By Jillian Beaudry - The Daily World

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 11:10 AM PST

MACLEOD PAPPIDAS | The Daily World Elma grappler Dusty Leslie, right, faces off against against Ashley Cullins of Yelm in the 119-pound weight class during the annual Best of the Nest Wrestling Tournament at Elma High School last week. Leslie won the match by pin.

ELMA — At Elma High School, five girls are crossing the threshold into the boys’ world of wrestling.

The Elma High School gym was packed with high-school aged boys and girls in brightly colored spandex singlets Wednesday morning stretching, running around and trying to keep warm before the matches of a local tournament began.

Females were certainly not the dominant sex in uniform that morning at the tournament, but they were holding their own in the way they interacted with their male teammates. Some were wearing makeup or brightly-colored nail polish and others were not.

“It takes all kinds of girls,” said Kari Toms, Elma’s girls wrestling coach. “They’re very feminine women who are just confident.”

Toms said girls have been turning out for wrestling at Elma High School on and off for 10 years. Two years ago, the state decided girls didn’t have to compete against male wrestlers and separated categories by sex. Toms, who recorded sports statistics at Elma when she was in high school, was hired on by the school as the girls coach after that development.

“It’s a fun thing for girls,” she said. “It’s nice for them to have permission to be active. You’re strong and you can do this.”

On Grays Harbor, Elma has five girls, Montesano High School has five and Hoquiam High School has nine. Yelm High School, which also brought wrestlers to the Elma tournament, boasts 20 girls, Toms said.

Hoquiam’s girls were successful in 2008 and 2009, with two girls placing in the top 10 in the state competition in 2008 and one placing eighth in 2009.
I think in the beginning we were one of the girl’s programs to really kick it off,” said Mike Cummings, Hoquiam’s wrestling coach. “If you have (more) girls, you score more points.”

Cummings said some of his girls have wrestled for two to three years and are coming out victorious because most opponents haven’t been wrestling as long. The Hoquiam girls are also close, lending support and advice to one another.

“They help each other out a lot,” Cummings said. “They work together to make each other better.”

One of the current Elma girls was an alternate for the state tournament last year, and this year, Toms will take two seniors to the competition to see how they fare.

Toms said many of the girls on her team turned out because they had grown up wrestling on pee-wee and freestyle teams.

Elma freshman Stefanie Cristelli has wrestled for 10 years. She said she learned most of her wrestling skills from her brother Josh.

“It’s in the blood,” Cristelli said. “I’m tough and it keeps me in shape.”

Keeping up with the boys

Cristelli and the rest of the Elma girls certainly are tough.

The girls wrestling practices at the school are exhausting, filled with running, lifting weights, learning new moves and live wrestling — and they keep up with the boys throughout. Sophomore Dusty Leslie said there is one special day at practice called “The Pit” where a wrestler takes on a new opponent every 45 to 60 seconds for 12 minutes to the point of exhaustion.

The girls also get the chance to wrestle the boys, whom they see as brothers, during live wrestling.

“I was expecting to get secluded (from the boys),” Leslie said. “I like how it’s such an involved sport.”

Freshman Jordan Brewer said boys have more upper body strength than girls, but girls are better at countering moves.

He said he has wrestled Cristelli during practice and she has skill.

“She wins usually,” Brewer said with a laugh. “I won once.”

Singlets & making weight

In competition, the girl’s singlets cover a bit more over the shoulders than the boys and they must wear a special spandex cap over their headgear to keep their hair tucked away.

“We look like bald, blue smurfs,” Leslie said, laughing about Elma’s royal blue caps.

In addition to keeping up athletically, the girls also have to make weight to wrestle in their preferred class.

Cristelli is in the 135-pound weight class and said she doesn’t aim to lose large amounts of weight before a match, maybe two pounds at the most.

“It’s really not healthy,” she said.

If a wrestler aiming for a 135-pound weight class comes in at 135.2, she will be bumped up to wrestle in a heavier weight class.

Cristelli loses those two pounds by running and working hard in practice.

However, Cristelli was not competing Wednesday morning at Elma High School.

She got a concussion on Dec. 16 when she was knocked unconscious during a match with a Hoquiam girl.

“I don’t remember anything,” Cristelli said. “They said I fainted three times after that.”

