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Generals' Whalen, Wesley are just one of the guys
By Tom Ryan 2/18/2001
Berkshire Eagle Staff
The guys don't mind anymore when the girls invade their turf. Maybe once it bothered them, but not now. Just one thing -- if you're going to join the team, then you better produce.
Girls playing sports hasn't been a story in a long time. For the past 20 years or so, girls have been playing high school sports on equal footing with their male schoolmates.
Just having a girl try out for a boys' high school team also isn't breaking news. It hasn't been for some time.
But when girls try out and make varsity sports teams like hockey and wrestling -- and emerge as valuable team members -- well, that's still a story.
For the moment, that is.
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It's the end of another school day at Pittsfield High for senior Lynn Wesley and junior Stefanie Whalen. Like many others on the East Street campus, Wesley's and Whalen's day is not over yet, as both are members of winter athletic teams.
On this snowy day, Wesley hurried off to get ready for practice, while Whalen went home to hit the books before her game that night.
The two are going where few female athletes have ever gone at Pittsfield High. The story here is not what they're doing, but more about the level of excellence they have attained.
With that comes a new level of accountability for each athlete. They are, in fact, one of the guys. And they get treated that way.
Wesley is pulling on a singlet and heading for wrestling practice, where she is the Generals regular at 130 pounds. In a few hours, Whalen will make the hike up the stairs to the third floor of the Pittsfield High Boys' and Girls' Club, where she will again start in goal for the hockey team in their Hennessy League game with Mount Everett.
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There have been other girls who have played hockey. In fact, Whalen is one of three on the Pittsfield High roster. She is also aware that she is not the first to play between the pipes for the purple and white. The Generals had Lisa Walz as a back up goalie last year.
Whalen also knows that Chicopee High's starting goalie for the last four years has been a girl. Still, pulling on the PHS sweater and skating out as the starting netminder for her school is the best feeling in the world.
Whalen had been playing in an all-female league in New York the past few years, but when the regular PHS goalie did not return for the start of the season, Whalen jumped at the opportunity to skate on home ice.
"I hadn't really been thinking about it, but once players on the team asked me, I thought it would be a great opportunity to improve," said Whalen. "I didn't really see myself as a pioneer or anything.
"She had never played at the high school level," said PHS coach Dan Caritey, whose team advanced to the Western Mass Division 3 final last year and will again advance to postseason play this year. "Once we found out we wouldn't have our goalie, some of the kids went and asked her to consider playing. I think once she realized that she was going to be our number one goalie, she jumped at the opportunity."
"In the beginning, I wasn't sure how I was going to do, and if felt kind of awkward," said Whalen. "But everyone has made me feel at home and a part of this team. The support has been incredible."
"From day one, I've looked her as just another member of our team," said Caritey. "Stef is very quiet, reserved and coachable. We're very glad to have her here."
Whalen, a sophomore, has made the most of her opportunity.
Among her wins are a shutout of Longmeadow and a win over Northeast Regional, performances against quality teams that would make any individual feel proud.
"Sure, she's let in some easy goals, but every goalie does," said Caritey. "Had we had our other goalie, I think at best we might have won two more games. But that would be it."
Whalen wears her PHS hockey vest with a great deal of pride, and though few outside the world of scholastic hockey recognize her face, she can handle being somewhat anonymous.
"My mom said she saw one man look at my coat and do a double take," said Whalen. "My friends know, and every once in awhile somebody might see the vest and make the connection. But that's OK with me. I'm doing this because I want to get better and play in college."
"She's got a great future in the college women's' game," said Caritey. "The women's game has come a long way, with scholarships and all. There are a lot of forwards out there, but not a lot goaltenders. If she continues to do the job, and do well academically, she can advance to the next level."
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Lynn Wesley is not the first female to wrestle at the high school level. Still, the participation level of females on wrestling teams in this county has been token.
That's not the case for Wesley. In her second year as a grappler, her 9-17 record might not appear impressive. But she is not facing reserves and other females. She's wrestling in perhaps the toughest weight class in the state.
"When Lynn first approached me last fall, I didn't really know what to expect," said PHS coach Mike Conner. "Her brother Rich had wrestled here for two years, and for the Berkshire Wrestling Club for about four. I knew her mom was a competitor [Gloria Wesley was this year's Josh Billings Ironwoman winner], and that her twin sister Sarah was a Western Mass. Gymnastics champion. So I knew that she had some heart, and some ability. I just wasn't sure if she was knocking on the right door.
"But she seemed very sincere, because she brought it up again the very next day. She showed right away that she was ready to make the commitment. I could see it in her eyes."
"I always wanted to wrestle, but I just never could get around to it," said Wesley. "I know that other girls have wrestled in the county, but before last year, I don't think anyone ever had [at PHS]. It didn't take very long for me to realize that I should have started sooner."
Wrestling is not for the weak of heart. Or head for that matter.
