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Top Marauders win awards

Gurdeep Ahluwalia
Silhouette Staff 3/25/04

The stars were out and shining brightly this past Monday evening in the CIBC Banquet Hall, the location of the 2003-2004 McMaster Athletic Awards Banquet.

Normally under the spotlight in their uniforms, drenched in swea and in the heat of battle, the Marauder athletes were hardly recognizable in their three-piece suits, black dresses, and styled coifs. Everyone was abuzz, and you could literally feel the excitement and anticipation radiating through the air. Despite taking off 40 minutes late, the show did not disappoint.

There were several winners on the day, none bigger, however, than Pam Wilson of the women's wrestling team. Already a Canadian champion, Wilson was predictably named team MVP. What was not quite as expected--for Wilson, anyway--was taking home the big prize of female athlete of the year. Wilson is no stranger to this distinction, having deservingly receiving the award last year.

"I really didn't think they'd give it to me two years in a row, especially with all the talent out there," said a smiling Wilson. "It's an honour, and I'm proud to be a Mac student-athlete in the same room with all these other wonderful athletes; it's been a very good year for athletics."

Wilson now has her sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing--a goal she feels would have been impossible to achieve without her time spent at McMaster.

"I started wrestling here at McMaster and being part of the varsity atmosphere has allowed me to grow so much," Wilson said. "They have given me the foundation to achieve anything I want."

The other big winners were six-foot-six forward Adam Guiney of the men's basketball team and running back Jesse Lumsden of the football team. Displaying his on-court generosity at the banquet, Guiney was named co-MVP of the team along with fellow star Ben Katz. Guiney also shared the Ivor Wynne Award for male athlete of the year with Lumsden, who took home offensive player of the year honours for the football team.

The two athletes share many common traits--they both stepped in for all-stars this past season (Kyle Pyear and Graham Hewitt), and played on teams that dominated the province but couldn't achieve success at the national level.

"Both teams are in the press a lot, so we obviously keep track of each other, so it's nice that they recognized both of us," Guiney said.

Lumsden agreed with Guiney and said that it was nice to have both high-profile teams recognized. The running back expects both squads to step up next season.

"Unfortunately, we fell a little short this season, but I really feel that both teams are going to step over that last hurdle and have amazing seasons next year," said Lumsden.

For Lumsden, the recognition was a pleasant surprise. "It's a big honour to be named offensive MVP [Tristan Clovis was the defensive MVP], because it is the coaches that are recognizing us," explained Lumsden. "Then, to be recognized by the school... it's unbelievable; I had no idea. To be honest, I didn't even know that I was nominated."

Other major awards included the Edna Guest Award, which is given to the graduating player that has participated in varsity sports each year at McMaster while displaying outstanding athletic ability and the "spirit of McMaster." This year's winner was Deborah VanBolderen, a member of the women's volleyball team and co-president of the McMaster Athletic Council.

Another prestigious award that encompasses Marauder "spirit" is the Dr. Ray Johnson trophy, presented to the graduating player that demonstrates leadership on and off the field. The winner was rugby player Harry Cheung. A two-time OUA all-star, Cheung helped lead the team to a provincial championship. Off the field, he was involved in a number of activities, including the Terry Fox Run.

The Joyce Wignall Award, a relatively new award that celebrates dedication to the athletic council's Outreach Program--exhibiting teamwork, friendship, loyalty, and community involvement--was given to the McMaster Fencing Team. The squad put in over 300 hours of service, raising nearly $4,200 for charity this year.

Along the same lines, the Les Prince Award went to swimmer Katrina Cox. The distinction recognizes community service, which Cox embodied as the coordinator of the Outreach Program, an initiative that fueled many positive community projects.

The Bruce Cochrane Award is given to the support personnel that best demonstrated dedication and service. This year, Matt Wood, manager of the men's basketball team, was recognized. Wood has a hand in virtually every aspect of the team, and was deemed crucial to the team's success this season.