A CT scan at the hospital after the match showed Cristelli has a cyst in her brain that is dangerously large. She is out for the season if an operation is required.

Leslie, in the 119-pound weight class, did wrestle that day. Before the match, she chatted on her pink cell phone and remained calm and collected.

Little girl wrestler

Wrestling is in Leslie’s blood as well. Her father had wrestled at the state level when he was in high school.

“When I was little, he used to teach me basics like how to hold on and start,” Leslie said. “Endurance is probably the thing he taught me most.”

Now a sophomore, this is Leslie’s first year wrestling. She also plays volleyball for Elma and is the assistant editor of the yearbook.

She said her friends question her decision to wrestle, asking questions like “Why would you want to roll around in someone else’s sweat?”

She said the adrenaline rush in wrestling and pushing herself beyond her expectations makes it worthwhile.

“I’ve always been categorized as an innocent little girl,” Leslie said. “That’s who I am, I guess.  We’re in this sport because we love it, not because it’s the cool thing to do.”

more intense than volleyball

Leslie compared wrestling to volleyball and said the atmosphere on the volleyball team is more relaxed. Both Cristelli and Leslie said the girls on the wrestling team aren’t like soul sisters because cliques from school hours and outside of practice influence who their best friends will be.

Leslie admitted that she gets along better with the boys on the wrestling team than many of her female teammates.

Toms said she doesn’t foster a sisterhood, but wants to make it a place where the girls feel safe and can let out some energy.

“I want them to learn and have fun,” Toms said. “They need to feel reassured that they’re doing a good job and they’re not going to get embarrassed.”

She said Yelm’s program is successful because girls wrestling practice is held without the boys, relieving many pressures. She said that will not happen anytime soon in Elma as the school only has one wrestling room, forcing her girls to practice at 6 a.m. or 7 p.m., which are undesirable times.

On the mat

When 11 a.m. rolled around Wednesday, Leslie was up on her feet. She had made weight and was bouncing up and down from foot-to-foot to keep warm before she took on her opponent from Yelm. Her shiny blue cap was on her head and she wore a white T-shirt over her singlet to keep in he heat.

Finally, the match started, hands were shook, and the girls moved in a slow, thoughtful dance. They moved their arms, foreheads touching, trying to decide which move to make. Leslie’s coaches shouted at her which moves to make next.

After at least five blows of the referee’s whistle, both girls showing signs of exhaustion, Dusty was able to pin the Yelm girl. She pushed through, just as her father taught her, and placed third in the tournament that day.

Watsonville High’s Emily Kalka shakes the hand of Monte Vista Christian coach Brendan Leathem after winning her match Dec. 16 during a Monterey Bay League dual meet.

Pictures

Pictures 2

Whittier senior wrestler, Shannon Constantine puts a hold on her opponent from Northbridge in a 103-pound match in the Pentucket Holiday Tournament earlier this week. Constantine, who is 12-1 on the season, battled for a third-place finish at the tournament. None / Staff Photographer

NORTH ANDOVER — Whittier Tech senior 103-pounder Shannon Constantine is no longer just a good girl wrestler.

As she's proven thus far in the young season, she's a good high school wrestler whatever the sex.

After winning three matches in yesterday's quad-meet at North Andover, Constantine owns an impressive 12-1 record that includes a title at the Tyngsboro Tournament and a third-place at the Pentucket Holiday Tournament.

At Tyngsboro, after winning 8-2 in the finals, she was named the tournament OW (Outstanding Wrestler).

Constantine was more than respectable last year, finishing with a 21-12 record and finishing second in the girls New England tournament, but she's taken her talent to a new level this year.

She confirmed that again yesterday in her last match of the day, against Beverly veteran Jake Tetranzo, who pinned her in the North sectional last year. Trailing 2-0, she took command in the second period before recording a pin at the 3:39 mark.

Based on Constantine's work ethic, Whittier coach Rich Durkin is not surprised by her continued rise.

"She works harder than anyone on my team," said Durkin. "It's unbelievable how hard she works and she doesn't seem to get tired."

And, through weight lifting and plenty of wrestling, she's gotten a lot stronger.

After Constantine defeated the area's other top girl 103-pounder, North Andover freshman Danielle Coughlin, via a technical fall in the Pentucket tournament, North Andover coach Dave Castricone came away impressed.

