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Female Single Combat Club (Interviews Joey miller)
1/12/04
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Girl Wrestlers Gain Ground
More are competing on high school boys' teams, reflecting a trend in
contact sports. They hope to prove the naysayers wrong.
By Peter Yoon
Times Staff Writer1/10, 2004
Watching a bloodied and shaken eighth-grader continue to fight after
sustaining a broken nose, Coach Donnie Stephens was impressed.
What he heard later sealed his admiration. Instead of sitting out the
rest of the season while the break mended, the kid kept going — knowing it
would have to be re-broken later in order to set properly.
Stephens said he knew then "we had a real wrestler" coming into his
program at West Covina High. Only in this case, it was a 90-pound, 13-year-old
girl.
Her name is Norine Cruz, now a 98-pound, 17-year-old senior and the
top-ranked female wrestler in California in her weight class.
Cruz is one of nearly 5,000 girls wrestling this season nationwide,
according to the U.S. Girls Wrestling Assn. That's up from 3,700 last
year and marks a more than threefold increase in the last five years.
Looking back, Cruz considers the decision about her nose as "a
no-brainer." Missing matches, she said, is never a serious consideration.
Today, she will be among more than 100 girls from schools across the
state competing at Thousand Oaks High School in the fifth annual Williams
Cup, one of the nation's largest and longest-running girls-only wrestling
tournaments.
The event is a welcome departure for many participants, because the
girls spend most of the rest of the season competing against boys. There are
no girls' teams in California.
Today's tournament is one of about a dozen such events statewide, a
reflection of the rapid rise in the sport's popularity among girls.
In 1997, the first year the USGWA held a national championship, 116
girls participated. The next year, 272 competed. Last year, there were 604.
Opportunities at the college level are also rising. Seven U.S. colleges
and universities and more than 20 in Canada offer women's wrestling. Ten
years ago, there were none.
And this summer, for the first time, women's wrestling will be a medal
sport in the Olympics, which is expected to result in participation soaring
again.
"I could guarantee that NBC is going to put it on in prime time," said
Doug Reese, the women's coach at the University of Minnesota at Morris, the
first U.S. college to offer the sport. "It's going to sell beer ads. Who
doesn't want to see women in singlets doing battle? But the novelty will wear
off and people will see it's a great sport. A lot of girls are going to
want to try it."
Jen Kellogg, a freshman who wrestles for San Marino High, sings in the
school choir, has a leading role in the school play and carries a 4.0
grade-point average. She enjoys shopping and movies, and took piano
lessons as a youngster.
But she is transformed when she slips into a wrestling singlet and
strides into the musty room to lock horns with sweaty boys.
"I'm not a girlie-girl or anything, but I'm actually quite feminine,"
Kellogg said.
Cruz, by the way she handled her broken nose, had somewhat proved her
toughness when she arrived at West Covina. But she still heard
whispers: She wouldn't last; she couldn't take it; she would never win; she was only
doing it to meet boys.
Countless times she told smart alecks that no, there wasn't any mud,
oil or Jello in this wrestling.
"People talk all this bull about you," Cruz said. "That just makes me
want to prove them wrong. If you give up, then they were right, so it makes
you work harder."
The emergence of girls in contact sports traditionally reserved for
boys is a recent phenomenon. Water polo gained official status for girls in
1996-97 in Southern California; around the country, girls also now play ice
hockey, lacrosse and occasionally football.
For female pioneers, cracking the wrestling room door has been only one
hurdle.Despite its rise in popularity, girls' wrestling is sanctioned only in
Texas and Hawaii.
The California Interscholastic Federation's Southern Section requires
that at least 20% of member schools field teams before it will sanction a
sport for championships. In Southern California, that is roughly 110 schools.
Although a substantial number of girls wrestle on boys' teams, only a
handful of schools would have enough to fill out girls-only squads.
But several coaches are lobbying for a way around the rule, arguing
that many more girls would participate if the sport was official.
"It's been a Catch-22 for a long time," said Shannon Yancey, a former
national champion and founder of the Thousand Oaks tournament. "It gets
better and better every year, but they're making us jump through a
bunch of hoops. They want to be sure there will be enough girls."
Complicating the movement are coaches who insist that girls have no
place in the wrestling room.
