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Girl's hopes to wrestle against boys pinned
By REBECCA PIRO, Sun Staff 5/18/03
GROTON When wrestling season rolls around at Lawrence Academy next year, fighter Amanda Ayotte will be one of three co-captains.
Not that her strength or skill will threaten challengers in league matches.
After leading a months-long effort to convince the 16 members of the Independent Schools League to allow coed wrestling, Amanda has lost the battle to a collaboration of headmasters who voted against the motion.
It leaves the 16-year-old with mixed feelings about next year's season, for which she was named co-captain at a recent end-of-season athletes' dinner.
"It's kind of odd that I'm going to be one of the captains of the team, and I'm not going to be able to wrestle in league matches," the Chelmsford resident said.
About 60 percent of wrestling matches are ISL matches matches against schools where, even if the coaches on both teams agreed to let Amanda wrestle, her win or loss would not count, said her Lawrence Academy coach, Justin Cotter.
But despite Amanda's disappointment, which is shared by her Lawrence Academy coach, athletic director, headmaster and others who supported her cause, opponents say their decision is meant to help more than hurt.
Ed Greene, Lawrence Academy's athletic director, said he was initially surprised that his fellow sports directors did not follow his lead in supporting Amanda. But after hearing their reasons, he agreed they made sense.
"If you let the females wrestle in a coed sport, you then really take away a lot of the critical mass, the impetus needed to start an all-girls program," Greene said.
Not long ago, women were rejected from ice hockey, he pointed out.
"People would say, 'You can't play, it's too dangerous.' Girls were angry ... and the energy was poured into starting (girls) hockey programs."
The ISL athletic directors declined to reveal the number of people for or against the movement, choosing instead to issue a written statement regarding their position.
It reads: "The ISL strongly supports athletic opportunities for all boys and girls. The league continues to have extensive, regular thought and discussion to insure the best support of female athletics. While different schools can and do have varying views on how best to do that, the league, at its recent meetings concluded that, for the present, protecting gender specific programs was ultimately the best way to provide the best opportunities for girls."
Steve Hahn, head of school at Lawrence Academy, voted in Amanda's favor. But he could see the cons of the situation, too. Allowing girls to wrestle for points could force Lawrence Academy and other schools to allow boys to play field hockey, or could force turning girls volleyball into a coed sport. Those kind of changes take money, time and manpower.
Creating a separate girls wrestling team would be "ideal," Hahn said. "But I think the reality is, there are not the numbers of girls (to support it)," he said, adding that the team would then need other all-female teams to compete against.
Amanda and one other girl are currently the only female wrestlers at Lawrence Academy.
Amanda, who has kept her sense of humor and a positive attitude about the whole deal, does not buy the theory that coed wrestling would encourage a flood of boys to come out for girls sports.
"I don't see a bunch of boys rushing out to play field hockey in a skirt," she said.
She is even less optimistic that the energy surrounding girls wrestling will grow enough to warrant a team of its own, if girls are not encouraged to at least start coed.
"I think girls would be turned away," she said. "I went to some wrestling tournaments in other states. Those girls are so (much farther) ahead than I am because they're allowed to wrestle. I tell them I'm not allowed to wrestle, and they're shocked."
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5/15/2003
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
WOMEN’S FREESTYLE QUALIFIERS
48 kg (105.5 lbs.)
National champion - Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC)
National placerwinners - 2. Clarissa Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC); 3. Mary Kelly (Mahomet, Ill./Dave Schultz WC); 4. Katrina Betts (Milan, Mich./Wolverine WC); 5. Julie Gonzalez (Vallejo, Calif./Dave Schultz WC); 6. Hana Askren (Los Angeles, Calif./Santa Monica WC), 10-0; 7. Gina Heinzelmann (Maplewood, Minn./Minnesota Storm); 8. Rachel Bernardes (Perth Amboy, N.J./Missouri Valley)
51 kg (112 lbs.)
National champion - Malinda Ripley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
National placerwinners - 2. Jenny Wong (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids); 3. Katie Kunimoto (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC); 4. Debbi Sakai (Honolulu, Hawaii/Wahine WC); 5. Patrice Crenshaw (East Point, Ga./Minnesota Storm); 6. Sarah Hayes (Broomfield, Colo./Cumberland); 7. Cheryl Wong (Boston, Mass./Dave Schultz WC); 8. Sarah Bergman (Otsego, Minn./MPLS)
Medalist at Group A Tournament - Marianne Vollmer (Grayling, Mich./Missouri Valley)
55 kg (121 lbs.)
