News Page
North
Salinas wrestler heads for tournament in Australia
BY
RYAN WALLACE •
wallacer@thecalifornian.com • June 18, 2009
Opportunities
to represent your
country in athletic competition don't come around often.
And it
certainly doesn't happen on a regular basis to an
athlete who just picked up a sport.
Sixteen-year-old
Mariah Castro proved to be an exception,
and the first-year North Salinas High wrestler finds herself just weeks
away
from competing in an international tournament in Australia.
Castro was
nominated by North High coach Ken Dutton to
compete in the International Sports Specialists, Inc. Down Under Sports
wrestling tournament as a member of the U.S. team.
"At first I
didn't take it seriously," Castro
said. "I just thought it was another tournament. But then he [Dutton]
said
I would be representing our country, and I said, ÚWow, this must
be a big
deal.' "
Castro
leaves for Gold Coast, Queensland, on July 1 for a
two-week trip.
Dutton said
Castro was an obvious choice for him because of
her tremendous will.
"She struck
me as a neat kid," Dutton said.
"Her grades are pretty good, and she played field hockey so she likes
to
get hit. She came out for wrestling, and she loved it and did really
well.
"She just
kicked butt and made herself successful. She
deserved this opportunity."
After
realizing what this would mean to her, Castro, her
family and friends went to work to raise money for the trip. Through
fundraisers, donations and sponsorships, Castro has raised nearly
$4,000 toward
the trip.
"It was
really stressful," she said. "But I
couldn't have done it by myself."
Castro, who
will begin her senior year in the fall, said she
didn't know what she was getting herself into when she came out for the
team
last winter.
"I wanted
to do something different," she said.
"The conditioning was really hard for me at first, and I didn't know
why I
decided to do this."
Things
changed for the better after finishing fourth at an
all-women's tournament.
"That
turned everything around," Castro said.
Castro went
on to compete in the Northern Regional Wrestling
Tournament, the equivalent of the state wrestling championship for
female
athletes, and finished eighth in the 165-lb. weight class.
"She really
enjoys the competition, and that
never-give-up attitude," Dutton said. "She earned the respect of her
coach."
Castro, who
has never traveled on an airplane before, is
anxiously awaiting the trip and the opportunity to bond with her fellow
U.S.
teammates.
"It's
overwhelming, scary and exciting," she said.
"I know so much more is going to come out of this. Everything is up
from
here."
By Spencer Campbell
Sports Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 17, 2009
BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Tenn. – A visiting professor stopped by King College on Wednesday. Her lecture, however, strayed from the college’s typical curriculum.
“The conventional way to get into a gut wrench,” Sara McMann told 18 students inside King’s Student Center Complex, “you’re hooking her in the right armpit. I don’t think the referee would notice if you grab her by the throat. Just be quick about it. All this choking stuff, you didn’t get from me.”
In fairness, McMann’s area of study isn’t geology, business or mathematics. It’s wrestling. And she’s at the top of her field.
McMann was the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in women’s wrestling, and on Wednesday she attended King’s first annual women’s wrestling camp to impart some of her hard-earned experience to the group of mostly out-of-state high school wrestlers.
As the students broke into pairs, McMann reminded them: “This is a painful move, so it’s going to be painful. If you’re not hurting, your partner’s not doing it right.”
McMann’s presence at King’s women’s wrestling camp was the work of the Tornado’s first-year coach, Jason Moorman. The upcoming year will serve as the inaugural season for the King women’s wrestling team, and after assisting the Tornado’s men’s team for two years, Moorman’s strategy for success does not include patience.
“We want to compete for a national championship our first year,” Moorman said. “That’s why we have Oklahoma City scheduled [on Oct. 31], because they’re the current national champions.”
That’s also why Moorman asked McMann to attend his camp.
“She’s an icon,” Moorman said. “She’s the highest Olympic medal holder in our country. [Students] look up to her, we want them to know that whatever they want to do, they can accomplish it.”
McMann is no stranger to this part of the country, having attended high school in Marion, N.C., before graduating from Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania. McMann is a six-time U.S. Nationals champion, two-time Pan-American Games champion, and the 2003 and 2007 World bronze medalist.
But the climax of her current wrestling career came at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece – the first time women’s wrestling was featured in the Games – when McMann took home silver in the 64-kilogram weight class.
She currently wrestles out of Limestone College in South Carolina, where her husband is the head men’s wrestling coach.
“There [are] not too many camps for females,” McMann said. “I really like the opportunity to give back to our sport. I always like to set a good example through technique, and show these girls how excited we are for the sport.”
Also, being a woman in a predominately male sport, McMann realizes that she has the opportunity to guide young girls beyond the wrestling mat, where she can discuss the pressures of competing on boys’ teams. Although women wrestlers are still the minority, and even if grappling has yet to appeal to the Tri-Cities’ female population (there was only one at the camp on Wednesday), McMann just hopes her fervor infects one young girl.
“We thought after it was made an Olympic sport, it’d be more popular, but it’s been the same,” McMann said. “But you have to love it to do it. If it ends up being a bunch of dedicated girls, we’ll love that, too.”
scampbell@bristolnews.com |(276) 645-2543
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OHIO
JAMESTOWN — Anyone who thinks 19-year-old Emma Randall is a lightweight, just another wholesome Greene County farm girl, would be sadly mistaken.
Especially after she steps inside the wrestling circle.
Then, she wants only one thing: She wants to win.
Her first college year completed, Randall, a 2008 graduate from Greeneview High School, has pinned down numerous honors. As a freshman at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania, she was picked as captain of the women’s wrestling team and has traveled to Colorado, Texas, New York City and Canada for matches.
“I’m definitely still the youngest on the team,” she said, adding most other members are in their early 20s.
She already has completed half the requirements to graduate with honors. She interns for the wrestling program, books team travel, assists with recruiting and works on the teams’ Web site. Her grueling daily schedule starts at 5:30 a.m. and includes about five hours of practice and drills, about six hours of class, and two-three hours for homework. She calls her mother twice a day, and turns in about midnight.
Now, she has a chance to visit the U.S. Olympic Training Camp in Colorado to work out with the junior and senior Women’s Freestyle World Teams. She and her parents, Jim and Monette Randall, are sending out fundraising letters in coming weeks to help cover her expenses. She must pay for her travel and lodging, they said, and invitations for other trips may be extended. Emma hopes one day to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
“That’s been my dream since third grade,” she said. “That’s all I want.”
The Randalls are well-known at Greeneview schools, regularly cheering for their three children in sports. Emma, the only female on the wrestling team, wrestled both boys and girls through her sophomore year. As a junior and senior, she wrestled females only.
Her parents also owned Carousel Feed in Xenia, now known as Southwest Landmark. Both are still employed there, and while home on visits, Emma has helped out in the drive-thru. One of the hardest parts of her first year away, including her first college match in Canada, was not having her parents cheering in the stands, Randall said.
“The coach realized how hard it was,” Monette said.
“Family is a big part of our team,” Emma added.
Technology has helped somewhat, and Emma is allowed to send text messages home as soon as she finishes talking with her coach, she said.
“When I know it’s time for her to wrestle, I want to know exactly when she comes off the mat,” Jim Randall said. “We had to buy Emma unlimited texting.”
Donations to help with Randall’s Colorado trip can be sent to Jamestown Youth Wrestling Club, Attn: Mike Sizemore, 2580 Big Woods Trail, Beavercreek, OH 45431.
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Canada
Humberview Husky Howl was a great success
Wednesday June 17 2009