It was a year to remember for McMaster athletics; numerous OUA championships, dedicated team MVPs, and several all-star athletes and coaches. Individual marks of brilliance highlighted a glowing awards show that gave proper due to the hard work put forth by all of Mac's teams this year.

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Flag senior Roberts earns 10th seed for wrestling nationals

03/27/2004

Flagstaff High School senior Whitney Roberts has earned a 10th seed for the 114-pound weight division of the USGWA National Championships Girls Wrestling Tournament, which begins today at Orion (Mich.) High School.
The high seeding is based on Roberts' record and overall performance this season competing against boys and girls.

Competition begins at 9 a.m. Approximately 600 females are expected to compete in the tournament, which runs through Sunday.

Roberts earned a gold medal at the Arizona State Girls Wrestling Championships on Feb. 21.

Eagles assistant coach Brady Black and Roberts family accompanied her to Michigan.

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Napa grapplers off to Michigan for meet

Thursday, March 25, 2004

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Thursday in the Napa Valley:

Jessica Hsieh, Kayla Chambers, Michele Querin, Hattie Borg, Diana Douglass and Shelby Lanterman will represent the Napa Valley Wrestling Club this weekend at the U.S. Girls' Wrestling Association National Championships at Lake Orion, Mich.

"It looks like we'll be well represented," said the NVWC's Jim Lanterman, who is also Vintage High School's head wrestling coach.

The tournament takes places Saturday and Sunday at Lake Orion High School.

Hsieh is the USGWA's top-ranked wrestler at 105 pounds for the 2003-04 season and Chambers is ranked fourth at 126 pounds. Both attend Vintage and wrestle for the Crushers.

Shelby Lanterman will wrestle in the elementary-school division.

The NVWC's coaches are Jim Lanterman, Bob Musante, Nicole Mazzaferro and Marion Newman.

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Girl wrestlers head to nationals

By CLIFF PFENNING Issue date: Fri, Mar 26, 2004
The Tribune

Three dozen girls from Oregon and southwest Washington left Portland on Thursday for Detroit for the seventh annual U.S. Girls Wrestling Association national championships.
Among them: Tualatin High senior Samantha Lang, a three-time winner.
Nearly 40 states and geographic regions have championships that produce entrants for the national meet.
"It's growing every year," says Bobo Umemoto, the Portland coach who organizes the Oregon state championship and is chaperoning the local participants. "We're set to have a great time."
Lang is gearing up for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in May. She'll compete April 6-10 in the U.S. women's championships in Las Vegas, where the top eight finishers qualify for the Olympic Trials.
Lang, who wrestled in Russia in February, is among the top competitors hoping to represent the United States at the Athens Olympics in one of four weight classes. This will be the first Olympics that includes women's wrestling.
Lang says she mostly has moved past her experience at the Pacific-9 Conference district meet. She was hoping to become just the second girl to qualify for the state tournament, but at the district meet a panel of coaches ruled her ineligible for the weigh-in.
"I'm still upset about that, but it's not in my mind all the time," she says. "The worst part about that is people ask me what happened all the time and then I have to go through it again."
Lang is a solid favorite to win this weekend in Detroit.
"Other than my freshman year, there hasn't been too much competition," she says. "But there's new girls coming in all the time, so you never know."
Na'Tasha Umemoto, a junior at David Douglas and Bobo's daughter, also is hoping to qualify for the Olympic Trials. She is bypassing the high school championships to compete in a women's tournament at Battle Ground (Wash.) High School on Saturday and Sunday.
Na'Tasha Umemoto, who did qualify for the state tournament, has spent her spring break at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., working on her wrestling skills.

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Hopefuls vie for inaugural U.S. women's wrestling squad

Sunday, March 28, 2004
By JEREMY EVANS, Columbian staff writer

BATTLE GROUND -- When the International Olympic Committee announced in 2000 that women's wrestling would be an event starting in 2004, Danielle Hobeika was hoping people would finally view it as a sport.

But even though the announcement was a major step toward enlightening the masses, Hobeika still realizes her sport has a long ways to go.

