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Wrestling: Girls wrestling draws Volunteers
By Gage Harter
San Antonio Express-News
02/08/2002
They just started showing up.
Lee coach Bobby Allen isn't sure how it began.
But wave after wave of girls appeared in his gym with one intention — to wrestle. The Volunteers ended up with 12 girls on their wrestling team, more than any other school in Greater San Antonio.
"The program has built itself," Allen said. "I believe it's based on our success. We have really good girls at Lee who want to compete."
Sarah Schumacher, a sophomore captain, joined after hearing a morning announcement early last year.
"I think my older brother helped in that category. I was used to being thrown around and stuff," said Schumacher, whose record is 10-4 at 138 pounds. "I didn't know anything about wrestling, just what I saw on WWF. I really didn't know what to expect."
Nine Lee girls in 10 weight classes qualified for the Region IV tournament, scheduled for today and Saturday at Blossom Athletic Center's Littleton Gym.
Lee finished fifth in the region and qualified three girls as alternates for the state tournament last year.
There are 175 Texas schools competing in wrestling this season, including 145 with boys and girls teams.
"I think that's outstanding (that Lee) has so many girls competing," said Roosevelt coach Lee Miller, who hasn't had a female wrestler in four years. "I have girls come to me and act interested. But I've never had someone actually show up and follow through with that interest, even though they are fully welcomed."
Lee recruits its girls from every corner of the school.
Two of its best wrestlers also perform on the dance team. The softball, cross-country and basketball teams have provided wrestlers as well.
"The thing is, I don't have to do recruiting for the girls," Allen said. "Our girls recruit. Our girls know what it takes. They will find someone who will fit the mold they want."
It takes a lot to endure Allen's practices. He said he trains the girls exactly the same as the boys.
It's showing despite the team's youth.
"The team has really surprised me, because we have so many freshmen," Schumacher said. "If everyone does what they know how to do, we have a good shot at regionals."
He says juniors Lindsey Haak (11-4 at 110 pounds), Evelyn Anchondo (15-2, 119) and Jacabed Castaneda (10-2, 128) all could advance, as could sophomore Lisa Obregon (11-1, 215) and freshman Christina Rodriguez (10-2, 165). Obregon is ranked third in the state.
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Indianapolis picked to host world team wrestling trials
By Phillip B. Wilson
phillip.wilson@indystar.com
February 15, 2002
Local wrestling fans won't have to wait until the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Conseco Fieldhouse to see world-caliber wrestlers.
USA Wrestling and Indiana Sports Corporation are bringing a similar event, the World Team Trials of Wrestling, to the Indiana Convention Center on June 27-29, 2003. It's similar to the Olympic trials, except the 2003 winners advance to the World Championships.
"We're fired up about the Olympic trials, but now we have an opportunity to set the stage for that," said Gary Abbott, director of special projects for USA Wrestling in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Olympic trials is USA Wrestling's largest event in terms of attendance and popularity, Abbott said, with the past two trials generating record crowds.
The 2003 trials will be the third consecutive year with a combined format of men's freestyle, men's Greco-Roman and women's freestyle. Each style has seven weight classes. A two-day challenge tournament culminates in one day of finals, for which the 2002 national champions automatically qualify.
"This is relatively new turf for us," said Bill Benner, ISC vice president of communications, "and we've got some fairly fertile soil we should explore."
Indiana is a wrestling-rich state with 8,200 registered wrestlers, second only to California.
"As we look at growth sports the next 10 years, we believe wrestling will be among those that make the most progress and have the most potential to excite the community," said ISC president Dale Neuburger.
What's next? Neuburger said there's interest in the NCAA Division I championships and, perhaps the World Championships.
"I hope we could get those at some point in the future," he said.
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South Dakota girl wrestler not a sideshow
Jan 16, 2002 -
By Roger Merriam
The Public Opinion
Megan Croatt doesn't consider herself a trailblazer. She's just another one of the "guys" on the Ortonville (Minn.) High School wrestling team.
The 103-pound eighth grader, in her second year on the Trojans' varsity squad, took a 9-8 record with eight pins into Ortonville's weekend events.
That's certainly no small feat for a young athlete believed to be the first-ever female varsity wrestler in OHS history.
"She's not a sideshow at all. It's just a thing where she decided she wanted to come out," said Ortonville head coach Joe Eustice. "I don't look at her as a girl, so to speak. I look at her as another wrestler."
Wrestling, for those who know, is certainly no easy sport for anyone. The sport involves more than its fair share of dedication and hard work.