"She's strong, a lot stronger than she used to be," said Castricone. "I noticed it when she shook my hand after the match.

"Danielle is going to be a good wrestler, but she can't match her (Constantine) in strength and experience — plus she has to get meaner. But she'll be right there in a couple of years."

Constantine was 12-19 as a sophomore. A year working out at Smitty's Barn in Danville, N.H., helped her improv to well over .500 last year.

"I just want to wrestle tough and place in some big tournaments," said Constantine, who is weighing opportunities to wrestle in college at schools that have women's wrestling, like Oklahoma City, Missouri Valley and San Jose State. "After that, we'll see."

When Constantine graduates, her heir apparent may be Coughlin, who wrestled her tough yesterday, losing 6-2.

"I was a lot like her when I was a sophomore, so I think she'll be really good," said Constantine, a Haverhill resident. "Technically, she's a really good wrestler."

Coughlin won her last match yesterday, a pin over St. John's Prep freshman Louis Bernstein, giving her a 12-4 record with six pins.

"She (Constantine) does kind of motivate me because she's a captain," said Coughlin. "She's strong, good with her legs and she's very intense. I'm not sure I can get that intense, but I'm going to try."

North Andover rebounds

After losing a tough dual meet to Central Catholic, North Andover has come back strong, blasting Beverly 70-6, Whittier 59-6 and St. John's Prep by a surprising 65-3 count. That lifts the Knights to 7-1 on the year.

Among yesterday's standouts for the Knights were 140-pounder Emil Lora, who pinned St. John's Doug Harding, and Brody Kelley, who was 3-0 at 130 and edged Mike Mayo of the Prep 3-1. Also, 125-pounder Jason Ricketts, who was 3-0 and handed St. John's Alex Kumantis his first loss of the season, 2-1.

Also impressive, with two wins, was 171-pound freshman Ryan Neals.

The only winner for St. John's Prep against the Knights was 135-pounder T.J. Crabtree, who is ironically from North Andover.

Whittier picked up its first win of the year in dramatic fashion. Trailing 41-18, the Wildcats recorded four straight pins for a 42-41 victory. Constantine, Travis Yell, freshman Edgar Centrizcka and Calvin Corthell recorded the falls.

North Andover sweeps

Team scores: North Andover 70, Beverly 6; North Andover 59, Whittier 6; North Andover 65, St. John's Prep 63; St. John's Prep 65, Beverly 10; St. John's Prep 60, Whittier 12; Whittier 42, Beverly 41

Local records:

103: Danielle Coughlin (NA) 1-1, Shannon Constantine (W) 3-0; Corey Chaff (NA) 0-1; 112: Pat McLean (NA) 2-0, Cody Allen (NA) 1-0, Travis Yell (W) 2-1; 119: Dan Lora (NA) 2-0, Gerry Casaletto (NA) 1-0, Edgar Centrizcka (W) 1-0; 125: Jason Ricketts (NA) 3-0; 130: Brody Kelley (NA) 3-0, Mike Mayo (SJP) 2-1; 135: Jake Munroe (NA) 2-1, T.J. Crabtree (SJP) 3-0; 140: Frank McCarthy (NA) 2-0, Emil Lora (NA) 1-0, Doug Harding (SJP) 2-1; 145: Dan Connelly (NA) 3-0; 152: Rob Drover (NA) 0-1, Alex Cortes (NA) 1-0, Jake Tannian (W) 2-1; 160: Garrett Alter (NA) 3-0, Steve Surette (W) 1-2; 171: Ryan Neals (NA) 2-0, John Pollard (NA) 1-0; 189: Jake Mehlman (NA) 3-0, Nick DiNanno (SJP) 2-1; 215: Adam Bates (NA) 3-0; HVY: Rob Querengasser (NA) 3-0; Corey Jean Jacques (SJP) 2-1

Records: St. John's Prep 12-3, North Andover 7-1, Whittier 1-6

Area High School Wrestling Report

Michael Leonard

about 12 hours ago

For the last few years, Crestwood has shown the potential to be a tournament-winning squad, but the Red Devils’ form on the big stage has been maddeningly inconsistent.

A runner-up finish at Aurora and a fifth-place finish at Hudson earlier in December seemed to continue that trend.