"I was just at the NCAA wrestling championships a few weeks ago and I was telling all these people that I was a wrestler," said Hobeika, a native of Cambridge, Mass. "Then they asked 'Is women's wrestling even a sport?' And I was like, 'Yeah, it's actually an Olympic sport.' But I think people are starting to see it's getting pretty big."

Hobeika, 24, is one of a growing number of female wrestlers nationwide.

During the 2000-2001 school year, there were more than 3,000 girls participating on boys varsity high school teams, up 50 percent in three years.

In 1993, there wasn't a single college that offered a women's varsity program. Now there are six. There is also the United States Girls Wrestling Association, which hosts events for younger girls.

"Even though we've always had the world championships and nationals, being in the Olympics kind of shows we're for real," Hobeika said. "Everybody knows about the Olympics; it kind of validates us."

Hobeika is also one step closer toward becoming a member of the inaugural USA Olympic team.

Her win over Tina Pihl in the 55-kilogram (121-pound) final on Saturday at the Northwest Regional Championships clinched her a berth into the Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis.

The two-day event at Battle Ground High concludes today with Greco-Roman wrestling. It is one of three regional sites that qualify individual female weight class winners to the Olympic Team Trials. The other way to qualify is by placing at the USA National Championships in April in Las Vegas.

"I'm excited to qualify because Tina is a really a good wrestler, and she's a really good friend," said Hobeika, who's ranked No. 3 nationally at 112 pounds. "That's the thing about wrestling, it's a close-knit fraternity, especially for us. Myself, I was always a tomboy growing up. I played tennis and soccer, the normal girl sports. But I saw a wrestling match once in high school and wanted to do it."

Hobeika started wrestling in 1997 as senior in high school. There were three other girls on her high school wrestling team. They trained among themselves, but also with the lighter weight boy wrestlers. The following year, she enrolled at Harvard University, where she joined the men's varsity team.

At the time, there was only one women's varsity wrestling program in the country. Of the six the schools that currently offer programs, one of them is Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., where Hobeika recently became an assistant coach.

"The Olympics are giving a lot of promise to younger girls out there," Hobeika said. "Last year I was at the USGWA Nationals and there was a 5-year-old competing. I was like 'Wow.' It's kind of inspirational to know girls are starting that young."

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Ashley McKilligan's year on the mat just keeps getting better

Jan-Christian Sorensen 3/29/04

sports@nsnews.com

ARGYLE'S Ashley McKilligan is putting together a wrestling season that epitomizes her nickname - Big Red.

The diminutive local grappler's latest success story comes from the junior national championships in Calgary last week, where the Piper dominated her competition in the 44-kilogram weight class and scored a gold medal. With the title, she also scored a coveted slot on the Canadian national team that will travel to Germany to compete in the Hans Von Zons international women's tourney in May.

She's also penciling plans to compete in the Canada Cup in Guelph, Ont. in July and is locked in for a berth at the Pan American Junior Wrestling Championships in Maracaibo City, Venezuela later that same month.

It might seem like a huge series of events for McKilligan, but it's not like she hasn't already established herself as one of Canada's premier junior wrestlers this season.

This is the local athlete who - only two years after being prodded towards the mat for the first time by Balmoral wrestling coach Ian McDonald and her twin brother Adam - finished first at both the North Shore and Zone finals this year en route to the B.C. championships in Abbotsford, where she took home the gold in her weight class as well as pinned the most outstanding female wrestler and most outstanding female match awards. She also struck gold at the Port Alberni Invitational tournament in February, scored an all-star nod from the North Shore Secondary Schools Athletics Association and is up for the youth female athlete award at the upcoming fifth annual North Shore Sport Awards.

"Last season I got burned and ended up finishing second in a lot of my matches and my goal this season was to try to overcome that and work really hard, but it's been more than I expected," said McKilligan, an athlete whose mat skills are matched only by her effervescent personality and an "aw-shucksness" humility when it comes to her successes.

At the junior nationals, the 17-year-old - who travelled with Simon Fraser University's team and was competing at a higher level than her juvenile designation - won both her matches against older opponents, ten-pointing one and pinning the other.