San Marino Coach Daren de Heras said that earlier this season an
opposing coach opted to forfeit his team's 103-pound match against Kellogg
rather than have its boy compete against a girl.
Some girls' proponents admit to previously having reservations.
"I'm old-fashioned and raised conservative," Diamond Bar Coach Jack
Cooprider said. "I didn't want to let girls on my team."
Valerie Pries changed Coop- rider's mind. He said Pries is as dedicated
and diligent in practice as any boy he has coached. She participates in all
the conditioning exercises and has never asked for special treatment. Her
commitment has made her the top-ranked girl in the state at 103 pounds.
"She's just one of the guys now, so to speak," Cooprider said. "It's
still not something I'd be raising my daughter to do, but there is no denying
that some girls really are wrestlers."
Top-level girls hold their own against boys. In 1998, Olivia Ocampo of
Channel Islands High in Oxnard won a league championship. Last year,
Cruz was 10-7 against boys at the varsity level. This season, Pries is 7-7
against boys.
Still, coaches say there are concerns when girls compete against boys.
For example, wrestlers who are close to the weight limit often get on the
scale without their clothes. Cooprider recalls his team being summoned to a
weigh-in and Pries arriving to find two naked boys.
The Diamond Bar coach also frets about certain moves and techniques.
The "high crotch," for example, is a move in which one wrestler thrusts his
or her arm between an opponent's legs to attempt a takedown.
"How are you going to teach that to a girl?" Cooprider said.
Boys who compete against the girls say they are often apprehensive,
fearing that techniques they've been taught to use might seem indecent.
"Certain moves might require something that appears inappropriate,"
said Jeffrey Pan, a San Marino sophomore. "But I know and the girl I'm
wrestling knows and the coaches all know that it's purely technical, nothing
else."
It's even more difficult for boys to wrestle girls for a different
reason: "Win, and all you did was beat a girl," Pan said. "Lose, and the guys
are going to make fun of you."
Pries has little sympathy for competitors who let that fear get to
them. "I'm just like, 'Get over it,' " she said. "I'm just a wrestler. I'm
not a girl wrestler."
There are, however, situations when even the best girl wrestlers can be
intimidated.
Cruz acknowledges a strength difference against boys in her weight
class.
"If I see a guy who is huge and buff, I'm like, 'I hope I don't get too
roughed up,' " she said. "But I look at that as practice. My goal is
the girls' state championship so it doesn't really matter how I do against
the boys."
No matter how rough things get, the girls say they are in wrestling to
stay. And they're making believers out of many.
"It used to be you'd go to a tournament, and if a girl was wrestling,
everyone would stop and watch and it would be a really big deal if she
won," Cooprider said. "Now it's rare to go to a tournament and not see four,
five or six girls wrestling."
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Seventh-grader not afraid to take the HEAT
Mike Henry Prep Wrestling 1/1/04
Daniel Dykes didn't have to worry what his teammates would say if he lost to a female opponent from Miami Braddock in the junior varsity division of last month's Sarasota Classic Wrestling Tournament.
The seventh-grader, who turns 13 next week, is the lone wrestler for the Manatee HEAT (Home Educated Activities Teams). His 12-4 record with nine pins against high school competition includes a 2-2 mark against varsity wrestlers at the Tarpon Springs East Lake Tournament.
Plus, that one match at the Manatee Convention and Civic Center against Kathy Delgado of Braddock.
"Girls are harder sometimes because they're more flexible, and when they're on their back, they just flip right over," the 98-pound Dykes said. "It's hard to get a move on them because they get right out of it."
Dykes' angelic appearance can't mask the determination coming out his headgear. He defeated Delgado 18-2 en route to a 4-1 mark and third-place finish in the 103-pound division. On Friday, Dykes was 3-0 with two pins in the junior varsity division of the Hurricane Team Challenge.
