Photos by Dennis Oblander
Kelsey Hanson hopes that her future includes an education at the U.S. Naval Academy where she hopes to study nuclear propulsion.
News Page
January 23, 2004
Rachel Knight is a proud member of the Etna wrestling family. A lifelong Quartz Valley gal who was Etna High's first female wrestler, Knight has relished her time in the program and looks forward to continuing her career in the up and coming sport of ladies wrestling.
Today's Siskiyou Sensation has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the state for her class and plans to wrestle next year at Lassen JC.
"She has risen to the occasion. She has been one of the founders of that team. She should make it the finals at the regionals coming up," said coach Scott Forrester.
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Name: Rachel Rose Knight
Town: Quartz Valley
School: Etna High
Grade: 12
Parents: Steven and Marla Knight
Coach: Scott Forrester
About being a senior: "It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. It's been a lot of work, taking advanced classes."
Describe me: "Pretty easy going but very determined. I never give up on anything that I do."
Philo. of life: "Live it to the fullest; live it while you can."
Nickname: Ellie Mae (the country girl who beats up on all of the boys) and The Rock
Fav. class: Choir
How I got started in wrestling: "In junior high. I always like physically challenging sports and wrestling is mentally and physically challenging. It's the best of both worlds."
Fav. wrestling moves: "Half Nelson, double leg takedowns. Gramby rolls work well. I have taken second in all the tournaments I have wrestled in this year."
The Cement Mixer is a move that also works well for her, Forrester said.
What I love about wrestling: "You are responsible for whether you win or you lose. There's no one else is out there helping you. It's on you. It's cool because it's a team sport and an individual sport at the same time. There aren't many sports like that.Girls wrestling is getting pretty big now. Not too many schools can ignore how big the sport is getting."
About coach Forrester: "He's a really good coach. He pushes you when you need to be. He's always supported me."
Most important thing learned in high school: "Don't procrastinate."
Fav. food: Apple pie and steak
Least fav.: She's not a tofu fan, folks.
All-time fav. movie: Action movies like Bad Boys and Rush Hour
What wrestling means to me: "It has meant an incredible amount. It's taught me so much about dedication and persevering through everything. The sport becomes a part of you. They are like your family; its been a huge part of me. I will miss my coach and team a lot."
It's been a win-win for everybody, Forrester said.
"She belongs to Etna High wrestling. A lot of her success has been because of the team; the quaility of the wrestling we have has brought out the best in her. If you don't have anyone to challenge you in practice everyday, you are going nowhere."
Future goals: Study equine science and become a horse trainer.
Parting words: "If you are going to do something, do it with all of your heart."
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Note: On Feb. 20-21, the Div. 3-4 championships are at Etna High
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Rams' female wrestlers aren't any different than their guy counterparts
January 24,2004
Jeremy Slayton
Sun Journal
HAVELOCK -- Make no mistake about it, these girls are tough.
They bring a mixture of feminine beauty and brawn to a sport that is highly regarded as just a male sport.
They aren't trying to make a statement -- they just want to wrestle.
Women's wrestling is a sport gaining in popularity -- it'll be an Olympic sport for the first time at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Athens -- and Havelock High School is the home to four girls that are hoping to make their mark.
Laine Orabona, Heather Bogard, Gabrielle Aguiar and Nayanda Whitehurst form quite an impressive quartet for the Rams.
While on the outside looking in, it might appear that males might not be approving of females in the wrestling room.
"There is a whole lot of controversy, you know, the whole idea of girls getting out there and doing a boys sport, and sometimes winning," said Bogard.
However at Havelock, it's not a problem.
"It's not that different. We get treated different in little ways, but not in the wrestling room," said Orabona, who is a junior. "There are big, big crowds when we wrestle at our meets, because a lot of people don't have respect for (girl wrestlers) yet. So when one of us gets out there and actually beats someone, everyone really goes in shock."
During the high school wrestling season, Havelock does not run into many other teams that have girls wearing the singlet. Warren County and Fayetteville Smith are just a couple of the schools that also have girls on the team.
"It's still fairly new, but not unusual anymore. It just varies from school to school which girls want to participate," said Havelock head coach Ed Cruz. "Our girls are involved heavily in the freestyle. If they want to compete at that level, they have to get more hours of practice in. That is why we are doing it."
During last year's North Carolina Girls State Wrestling Tournament at Southern Nash High School, all four of the Rams competed.
Orabona won the 118-pound weight class with an 11-6 decision over Warry Woodard of Smithfield, Va., and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
So it seems that wrestling with the guys is paying off.
But going to nationals is a whole different story.
"There's a lot more pressure and it really opens your eyes up, because around here, you don't see many girls," said Aguiar. "But (at nationals) there are some awesome wicked chicks up there."
Because there aren't any girl wrestling teams in the state, in order to get the mat time in during the prep season, the Havelock quartet has to wrestle guys.
But the only thing they ask for is a fair shake.
"I definitely don't want to be treated differently because I'm a girl," said Aguiar, a junior. "I want the refs making the same calls if I was a guy. … I hate being mistreated like 'oh, she's a girl so take it easy on her.' You want to win fairly."
During their brief wrestling careers, sometimes they run across opponents who are wary of taking on a girl and choose not to do so.
"I did in eighth grade, not me in particular, but another girl on my team. He started crying and lost the match for his whole team because he wouldn't wrestle this girl," said Bogard, a sophomore.
"A few matches ago, I had a guy get out there and he had his mom calling, he had his dad calling, trying to get the coach to back off and not make him do it," said Orabona, who is currently ranked ninth in the nation in her class by the United States Girls Wrestling Association. "But he ended up having to do it."
Although a word of advice for potential opponents is to not take these young ladies lightly.
"What I've seen, they treat them just like another wrestler. Our girls are pretty talented and if a guy comes out there easy, I'm sure within the first 10 seconds, he changes his mind," said Cruz. "There may be some of that apprehension when they step on the mat, but for the most part, especially in Laine's case, everyone around here knows who she is. And they're going to step on the mat lightly with her, because she'll beat them."
And beating a guy who doesn't take them seriously is a sweet feeling.
"When guys go easy on you because they think most girls suck, but when you start getting aggressive and they, like, get really aggressive just because they don't want to get beat by a girl. It's the best part," said Whitehurst, who is joined by on the team by her brother Melvin.
All of the girls say they couldn't have gotten where they are without the help of Cruz.
"He's opened a lot of doors for us and encourages us to go to those big tournaments," said Whitehurst.
Added Orabona: "My mom wanted us to move, but she wouldn't let me wrestle for anyone else but coach Cruz because she doesn't think anyone else is ready for girls."
As the sport of women's wrestling is growing in popularity, each one of the quartet believes that it will begin to trickle down into North Carolina.
"I think over time people will have more respect for girl wrestlers. There will be more coming out," said Aguiar. "Like Hawaii, they already have girls teams out there and they are extremely competitive in nationals. I think it will be like that soon. … It's getting out there and more girls are doing it."
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Girl wrestlers deserve credit when it's due
Published: January 24, 2004
The above picture shows Dayton's Summer Mercier wrestling in a 103-pound match against Brian Moran of McMinnville.
With a name like Summer, you may have guessed that, yes, she is a girl.
When the photo first came across my desk, I debated whether or not to put it in the paper. I decided not to put it in at the time because it would only act to embarrass the Mac wrestler.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Mercier definitely deserves to have her picture in the paper.
She's a good wrestler. You can see from the photo that she's strong and she knows what she's doing on the mat.
Mercier pinned a kid from a Class 4A school. That should be recognized. Even if she does happen to be a girl wrestling a boy.
Besides, the Mac kid has nothing to be embarrassed about. He's certainly not the first to lose to Mercier. Just that night, she pinned a kid from Woodburn.
