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Wrestlers pumped for July

By KATHY RUMLESKI, Free Press Sports Reporter 2/2/03

PIN WIN: Western's Terri McNutt, right, battles Sarah Hayes of Kentucky's Cumberland College in a women's 53-kilogram bout during the Western Open wrestling tournament yesterday at Thames Hall. McNutt won on a pin. — Sue Reeve, London Free Press

Josip Mrkoci took advantage of yesterday's UWO Open wrestling meet at Thames Hall to check out the talent and also to promote the Commonwealth wrestling championships this summer in London.

The Londoner, who has been involved in wrestling for close to 40 years, is the chairperson of the Commonwealth Amateur Wrestling Association.

"There's a great deal of interest (about the championships)," Mrkoci said.

Certainly the wrestlers at yesterday's meet are well aware of the Commonwealth championships, which will be held July 5 and 6 at the Western Fair Sports Centre.

London native and Lakehead University wrestler Katie Patroch is setting her sights on the event, which is expected to attract between 100 and 140 wrestlers from more than 10 nations.

"I'm excited. It's a neat opportunity, especially being in London," said Patroch, who won the 61-kilogram class at the UWO Open. "I think I can do it (qualify)."

What's to her advantage is that only Ontario wrestlers will compete for Canada at the championships, although just one athlete per weight class will get that opportunity.

Patroch, who is the national junior champion, said she's ranked in the top two in Ontario currently.

The Saunders grad, who is in her second year at Lakehead, won a bronze medal at last year's Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships and hopes to win gold or silver this year.

"I want to up it just one more step to the finals."

Second-year Western wrestler Terri McNutt said she hasn't really thought much about the Commonwealth meet yet. She's concentrating on the university season and is hoping for a national medal.

McNutt is ranked second in the CIS in the 53-kilogram class behind former Western wrestler Belinda Chou, who is studying at the University of Manitoba.

"I've had a really good year," said McNutt, who won yesterday's competition, her third meet win this season.

Last year, the Kingston native finished fourth at the Ontario University Athletics championships and her goal is to win it this year.

Western coach Ray Takahashi said he expects McNutt to do well in the provincial and national meets and a Commonwealth birth isn't out of the question.

"She's highly ranked in the CIS. I'm hoping that she would be able to. It would be outstanding for us and her," he said. "She's in a tough weight, that's the only thing."

Takahashi is pleased London will be the host of the Commonwealth championships and he expects it to bring a lot of attention to his sport.

"It's a really significant event for wrestling and certainly for London. It can only help our sport."

This year's UWO Open, which included wrestlers from the University of New Brunswick, McGill, Muskegon College in Michigan and across Ontario, attracted more wrestlers than normal, with about 130 hitting the mats.

Mrkoci said he's seen a huge increase in the number of females in wrestling.

He expects numbers to skyrocket after the 2004 Olympics, where female wrestlers will participate for the first time.

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Moll, Baran breaking down barriers

GRAPPLERS' GRAPEVINE BY JOE PLASKO 2/4/03

Natasha Moll and Jessica Baran don't think of themselves as pioneers. They would rather simply be considered wrestlers.

The two girls have found their way into the Tamaqua varsity line-up this season and have been seeing action on a more or less regular basis.

With Title IX guaranteeing equal opportunities for women in sports, female wrestling on the scholastic level is no longer the novelty it was in the past. However, Tamaqua is one of the few mat squads that have more than one girl wrestling in competition with the guys.

While Moll and Baran aren't the first girls to suit up at Tamaqua (Kristin Laubach received a forfeit for the Raiders in a match vs. Pottsville in 1995), they are breaking down some barriers, as they are wrestling actual bouts in varsity meets.

This year's Blue Raiders mat club offered the girls the opportunity to crack the line-up, as the program is currently rebuilding and there are vacancies at their respective weight classes.

Tamaqua coach Jim McCabe said the girls work hard in the wrestling room, just like the male members of the team, and the rest of the grapplers have accepted them.

"The kids treat Jess and Natasha just as they would another member of the team," said McCabe. "They don't disrespect them."

"The guys have been encouraging," said Baran. "They are like a group of brothers."

McCabe was an assistant coach at Mahanoy Area when Beth Bolish took to the mats there, so he has experience dealing with the situation.

"It's nice to see females that don't care that they are participating in a male-dominated sport," he added. "It's becoming more common, and people are getting used to that fact."

Wrestling is a rugged, physically demanding sport, and it can take its toll on its participants, male or female. Baran, for example, received a broken nose while wrestling in junior high.

