News Page

2004 U.S. Senior National Championships
Womens Freestyle Pictures

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Saratoga Wrestler Nears Her Olympic Dream

POSTED: 3:44 pm PDT April 13, 2004

SARATOGA, Calif. -- Adjectives always seem to flow when one talks about elite athletes. But when it comes to U.S. Olympic hopeful Patricia Miranda from Saratoga there is just one word that sums up her entire career -- pioneer.

Miranda is -- and always has -- been a wrestler. She was the first female to wrestle on her middle school and high school teams in Saratoga. At Stanford, she was the only female member of the men's varsity team and was a starter during her senior season.

So how does she feel when it comes to qualifying for the first-ever women's Olympic wrestling competition?

"Growing up, thinking about being on an Olympic Team was not something I thought of," Miranda said during a recent teleconference. "It was not in the realm of possibility. I have had many painful moments thinking about this just recently."

"In college, all I wanted to do was beat a guy. Now, at the Olympic level, it is different. I feel pleased to have this opportunity. I'm trying to conclude a lifetime of waiting."

Earlier this month, Miranda was named the 2003 Women's Wrestler of the Year by USA Wrestling. It was just one of her many awards.

She won yet another national title last weekend and heads into the Olympic Trials set for Indianapolis on May 21-23 as the top-ranked competitor in the 48 kg/105.5 lbs weight class. She also won a silver medal at the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling in New York.

At the worlds, Miranda dropped a 5-4 finals match to Irini Merlini of Ukraine, who captured her third World title. Miranda had a close match prior to the finals, a 3-1 win over Canadian star Lyndsay Belisle in the opening match.

She followed with technical fall wins over M. DelMar Peralta Osuna of Spain and Angelique Berthenet of France, then pinned Fani Psatha of Greece in the semifinals in 1:51.

But she also has a pair of fifth-place finishes this year at meets in Kiev and in Athens.

"It was about mental preparation for competition," she said of the setbacks. "I don't have anything to protect, no gold medal. The losses showed me holes. I slipped off a gut and lost."

"If you do that in the Olympics, you get pinned. I need to do that before the Olympics. I am a stronger competitor this year than last year because of it."

As the Games have grown closer, Miranda finds herself the focus of growing media attention. But she has yet to feel any pressure from the bright lights.

"I understand how it might feel like there is more pressure," she said. "It's like my personality. I don't think anybody can put more pressure on me than I do to myself. I don't feel a lot from the outside; most of it is from the inside."

But Miranda does admit that she is beginning to understand what it means to be a pioneer.

"I haven't thought about that (her impact on her sport's future) until I was interviewed by ESPN," she said. "The guy was obsessed with Mia Hamm, and if I would do for women's wrestling what she did for soccer."

"He must have asked me a dozen times. I would hope that my actions would enhance the sport. But, I've got to do it by example. I have to work as hard as I can to try to help myself win the gold medal. I don't focus on it, for sure. Some of the outcomes I can't control."

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Icho sets up Athens sister act

Ken Marantz / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter 4/14/04

Chiharu Icho's performance was hardly Olympian in quality, but it was enough to get her to Athens this summer.

Icho joined younger sister Kaori on Japan's wrestling team to the Athens Olympics with a 3-0 victory over Makiko Sakamoto in a special playoff for the 48-kilogram berth Tuesday in Tokyo.

With Kaori, Japan's entrant in the 63-kg class, manning the coach's chair, Icho scored a three-point throw off the stalemate-breaking "clinch" position to avenge a loss to Sakamoto at the Queen's Cup last February.

"Today's wrestling wouldn't make it in a global event, but from the Queen's Cup to now, I prepared to beat Makiko and that's what I did," Icho said.

The match between Chukyo Women's University teammates was a featured addition to the men's All-Japan Invitiational Championship at Komazawa Gym--the final qualifier for the men's team.

Icho, 22, the world champion in the 51-kg class that will not be used in Athens, stayed on the defensive throughout the match, making few takedown attempts and fending off Sakamoto's tackles.

In the Queen's Cup, the 18-year-old Sakamoto had won 3-0, with all three points coming off single-leg takedowns. On Tuesday, her confidence in her takedowns would lead to her undoing, as she opted to remain on her feet instead of putting Icho in the disadvantagous bottom position on the mat when Icho received cautions for passivity.

After a scoreless first period, the two were put in the clinch position, in which the wrestlers are put chest-to-chest with their hands clasped behind the other's back.

As the two moved toward the edge, Icho, falling backward, suddenly twisted, sending Sakamoto to her back for the decisive points.

"She was better than me today," Sakamoto said. "I made a mistake. I wanted to push her out, but she threw me over."

Chukyo coach Kazuto Sakae chalked up Icho's victory to experience.

"Icho knows what she has to do," he said. "Sakamato is young, she has a great future."

Icho gave most of the credit to her sister, who practiced with her and helped prepare her for the showdown. After the match, Icho dropped to her knees in front of Kaori, part from exhaustion and part from homage. "I owe it all to my sister," she said.

Before the competition, Icho said Kaori gave her a book with messages from friends and teammates. Kaori's page was inscribed, "I'm waiting, hurry up and come on."

If she goes on to win in Athens, Icho said it will be because Sakamoto spurred her to raise her level of training.

"If Makiko wasn't here and I had made (the team) after the Queen's Cup, I might not have worked so hard," Icho said. "I want to win the gold medal for Makiko."

Women's wrestling will make its debut in Athens and it would be no surprise for Japan to win all four gold medals available.

The Icho sisters--the first female siblings to win golds as the same world championships--are joined by Saori Yoshida (55 kg) and Kyoko Yamaguchi (72 kg).

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WRESTLING / Icho sisters grapple their way to Athens

By JEREMY WALKER,Asahi Shimbun News Service 4/14/04

Japan's four-strong women's wrestling team at the Olympic Games will include a pair of sisters after Chiharu Icho won a playoff Tuesday for the final place in Athens.

Chiharu, 22, beat Makiko Sakamoto in the fight for the 48kg berth, and joined her 19-year-old sister Kaori, who had already qualified at 63kg.

``It's incredible,'' said Chiharu, after her 3-0 victory over Sakamoto at Komazawa Olympic Park Gymnasium in Tokyo.

``I trained very hard for this fight and Kaori has been supporting me all the way. I hope she can feel proud of her older sister.''

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the second three-minute period, Chiharu sank to her knees and hugged Kaori, who acted as her second in the corner.

``I couldn't stand up after the fight. I was just so grateful to Kaori,'' said Chiharu, the current world champion at 51kg, which is not an Olympic category when women's wrestling makes its debut in August.

``Thanks to her advice I was able to keep calm during the fight and stay relaxed.''

Kaori added: ``I felt more tired being in the corner than I do after I've been fighting. I've lost weight helping Chiharu prepare for this, so now that it's over she owes me a yakiniku.

``I can just concentrate on my own training again.''

The Ichos, who are from Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture and study at Chukyo Women's University in Aichi Prefecture, became the first pair of sisters to win world titles in the same year when they triumphed at Madison Square Garden in New York, in September 2003.

Sakamoto, who could not penetrate Icho's strong defense and failed to score a point, said she hoped her conqueror would go on and win the gold medal in Athens.

``I will set a new goal, and that's Beijing in 2008,'' said the 18-year-old Sakamoto.

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Three Soldiers win national Greco-Roman wrestling championships

LAS VEGAS (Army News Service, April 13, 2004) --

Three members of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program won their divisions of the 2004 U.S. National Wrestling Championships April 9-10 at Las Vegas Convention Center, earning them No. 1 seeds in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials next month at Indianapolis.

Sgt. Dremiel Byers was named outstanding Greco-Roman wrestler of the tournament after upsetting 2000 Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner to win the super-heavyweight division.

Spc. Tina George and Pfc. Faruk Sahin also earned top-seeded spots in the championship finals of the Olympic Trials, scheduled for May 21-23 at the RCA Dome. The champions here advance directly to a best-of-three championship series in the Olympic Trials, while others must win a rugged mini-tournament to get a shot at them.