Dykes, the third oldest of Emmett and Debbie Dykes' six children, plays football for the Police Athletic League Bears, plans to try out for the HEAT baseball squad next spring and sings in the youth choir at First
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NEIL KERR 1/7/04
STAFF WRITER
Female wrestler Jessica Pierce (5-1) of Altmar-Parish-Williamstown High, featured in this column two weeks ago, has been bothered by the flu. She didn't get to wrestle during the holidays, although she was awarded a pair of forfeit wins at the Camden dual meet tournament. Pierce may wrestle tonight against Jordan-Elbridge, unless weather postpones that match. She hopes to be back to full strength for the Little Falls tournament Saturday. . . . Hannibal High's wrestlers traveled to Deposit last Saturday and won the Stan Elinsky Tournament with 186 points. For Hannibal, tourney champions were Corey Smith at 112 pounds, Nick Horrell at 119 and Rob Wescott at 160.
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Missouri Valley Tops Menlo 24-8
REDWOOD CITY, CA 1/9/04-
After an early victory, Caylene Valdez turned in a win at 130 pounds that tied the score up at 8 all before Missouri Valley claimed the final four matches to defeat Menlo Friday night women¹s wrestling 24-8.
Freshman Sara Fulp-Allen won the initial matchup at 105.5 due to forfeit, but the visitors from Missouri took a pair of matches at 112 and 121.
At 130¹s, Valdez erased a 1-0 deficit after one period with a pair of takedowns in the second. Missouri Valley¹s Brooke Bogren then mounted a comeback, as her own takedown tied the score up at 5 all with less than ten seconds remaining in the second. Forced into overtime, Valdez picked up the deciding point fifty seconds after regulation ended.
But a pair of pins in the next two matches, as well as a technical fall by Missouri Valley¹s Stephany Lee, sealed the Oaks fate, as they were defeated 24-8.
Missouri Valley 24, Menlo College 8
MC MV
105.5 Sara Fulp-Allen (MC) win by forfeit 4 0
112 Debbi Sakai (MV) dec. Sheila Lerit (MC), 13-6 5 3
121 Sandy Do (MV) tech. fall Melisa Gutierrez (MC), 4:53 5 7
130 Caylene Valdez (MC) dec. Brooke Bogren (MV), 6-5 OT 8 8
138 Kierstin Hyatt (MV) pinned Felicia Quevedo (MC), 1:37 8 12
147 Kelly Branham (MV) pinned Becky Tavera (MC), 5:13 8 16
158 Selina Perez (MV) win by forfeit 8 20
169.5 Stephany Lee (MV) tech. fall Misty Stalley (MC), 2:55 8 24
* * *
Later, Leigh Jaynes beat Caylene Valdez 7-1 in an exhibition.
and Debbi Sakai defeated Laura Felix by an unkown score.
Pacific was supposed to participate this weekend but was snowed in and couldn't get
to Portland Airport.
Lady Oaks Wrestling Open Results
Fulp-Allen Named Top Wrestler
ATHERTON, CA 1/10/04- A pair of wrestlers, Caylene Valdez and Sara
Fulp-Allen, took first place in their respected weight classes at today¹s
Menlo College Lady Oaks Wrestling Open.
The Oaks, who finished in second place in team points, picked up a pair of
perfect days from Fulp-Allen and Valdez. Fulp-Allen, who was named the
Open¹s Most Outstanding Wrestler, had a second round technical fall over
Amantha Hordagoda while Valdez had two pins over Lassen College¹s Sabrina
Valdez and Sandy Do of Missouri Valley in the second and third rounds,
respectively.
Shiela Lerit took 2nd place at 55 kilos while Misty Stalling also took 2nd at HWT.