"They don't take it easy on us," said Moll. "We have to work 100 percent, and I feel I've been holding my own."

Those workouts are against the guys, McCabe stressed. "They don't feel the need to wrestle against each other just because they are female," he said.

"Both are good listeners, and they try their hardest. They go against opponents who are naturally stronger than them, but they aren't intimidated. They have a lot of the same attributes that Beth Bolish did at Mahanoy."

Natasha Moll is a sophomore whose father, Richard, wrestled at Pleasant Valley from 1980-84. "I'm taking off of my dad's wrestling career," said Moll, who sports a 1-9 record at 125 pounds. "He encourages me."

Richard Moll said his family moved into the Tamaqua area from Lehighton and is happy his daughter has the chance to pursue the sport. "I'm glad to see the Tamaqua School District lets her try it," he said.

Baran (1-4), a freshman at 103 pounds, came up through Tamaqua's junior high wrestling ranks. "I was in sixth grade when I decided to do it," she related. "I really love it."

Baran is also pursuing competition against other females. She has been competing in U.S. Girls Wrestling Association (USGWA) events such as the state championships, held at Quigley High School in Baden, where she placed third in 2001, and at the USGWA's High School Nationals at Lake Orion High School in Michigan. She has been to the Junior National Freestyle championships at Fargo, North Dakota.

"When she's wrestled girls in tournaments, Jess has done well," said McCabe.

This past weekend Baran was named Outstanding Wrestler at a state high school girls championship tournament at McCaskey High School in Lancaster. In winning the 107 pound class, Baran had to defeat senior Aquilla Hills of Bristol and Harry Truman High School in overtime. Hills is ranked third nationally by USGWA.

"Beating that girl (Hills) has sent my confidence way up," said Baran.

Next up for Baran on the female circuit is a Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament on March 1, also at McCaskey, and a return trip to USGWA Nationals at Lake Orion March 29-30. "My goal is to become an All-American," added Baran.

With the Raider varsity, Moll and Baran are seeking their first non-forfeit wins. McCabe hopes that if they both stick with the sport, they might someday accomplish what Bolish did, and that's survive at Districts past the first round.

"One of the goals is to win a match at Districts," he said. "It took Beth until her senior year to do it."

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Dinwiddie's female wrestler blazing a trail

BRIAN J. FRENCH , Sports Writer 02/04/2003

DINWIDDIE - It's 30 minutes before game time, and she stretches. She limbers up. She talks to her coach. She talks to her teammates. Then it's time to enter.

But she sets foot not on a softball diamond or a basketball court, but a mat. A wrestling mat. To wrestle a guy.

Welcome to Elizabeth Johnson's world.

The Dinwiddie junior isn't sailing in completely uncharted waters, but there's not many buoys, either. There were 67 high school girls wrestling last season in Virginia (including Lee-Davis' Rose Atkins, brother of state champion David Atkins), which makes Johnson a rare creature among the grappling set.

She hasn't paid it much mind, however.

"I have a passion for wrestling," Johnson said. "I love it."

It wasn't a big a deal to her when she first tried it in her seventh grade year. She was a student at a high school on an Army base in Germany, where her geography teacher was the wrestling coach.

Johnson decided to try it for two weeks, and if she didn't like it, she would get her proverbial money back. But the sport hooked her.

She wasn't a lone wolf, either. Of the more than 20 wrestlers on the squad that season, seven were girls.

"Nobody thought about it," Johnson said.

That changed when her family moved to Dinwiddie. She asked new coach Grayson Throckmorton if she could try out for the team, breaking a two-year hiatus from the sport and becoming the first female to go out for the sport in school history.

"She asked if it was OK, and I said that was no problem," Throckmorton said Throckmorton, who coached a female at his last stop with Halifax County. "I was glad to have her on."

Johnson has spent the last two seasons on the junior varsity squad, working for a hoped-for promotion to the varsity in her senior season, a move Throckmorton said was "very close" to happening.

Neither she nor Throckmorton know her record; but she will wrestle prior to the varsity meet if the other team has an opponent in her 135-pound weight class.

Her road hasn't been without bumps. Johnson said that not everyone who crossed her path would be happy to lock up with her.

"That happened quite a few times," Johnson said. "Some aren't hesitant, and they try to grab (me) with their hands."

But by and large, Johnson enjoys unfettered support from those around her.

"It has not been a problem," Throckmorton said. "All the members of our team have been supportive of her."

Johnson's biggest difficulty with being a female wrestler in a male-dominated sport is more physical than conceptual. Though competing against opponents within a few pounds of her weight, she cedes a weight advantage every time out.