On Dec. 28 and 29, however, it finally clicked for the Red Devils.

After finishing 11th last season, Crestwood overcame a 28-team field at the Kenston Invitational Tournament to win with 192 points — nine better than runner-up Willoughby South.

Crestwood coach Dave Wrobel said his squad finally seems to be wrestling up to its potential.

“It was a nice tournament for us,” Wrobel said. “To come out in first place is something we can really build on. Everything is starting to come together. You don’t want to peak too early, but it’s good to see our kids taking the next step.”

Crestwood finished with three weight-class champions in 140-pounder Adam Horovitz, 152-pounder Cheney Matarrese and 160-pounder Cody Ryba.

Crestwood nearly had four champions, but senior 103-pounder Paige Nemec ran into a familiar foe in the finals — Streetsboro’s Cory Stainbrook.

Stainbrook pinned Nemec in 1:35 to claim the 103-pound title at Kenston for the second straight year. He led Streetsboro to a 13th-place finish.

OAKWOOD — Some females compete with males to make a statement, but for West Hall High wrestler Laykin Herford it isn’t about that.

She grew up watching her older brothers — Lloyd who’s 21 and Logan who’s 16 — wrestle.

Lloyd was a state qualifier in each of his four years at West Hall and Spartans’ sophomore Logan qualified for state his freshman season.

While watching, Herford also managed to hold her own in the family living room.

This summer, however — the summer before her freshman year at West Hall — Herford saw and seized an opportunity to take what she’s learned out of the familial confines.

“My brothers told me I should give (wrestling) a shot,” Herford said. “There wasn’t another 103 (pound wrestler) on the team and I’ve always enjoyed watching the sport and thought participating would be fun.”

Her first few days were a struggle, but only because of the conditioning needed to be a wrestler.

“It’s different from any other sport,” Herford said. “You’re using your entire body to the max the entire time. There aren’t any breaks, you can’t call a timeout and there are no substitutes.

“After the first few days, my brothers told me that it couldn’t be a sport I was halfway into. I chose to do it and now I love it.”

Herford won the first match she competed in and has since gone 14-12 this season and went 4-4 in the traditionals competition this past weekend at the Hall County Championships at Flowery Branch High.

The 14-year-old Herford even placed in her first two tournaments of the year, taking fourth at the Creekview Invitational and sixth at the Lithia Springs Invitational.

And now she has her sights set not just on making the state tournament, but being the first girl to place in the state traditionals meet and possibly get a college scholarship.

“She’s got a high work ethic and a lot of natural ability,” West Hall wrestling coach Eric Radich said. “Everyone who sees her wrestle comments on her ability.”

Radich went on to say that some of the comments are made because she’s a girl and there’s an air of surprise, but more times than not — like with the two national level clinicians who over the summer said she was the real deal — it’s because Herford is simply a good wrestler.

She’s even managed to pin more than a few of her opponents this season.

“(Getting a pin) is encouraging,” Herford said. “It shows me and others that I’m not just doing this, but I’m actually good at it.”
And it’s because of that fact, and Herford’s mentality — she gets angry if someone forfeits a match to her — that Radich put her on the team in the first place.

“Her situation is unique because one of her brothers is on the team and the other brother (Lloyd) is a coach for us,” Radich said. “She isn’t just some random girl and, frankly, it’s the random girl whose intentions I’m unsure of, that I’m skeptical of.

“I was apprehensive, I can’t lie about that, but I talked to her family and she has shown so far that she can take (the physicality).”

Along with that, Herford has shown that she can take being treated like one of the guys.

“You can’t coach me differently,” Herford said. “You have to think of me as one of the guys.

“I don’t want to be the girl, I just want to be another wrestler.”

“I treat her like everyone else,” Radich said. “Of course there are going to be guys who go all out because she’s a girl and there are going to be guys that are extremely timid because she’s a girl.

“But at the end of every match, when she walks off the mat, she’s simply a freshman who just competed and needs to learn from it.”
Order This Image - West Hall’s Laykin Herford, right, wrestles with teammate Elliot Raiford during practice Monday.
Sara Guevara | The Times

YVCC women win one of three

ATHERTON, Calif. — Tamika Jones and Anna Sauceda won two matches for the Yakima Valley women’s wrestling team as they won one out of three matches at the Oaks Open.