Mercier, a sophomore, has been wrestling since third grade. So far this year, she has a 17-8 record for the Pirates. Her goal is to qualify for the state tournament.
"My brothers all wrestled, and it just inspired me," Mercier said. "I like that it's one-on-one with the other person. That makes it a lot more fun. You don't have to have the whole team backing you up or anything."
Mercier won her first-round match in last year's Class 2A District 1 tournament, pinning Matthew O'Connell of Corbett in the third period. Randy Thayer of Willamina then sent her into the consolation bracket with a pin.
"Summer is just like one of the guys out there," said Dayton coach Larry Finnicum, who has coached Mercier since her younger days in the mat club. "She does good. She works hard. She can probably beat quite a few of the guys in the room."
Finnicum said Mercier goes through the same workout routine as any of the guys in the wrestling room.
"She's not shy or anything," Finnicum said. "She'll walk by and punch you like anyone else. She's pretty tough."
Mercier isn't the only area girl wrestling against boys these days. Courtney Pownall joins Mercier on the Pirates, wrestling at 145 pounds. Pownall grew up wrestling with her brother, Daniel Pownall, who was a two-time state champion at Dayton in 2001 and 2002.
Brittni Vido is a 103-pounder for Amity.
Out of the 12,500 high school wrestlers in Oregon and Washington, 185 are girls. Tualatin's Samantha Lang recently won a tournament in the 160-pound weight class. She's ranked No. 1 in the nation for 165-pound girls.
"There's a whole other world out there in girls wrestling," said Amity coach Paul Sweigert. "All these girls know each other. They kind of wish there was girls wrestling, but there just isn't yet."
After the high school season ends, the girls compete in the all-girls USGWA Oregon State Championships. Mercier took second in last year's tournament, while Pownall was first at 148 pounds two years ago.
Only the best of the best go on to wrestle at one of the six colleges currenly with women's wrestling teams. Pacific University, just up the road, has had a women's wrestling team since 2001.
The ultimate goal for girl wrestlers, much like for the guys, is to compete in the Olympic Games.
That's right. After experimenting with women's wrestling in the 2000 Games, the sport will make its official debut in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
"Now, it's the real deal," Sweigert said. "Girl wrestlers are real determined. They choose to wrestle and are serious about it. They stick with it. They're on a mission."
Sweigert said he had never coached a girl wrestler before Vido came to the program. He said he had no idea how to coach her until he asked around and found out that he should just treat her like any other person on the team.
The girls have to work out and sometimes even cut weight, just like the boys. The preparation and training are the same.
Of course, there are some differences. The girls often weigh-in with a woman moderator in a separate bathroom. If their hair happens to be too long, the girls have to wear a wrestling "bonnett."
Then, there's the occassional boy who just refuses to wrestle against a girl. They figure there's nothing to gain by beating a girl. Losing can only lead to ridicule from their peers.
It's a lose-lose situation for these guys. They'd rather take the forfeit.
Mercier sees it a little differently.
"They get scared because they don't want to get their butts kicked," she said.
Sweigert recalled one occassion when one of his wrestlers was pinned by Pownall. That guy hasn't wrestled since.
"It's kind of threatening," Sweigert said. "If you ever get beat, you'll always remember that. It's tough."
It's not easy for these girls to get out there with so much working against them. It takes courage and determination. They should be celebrated when they have success
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Pin point Middle school's first girl wrestler touts the sport's competitiveness, lessons
By Eric Decker
Staff Writer 1/22/04
Sarina Gordon is the first girl ever to join the Greenfield Middle School wrestling team, but she did not do it to make a point. She did it because she loves to compete.
"To me it's fun, the competition and that you get to beat people up and stuff," said Sarina, 13.
Some taunting from a brother who told Sarina that she couldn't make the team or stick with it helped motivate her, she said.
The eighth-grader -- who listens to bands such as Nirvana, Hole and The Distillers and lists Twisted Metal Black and Midnight Club Street Racing among her favorite video games -- said practicing wrestling fundamentals for 90 minutes a day five times a week with her 32 teammates has made her more than just physically stronger.
"It kind of gets you used to not looking at something and thinking that it's easy," she said. "You don't know how much work you will put into it on weekdays and stuff."
Putting toughness to the test
Coach Mike Weller said Sarina is the only girl he has ever coached. She gets no special treatment from him, assistant coach Tim Hall or her teammates.
"She's mentally and physically tough," Weller said. "We've had other (girls) that wanted to try out."
Physical education teacher Jessica Wittig said three other girls expressed interest in the team earlier this year. One never came to practice and the others said practice seemed too intense, leaving only Sarina.
"She's not like other girls," Weller said. "She showed us that she was determined to do it and she had the toughness to do it. She knew we weren't going to baby her and we haven't."
Jake Winski, another first-year wrestler, said Sarina is a good wrestler, no different than other team members. He admitted that if the pair were in a match together, she would likely beat him.
"She's better overall, and she's quicker," he said.
Sarina said she wanted to start wrestling in sixth grade, but couldn't get her mother to let her. After two years of consistent persuasion, she was given the go-ahead this year.
Larry Gordon, her dad, said having his daughter involved in wrestling didn't surprise him because Sarina's older brothers wrestled and he could see that drive in his daughter as well.
"She's a very competitive person," he said. "If she's of a mind where she wants to do it, she's going to do it."
Larry Gordon said Sarina's participation with the wrestling team has been good for her.
"She has to earn something and she has to practice," he said. "And there's a little bit of discipline to go along with it."
Accepted as member of team
Larry Gordon said he and Sarina had seen other girls on wrestling teams, so they knew it wasn't an impossible dream. Sarina is unsure if she will continue wrestling at Greenfield High School next year.
Although having a girl on the wrestling team is unusual, Weller said it has not been the distraction he thought it could be.
"She hasn't backed down. She's just another wrestler here trying to get better," Weller said.
Sarina's record is 2-3, heading into the final weekend of her middle-school wrestling career. She, along with the other members of the GMS wrestling team, will take part in an annual middle-school wrestling tournament hosted by Kettle Moraine Middle School. Sarina, of course, would like to increase the numbers in her "win" column.
Sarina said wrestling has brought about only one negative -- one thing that she simply can't stand.
"When you lose and make simple mistakes and you know you can beat the kid, it really annoys me," she said. "You have fun at practice, but when you win it means that practice paid off with the pin."
Wrestler
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Junior Southeast Wrestling Tournament
WHERE: Kettle Moraine High School, 349 Oak Crest Drive, Wales, (262) 968-6200
WHEN: Weigh-ins start at 7 a.m., wrestling begins at 9 a.m.
"She's not like other girls. She showed us that she was determined to do it and she had the toughness to do it."
Mike Weller
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Merrill girl wrestler pins foe and brings down the house
Friday, January 23, 2004
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Wrestling in the 171-pound weight class has proven quite a challenge for Merrill sophomore Victoria Wale, but all the hard work paid off with the first victory of her career Thursday.
Wale recorded a 31-second pin over Bullock Creek's Jeremy Shanks, momentarily sending the Merrill gymnasium into a frenzy. Bullock Creek eventually quieted the crowd with a 42-33 victory, but that didn't take away from Wale's night.
"I was real happy to see it happen, but I wasn't surprised," Merrill coach Robin Campbell said. "She has a nice headlock, and she got a chance to throw it.
"She hasn't had a lot of success, but she brought the house down with that one."
Wale wrestled on the junior varsity team last season without recording a victory and had yet to record a win this season, but Campbell could see the potential.
"She works hard in the practice room," Campbell said. "A lot of times she's at a severe disadvantage in strength, but she knows her moves real well."
So well that Campbell doesn't hesitate to put her up against even the strongest wrestlers in her weight class.
"She is an accomplished wrestler, so I don't worry about her getting hurt," Campbell said. "I put her out against anybody."
And Wale proved that she knew exactly what to do once she got the upper hand Thursday, recording the second quickest pin of the night.
"She was pretty happy," Campbell said. "She was a good sport, though. She wasn't jumping around on the mat or anything.
"She did get quite a few hugs after she got off the mat, though."
Wrestling
Two St. Charles, and a few of their friends, proved to be better than one St. Charles. Freeland's Seth and Chad St. Charles each recorded pins, as the Falcons defeated arch-nemesis St. Charles 45-30.
"Seth started the match (at 171-pounds)," Freeland coach Mike Ritt said. "Just like baseball, the leadoff hitter sets the tone.
"He had just wrestled (St. Charles' Erich Wicke) at the County meet, and won 5-4. His pin gave the whole team a boost."
Ben Cannon's 3-0 victory over D.J. Carter at 125-pounds gave Freeland another boost.
"Those two have gone round-and-round the last couple of years," Ritt said. "D.J. wrestled a pretty good match, but Ben got him."
The clinching victory came at 145 pounds, as Freeland's Chad St. Charles pinned Andy Schlicker for an insurmountable 45-21 lead.
"This was a huge win for us," Ritt said. "It's the first time our seniors have beaten St. Charles.
"They've been our biggest stumbling block for as long as I have been here. We'd been looking forward to this date since the start of the season.
Caro ran its record to 19-0 with a pair of impressive victories, defeating Frankenmuth 76-6 and Holly 50-18.
"Holly is a balanced team," Caro coach Bob Suranye said. "We rose to the occasion and wrestled well."
The Tigers had a pair of highlights during the two wins, with the first being Jon Roddy's 100th career victory. The senior pinned Frankenmuth's Alex Deschaine in 1:39.
The other highlight came in Brandon Putman's 16-13 victory over Holly's Matt Turner at 152-pounds. Turner finished second in the state last season, while Putman, who is 32-0 this season, failed to place.
Heritage recorded its first win in school history over host Bay City Western, beating the Warriors 38-37 in a triangular meet.
The Hawks ran off five pins, sparked by freshman Nick Wenger (119 pounds), then got a do-or-die technical fall from 135-pounder Rafael Banda to secure the victory.
"That was a big goal of ours," said Heritage coach Jon Rosebush of beating the Warriors. "Now we'll keep shooting for our other goals.
"They had a lot of heart and they just went for it," added Rosebush. "That's good because we've got a lot of young guys in the lineup, and we'll have them for four more years to keep making history like that."
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Female wrestler a 'mat' scientist
Her goals include state berth and nuclear career
Story by Joe Slezak
PUBLISHED: January 23, 2004
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Photos by Dennis Oblander |
Grosse Ile's Kelsey Hanson's goal for this winter is simple, really. It's a goal shared with many other elite wrestlers: Qualify for the individual state meet.
If what she's done so far is any indication, that goal might be within her reach.
Yes, "her" reach.
Hanson, a 103-pounder, is in her first season on Grosse Ile after moving in August from Golden, Colo. Heading into three days worth of meets this weekend, she was 9-4 with five pins.
She was first at Lincoln Park's team tournament and second at Highland Park's individual tournament, and all of her losses this season have been close.
To get to the Division 3 portion of the state meet, she's got to place in the top four in her weight class at a district, then place in the top four at a regional.
Kelsey Hanson, front, wrestles against Grosse Ile teammate Scott Dexheimer in practice. Hanson is ranked ninth nationally at 105 pounds by the United States Girls' Wrestling Association. |
"Regionals are a great possibility," Grosse Ile Coach Rob Beaudrie said. "I see her getting out of districts. Regionals are going to be tough for her.
"That's her goal, to get to the state meet, and I hope she accomplishes it, not only for her but for the other girls who wrestle."