"It was a big honour for me to be asked to go by SFU," she said. "I was pretty nervous before the matches but I was psyched, too. The quality of the wrestling was a lot better than I'm used to."

When she mounted the podium to accept her latest gold medal, she was crowned with a laurel wreath as the tournament committee adopted an Athens-style celebratory theme.

"They had these pillars behind the podium and the winners all wore the crowns," said McKilligan, laughing. "It was pretty funny."

She wasn't the only local wrestler at the event - Carson Graham's Nick Ghaeni also took part, but finished sixth in the 66-kilogram weight class.

Next week, McKilligan, her twin brother Adam and fellow North Shore wrestlers Zac Ma, Ashley Taunton, Sandi Ware and Shannon Lambie will all head to Windsor, Ont. to take part in the juvenile national championships.

"I think we have a pretty good chance (of winning medals)," said McKilligan, who won silver at last year's event. "Especially Sandi, who's at the cadet level and will be competing against girls in Grade 9 and 10. She had a good showing at provincials and I think she can pull it off."

One wrestler McKilligan was more tight-lipped about was her good friend and Carson Graham Eagle Lambie, who will go toe-to-toe with McKilligan in the same weight class at the juveniles.

"Shannon and I have talked about it because I was thinking of going up a weight class, but we're both comfortable with it," said McKilligan. "We've wrestled against each other a few times this year and I'm sure it will be pretty close."

If Lambie wins at a wrestle-off at the juveniles, she can book her ticket to accompany McKilligan to Germany for the May tournament.

Last Monday, McKilligan announced that she had committed to attend SFU - where she has been training for the last year-and-a-half with the varsity team in her spare time - after graduating from Argyle this summer.

"I love the coaches and the school and I probably think they'd kill me if I didn't go there," she said, laughing. "Plus, they have the best bio-chemistry program that I want to take."

McKilligan's twin brother Adam, who won a silver medal at the provincial championships, has decided to attend Douglas College and take business.

Ashley has also been a popular feature on the local public speaking circuit recently, as well - after giving an address on the importance of athletics in her schooling career at a coaches dinner at Argyle in February, she was tapped to meet and greet provincial Education Minister Tom Christensen at a roundtable education forum held at the North Van school board office.

"He just asked for my academic history and I made sure I told him how Balmoral was the greatest school. They're thinking about closing it, so I basically put in my two cents."\

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London wrestler pins a gold

RYAN PYETTE, Free Press Sports Reporter 2004-03-27 03:32:01

London wrestler Laura Skopelianos was a little hesitant when she found out her coach Chris Capangyarihan couldn't make it to Calgary with her for the Canadian junior championships last weekend. "He's the best coach and, the way I am, I'm dependant on my coach, I always feel that I need him in my corner during my matches," the 18-year Lucas secondary school grad said. "It's always reassuring to me."

In the end, there was nothing to worry about. Skopelianos won three straight matches, including her final two in dramatic fashion, at the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson Gym to capture the women's 48-kilogram gold medal and a berth on this summer's national junior team.

The London-Western club could only send one coach to Calgary so Skopelianos had veteran mat kingpin Josip Mrkoci in her corner instead of Capangyarihan.

"Josip's the oldest, so he had first shot at the trip," London-Western coach Ray Takahashi said with a chuckle.

"It was pretty sweet, the first thing I did after I won the gold was grab a cellphone and call Chris and tell him what happened," Skopelianos said, "but then I didn't call my parents until the next day -- they were pretty upset."

But they were still proud, of course. The first-year Western kinesiology student and rookie Mustang wrestler pinned Regina's Amber McCrystal in her first match and then knocked off Saskatoon's Alyssa Krahan in tightly contested overtime session.

"They actually had to go to video replay in that one, I kept getting her with a high-gut (wrench) but for some reason, I wasn't getting any points," said Skopelianos, a former national cadet wrestling champ.

"I just kept doing the move, it's my bread-and-butter. I don't know why no one saw it, but after, they looked at it on the replay, they awarded me the 4-1 win."

