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Vallejo duo are back-to-back champions

VALLEJO - It didn't take Vallejo High School Mike Minahen long to know who was going to place first in the 100-pound and 110-pound category of the California Girls Wrestling Championships, held Saturday at Vallejo High School's Bottari Gym.

Fifty-seven schools from across the state took part in Saturday's tournament and as expected, Vallejo's own Lenci Landaker (100 pounds) and Sheila Lerit (110) dominated their respective weight classes en route to first place. Both Lerit and Landaker placed first in their respective categories in last year's tournament as well. Overall, Vallejo placed third in the tournament as a team. Vintage placed first while San Leandro took second.

"This was not a surprise," Minahen said."They are two dominant wrestlers. We knew that girls would come in and compete with them. They wrestled real well and they wrestled as tough as they could. So, it's very good for both of them. When you win the equivalent to a state tournament, it's just a great feeling. And I think the both of them are very excited to do it -- again."

Lerit successfully defended her first-place finish from last year, going 4-0 and pinning Sierra Vista's Ivy Lopez in the second round of the championship match.

"I was really happy with the way I was wrestling," Lerit said. "Coming into the championship match, I was a little nervous, but coach Minahen told me that she didn't know my moves. She competed with Lenci last month. I didn't know how she would set up. So, I just used the moves I knew."

In the semi-final match, Lerit ran into Melanie Grim of cross-town rival Bethel. Lerit hardly broke a sweat in that match, pinning Grim in just 38 seconds into the first period.

"I didn't expect it to end that quickly," Lerit said. "But I guess it did."

Landaker picked up back-to-back first place finishes by going 4-0 in the 110-pound bracket. In the final match, she pinned Bethel's Maribeth Grim in the first round.

Also for Vallejo, Tara Thomas placed sixth in the 134-pound category and Tiffany Thomas placed eighth in the 122-pound category.

"It felt good to place here again," Landaker said. "I was happy with the way I wrestled. I got a chance to work a lot on my technique."

Hogan High School brought 11 wrestlers to the tournament and tied for fourth place (along with Lincoln High School of San Diego). Ereene Belamide placed second in the 114-pound category, losing to Christie Rafanan from Vintage by technical fall in the third round.

A pleasant surprise for the Spartans was junior Andrea Santos. After losing in her first match, Santos won out her remaining matches for a third-place finish.

"She was kinda of a dark horse for us," said Hogan assistant coach Mike Bryant. "After she lost, she really came out of nowhere and won the rest of her matches. Those wins really helped put us over the top."

Also for Hogan, Nikki Arenal placed fifth in the 122-pound bracket, Asian Abad placed sixth in the 118-pound category and April-Ann Bauzon placed eighth in the 100-pound category.

"This is a drastic improvement from last year," Bryant said. "Last year, I don't think we were in the top 20. This year, we brought 11 girls. For parts of the day we were in second place."

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The State of Girls Wrestling

By James Wiseman, 2/5/02

Times-Herald sports writer

There will be plenty of mats, but almost certainly no "Matt"s at Vallejo High School's Bottari Gym today.

For the second consecutive year, Vallejo hosts the state's biggest all-girls wrestling tournament. The event, called the Girls California Wrestling Championship this year, is expected to draw more than 100 wrestlers from all over California. Wrestlers are coming in from as far away as San Diego and the Oregon border.

"It's a thrill for us -- a real honor," Vallejo wrestling coach Mike Minahen said about the second-annual tournament. "Northern California has become a hot spot for girls wrestling. The whole state will be here."

Mat action begins at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to run into the evening.

Last year, the tournament was designated as the California Interscholastic Federation Girls State Championship. But this year's meet will not be sanctioned by the CIF. Nevertheless, the event figures to be just as competitive, with most of the same girls competing.

Vallejo seniors Lenci Landaker and Shiela Lerit return to the meet as defending state champions, each holding top-five national rankings. Lerit has not lost a girls match all season. She took first at the ultra-competitive Williams Cup in Southern California last week.

Landaker managed third place at the same tournament and has only lost three matches -- all to ranked opponents -- all season. Landaker and Lerit both expect to win their weight classes today. They said they are using the meet as a tune-up for next month's national tournament.

"Everyone wants to win, But in a way, it's to get us pumped up for nationals," Landaker said about today's tournament.

"I'll be looking more at how they win than the wins themselves," Minahen added. "If they wrestle good technically and don't win it, I'll be satisfied."

Lerit and Landaker will be joined by freshmen Tara and Tiffany Thomas and sophomore Eunice Tjon -- all three making their all-girls tournament debuts for Vallejo.

Hogan will have the largest local contingent at the meet, fielding 12 wrestlers. The Spartans' girls program has developed tremendously in the past year and figures to flourish in the future. Eight of the 12 are underclassmen.

Roweena Hernandez, Liza Sana, Sonia Ali and Nancy Varela all return to the mat as seniors, looking to gauge their progress against the state's toughest competition. They will be joined by juniors April Bauzon, Ruth Ramos and Andrea Santos, as well as sophomores Nikki Arenal, Ereene Belamide, Jessica Robles and Marissa Munar and freshman Marissa Gonzales. Many of the Hogan girls got a preview of today's action last week at the Vintage Classic tournament in Napa.

"We've been working hard since the beginning of the year," said Spartans coach Ric Manibusan. "We got a bite of reality (in Napa) last week. We're prepared for it now."

Bethel rounds out the local competitors with four entrants in today's tournament. Melanie Grim -- a three-year veteran of the sport -- will be vying for the title in her weight class, while Maribeth Grim, Ashley Banyongan and Jayme Bordon are all making their state tourney debuts.

"I think these girls should be able to do fine in their respective weight classes," said Bethel coach Mike Sariano, who believes his Bethel, Vallejo and Hogan will have a "home-field advantage" of sorts. "I think (the home crowd) will give them a lot of support, a lot of confidence to wrestle to the best of their ability."

-- James Wiseman can be reached at 553-6838 or by e-mail at JamesW@thnewsnet.com

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Gateway tries for 2nd title

By Frank Carroll | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 25, 2002

KISSIMMEE -- Gateway senior Naomi Santiago is "99.7 percent" certain that she will defend a year-old state high school wrestling heavyweight championship next weekend, but is "110 percent sure" that the Panthers will retain a Florida team crown.

Gateway is 8-0 in dual matches and has won all three tournaments it has entered.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we'll win as a team," said Santiago, 17, whose record is a robust 14-1 with a dozen pins in the 165-pound-plus weight bracket. Over a three-year career, her record is 42-8.

In a sport not yet sanctioned by the Florida High School Activities Association, Gateway last February topped a 28-school field at Oviedo High to capture an "unofficial" state championship.

The Panthers topped runner-up Ocala Forest 113-105 1/2. DeLand (82), Lyman (65) and Vero Beach (62) rounded out 2001's top five. That milestone came on the heels of a third-place showing a year earlier.

That success helped Gateway's squad double in size, from seven to 14 wrestlers under first-year Coach Michael Glassburn, the Panthers' third coach in as many years.

Santiago, 21-2 last year, is one of four returning state champs going for repeats in a 24-school field Feb. 2 at Gateway. First-round matches get under way at 10 a.m. Weight classes are 100, 105, 110, 114, 118, 122, 126, 130, 134, 138, 144, 152, 165 and 165-plus.

Veterans joining Santiago to help Gateway stretch its title string to two in a row include senior Michelle Puig, runner-up at 165 pounds a year ago after winning state at that weight as a sophomore. Also back is sophomore Candice Pellerin, the bronze medalist at 110 pounds last year, and senior Sulieka Cuevas, a runner-up as a 118-pound sophomore, who placed fifth a year ago.

With the big meet eight days away, "I'm still tired from Wednesday's practice," Santiago said Thursday.

A reason that Santiago is working so hard is an unexpected loss to Bridgett Bauger, a 201-pounder from Vero Beach.

"I made a stupid mistake and got pinned," said Santiago, who tips the scale at 176 pounds.

Schools with early commitments to the tournament are Gateway, Forest, Vero Beach, DeLand, Lyman, Oviedo, Dr. Phillips, University, Edgewater, Pine Ridge, Seminole, Coral Reef, Gainesville, Hudson, Land O'Lakes, Jacksonville First Coast, Okeechobee, Winter Springs, Belle Glade Glades Central, Springfield Rutherford, Merritt Island, Cypress Creek, Cape Coral, Taravella and Lemon Bay

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Moore, Lightner, Schwab and Branka win Manitoba Open titles

2/5/2002
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

Four U.S. wrestlers claimed gold medals at the 2002 Manitoba Open, held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, February 2.

Claiming men’s freestyle gold medals were Teague Moore (Pittsburgh, Pa./Sunkist Kids) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Michael Lightner (Norman, Okla./Sunkist Kids) at 60 kg/132 lbs. and Doug Schwab (Iowa City, Iowa/Hawkeye WC) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

Claiming a women’s freestyle gold medal was Samantha Branka (Lincoln Park, Mich./UM-Morris) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.

The United States, which included athletes from a number of U.S. clubs, placed second in the team standings in both men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle. Canada won the team title in both styles.

Orville Palmer (Norman, Okla./Sunkist Kids), a U.S. resident who is a citizen of Jamaica, claimed a gold medal at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

Winning U.S. silver medals were 1999 World Champion Sammie Henson (State College, Pa./Sunkist Kids) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Danny Felix (Norman, Okla./Sunkist Kids) at 60 kg/132 lbs.) in the men’s tournament, plus Katie Downing (Pendleton, Ind./UM-Morris) at 67 kg/158.5 lbs. and Alicia Wilson (Santee, Calif./UM-Morris) in the women’s tournament.

Winning a bronze medals in the women’s event was Jenny Wong (Stillwater, Minn./Sunkist Kids) at 51 kg/112 lbs.)

Manitoba Open

2/2/2002
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Entered by Nat Brigante

Team Scoring
Women
1. Canada, 64
2. USA, 30
3. France, 28
4. Sweden, 27
5. Norway, 10
6. Mexico, 4

Results By Weight
48 kg
1. Carol Huynh (Canada)
2.Myriam Prost (France)
3.Julie Harris (Canada)
4.Katrina Betts (USA)
5. Lindsay Rushton (Canada)
6. Liz Short - (USA)

51 kg
1. Lindsay Belisle (Canada)
2. Ida Hellstrom (Sweden)
3. Jenny Wong (USA)
4. Belinda Chow (Canada)
5. Heather Sweezey (Canada)
6. Therese Ris - (Sweden)

55 kg
1. Jen Ryz (Canada)
2. Anna Gomis (France)
3. Tonya Verbeek (Canada)
4. Vanessa Bourbryem (France)
5. Kate Eckfeldt (Canada)
6. Kate Ross - (USA)

59 kg
1. Sara Erickson (Sweden)
2. Melissa Kindratsky (Canada)
3. Breane Graham (Canada)
4. Shannon Mathie (Canada)
5. Emily Richardson (Canada)
6. Helena Allandi - (Sweden)

63 kg
1. Lene Aanes (Norway)
2. Viola Yanik (Canada)
3. Lotta Anderson (Sweden)
4. Maren Marks (Canada)
5. Theresa Bakker (Canada)
6. Abbey Weber - (Canada)

67 kg
1. Lise LeGrand (France)
2. Katie Downing (USA)
3. Megan Dolan - (Canada)
4. Megan Buyden (USA)
5. Shannon Sammler (Canada)
6. Evy Yoller - (Canada)

72 kg
1. Samantha Branka (USA)
2. Alicia Wilson (USA)
3. Mariza Wolmarans (Canada)

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