"The hardest part of this sport is from the neck up," said Conner. "You walk in our wrestling room, and it does not smell very good. It's about 80 degrees in here. Last year, the rest of the team might have been a bit [distant] about Lynn. This year, there was no discussion. We didn't identify her by sex. She was just an individual whose name was Lynn, and someone we were counting on to contribute."
If there was one defining moment for Wesley, it came earlier this year when she was beaten by a Westfield wrestler that she knew should have been a win.
"In the match, Lynn made a mistake, and it went a long way toward deciding the match," said Conner. "Having seen her put so much time in over the past two years, it was tough to see her make a technical mistake. Everyone makes them, but when she made it, I got upset just like I would with any other wrestler on this team.
"To her credit, though, she has never ducked another wrestler, male or female. But she's had people duck her."
"That was tough, but in a way it made me feel good, because it showed me that he isn't going to treat me differently than anyone else," said Wesley, who hopes to continue wrestling at American International College next year. "His expectations of me are just as high as anyone else. I know that's the way I want it to be."
Having had Wesley for the past two years, Conner said he will have to keep the door open for future female wrestlers.
"I'm sure that having seen what Lynn has done, others might want to try. At the same time I have to keep in mind that wresting is not a sport, it is a discipline. If a person hasn't got the mental and intestinal fortitude to go into this sport, you're just not going to be able to do it. A lot of good athletes don't have that. Lynn does."
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The two athletes don't mind being called Pittsfield High Generals. They do mind being called pioneers.
"When I get done, I want people to remember me as a tough wrestler, not as tough female wrestler," said Wesley.
Whalen echoes that thought. "When I graduate, I hope people remember me as a good high school goalie, and not as the girl who played goalie," she said. "That's what will mean the most to me."
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Di Natale, despite gender, enjoying success on mat
By Rick Eggleston 2/15/2001
Staff Writer
BOLTON -- Genevieve Di Natale knows she's not your typical high school wrestler.
But to Di Natale, there's nothing atypical about her grappling with members of the opposite sex in a sport that's clearly dominated by them.
The thing is, she's right.
Di Natale, a sophomore member of the Nashoba Regional wrestling team, became the first female wrestler in Division 2 Central sectional history to advance the MIAA state tournament last Saturday in Milford.
"I like to remain feminine while doing something masculine. I don't want to walk in and for people to say, 'Oh here comes that boy/girl, tomboy,' '' said Di Natale during a break in practice Wednesday at the Emerson Elementary School. "I'm just a girl that happens to do something that most guys do.''
Wrestling at 103 pounds, Di Natale topped four boys to place third overall at sectionals. Of her four victories, one included returning to win a wrestleback in which she beat her opponent after losing to him in their first meeting.
Di Natale's stellar -- but not surprising -- finish earned her a trip to today's Division 2 state meet at Reading High School, where she'll have the chance to become the first female to ever score a point at the state level.
One thing's for certain: This 16-year old Lancaster native's chances look pretty darn good.
"It's a win at 103 for us. She beats most people, there's no way she's going to get pinned,'' said Nashoba teammate Connor Griffin, who at 112 pounds and a lot taller, provided Di Natale with the perfect wrestling partner to prepare for this weekend's big meet. "She's stronger than a lot of the other 103s. A lot of them are freshman and younger kids.''
That when they end up losing to a girl, "aren't too happy,'' said Griffin, while noting that Di Natale receives no free passes because of her gender.
"You really can't change your style of wrestling,'' he said. "You just have to deal with it.''
And dealing out losses to her almost always male counterparts this season has been the 4-foot-10 Di Natale, whose interest in the sport began as freshman last season for the Chieftains.
"I didn't wrestle the whole year (last year) I came in a little late because there were three girls on the team, but it turned out they were just all there for show. A lot of them were there to say 'I'm a girl and I wrestle,''' recalled Di Natale, who will be joined by fellow teammates Matt Gauthier (140), John Scobo (215) and Andy Shaw (275) at states. "They left, and then it was just me. ... I take it very seriously.''
Describing herself as "short and stacked'' Di Natale is just that, and uses her weight and size to her full advantage. Not only that, but with each passing meet and season, she's gaining more experience and knowledge at a weight class many boys are only able contend in for one season or less.
"I wrestle little kids. They don't expect anything, a lot of them are just freshman,'' said Di Natale. "It's a lot of pressure on them. If they win it's like 'I told you so,' but if I win it's like 'There goes their manhood.' But some of them take it very well, and those are the guys who have their head together.''
And Di Natale began getting her act together prior to the start of the season. Competing at 112 pounds last season, Di Natale and her coaches knew that in order for her be successful at her size, she'd have to make weight at 103.
"To be successful I know I am going to have to be 103 pounds,'' she said. "In actuality I'm a 115 pounder who broke weight, so I have the strength of someone that big.''
It shows, as the diminutive sophomore has the quickness and the speed to go along with a powerful shoot that most guys scrambling for a counter-move.
However, one thing most guys aren't short on when it comes time to face her, is comments.