In the championship match, Skopelianos pulled out another last-second victory. Trailing Vancouver's Kerra Candia 2-1 at the end of regulation in a defensive struggle, the officials directed a standing clinch position because the minimum of three points had not been scored for the win.

After fending off a Candia attack, Skopelianos managed to throw her opponent, picked up three points in the process and grabbed the gold in the stunning 4-2 come-from-behind win.

"It was a huge win, it was an exciting way to end it," she said. "I was just so happy. After high school, I really struggled to decide what sport I wanted to play. I play soccer (for Forest United) and I love basketball even though I'm only five-foot-one and a little bit.

"But I knew that my future was in wrestling. It was a huge jump to university this year but I feel like I gained a lot of experience."

Her wrestling season likely isn't over. With the win, Skopelianos has been invited to attend a training camp in Germany in June and the Pan Am championships in Venezuela in July.

The world junior championships will be held next year and she'll have to repeat as national champ to qualify.

In Calgary, other top London-Western results included Gillian McCallum (fourth, 63 kg) and Ian Patton (third, 120 kg Greco-roman). The London-Western women finished sixth in the team standings with only five competitors and Burnaby Mountain (B.C.) ended up first.

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To all Maryland Girl Wrestlers:

The Washington Post is running an article in today's Sports section on the popularity of girls wrestling and the issue of mixed-gender competition. The newspaper's website is also running a poll on whether girls should be allowed to compete against boys in wrestling. As I write this email to you, the vote is currently 64% against girls wrestling boys. I hope you will take the time to cast your vote by going to http://www.washingtonpost.com and clicking on the high school sports section. If you have not used the Washington Post website before, you will have to fill out a simple registration form in order to log onto the page. (If you are under 13, please do this with a parent). Your vote is important!

Hope to see everyone at tomorrow's tournament at River Hill High School. Good luck in wrestling.

David Case
Director of Girls Wrestling
Maryland State Wrestling Association

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They're Holding Strong
More Female Wrestlers Going to the Mat Despite Mixed-Sex Issues

By Vincent Thomas
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, March 26, 2004; Page D01

When David Case organized the first Maryland State Wrestling
Association girls' tournament in 2002, it wasn't much of a tournament at all. Four
girls entered.

Two years later, as Case prepares to run Saturday's MSWA girls'
championships at River Hill High School in Clarksville, nearly 50 girls
have entered.

"The first year I prepared letters and sent them to every high school
wrestling coach at every public and private school and got no
responses," Case said. "But this year I have coaches writing me letters saying 'I
have two girls here who wrestle and want to participate in the tournament.'
The difference is that drastic."

The growth Case has seen is hardly isolated. The MSWA event is not
affiliated with area high school programs, but nationally, nearly 4,000
girls competed for high school teams in 2002-04, according to the
National Federation of State High School Associations. Six colleges have women's
varsity wrestling programs and three more have women's club programs.
Women's wrestling will making its Olympic Games debut this summer in
Athens, with 12 medals to be awarded.

Five states -- but not Maryland, Virginia or the District -- sanction
all-girls high school leagues, and several area coaches and
administrators say they would like to be able to offer the same. But in the absence of
such leagues, girls who want to wrestle for their high schools must practice
with and compete against boys. And that's where many are meeting resistance.

Mixed-sex "wrestling is where I draw the line. That's the only one,"
said Pete Menke, the athletic director at Paul VI Catholic in Fairfax.
"Maybe I'm an old fogey and I'm sure people disagree with me, but I just do not
think it is right for girls and guys to be wrestling on the mat together."

Many other coaches and administrators agree with Menke. In fact, until
recently, the Fauquier County school system did not allow girls to
wrestle on its teams at Fauquier and Liberty high schools, nor did it allow the
boys on the teams to wrestle against girls from other schools. Instead,
county wrestling teams had to take forfeits in any such match.

Bryan Hurst, Fauquier High's wrestling coach, said he felt the rule was
not only antiquated ("Just like some of those old laws in the South," he
said), but it hurt his team -- especially as more girls began to wrestle for
schools in other counties.

Fauquier's team captain, Kenny Green, suffered his first loss of the
season on Jan. 10 when he was faced with the decision of forfeiting to Laura
Small, a first-year wrestler at Patrick Henry High in Ashland, Va., or moving
up a weight class to wrestle a male opponent. He chose to move up and lost.

Hurst said he was more concerned entering the regional and state
tournaments. He said there was a "very good chance" one of his
wrestlers would face a girl and feared it may cost the wrestler a shot at a
title.

Hurst discussed the matter with Alan Creasy, the school's athletic
director, and they agreed that a change was needed. Creasy then conferred with
David Martin, a county division superintendent, who persuaded the school
board to repeal the policy on Feb. 9.

"I think it's great," said Hurst, who said he would not be opposed to
coaching girls if they try out for the team next year. "This is long
overdue. We really needed this ruling, and it's better for everyone
involved -- the boys and the girls."

At the three Catholic high schools in Northern Virginia, girls cannot
wrestle on their schools' teams -- although the Arlington Diocese,
which governs the schools, des not forbid its wrestlers from facing girls.

"The Arlington Diocese does not endorse female participation in boys'
wrestling," Timothy McNiff, the diocese superintendent, said in a
statement.

"When our schools travel to other schools for competition we recognize
that we do not set the policies for other school systems. . . . In these
instances, the decision to compete against female wrestlers resides
with the student-athlete in consultation with his coach."

McNiff also noted in his statement that high schools such as the three
he oversees (O'Connell, Bishop Ireton and Paul VI Catholic) are not bound
by Title IX, the law that bars sexual discrimination at schools receiving
federal funds.

The Northern Virginia Catholic schools compete in the Washington
Catholic Athletic Conference, against schools from Maryland and the District.
Good Counsel of Wheaton and Bishop McNamara of Forestville have had girls on
their teams the past few seasons, and Paul VI and O'Connell wrestlers
forfeited matches to those girls at times.

Good Counsel Coach Tim Ryan said the forfeits did not trouble him ("I'd
just take the points," he said), but McNamara Coach Wright Jolly -- whose
daughter, Gabrielle, is on his team -- was not happy.

"I told [opposing coaches] they have to wrestle our whole team," said
Jolly, who has coached Gabrielle in all three of her years at McNamara. "I
said no more forfeiting, because I'm through playing that game."

After voicing his opinion before the 2003-04 season started, Jolly said
no matches were forfeited to his daughter. Both Gabrielle Jolly and
Gabrielle Beall of Good Counsel participated in the WCAC championships in early
February, and there were no forfeits in that tournament.

When listing objections to girls wrestling on boys' teams, some area
coaches say extra accommodations must be made for female wrestlers, such as
separate dressing rooms and weigh-ins, and schools must pay added travel costs
for additional chaperones and rooms at weekend tournaments.

Some wrestling moves require contact with the opponents' groin, inner
thigh and buttocks -- one is even called the "butt grab." Some coaches fear
that teaching such techniques to a girl in practice could result in a sexual
harassment claim; others say such contact between a boy and a girl is
inappropriate.

Anthony Lease, the former Fauquier County Public Schools' division
superintendent who persuaded the board to bar mixed-sex wrestling more
than 10 years ago, said his stance has not changed.

"In wrestling, you've got to touch [opponents] anywhere on the entire
body," said Lease, currently the head of graduate studies at the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga. "So it's not a gender issue, it's an issue of
males should not touch those area on females. Part of the schools' job
is to help determine what is and what isn't appropriate, so we shouldn't
foster that."

Mariah Burton-Nelson, a former women's basketball player who has
written five books regarding sex roles in sports, disagrees. She says that
banning mixed-sex wrestling because of inappropriate contact is "an attempt to
sexualize women" and it helps perpetuate what she calls "the
cootie-effect."

"Is wrestling an inherently erotic or sexual activity?" Burton-Nelson
asked.
"No. The wrestlers are trying to pin each other, not please each
other."