The level of commitment is higher for those wrestlers who achieve more than their fair share of success and even higher for those trying to break into the male-dominated sport.
Croatt is doing just fine. She went only 3-17 as a seventh grader on the varsity last year, but she weighed only about 96 pounds while competing in the 103-pound weight class.
She's obviously learned and improved.
"She knows a lot of moves and works extremely hard. When she runs up against kids her age, she usually wins," said Eustice.
It isn't completely rare to find female wrestlers. A number of youth wrestling tournaments, in South Dakota as well as Minnesota, allow girls to compete. Many even have their own powder puff divisions.
The Minnesota High School League, as well as other associations in a number of states across the country, do allow female wrestlers to compete on boys teams.
That isn't the case in South Dakota, where Section 13 of the S.D. High School Activities Association's constitution and by-laws state that gender-mixed teams are prohibited in all cases. The SDHSAA only governs high school athletes in grades 9-12.
Jerry Diel of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) said that most of the 49 states that offer high school wrestling do allow girls to compete in the sport. Two of those states, Hawaii and Texas, have separate state tournaments for boys and girls.
Unofficial figures from the NFHS indicate that approximately 3,000 girls compete nationwide in wrestling compared to 244,000 boys.
Croatt's wrestling career started as a second grader. Her father Tom, a former wrestler at Ortonville, operates the kids wrestling program in Bellingham.
"He helps me with my moves and other stuff," said Croatt. "And he just tells me to keep doing it if I like it."
Eustice said there have been few problems in Croatt's two years on the varsity. Ortonville usually notifies the opposing school that it has a female wrestler a few days before the match. She either weighs in first or last and is fully clothed during the weigh-in.
Croatt would not be allowed to wrestle in South Dakota but has wrestled against South Dakota foes in Minnesota, where teams followed their state's rules.
Her record likely would be even better but the Trojans often move her up to 112 pounds in order to give themselves a better chance at a dual victory. Most of her losses have came at the higher weight.
Croatt says she's having fun competing in a sport she likes but isn't sure what her wrestling future holds. She admits she has had thoughts of qualifying for the state tournament or even winning a state title.
"That would be really cool," said Croatt, who also participates in cross country and track.
Eustice definitely sees potential for good things down the road.
"She's a tough kid and a tough wrestler. She does a number of things quite well and there are still things she needs to work on. That's the same with a lot of kids," he said. "I think the key for her down the road is if she can stay in the lower weights. If she does that, I think she can certainly do quite well."
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Wrestling notebook
Matt Kirk, Times-Union sports writer 2/16/02
RECRUITING TRAIL
Courtland Young is not just a good female wrestler She is a good
wrestler. The First Coast senior defended her title lastr week at the third
annual Women's State Wrestling Championships. Young took first place for the
second year in the 112-pound division and is 11-0 against girls this season
and 13-6 against boys. Young is just one of several outstanding female
wrestlers who traveled down for the tournament, mostly as individuals. Lee's Judy
Molphurs earned second in the 107-pound weightclass; Episcopal's Emily
Barwick (112-pounds) and Erica Givens (124-pounds) took third and fifth
place respectively; Parker's Jacquelyn Carter (116-pounds) and Kristen
Harmer (124-pounds) took seventh and sixth respectively. --
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WISCONSIN WRESTLING: Cheerleader turned wrestler looks ahead
BY CARA LABRIE
Pioneer Press 2/12/02
When she was a sophomore, Anne Olson was a cheerleader.
As a junior, she thought she'd trade in the pompons and hit the wrestling mat.
In her first season with the Luck High School wrestling team, Olson posted a 7-13 record, including four victories by pins at the Lakeland Conference meet, where she placed fifth.
So what prompted Olson to make the switch?
"I don't know, really," she said. "I just liked the sport of wrestling. I just changed my mind and went for it. It's not because of strength, because I don't have any."
If her coach has his say, that will change.
"People really started paying attention to her at the conference meet," Luck coach Harry Johns said. "She did so well, but I think the best is yet to come."
Olson said she plans to wrestle in her senior year, provided she can stay in her 112-pound weight class.
"I don't want to gain too much weight," she said.
Although Olson's season ended last weekend at regionals, she said she plans to attend sectionals this weekend to watch teammates Albie McKinney, Nate Freer, David Bittbrenner, Jon Erickson and Rene Vargas wrestle.
Olson will get to return to an old pastime at the meet, too.
She'll be cheering for her teammates.