"All things being equal, it's not equal because a young man is so much stronger" at the same weight, Throckmorton said. "She has the disadvantage of being out-stregnthened. She works her moves almost to perfection, but she's always a little outmanned."

Johnson said she understands what she has to do to move up.

"There's a lot more moves," Johnson said. "It's not just simple breakdowns, it's a lot more complicated."

Johnson, who also plays for the Generals' girls soccer team, said she'd like to continue wrestling in college, where she plans to major in sports therapy.

Whether that ever happens, mark her down on the Dinwiddie roster next season -- varsity or otherwise.

"I know I'm going to stick it out," Johnson said. "Wrestling has made me stronger mentally."

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Travis, Mancini shine at Ontario wrestling meet

GARY MCCARTHY
Feb 2, 2003

Ellie Travis of the Matmen United Wrestling Club in Mississauga overpowers Stephanie Harding of Brock University in junior women's heavyweight action at the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Championships in Brampton last Saturday. Travis won the gold medal

BRAMPTON -- It was a case of the ecstasy of victory for one and the agony of defeat for the other.
Ellie Travis and Sophie Mancini are good friends, in fact Grade 11 classmates at Port Credit Secondary School. They are also wrestling teammates with the Matmen United Wrestling Club.

They were the only two Mississaugans to reach the finals of the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Championships here this past weekend.

Travis came away with the gold medal in the junior women's heavyweight division, Mancini had to settle for silver in the 55-kilo weight class for junior women.

"This was a very big win for me," said Travis, who has been wrestling for three years and captured the National title in the Cadet division last year.

"I'm very proud of what I've been able to accomplish," she continued, noting that she was wrestling up in class by competing in the junior category instead of her juvenile division.

"I just go out there and try to think of the moves I want to make and take it one point at a time. A lot of these girls wrestle on university teams."

Travis, who took up wrestling because her older brothers compete, got some revenge by beating Stephanie Harding of Brock University on points to take top spot in the heavyweight division.

"(Harding) beat me in the juvenile class last year, so it was nice to beat her this time," said Travis.

As a result of her victory, Travis will now represent Ontario at the National juvenile championships in Calgary in April. She will also compete in the junior class at the Nationals in Fredericton, N.B. in March.

Mancini, one of three sisters who play soccer for Port Credit Secondary, fell behind early against Lindsay Rushton, also of Brock, and was never able to recover.

"(Rushton's) been wrestling a long time," said Mancini, who is in her third year of competitive wrestling. "I shouldn't even be wrestling today. I'm still a juvenile but I wanted to raise the bar. I wanted to challenge myself.

"I came in to this expecting to gain some knowledge and experience. I did my best. I guess you just have to lose sometimes in order to get better."

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South City girls take third in state

By Richard Motroni - CORRESPONDENT 2/4/03

Three Warriors finish in top five of their weight class Last year, South San Francisco brought six wrestlers to the girls state wrestling championship and won just one match. Going into this year's tournament at Vallejo High, the Warriors were simply looking to improve. Turns out, they did a lot more than improve. In fact, the team finished third overall in a field of 80 schools and had three wrestlers place in the top five of their weight classes.

"We exceeded our own expectations," said South City coach Jerrold Gor. "Participating last year for the first time, we didn't know what to expect. This year we wanted to improve, and we took home a state trophy."

On a day filled with historic performances, the most accomplished came from Christina Delgado in the tough 122-pound division. Delgado began the tournament by scoring first-round pins over Paula Belcher of Armijo, Hollister's Yolonda Diaz and Emily Justus of Redwood, only to face top-ranked April Pabilon of Tennyson in the semifinals. Despite the loss, Delgado finished fourth overall.

Linda Villegas (118) made quick work of her first opponent with a pin at 1:30, then needed only 26 seconds to pin Milpitas' Htoi Lahpai. The winning streak ended with a 12-2 loss to eighth-ranked Kelly Coplin of Redwood as Villegas placed fifth.

The most surprising performance came from Mariel Manela (126), who also took home a fifth-place medal. Beginning the tournament with a pin over Ashley Jovamirot of Amador Valley, Manela survived a tough 4-3 battle against Half Moon Bay's Audrey Asche and later beat Cynthia Antonio of St. Patrick-St. Vincent 7-4.

Christina Fong (110) who entered the tournament ranked fifth in the state and Elaine Bartolome (114) both went 2-2 and came within one win of placing. Also competing for the Warriors were Renee Yanos (100), Megan Magdangal (114) and Loramae Mango (122).

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