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2001 Star-telegram wrestling team;
Selections put icing on Martin's cake

Star-Telegram 3/6/2001

Martin senior Lawrence Trotter already had the big moves
down. But coming into this season he knew it was the little
moves that might boost him to a state title.

Trotter, who has always favored using throws to score his points,
got more creative this season. At the urging of Martin coach Tony
Warren last spring, Trotter worked on conditioning and became
comfortable with more mundane takedowns.

Trotter said the extra work made all the difference this season.
He went 54-3 and won the 215-pound state crown, and didn't give up
a takedown at the state tournament. His only loss to an athlete
from Texas came against Arlo Bush of Lake Highlands in overtime in
mid-January.

For his performance this season, Trotter is the Star-Telegram
Boys Wrestler of the Year.

"Before this season I hardly ever attempted [basic takedowns]
because I never really liked [them]," said Trotter, who said he
hopes to receive an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy.
"But that's half of wrestling, and I knew that. I think [the
extra skills] had an effect. I'm getting ready for five more
years of wrestling."

At one point, Trotter's season was in jeopardy when a feud with
his mother ended up in the courts. Angered by his mother's orders
to cease a relationship with a girl, Trotter moved in with the
family of two fellow wrestlers.

When his mother tried to remove him from Martin, Trotter hired a
lawyer and went to court. But a week before the state meet, his
mother agreed to let him stay at Martin. Trotter declined to
comment about the situation.

Trotter was part of a Martin team that went 30-1 in duals, won
the state dual team title and finished second at the UIL state
tournament, two points behind Rockwall. In addition to Trotter,
three Warriors - David O'Brien (140), Tyler Patterson (145) and
Chad Mills (160) - placed at the state tournament as individuals.

Martin's accomplishments make Warren the Star-Telegram Wrestling
Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.

"This is by far the best team I've ever had in 15 years of
coaching," said Warren, who has coached Martin for five years. "Our
goals were to be district champions, to win dual state and to win
the state tournament. We were two points from the perfect season."

Sam Houston senior Brandy Killingsworth was 20 seconds away from
her second state title. Killingsworth won state as a sophomore, and
found herself leading in the 148-pound state final before getting
pinned in the closing seconds of the match. However, she wrestled
well enough to go 23-4 overall, lead Sam Houston to second place
and earn Star-Telegram Girls Wrestler of the Year honors.

"She's very well-disciplined in the room," said Sam Houston coach
Ryan Menard. "She leads by example, and she really helped hold the
team together in order to get second at state."

Bowie sophomore Chucky Rogers joined Killingsworth in the
runner-up ranks. The 103-pounder, who went 36-6 and won the Region
II title, fell in the state final to Katy Taylor's Patrick Huff.
Rogers, who wrestled on the Volunteers junior varsity team last
season, is the Boys Newcomer of the Year.

The Girls Newcomer of the Year is Fossil Ridge freshman Emmy
Thompson. Thompson went 8-4 at 138 pounds and won the Region II
title. At the regional meet she upset Coppell's Emmalea Smith and
Sam Houston's Glory Dalton, but she lost her first two matches in
Austin.

2001 Star-Telegram wrestling team

Boys Wrestler of the Year: Lawrence Trotter, Martin
Girls Wrestler of the Year: Brandy Killingsworth, Sam Houston
Boys Newcomer of the Year: Chucky Rogers, Bowie
Girls Newcomer of the Year: Emmy Thompson, Fossil Ridge
Coach of the Year: Tony Warren, Martin

BOYS TEAM

103 - Chucky Rogers Bowie Soph. 36-6 State finalist
112 - Macario Alvarez Grapevine Sr. 41-4 Third at state
119 - Clayton Troegle Lamar Jr. 38-13 Sixth at state
125 - C.J. Ortega Grapevine Jr. 36-10 Fourth at state
130 - Bryan Herrington Trinity Jr. 31-4 Fourth at state
135 - Alan Starr Martin Sr. 43-5 Region finalist
140 - David O'Brien Martin Jr. 48-10 Fourth at state
145 - Tyler Patterson Martin Sr. 52-7 Fourth at state
152 - Wade Blackburn Grand Prairie Sr. 53-7 Fifth at state
160 - Ryan Heuermann Coll. Heritage Sr. 33-0 State champion
171 - Benny Espinosa Grand Prairie Sr. 47-4 Third at state
180 - Donnie Worthy Martin Sr. 43-7 Third region
189 - Chad Cohen Grand Prairie Sr. 50-5 Third at state
215 - Lawrence Trotter Martin Sr. 53-3 State champion
275 - Malala Tai Sam Houston Jr. 25-1 State finalist

GIRLS TEAM

95 - Kim Bui Sam Houston Soph. 12-11 Third at state
102 - Angela Martinez Bowie Sr. 10-2 Third at state
110 - Brandi Brown Arlington Soph. 21-4 Third at state
119 - Nikki Ray Arlington Soph. 13-4 Region champion
128 - Suikoilya Shelly L.D. Bell Soph. 14-2 Fourth at state
138 - Glory Dalton Sam Houston Soph. 19-6 State finalist
148 - Brandy Killingsworth Sam Houston Sr. 23-4 State finalist
165 - Randi Miller Martin Sr. 12-6 State finalist
185 - Ember Brettmann Sam Houston Jr. 18-5 Third at state
215 - LaTosha Gillon Sam Houston Sr. 16-3 Third at state

---------------------------------------------------------------

HAMPTON GIRL'S TECHNIQUE MAT-TERS

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 3/7/2001

Lisa Bisers' senior year of WPIAL competition ended two weekends ago when
she lost a third-place match in the Section 5-AAA wrestling tournament.