This was the first time the Yakima Valley women had wrestled freestyle.

Yakima Valley defeated Menlo College in the first match 29-18, but then lost two straight. Oklahoma City University, the defending freestyle champions, beat Yakima Valley 45-1, and Burnaby Mountain won 22-15.

Yakima Valley 29, Menlo College 18

44 kg: Tamika Jones (YVCC) d. Brittany Lucero 6-3, pinfall; 48 kg: Sherylyn Sabado (Menlo) d. Kendra Wilson 3-0, 4-1; 51 kg: Katherine Fulp-Allen (Menlo) d. Chantel Allstot pinfall; 55 kg: Ashlee Phy (YVCC) d. Jaque Davis 4-0, 6-0 tech fall; 59 kg: Anna Sauceda (YVCC) d. Rachel Skrotch pinfall; 63 kg: Stephanie Geltmacher (YVCC) d. Tehanie Iberra 5-1, pinfall; 67 kg: Jo Ielu (YVCC) d. Kayla Garza 6-0, pinfall; 72 kg: Keiton Long (Menlo) d. Monique Dilliner 7-0, 7-1; 82 kg: Lizzie Saucedo (YVCC) d. Becca Medeires 3-1, pinfall; 95 kg: Brittany Caoile (Menlo) d. Nelly Aranbro pinfall.

Oklahoma City University 45, Yakima Valley 1

44 kg: Stephanie Waters (OC) d. Tamika Jones pinfall; 48 kg: Nicole Woody (OC) d. Cady Chambers 6-0, 6-0; 51 kg: Natasha Umomoto (OC) d. Kendra Wilson 6-0, 6-0; 55 kg: Makala Huchison (OC) d. Ashley Phy 6-0, 6-0; 59 kg: Ashley Hudson (OC) d. Rachael Segura pinfall; 63 kg: Tessa Plana (OC) d. Stephanie Geltmacher 4-3, 2-1; 67 kg: Britany Roberts (OC) d. Joe Ielu 6-0, pinfall; 72 kg: McKayla Richards (OC) d. Monique Dilliner 1-0 (OT), pinfall; 82 kg: Melissa Simmons (OC) d. Lizzie Saucedo 3-0, pinfall; 95 kg: Brittany Delgado (OC) d, Nelly Aranbro pinfall.

Burnaby Mountain 22, Yakima Valley 15

44 kg: Tamika Jones (YVCC) d. Kiki Arraki 7-6, 0-8, 3-0; 48 kg: Cady Chambers (YVCC) d. Machiko Arraki pinfall; 51 kg: Tessa Ma (BM) d. Samantha Mount 6-0, 6-1; 55 kg: Laura Gordon (BM) d. Cinthia Castillo pinfall; 59 kg: Anna Saucedo (YVCC) d. Gena Carpenter pinfall; 63 kg: Laura Wilson (BM) d. Rachael Segura 3-1, 6-0; 72 kg: Jenna McClatchy (BM) d. Drrue Partridge 4-0, 5-2; 95 kg: Jane McClatchy (BM) d. Lauren Watts pinfall.

Monday, January 4, 2010 1:28 PM PST

The Daily World WASHOUGAL Hoquiam pinned down two individual weight division champions during Saturday’s Washougal River Rumble girls wrestling tournament. Dallas Wagner (125 pounds) and Marissa Aube (130) won their weight divisions for the Grizzlies, with Cassie Doyle taking third at 125 and Jessica Velez (130) and Brianna Looney (135) took fourth. As a team, Hoquiam took fourth, with Sedro Wooley winning the overall team title. Wagner pinned LaCenter’s Rebecca Sokolowski in 46 seconds in the finals, her second sub-minute pin of the tournament and her first win over Sokolowski this season. Wagner needed 42 seconds to pin Rochester’s Hana Paros earlier in the tournament. Aube also pinned her two opponents, but needed more time — midway through the third period against Washougal’s Megan Dunham in the finals and early in the second period against Sedro Wooley’s Chelsea Seidel. “The girls wrestled very well in our toughest tournament yet,” added HHS assistant coach J.T. Spradlin.

Wrestling: Eastman, Edlund Come Out on Top at Washougal