"I get a lot of different of reactions. I was bit at sectionals, and if I turned them on their back they start yelling or swearing loudly. Even when I'm just drilling with them they always get much more intense,'' said Di Natale. "It's that way because they feel they can't lose to a girl. They just cannot lose to a girl, but I feel the same way. I don't want to lose to a girl -- I haven't yet.''
Still, most of just comes with the territory.
"I come to expect it I really do. And if I were a guy, I'd do the exact same thing,'' she said. "Wrestling is a pride sport, it's a glory sport. One minute you can be on top of the world, and then in the next second you can be down and you're in the dirt -- that's what wrestling does to you.''
While providing Di Natale with a truly unique experience and unrivaled opportunity.
"I just want to be a wrestler,'' she said. "I'm not trying to prove anything, I just like wrestling.''
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POWERFUL MOVES IN A PETITE PACKAGE SHE'S LEFT MORE THAN ONE OPPONENT IN TEARS
GLOBE WEST 2/18/2001
The first time Genevieve DiNatale won a wrestling match, her opponent burst into tears.
It was early January, in the first round of the Belmont Tournament, and the sophomore wrestler from Nashoba Regional pinned her opponent in the second period with a move she had learned roughhousing with her father.
DiNatale was ecstatic about the victory, but she was a bit taken aback when she saw the reaction of her vanquished male opponent.
"I just didn't know that they'd react that way," said DiNatale, believed to be the only girl in Nashoba history to win a varsity wrestling match. "He burst into tears right on the mat. I kind of understood what he felt, but it was kind of surreal."
Just a little guiltily, she added, "I still felt great, as horrible as that was."
DiNatale has seen more than one opponent cry after losing to her this season. One of the area's biggest surprises, the 103-pounder upset her way to a third-place finish at the Division 2 Central Sectional last weekend, defeating a wrestler who had beaten her in overtime two weeks before to advance to this Saturday's Division 2 State meet.
The petite Lancaster resident - she stands just 4-foot-10 - finished the regular season with a better-than .500 record that included a fourth-place finish at the Leominster Tournament.
DiNatale is not unsympathetic to her opponents' plight. She knows how upsetting it is for a wrestler to lose any match; she certainly understands that the frustration is compounded for a boy losing to a girl.
Still, she is always surprised when opponents seem put off by her, because it is so incongruous with the strong support from her own male teammates.
"The coaches and the people on my team have been supportive in all ways," said DiNatale. "They treat me as a complete equal, just like I'm one of them, and that's what makes me feel the best."
Their respect did not come automatically; DiNatale earned it. Joining the squad as a freshman because she was intrigued by the aggressiveness of the sport, she struggled at the 112- and 119-pound weight class, able to enter only a few matches at the junior varsity level and losing them all.
But she stuck with wresting - unlike two other girls who had joined with her - taking the first step toward erasing her teammates' skepticism.
"I was kind of surprised she did it [at first]," said team captain Owen Rehrauer. "But when she stuck with it and she came back this season, it was evident she was interested in wrestling, more so than in trying to prove a point."
Knowing she'd be much more competitive at a lower weight class - the higher the weight, the greater the difference in upper-body strength between boys and girls - DiNatale began a strict diet and exercise regimen this winter. That's when her teammates were convinced she took the sport seriously.
Rehrauer, whose younger sister is a friend of DiNatale's, was especially impressed and he did what he could to help: showing her the proper way to eat, driving her to the gym, and picking her up before early-morning weigh-ins so she could get in one more workout before jumping on the scale.
"At 5 a.m., Owen would be at the top of my hill waiting to drive me to practice," DiNatale said. "I don't know if I could have done this at all without him."
Rehrauer said, "She needed a little guidance, that was all. I think at one point she was down to two Nutri-Grain bars a day, and I had to grab her and say, `You're not going to do that.'
"Most of it she did herself."
As soon as she cut down to 103, coach Mike Nicolazzo put DiNatale in the varsity lineup and she immediately gave the Chieftains a credible contender at the start of each match. While recording three pins of her own, she did not suffer a pin or tech fall once this season.
Extremely flexible, DiNatale is also surprisingly strong and fiercely competitive.
"The two facets of wrestling are technique and mentality, and Genevieve has the perfect mentality," said Nashoba assistant captain Jon Scobo. "She never stops trying. And now she's getting into the more difficult moves you see from a better wrestler, so I'd say by her senior year she'll be unbelievable."
While female wrestlers are no longer the novelty they were a few years ago - some area coaches estimate that a quarter to a third of teams have girls on the roster - girls who are competitive at the varsity level are still hard to find.
And girls who are that good still unnerve many male opponents. DiNatale said at one recent quad-meet she earned a pair of defaults when two boys refused to wrestle her.
"I understand it completely, I really do. But the thing is, I just want to be a wrestler," she said "It's a sport, whether you're a guy or a girl, and I think the fact they refused to wrestle a girl looks worse than going out and trying. I guess it's to be expected, but I wish they would just look at me as wrestler."