"Yes we're in weird positions, but we're in a fight," said Patricia
Miranda, who will wrestle for the United States in the Olympics this summer.
Miranda wrestled on the Saratoga (Calif.) High School boys' wrestling team and
was team captain her final two years; she also wrestled on the Stanford
University men's wrestling team. Miranda says she has never had sexual
thoughts while wrestling and that concerns of sexual overtones on the
wrestling mat are misplaced.

Parents of male wrestlers often mention the 'lose-lose' dilemma their
sons face when wrestling a girl -- a boy often gets no credit for defeating
a girl, but is ridiculed if he loses to one, they say.

"It's really sad if it's such a bad thing to lose to a person that has
trained just as hard and cares just as much about the sport as you,"
Miranda said. "And if it's such a shame that you feel you have to ban your son
or shield him from what could be a great experience -- then that's just
bad parenting."

U.S. women's national team coach Terry Steiner thinks that all these
issues may discourage some girls.

"If she's not only going to have to fight boys who are probably
stronger than her, but their parents, her parents, the school board," he said,
"it's much easier to just walk across the hall and sign up for soccer."

In California, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan and Texas, girls have another
choice -- all-girls wrestling teams. Few say there is sufficient
interest across the Washington area to start a high school girls' wrestling
league -- although Ed Steele, the wrestling coach at Broad Run High in Ashburn,
said he is sure he could successfully field a girls' team next year if there
was a league.The growth of the MSWA's girls' tournament also indicates that interest
in an all-girls' league is increasing. Organizers will divide the girls
into weight classes when they arrive on Saturday, and some of the girls
expected to do well here will compete in the girls' championships in July's USA
Wrestling Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D.

Case said he saw the potential after the first four-girl tournament in
2001.

"After the tournament, we thought we had just started something that
was going to be big," Case said. "Their level of enthusiasm really enforced
that this was not just a sport for boys."

Case and his colleagues also think girls' participation could get a big
boost this summer, when girls see medals awarded in Olympic women's
wrestling.

"We need an Olympic hero," Steiner said. "Bringing back an Olympic hero
will let girls know, 'You can do this.' "

"I think it's gonna send a message to girls," said third-year wrestler
Molly Dennis of Broad Run. "It's gonna let girls know that they can be as
tough as guys and do what you want."

The girls wrestling on boys' teams have already absorbed this message.
Dennis was born with her left leg longer than her right, and played
soccer in grammar school with a lift-shoe on her right foot. However,
wrestling has presented a new set of challenges -- body aches, exhaustion, and the
struggle to maintain weight while craving trips to Outback Steakhouse
and Don Pablo's, her favorite restaurants.

Dennis also had to win over her concerned father, George Dennis, who
would have rather had his daughter continue to play soccer as he did in high
school.

"To be honest, I was not enthused," said George Dennis, whose concerns
centered around the possibility of injury. "During the season I kept
saying, 'Maybe you'd like to try basketball.' "

George Dennis now says he sees the ways wrestling can help his
daughter.

"When Molly graduates and she goes to work, she will be dealing with
guys and opposition," he said, "and wrestling has instilled a lot of
discipline in her."

Before she began wrestling, Small spent much of her free time working
as an amateur model. When she decided to wrestle, she knew she would have
less time for modeling.

"My friends thought I was crazy," Small said. "They thought I was
trying to shock them. They were like, 'You're going to give up modeling for
this?' "

But girls who wrestle are quick to list the reasons they stick with it.

"Wrestling is such a dynamic sport," Miranda said. "It's like a clash
of wills, and it forces you to learn how to conquer yourself and be in
control mentally and physically."

Said Molly Dennis: "It has made me comfortable with who I am and taught
me not to care so much about what other people think."

"Wrestling is what makes me happy," said Small. "It makes me feel good
to know that I worked my butt off and now I can run five miles, when I
couldn't even run one before. I don't get that from modeling."