That's "wrestling," as in freestyle, not mud or Jell-O.

And while the vast majority of her competition is male, Bisers, a senior at
Hampton High School, is in Klippan, Sweden, this week to compete in the
Klippan Ladies' Cup, an international women's tournament. She earned the
trip by winning a national scholastic title last summer in Michigan.

A few weeks after her return, she'll compete in a special exhibition match
against friend and training partner Erin Tomeo of Grove City High School in
the March 26 Post-Gazette Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic.

"It's a great honor," said Bisers, who missed becoming the first female
competitor in WPIAL championships history when she lost, 13-7, to Highlands'
Jake Whitlock in the consolation final at the sectional tournament on Feb.
24.

"It was my goal to finish in the top three," she said.

After losing to second-seeded Angelo Manifest of Kiski Area, 7-1, she won by
injury default in the next round. Then she beat Gateway's Joe Morris, the
third seed, 9-6, to advance to the third-place match.

After a scoreless first period, Whitlock rolled to an 8-2 lead and appeared
to have the match wrapped up. Until ...

"My assistant coach was coaching her because I was coaching our other kid on
the other mat," Bursick said. "I'm on the opposite side of the gym but I can
kind of hear what's going on because the crowd is starting to make noise.
Down six points, she nails this guy with a headlock with 30 seconds to go.

"I'm thinking, 'Oh my gosh, she's going to stick this guy.' I was pretty
excited, and yet I'm try to coach our other guy at the same time."

But Whitlock caught Bisers as she was readjusting her hold and escaped.

Although Whitlock was prepared, any opponent who takes her lightly is in for
a shock.

"Wrestling requires an awful lot of upper-body strength, something Lisa
lacks," Bursick said.

"But she makes up for it with technique. When she was still in junior high
and the lower grades, it wasn't as important. But she started to rely more
and more on technique in high school.

Beyond the obvious physical differences, there is the matter of having a
lower center of gravity .

"She learns to work with that," Bursick said. "All the time you see guys
going for her legs and they end up on their backs. I guess she reacts a lot
differently than most wrestlers.

"One move she does when a guy goes to a single leg and goes to switch to a
double, Lisa will come up with an arm around the neck and it puts them on
their backs.

"You see the look on the their faces: 'What the heck just happened?' "

When Bursick refers to Bisers "excellent hips," it has nothing to do with
the conventions of beauty. And while she says she does date, she draws the
line at teammates. Bisers, a four-year letter-winner, is no novice. She
began wrestling nine years ago in a Junior Olympic program after watching
her older brothers.

"My parents had to clear it with the coach, but there wasn't a lot of
opposition that I knew of. I think at that young of an age, we weren't
taught that girls are 'supposed' to do this or that."

Around that time, the then-55-pound fourth-grader was into judo, so it
didn't seem any big deal to compete against guys.

High school turned out to be a different kind of challenge.

"My freshman year was rough for me. I didn't do nearly as well as I wanted
and there was some opposition from teammates," she said. "We'd go to another
school and there were comments from people at the visiting gym."

"Lisa earned a varsity letter as a freshman," Bursick said. "She was 3-19,
and had a rough year."

Bisers, now 5-feet-4 and 119 pounds, put up with some flak from a few
teammates, as well. Her brother, David, the team captain, helped smooth
things over.

That, and her solid work ethic.

"Her freshman and sophomore years, Lisa got a lot of attention, and I think
some of the guys were a little upset with that," Bursick said. "But once
they realized she's one of the hardest workers in the practice room, plus,
this year she beat out a few of them to become a starter."

There was the matter of forfeits. Bisers finished at 7-7 this year, three of
her victories were by forfeit. For some of her potential opponents, it was a
lose-lose proposition: If you beat the girl, well, you beat a girl. And if
you lost ... Bisers said she hasn't seen the TV show, "Malcolm in the
Middle," where Malcolm's Neanderthal brother, Reese, loses a wrestling match
to a girl and it shatters his sense of self. But she has a pretty good idea
how it went.

There are a growing number of girls participating in high school wrestling,
and a quick search of online wrestling supply catalog confirms this. Two
sites -- Anaconda Sports and Summit Sports -- display several styles of
women's singlets. Bisers' Royal-blue-and-gold Talbots uniform is cut higher
than her teammates' .

Anaconda even carries a "Slicker for Long Hair" that attaches to standard
headgear. Bisers prefers the white latex swim cap over her red, chin-length
hair.

"My coach has threatened to chop off my hair," she said. "I look like a
skinhead."

College holds yet more adventures on the wrestling mats. Bisers wants to
study in the medical field, possibly physical therapy. She is waiting to
hear if she is accepted by Johns Hopkins and already has a spot at the
University of Scranton. Both have Division III programs and are interested
in her competing.

"[Women's] wrestling might actually help save the college programs," Bursick
said. "Not only would you have more [athletes] available, but it helps even
out the whole Title IX issue."

For Bisers, a big fan of CBS' "Survivor" -- oh, wouldn't it be great to get
her on the mats against that whining schemer, Jerri? -- there is but one
regret:

"I sometimes wonder why I chose the one sport where you never get to eat."

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING