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Flanik hired to coach Cumberland College’s women wrestlers

8/6/2001
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

Cumberland College has hired Kip Flanik of South Euclid, Ohio to join the wrestling coaching staff and serve as the women’s wrestling coach, announced head coach Jess Wilder.

Flanik has been an active women’s wrestling coach on the national level in recent years. Of the six members of the 2001 U.S. Women’s World Team, Flanik coached two in his Cleveland-area club programs: Tina George at 123 pounds and Toccara Montgomery at 149.75 pounds. Flanik also serves as the Women’s Director for USA Wrestling/Ohio, and has considerable high school coaching experience. He coached for nine years as an assistant at Cleveland Heights High School and two years as a head coach.

“We are excited to have Coach Flanik at our institution,” said Wilder. “He is one of the premier coaches in women’s wrestling. Kip is credited with the development of two of the six members of the U.S. World Team. I believe that statistic speaks for itself. We are confident that Mr. Flanik is truly dedicated to women’s wrestling and will do a wonderful job here.”

“I think that my knowledge of women’s wrestling will help Cumberland women’s team catch up with the competition and take the program to the next level,” said Flanik.

Cumberland College, located in Williamsburg, Ky., is one of the five U.S. colleges that sponsor a women’s varsity wrestling team. Cumberland had a tremendous recruiting season this year for its women’s teams, signing three TheMat.com/ASICS First Team members: Toccara Montgomery of Ohio, Cathilee Albert of Colorado and Jessi Shirley of Ohio.

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Ex-gymnast finds a new niche

06/17/2001

By Rachel Cohen / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING – Jackie Berube thought her younger sister "was the craziest girl who ever lived."

Lisa Berube was competing in a male-dominated sport, and Jackie didn't understand why she wouldn't do gymnastics like she did.

But when Jackie's gymnastics career ended, she found herself taking up the same sport. She started wrestling.

Today, Berube, 29, is the third-ranked women's weightlifter in the country. She holds all the American records in the 58-kilogram weight class (about 127 pounds) after Saturday's USA Weightlifting World Team Trials at the Sheraton Grand Hotel.

But before she gained weightlifting success, Berube excelled at wrestling. She won a silver medal at the 1996 world championships.

Now Berube will get to compete in the weightlifting world championships in October in Guam. Saturday's trials were one of six qualifying events for the U.S. team.

After Berube's gymnastics eligibility ran out in 1994, Wisconsin-La Crosse's wrestling coach persuaded her to join the men's team while completing her degree.

"But it's so much different to watch than to actually do it," said Berube, who wrestled in 12 men's varsity matches. "You'd be surprised at how hard it is."

Berube had the same realization when she began weightlifting four years later. As a strength and conditioning coach at Northwestern, she'd helped plenty of athletes lift before she met weightlifter Tara Nott. Nott, who would later win an Olympic gold medal in Sydney, helped talk Berube into another career change.

For a while, though, she wasn't sure which sport to devote her athletic talents to.

When women's wrestling wasn't approved as a medal sport for the 2000 Olympics, Berube settled on weightlifting. She gained a spot in USA Weightlifting's residency training program in Colorado Springs, joking that it resulted from her persistence in pestering coach Lyn Jones.

"I think he got tired of hearing from me," Berube said.

Before the world team trials, Berube already held two of the three American records in her weight class. She had lifted 87.5 kilograms (about 193 pounds) in the snatch, in which the bar is raised overhead in one motion. She also had the top combined score for the two types of lifts.

Saturday, she captured the one record that eluded her. Berube lifted 113 kilograms (about 250 pounds) in the clean-and-jerk, in which the bar is lifted onto the shoulders then overhead.

She wasn't pleased with her performance in the snatch, when she failed to lift 87.5 kilograms. But Berube did exactly what she wanted in her three clean-and-jerk lifts. On her final attempt, she had little trouble raising the bar to her shoulders, but had to fight to successfully lift it over her head.

"The thing is, whatever happened earlier, you have to put it aside," Berube said. "Any good lifter really needs to be able to move on."

SATURDAY'S STANDINGS

NOTE: The world team trials are one of six qualifying events for the U.S. team sent to October's World Championships in Guam. The top eight ranked men and seven ranked women make the team, provided they post a minimum combined score for the two types of lifts. That number is based on recent performances at the world championships and Olympics in their weight class. A lifter who meets the standard has a percentage of at least 100. Lifters are ranked by their best performance at any of the qualifying events. The official U.S. team will be announced July 10 after the world junior championships.

Women

1. Cheryl Haworth 118.68%
2. Tara Nott 117.46%

3. Jackie Berube 107.03%

4. Suzanne Leathers 101.20%

5. Stacy Blaskowski 100.00%

6. Doreen Heldt 97.59%

7. Erin Okonek 97.56%

8. Sally Oates 97.30%

9. Rachael Hearn 96.70%

10. Carrie Boudreau 95.95%

11. Loreen Miller 95.24%

12. Khadijah Hunter 95.12%

13. Emmy Vargas 93.98%

14. Jodi Wilhite 92.06%

15. Kathleen Redcher-Bowling 90.91%

16. Sheryl Cohen 88.41%

17. Sandra Abney 88.31%

18. Maryn Ciarelli 87.01%

19. Patricia Chen 86.49%

20. Ingrid Marcum 85.54%