In a showdown between former world champions, Byers scored three points on a takedown with 23 seconds remaining in his 3-1 conquest over Gardner, who had prevailed in their last three confrontations at 120 kilograms/264.5 pounds.

“You should have a whole clinch series, and my coach has developed that in me and it paid off,” said Byers, who credited All-Army coach Staff Sgt. Shon Lewis for his victory over Gardner, the first American wrestler to win both World and Olympic Greco-Roman championships. “It was match strategy and match awareness that I wasn’t focusing on [in previous losses to Gardner]. I’ve been there a million times, but for some reason I was thinking ‘throw.’ ”

This time, Byers maintained his hold in the clinch and defeated the wrestler most in the audience of about 5,000 came to see. Byers plans to face Sunkist Kids’ Gardner again in Indianapolis for a berth in the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens, Greece.

“I’ll change the things that didn’t work for me in this tournament,” said Byers, a four-time national champion and winner of the 2002 World Championship and 2001 World Cup. “A couple times I tried a few moves that didn’t work and a couple times I wasn’t pummeling as hard as I needed to be.”

After losing two matches in overtime to Gardner in a best-of-three series at the 2003 U.S. World Team Trials, Byers served as Rulon’s training partner last year in an “us against the world” tour. His confidence has grown immensely since then.

“When Rulon didn’t do as well as I thought he would, I had to look at myself and say: ‘Wait a minute, guys are beating him that shouldn’t be beating him. Maybe I’ve got him up on a higher pedestal than what he needs to be. You’ve got to take notice of that and pay attention to that.’ ”

Since then, Byers has focused on this trip to Las Vegas.

“I showed up as soon as I got my itinerary,” said Byers, 29, the 2002 Army Male Athlete of the Year from Kings Mountain, N.C. “I was ready for this match. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time, but finally I feel it and I’m not going to let it go.”

George, who has won back-to-back silver medals in the women’s World Championships, dominated her 4-2 victory over Dave Schultz Wrestling Club’s Tela O’Donnell, who she lost to in the 2003 finals here.

“She is very, very focused in what she wants to do,” Lewis said of George, 25, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. “She wants to accomplish not only making the Olympic team but she wants to win that gold medal. She came into this tournament a little tired because she’s pushed herself so hard. She wasn’t fresh. And that’s OK because that just shows you how good she is.”

Sgt. Oscar Wood, who stunned five-time national champion Kevin Bracken of New York Athletic Club in the quarterfinals, dropped a 4-0 decision to Sahin in a battle of Soldiers for the 66-kilogram/145.5-pound Greco crown.

Sahin, a two-time Turkish Nationals champion, moved to Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2000 and joined the Army’s WCAP last November. He attained U.S. citizenship in February. This was his first appearance in the U.S. National Wrestling Championships.

“Since I joined the Army, I’ve been waking up early and training hard,” Sahin said. “Now I’m chasing my Olympic dream.”

Wood’s time in the spotlight has arrived, but he also has teammates Sahin and Spc. Glenn Garrison to battle. Garrison finished fifth in the tournament at 66 kilos as the Army team placed three wrestlers in the semifinals. WCAP Sgt. James Johnson also won two matches in that weight class but did not place.

“I’d rather it be an Army guy who beats me, but second place is still second place,” said Wood, 28, of Gresham, Ore. “Faruk is tough. We wrestle all the time in the wrestling room [at Fort Carson, Colo.], and I’ve just got to get at least four points better. Otherwise, it will be the same result. But I feel good going into the Trials. I feel like I picked up some things I can work on from this tournament and use as a positive.”

On the eve of his 34th birthday, two-time national champion Staff Sgt. Glenn Nieradka lost a 3-0 overtime decision to 2000 Olympian Jim Gruenwald of Sunkist Kids in the 60-kilogram/132-pound Greco-Roman finale. Nieradka tore knee ligaments a week earlier and said he will be in much better shape for the Olympic Trials.

“He’s a tiger inside,” Lewis said. “I still think he’s going to be the guy who comes out of the tournament in Indianapolis.”

Other WCAP wrestlers at nationals included Sgt. Paul Devlin, who lost to Byers in the semifinals and finished third in the super-heavyweight division. