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Pioneers Still See Room to Improve

Foundation honors women who thrived in nontraditional sports, but athletes say more progress can be made.

By Mike Terry, Times Staff Writer 2/8/04

They watched dreamily as videotape reeled off their accomplishments and triumphs. They beamed as they walked through the luncheon crowd to accept sculptured-glass awards. They smiled for an appreciative audience that included Olympians who'd competed as far back as 1936.

But when asked about the rates of progress in the sports in which they'd made their reputations more than 20 years ago, Gwen Adair, Lucia Rijker, Lilly Rodriguez and Shannon Williams Yancey had to pause and take stock.

They were among six women honored by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles Thursday on National Girls and Women in Sports Day for their athletic contributions. A fifth honoree, weightlifter and bodybuilder Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton, was unable to attend the presentation. Also feted was Dusty Chapman, a longtime volunteer whose service goes back to the 1984 Olympics.

Adair, Rijker, Rodriguez and Yancey were all pioneers in what are considered nontraditional sports for women. Rijker and Rodriguez were professional kickboxers and boxers. Rijker still competes, and Rodriguez is now a trainer.

Adair was the first woman to referee a men's world championship fight. Yancey is the most decorated female amateur wrestler in U.S. history and the first female high school wrestling coach in state history. They all understand that pioneers don't always reap big rewards.

Still, Rijker and Rodriguez believe their sport should be on a grander scale.

"I think female boxing is doing well in the broad sense, because, worldwide, lots of women are taking up the sport and competing," said Rijker, who has won four kickboxing titles, two boxing titles and is undefeated in both sports.

"But the media hasn't jumped on the athletes, it's jumped on the celebrities, the 'pretty' girls. In tennis, that Russian girl [Anna Kournikova] is making more money than anyone, and she hasn't won anything. It's kind of similar in boxing; it's the look that sells…. The moment they can make us [a sex] object in the sport, that's gonna happen."

Rodriguez, who won two titles in the 1980s, states a similar case.

"Nobody believed in us, or me, at first," she said. "They thought it would be 'foxy boxing.' But I didn't go in there wanting to show anything other than my skills in boxing. Now I wish we had pushed harder for the women then and got the ball rolling. Our sport should be much bigger than it is."

Record-keeping in pro boxing for women is spotty at best. One organization, the New Jersey-based Assn. of Boxing Commissions, estimated in 2002 that there were 250 to 300 pro female boxers around the world based on fighters with at least three recorded decisions in sanctioned bouts. There are thousands of pro male boxers.

But there are lots more female fighters than female boxing officials. The association estimates there are fewer than 20 women licensed as referees or judges.

"There was a lot of resistance coming in," said Adair, who began her refereeing career in the late 1970s. "I realized [refereeing] was like invading a male-dominated sport.

"Because there is resistance, a person who wants to do this really has to make up their mind that they're going to hang in there: 'I know if I'm qualified and they allow me to prove myself I can be good.' You have to realize you'll be under scrutiny; they'll watch everything you do. That's the way it was for me and I've seen it with other women who want to be judges."

Yancey, a four-time national champion who also won 13 medals in international events, can point to more progress in wrestling.

According to a 2002-03 survey taken by National Federation of State High School Assns., there were 3,769 girls in the sport, and the 805 high schools responding to the national survey said at least one female wrestled on their varsity teams. That's a jump from five years ago, when the survey yielded a total of 1,907 female wrestlers and 619 schools with at least one girl on the varsity.

"Girls' wrestling is definitely a growing sport," said John Gillis, an assistant director at the national federation.

Even though the NCAA does not sanction wrestling as a sport for women, six colleges have women's teams. The biggest weight class, according to USA Wrestling, is 158.5 pounds.

And women's wrestling will be in the 2004 Olympic Games this summer in Athens.

"Back when I was going to school, we had no college opportunity, no scholarships," Yancey said. "The first time they sent [the women's national team] to a world championship, USA Wrestling gave us cotton sweats to wrestle in.

"And now it will be an Olympic sport, and there is funding for everything they do. So each year it has gotten better, from scholarships to apparel. It really has come a long way."

Yet Yancey said more could have happened.

"If you look at other countries, women's wrestling is very developed, with depth in every weight class. And my disappointment — if it had been in the Olympics four years ago, I think I could have been there. What I'm going to love … is when girls start seeing it on TV. Right now, a lot of young girls still don't know wrestling exists for them."

Foundation President Anita DeFrantz, who presided over the award ceremony, understands the feelings of frustration.

"You saw the women today; they're beautiful," DeFrantz said. "The difference is the idea of acceptance. It is as though men are afraid that because a woman can box, well, 'Could I beat her?' Maybe not. Just as Sugar Ray Leonard could not have beaten Muhammad Ali. There are differences.

"You don't have to be the same to be equal. And it's my goal to help people understand that equal is what equal is, but women and men are not the same.

"Yet they should have equal opportunities. Sports belong to us all."

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Brown headed to nationals

Herald Staff Reports 2/8/04

VALLEJO - Shelby Brown, a junior at Monterey High School, pinned all four of her opponents to win the 135 Ib California Girls State Championships at Vallejo High School on Saturday.

Brown, 31-0 this year, is now headed to the National Wrestling Championships in Detroit on March 27.

Brown pinned Lisa McCabe, a senior at La Jolla High School, in the final match to claim the championship.

Two weeks ago Brown placed second in the Overfelt JV Tournament at Overfelt High School in San Jose.

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Summers pins way to title

By Bill Kolb 2/8/04
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

VALLEJO - Unbeatable? Maybe.

Unbeaten? Emphatically.

Berkeley High School wrestler Jere' Summers maintained her perfect run through the girls tournament season on Saturday in the California Girls State Wrestling Championships at Vallejo High School, adding two more pins to her already burgeoning total.

After her two matches at state, Summers, a junior, has wrestled 23 times this season. She is 23-0. She has 23 pins.

Read that last sentence again. That's right, Summers is 23-0 with 23 pins.

Only once has she gone into the second round this year -- against the girl she beat Saturday for the state title, Rachel Knight of Etna. Last week in the state qualifying tournament at San Leandro, Knight battled Summers to a stalemate through the first two minutes of 162-pound action, only to get tossed on her back and pinned 46 seconds into the second period.

Berkeley girls coach Hugh Johnson appreciates what he has in Summers.

"It's a real treat to be able to work with elite-level girls," Johnson said. "It's kind of a kick."

In the state final, Summers and Knight spent a good minute sizing each other up before things got interesting. Much to her credit, Knight shot a nice single-leg on Summers, but was unable to do anything with it.

Summers quickly countered, wrapping Knight up with a devastating head-and-arm 1:20 into the first period, flipping her on her back and pinning her at 1:23.

It is Summers' first state championship.

"It's cool," she said after the match. "Since we had a qualifier, this year is better than last year."

Summers, who opted out of last year's tournament, was referring to the fact that, for the first time in the four-year history of the event, the Girls State Championship was not an all-comers occasion. Wrestlers were forced to compete in regional qualifying tournaments to earn the right to compete for a state crown.

Over 200 wrestlers from 137 teams across the state qualified and competed in Saturday's championships.

"It's hard to get too excited about it because I kind of expected it," Johnson said of Summers' title. "But this tournament is getting better and better. Winning it at any weight is pretty prestigious."

Summers was a little more excited.

"I like (being a state champion)," Summers said. "I wouldn't like to get beat. I didn't want to lose one match. It's an ego thing, I guess. I set high goals for myself this year. I shot for an undefeated season, and I shot for pins."

And she got them.

In fact, Summers is so dominant at 162 that other wrestlers in the state have either tried to drop down to 154 or bump up to 173 to avoid her.

"(Knight) confirmed what other coaches have said," Johnson said. "A lot of girls dropped to other weights to avoid Jere'. That's a pretty big compliment."

Summers' teammate, 116-pounder Lily Dorman, also won a medal on Saturday. Dorman, also a junior, dropped a tough 8-6 overtime decision to Balboa-San Francisco's Hanna Carlberg in the semifinals, but battled through the consolation semifinals and finished with a pin of Amador Valley's Lauren Neves at 2:57 to place third.

"Lily has wrestled really well," Johnson said. "She pretty much handled all of her other opponents."

Despite the loss, Neves, a freshman, headed home with her head held high.

"That's awesome," Amador Valley girls coach Joe Rose said of Neves' finish. "She's fourth in the state with three more years to go. She's got a bright future."

Also placing fourth in the state was Ygnacio Valley freshman Cameo Grenier, who was pinned by Castro Valley's Katrina Dutchover at 2:57 in their 146-pound match.

Grenier's teammate Adele Webster, another freshman, was seventh at 162 after pinning Pittsburg's Brianna Robinson in 1:29.

"They're doing their best, and they're both doing really well," Ygnacio Valley girls coach Bob Ward said.

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Girl power in Wesco South

By Aaron Coe 2/7/04
Herald Writer

SHORELINE -- As it turns out, getting cut from a middle school girls basketball team wasn't such a bad deal for Edmonds-Woodway's Whitney Anderson.

Initially forced into a change of sport, she has enjoyed a change of heart. She made it pay off on Friday by advancing to the second day of the Western Conference South Division sub-regional wrestling tournament.

Yup, you read that correctly: Wrestling tournament.

Anderson and Jackson's Tawnyrae Richards each won a match and lost one Friday in the Shorewood High School gym. They aren't trying to make a statement. They are simply two girls among 152 high school wrestlers who brought hopes of qualifying for next week's regional meet.

Kamiak placed 11 wrestlers into today's semifinals, four behind Everett's 15. Everett led the seven-school tournament with 152 points, followed by Kamiak's 127.5 and division dual-meet champion Mariner's 106. The top three in each of the 14 weight classes qualify for the regional tournament, while the fourth-place finisher must face the No. 5 wrestler from the North Division meet to qualify.

Though the road through today's consolation bracket will be a long one for the girls -- four matches long if all goes well -- Anderson is glad she kept her word to a Meadowdale Middle School teacher that she'd join the wrestling team if basketball didn't work out.

"I'm so glad I got cut," said Anderson, a sophomore who was pinned in the second round of her 135-pound match to begin the day but later bounced back with a 6-3 victory over Mountlake Terrace's Matt Carrasquillo.

"I think wrestling is a much better sport. You are out there for you, but you still have that team atmosphere."

Anderson and Richards, a freshman 103-pounder, both started wrestling in the seventh grade. They say the boys are a bit tentative at first -- until chivalry causes them to hit the mat. That's when genders are forgotten.

"At first, they all said, 'There's going to be a girl on the team, what are we going to do?'" Richards said. "But once I got on the mat, they treated me like one of the guys."

Jackson coach George Schwope said he was thrilled to see a girl join his team. He wasn't worried about the gender issue, with one exception.

"We weren't sure if we'd have to order a different singlet for her," Schwope said.

Richards won and lost in dramatic fashion. She pinned her first opponent with five seconds remaining in the first round. In the quarterfinals, she held off what appeared to be a certain pin by Kamiak's Jon Baldwin for nearly a full minute before her second shoulder blade touched with 16 seconds remaining.

At times, the cruelty of the sport has gone far beyond grappling with boys. Both have overheard the comment "girls shouldn't be allowed to wrestle" more often than they've practiced the half-Nelson. Anderson said she and another female wrestler were once verbally accosted in a tournament restroom by a woman concerned about the close physical nature of the sport.

The insults and dirty looks sting like a belly-flop in the wrestling room, but it's the occasions when boys refuse to wrestle them that hurt the most. Anderson said a Kamiak wrestler chose to forfeit a match this season rather than compete against a girl.

"It's really upsetting," Anderson said. "It's just a sport. I just want to go out there and do my best whether it's a guy or a girl."

Richards also has won, she said, because a boy or his coach didn't want a girl involved in the match. Some boys are afraid of losing to a girl, she said. Others are simply uncomfortable. Though most boys take losing a match to Richards in stride, some have cried or refused to shake her hand after losing.

Though there was a small amount of anxiety in the Heatherwood Middle School wrestling when Richards joined the team, it quickly went away.

"She's really intense," said fellow Jackson 103-pound wrestler Pat Crivell, who will face his daily practice partner today for a right to continue on in the tournament.

Richards and Anderson aren't the first girls to give wrestling a shot. A girls exhibition state tournament will be held this year for the first time.

In 1998, Arielle Bradbury of Montesano became the first girl to win a state-meet match. Aspen Crouter of Concrete won her opening-round match at the Class A meet in 2003, becoming the first girl to claim victory in the winner's bracket. Newport's Leilani Akiyama won a Class 3A consolation match a few hours later to push the list to three.

Anderson and Richards have lost more than they have won this season, but the belief that anything is possible drives them toward the goal of lengthening the list.

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Roseville’s Troxel set for today’s California Championships Senior was third last year

By Bruce Burton 2/7/04

In girls high school wrestling, it doesn’t get any bigger than today’s California Wrestling Championships at Vallejo High School.

But the hope is that one day it will get much bigger.

Today’s all-day event is the unofficial state championship for high school girls, the majority of who still compete against boys. That includes Roseville High’s Stacey Troxel, a senior who will wrestle in Vallejo today in the 132-pound weight class.

Troxel brings a 10-6 overall record – 8-4 against girls, 2-2 against boys – into today’s event.

In last year’s championships she finished third at 138 pounds.

Should she win today, Troxel will consider herself a state champion. That’s in part because for the first time in the three-year history of the event, competitors had to qualify by finishing in the top five at a regional tournament. Last weekend Troxel finished second in the Region II tournament at Edison High in Stockton.

But the California Interscholastic Federation, which sanctions the boys state championships to be held March 5-6 in Bakersfield, does not yet sanction girls wrestling, due in part to the fact that most schools do not field girls-only teams.

The day of girls-only teams will come to late for Troxel, who figures her wrestling opportunities will be limited after she graduates in June. But she enjoys what few opportunities she has now to wrestle against girls.

“Yeah, it’s more of a fair shot,” she said. “You get to wrestle against someone who is more your own ability and strength.”

Said Roseville wrestling coach Eric Oxford, who has worked with Troxel the past four years, “She’s pretty strong. She’s tough, and she’s got great balance. She’s intense and a hard worker.

“She’s a great kid. She’s what you’re looking for in a kid.”

Today will not mark the end of Troxel’s high school athletic career.

She will rejoin the boys wrestling team for the Sierra Foothill League championships Thursday, Feb. 12 at Placer High.

But after competing in cross country, track and field and softball for Roseville, Troxel is contemplating a future after high school with limited competitive possibilities.

“I might do some freestyle wrestling,” she said. “I’ll still work out and maybe play intramural sports. But that’s about it.”

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MVC matwomen pick up five medals

Friday, February 06, 2004
By Chris Allen/Sports Editor

WINNIPEG, Man. -- Stephany Lee is making an immediate impact on the college women's wrestling circuit.
Ranked second among North America college women by TheMat.com, the Missouri Valley College freshman took home a gold medal by pinning her only 72 Kilogram opponent -- No. 4 Erin Church of Regina (Sask.) -- during the Manitoba International Open Saturday at Winnipeg.

Although Lee was the only finalist, four Lady Vikings grabbed medals in more competitive weight classes. At 59 Kg, sophomore Brooke Bogren won two of three matches before meeting, and beating, senior teammate Kiersten Hyatt, 9-0, for a bronze medal. Hyatt's two other wins put her in position to finish fourth.

Valley's other third-place showing came from sophomore Kelly Branham, splitting her four matches at 67 Kg. Freshman Debbi Sakai also went 2-2, good for fourth place at 51 Kg. Sophomore Keli Hinton (55 Kg) and freshman Maika Watanabe (51 Kg) were the Lady Vikings' only other entries.

Valley is due to head to Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend for one of the major events of the '04 season: the Dave Schultz International Open.