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Joey Miller competed in the Southern Plains Cadet Regionals Tournament and placed 2nd at 91 lbs. She defeated Nevin Kopriva of Kansas by pin. she was ahead 11-2 befor getting the fall. Her next opponent was Kris Luzand of Missouri. She fell behind 4-0 when Kris did a hip toss to take Joey to her back. She was on her back for 1 minute befor rolling him over for 2 to with 2 seconds in the first period which made it 4-2. In the second period it was all Joey. She took Kris down and scored with leg laces and gut wrenches and the final score was 12-4. in Her final match Joey lost by tech fall to Justin Blummer from Oklahoma. There was 4 Oklahoma Girls to wrestle in the girls div but there was not enough girls to have any matches. It was a poor showing for host state Kansas who had 4 girls there and Texas who had 0.
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Howorun named top athlete
Teen wins Ken Giles Award for judo and wrestling exploits
FRANK JUZENAS 6/13/03
It's tough enough for an athlete to be national calibre in one sport, but how does Stefanie Howorun do it in two sports?
"Dedication and hard work,'' sums up Howorun, a national medallist in both judo and wrestling, who was presented with the Ken Giles Award as Brampton's Amateur Athlete of the Year on Wednesday night.
"The two sports are similar,'' said the 18 year old.
Despite completing a rare double of winning the Canadian junior judo title and a silver medal at the national junior wrestling championship, Howorun was still surprised when she was selected from a list of 24 nominees as the second recipient of the award named for the retired long-time sports editor of The Guardian.
"I'm overwhelmed,'' said Howorun, who received the award during the 23rd annual Brampton Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner. The five-member selection committee voted her unanimously as the first choice for Athlete of the Year.
Howorun manages to maintain a heavy training schedule along with being an honour roll student at Mayfield Secondary School. She is hardly going to rest on her laurels either.
In the fall she will continue to train for both wrestling and judo while she attends McMaster University in Hamilton to study kiniseology.
Even though she seems to have plenty on her plate Howorun even found time to be the captain of her school rugby team and last weekend she tried out for the provincial team. Last week she was named her schools female athlete of the year. She has played rugby for her five years of high school and also enjoys it.
"It's a team sport and I've done individual sports, so I like doing a team sport. It's also a contact sport which I like,'' she said.
Howorun, who trains for judo at the Brampton Y and for wrestling with the Matmen United Wrestling Club, said her involvement in sports has helped her time management skills among other benefits.
"I've gained confidence and fitness,'' she said. "I've learned who I am.''
During her acceptance speech at the dinner she thanked her coaches Bill Kato in judo and Kevin Lomas in wrestling.
She has continued to train and do well in her sports despite the death earlier this year of her father, Paul Howorun, who got his daughter involved in judo when she was six years old.
She remembered her father for the values he instilled in her and wished he could have been there to see her receive the award. She also thanked her mother Jane.
She picked up wrestling two years ago to help her training for judo and achieved immediate success.
The Ken Giles Award is based on accomplishments from April 2002 to May 1, 2003 and Howorun has had plenty.
Last May she earned a bronze medal in 70 kilograms at the senior national judo championship. In June she received the James Worall Scholarship Award for her participation in wrestling. She was honoured by Mayfield as the school wrestling and rugby MVP and was a Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association rugby all-star.
In July, she won the national junior judo championship and was named the Matmen female wrestler of the year.
In August, she attended the U.S. Junior International Judo championship earning a silver medal.
In September, she finished ninth at the World Junior Judo Championship in South Korea.
In October, in judo she won the silver medal in the U.S. Senior International in Las Vegas against a strong field, which she considers one of her most notable accomplishments.
She also earned gold in the junior division at the Quebec Open and bronze in senior.
In November, she won the judo Ontario Junior Open and the Toronto Open in wrestling.
In December, she won the Matmen Open wrestling title.
In January, she won the junior provincial wrestling championship and was named to the Canadian judo team selected to train at the Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs.
In February, she won the ROPSSAA 72 kgs. wrestling title and was named the female ROPSSAA wrestling MVP. In March she won her second consecutive Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association (OFSAA) wrestling golf medal and earned silver at the wrestling junior nationals.
In April, she finished ninth at the Senior British Open in judo.
Howorun, was one of five finalists for the Ken Giles Award chosen by the selection committee.
Ohenewa Akuffo-- wrestling
She earned silver medals at the Women's World Cup of Wrestling in Cairo Egypt, the Pan Am Wrestling championship in Guatemala and the Canada Cup in Calgary.
The selection committee included Ken Giles, Frank Russell from the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame, Kathy Knafelc, athletic convenor for ROPSSAA and media representatives Robin Inscoe sports editor of The Brampton Guardian and Frank Juzenas sports reporter The Brampton Guardian.