National champion - Tela O'Donnell (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC)
National placerwinners - 2. Tina George (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army); 3. Stephanie Murata (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids); 4. Marcie Van Dusen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids); 5. Kiersten Hyatt (Carmichael, Calif./Missouri Valley); 6. Desiree Lockhart (Port Townsend, Wash./Pacific); 7. Danielle Hobeika (Princeton, N.J./Dave Schultz WC); 8. Cathy Migita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Rainbow Wahine WC)
Regional champions - Katie Ross (Greensboro, N.C./UM-Morris); Medalist at Group A Tournament - Jessi Shirley (Galion, Ohio/Cumberland College); Melissa Sherwood (Bates City, Mo./Stars and Stripes); Sarah Tolin (Casper, Wyo./Dave Schultz WC)
59 kg (130 lbs.)
National champion - Sally Roberts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC)
National placerwinners - 2. Erin Tomeo (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids); 3. Brandy Rosenbrock (St. Claire Shores, Mich./Michigan WC); 4. Leigh Jaynes (Burlington, N.J../Missouri Valley); 5. Brooke Bogren (Carbondale, Kan. /Cumberland College); 6. Linse Meadows (Katy, Texas/Neosho); 7. Lindsay Owens (Ripon, Calif./Menlo); 8. Othella Lucas (San Diego, Calif./San Diego Hot Beaches)
Team USA member - Tonya Evinger (Bates City, Mo./Stars and Stripes); Regional champions - Sharon Jacobson (El Cajon, Calif./UM-Morris); Medalist at Group A Tournament - Hillary Wolf (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)
63 kg (138.5 lbs.)
National champion - Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
National placerwinners - 2. Kristie Marano (Albany, N.Y./ATWA); 3. Lauren Lamb (Farmington, N.Y./Michigan WC); 4. Alaina Berube (Cornell, Mich./Cumberland College); 5. Emilee Murphree (Napa, Calif./Missouri Valley); 6. Tori Adams (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC); 7. Tina Arnds (Scottsdale, Ariz./Missouri Valley); 8. Shelly Ruberg (Ueras, Ohio/Cumberland College)
Regional champions - Brittany Christenson (Rock Springs, Wyo.); Chelynne Pringle (Hugo, Minn./Minneapolis AWC); Medalist at Group A Tournament - Grace Magnussen (Walnut Creek, Calif./Dave Schultz WC)
67 kg (147.5 lbs.)
National champion - Katie Downing (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
National placerwinners - 2. Kaci Lyle (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids); 3. Stephany Lee (Honolulu, Hawaii/Rainbow Wahine WC); 4. Ali Bernard (New Ulm, Minn./New Ulm Rolling Thunder); 5. Heather Martin (Wellington, Ohio/Keystone WC); 6. Kelly Branham (Apache Junction, Ariz./Missouri Valley); 7. Cindy Herceg (Los Angeles, Calif./Santa Monica Bay WC); 8. Mollie Keith (Aurelia, Iowa/Missouri Valley)
Regional champions - Nickia Jensen (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minneapolis AWC); Medalist at Group A Tournament - Brandi Golt (Chesapeake, Va./Missouri Valley)
72 kg (158.5 lbs.)
National champion - Toccara Montgomery (Cleveland, Ohio/Cumberland College)
National placerwinners -2. Samantha Lang (Tualatin, Ore./Sunkist Kids); 3. Iris Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army); 4. Elena Mena (St. Paul, Minn./Neosho County); 5. Donnell Bradley (Aiea, Hawaii/Missouri Valley); 6. Brianne Bazzini (San Carlos, Calif./Penn Grapplers)
Team USA member - Satrinina Vernon (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC); Past World team member - Jenna Pavlik (Lewes, Del./unattached), Sandra Bacher Fakaosi (San Jose, Calif./Dave Schultz WC); Regional champions - Ashley Sword (West Palm Beach, Fla. (New York AC); Jimi-Dawn Hornbuckle (State College, Pa./unattached)