Team Scores
1. Missouri Valley College, 28
2. Menlo College, 22
3. Lassen Junior College, 10
Outstanding Wrestler
Sara Fulp-Allen, Menlo College
Individual Results By Weight Class
48 kilos
1. Sara Fulp-Allen, Menlo College
2. Julie Gonzalez, Dave Schultz Wrestling Club
3. Amantha Hordagoda, Dave Schultz Wrestling Club
51 kilos
1. Debbi Sakai, Missouri Valley College
2. Shiela Lerit, Menlo College
3. Maika Watanabe, Missouri Valley College
55 kilos
1. Caylene Valdez, Menlo College
2. Theresa Gordon-Dick, Unattached
3. Sandy Do, Missouri Valley College
59 kilos
1. Leigh Jaynes, Missouri Valley College
2. Lindsey Owens, Unattached
3. Brooke Bogren, Missouri Valley College
63 kilos
1. Kiestin Hyatt, Missouri Valley College
2. Julie Duarte, Missouri Valley College
3. Megan Cox, Lassen Junior Coll
67 kilos
1. Kelly Branham, Missouri Valley College
2. Kuu Johnson, Lassen Junior College
3. Andre Hale, Lassen Junior College
HWT
1. Stephany Lee, Missouri Valley College
2. Misty Stalling, Menlo College
3. Brianna Bazzini, Unattached
Results By Weight Class
48 kilos
Round 1
Julie Gonzalez (DSWC) pin Damaris Barrios (Lassen), 0:45
Sara Fulp-Allen (MC) tech. fall Amantha Hordagoda (DSWC), 10-0
Round 2
Julie Gonzalez (DSWC) dec. Laura Felix (CSUB), 5-4
Amantha Hordagoda (DSWC) pin Damaris Barrios (LC), 5:27
Round 3
Sara Fulp-Allen (MC) dec. Laura Felix (CSUB), 6-3
Julie Gonzales (DSWC) dec. Amantha Hordagoda (DSWC), 3-1
Round 4
Laura Felix (CSUB) dec. Amantha Hordagoda (DSWC), 6-1
Sara Fulp-Allen (MC) dec. Julie Gonzalez (DSWC), 9-1
51 kilos
Round 1
Shiela Lerit (MC) dec. Maika Watanabe (MV), 13-9
Debbie Sakai (MC) inj. Default Melissa Gutierrez (MC), 2:39
Round 2
Shiela Lerit (MC) tech fall Opelia Pickard (MV), 4:45
Debbi Sakai (MV) tech fall Maika Watanabe (MV), 15-6
Round Robin 2
Debbi Sakai (MV) pin Opelia Pickard (MV), 1:45
Maika Watanabe (MV) pin Opeila Pickard (MV), 4:20
Round 3
Debbi Sakai (MV) dec. Sheila Lerit (MC), 9-2
55 kilos
Round 1
Sandy Do (MV) dec. Sabrina Valdez (LC), 3-0
Caylene Valdez (MC) dec. Theresa Gordon-Dick (UN), 8-1
Round 2
Caylene Valdez (MC) pin Sabrina Valdez (LC), 1:55
Theresa Gordon-Dick (UN) pin Sandy Do (MV), 3:38
Round 3
Caylene Valdez (MC) pin Sandy Do (MV), 1:53
Theresa Gordon-Dick (UN) dec. Sabrina Valdez (LC), 5-3
59 kilos
Round 1
Leight Jeynes (UN) dec. Lindsey Owens (UN), 9-3
Round 2
Leigh Jaynes (MV) dec. Brooke Bogren (MV), 4-3
Round 3
Lindsey Owens (UN) dec. Brooke Bogren (MV), 5-1
63 kilos
Round 1
Kierstin Hyatt (MV) pin Megan Cox (LC), 1:57
Julie Duarte (MV) pin Felicia Quevedo (MC), 1:25
Round 2
Kierstin Hyatt (MV) pin Julie Duarte (MV), 2:36
Megan Cox (LC) tech fall Felicia Quevedo (MC), 11-0
Round 3
Julie Duarte (MV) dec. Megan Cox (LC), 9-2
Kiestin Hyatt (MV) pin Felicia Quevedo (MV), 1:40
67 kilos
Kelly Branham (MV) pin Kuu Johnson (LC), 2:29
Andre Hale (LC) tech fall Becky Tavera (MC) 11-0, 3:16
Round 2
Kelly Branham (MV) pin Becky Tavera (MC), 2:58
Kuu Johnson (LC) pin Andre Hale (LC), 3:32
Round 3
Kelly Branham (MV) pin Andre Hale (LC), 1:15
Kuu Johnson (LC) pin Becky Tavera (MC), 2:40
HWT
Round 1
Misty Stalling (MC) pin Selina Perez (MV), 3:15
Stephany Lee (MV) tech fall Brianna Bazzini (UN), 3:31
Round 2
Stephany Lee (MV) tech fall Selina Perez (MV), 2:25
Misty Stalling (MC) dec. Brianna Bazzini (UN), 8-2
Round 3
Brianna Bazzini (UN) inj. default Selina Perez (MV)
Stephany Lee (MV) pin Misty Stalling (MC), 0:25