl.''

And that, in a lot of ways, says Calabasas High wrestling coach Andy Falk, gets right to the heart of this story.

It's about respect and opportunity - about a kid finding her way in school when she thought there was no way for her. But there always is, any good teacher knows