------------------------------------

Roberts named Outstanding Wrestler at first-ever regional Olympic Team Trials qualifier for women

3/28/2004
John Fuller/USA Wrestling

Battleground, Wash. - World bronze medalist Sally Roberts (Gator WC) was one of four women to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Wrestling following her gold-medal performance at the North Regional Olympic Team Trials Qualifier on Saturday. This was the first-ever regional Olympic qualifier for women's wrestling.

The 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Wrestling will be held in Indianapolis, Ind., May 21-23.

Roberts defeated Na'Tasha Umemoto (Cobra WC) 11-1 in the 63 kg/138.75 lbs. final. Roberts was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Also earning a spot in the Olympic Team Trials was three-time U.S. National Team member Danielle Hobeika (Dave Schultz WC), who defeated Tina Pihl (Colorado) 8-5 in the finals at 55 kg/121 lbs.

High school star Caitlyn Chase (Illinois) won a 12-1 technical fall over Elizabeth Torres (Hawaii) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. to qualify herself for the Trials.

Nina Vernon (Colorado) was the fourth woman to qualify for the Trials, defeated Crystal Mendez (Washington) 11-0 at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.

The next qualifying event for the women will be the 2004 U.S. National Championships, held in Las Vegas, Nev., April 9-10.

See Women Results

---------------------------------------------

The winners of the highschool division were as follows:

Weight: 100
Joey Miller, Oaklahoma Dec Alyssa Lampe, Wisconsin, 7-4

Weight: 105
Sadie Kaneda, Hawaii Dec Katherine Fulp Allen, California, 4-3

Weight: 110
Jessica Hsieh, California Dec Amnorina Porter, Michigan, 2-0

Weight: 114
Nicole Darrow, Massachusettes Dec Hannah Paarlberg, California, 4-1

Weight: 118
Leilani Akiyama, Washington Fall Courtney Martell, Vermont, 3:17

Weight: 122
Sarah Peasley, Michigan Dec Lauren Primiano, Hawaii, 2-0

Weight: 126
Deanna Rix, Maine Fall Astrid Gomez, Texas, 4:17

Weight: 130
Chelynne Pringle, Minnesota Fall Amberle Montgomery, Washington, 3:59

Weight: 134
Vanessa Oswalt, Ohio T-Fall Laurin Daniels, Washington, 17-1, 3:36

Weight: 138
Jade Perry, Conecticut Fall Ashley White, Ohio, 1:00

Weight: 144
Heather Martin, Ohio Dec Stefenie Shaw, Conecticut, 11-6

Weight: 152
Ali Bernard, Minnesota Fall Melissa Simmons, Washington, 3:08

Weight: 165
Juanita Russell, New York Fall Toni Copeland, New York, 1:12

Weight: 165+
Samantha Lang, Oregon Fall Lizz Sanders, Iowa, 1:43

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Wrestling Boosts Immune System of Adolescent Boys

Available for logged-in reporters only
Description - Wrestling boosts the immune system, reveals a small study of adolescent boys.

BRITISH JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE

[Effect of intense wrestling exercise on leucocytes and adhesion molecules in adolescent boys 2004; 38: 154-8]

Wrestling boosts the immune system, reveals a small study of adolescent boys in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

While research has shown that exercise boosts the immune system in adults, little research has been done on children, especially under field conditions. Evidence is beginning to accumulate which suggests that children go through distinct developmental periods that in turn influence the extent to which exercise and fitness affect subsequent growth.

Researchers tested the circulating levels of white blood cells and other indicators of immune system responsiveness, before and after a 1.5 hour session of wrestling in eleven 14 to 18 year old boys.

The levels of all groups of white blood cells rose significantly after the exercise, particularly natural killer cells.

Natural killer cells are the body's first line defence against cancer cells and cells infected by viruses. They search out the equivalent of a 'flag' carried by normal cells, and those without are blasted with a potent cocktail of chemicals to kill them off.

Chemicals involved in inflammation also surged in response to the exercise, and the authors comment that as yet, the precise role of these changes is not yet known. But they suggest that white cell responses to exercise during childhood and adolescence may be important for the development of the immune system for overall growth.

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