Competing on an elite level is nothing new for Hanson. While living in Colorado, Hanson qualified for the United States Girls' Wrestling Association national meet in March in Lake Orion, where she placed 11th out of 20 girls in the 105-pound weight class. As of Jan. 12, she was ranked ninth nationally by the USGWA at 105.
"She's come a long way from when I first met her," Beaudrie said. "She had a different technique. She knows the moves. At the beginning of the year, she was thinking more. Now she's using the technique and not thinking as much.
"We found out at the practices that she's the real deal."
Hanson recently won the team's Hustler of the Week award, based on practice and meet performances.
Despite arriving on Grosse Ile in August, she's a team co-captain.
"Between her and Chris (Toulouse), you can't ask for two better captains," Beaudrie said. "She is definitely a vocal leader. I don't look at her as a girl. She's a wrestler.
"The hardest thing for her is how guys are going to respond to her."
Hanson, who started wrestling three years ago, said she got some static from people, especially when she began competing in Colorado, but things have been quiet lately.
"I've had lectures and my parents have had lectures," Hanson said. "It's a sport. When you're out there, none of those things cross your mind."
Hanson wrestled for two years at Golden High School, west of Denver. She said she was "absolutely awful" in her sophomore season. Last year, she had a winning record on the junior varsity and got into some varsity matches. She bumped up to 112 and pinned another girl.
The move to Grosse Ile, which happened during the blackout, is yet another stop for Hanson. She was born in Michigan and lived in Grand Haven and Chelsea, then moved with her family to Golden when she was a ninth-grader because her father was working as a government subcontractor on the Rocky Flats Closure Project, which is a cleanup of a former nuclear weapons facility.
His role ended, so he landed a job in Luna Pier at Consumers Energy's J.R. Whiting Plant, which converts coal into electricity.
Even though she had to move again, Hanson kept on wrestling.
"It's really strange," she said. "Things started to click this summer."
And, the move was made easier by being immediately accepted by her new schoolmates.
"I was amazed," Hanson said. "Everybody knows everybody, and they know everything about you.
"People ask me about (wrestling). It's pretty neat. Some of them seem a little intimidated."
But, most don't.
Her brother, Alex, isn't intimidated. Their family owns a mat and the siblings used to wrestle each other at home in Golden, but it's still in storage after the move. Hanson admitted that it's not as easy to beat her 10th-grade brother, who is in his third year of wrestling and in the 145-pound weight class.
"He got a lot bigger over the summer," Hanson said. "It's a little bit more of a challenge."
She's proud of her kid brother. At a recent dual meet at Riverview, she wrestled before he did. During his match, she provided plenty of verbal support.
At meets, there have been a few adjustments for Hanson. She weighs in separately from the boys, and opposing schools have been providing separate changing facilities for her.
Hanson said she's enjoying her senior wrestling season too much for it to end yet. When it does, though, she's thinking about trying out for Grosse Ile's crew team this spring, which would take advantage of her tremendous upper-body strength.
It also would help keep her in shape if she attends the U.S. Naval Academy, where she wants to study nuclear propulsion.
If that doesn't work out, Hanson -- a straight-A student who is taking advanced-placement classes -- has applied to the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin and Purdue University.
She really wants to go to the academy, though.
"I like the atmosphere and the structure, and I've always had a great deal of respect of people who serve in the armed forces," she said.
She said officials at the academy have said they might start a freestyle wrestling program. She might be able to practice with Navy's team, but wouldn't be able to compete. The lightest college wrestling weight class is 125.
But, Hanson wants to focus on what's going on now -- the wrestling season.
"I love to wrestle and I hate to think about the season being over," she said. "(Wrestling) is such a personal challenge. A loss can't get much more personal. When you win, it's an amazing feeling.
"There's no doubt about it -- you win or lose."
Hanson has been enjoying winning a lot more than losing this season. She's hoping to enjoy that winning feeling all the way to states.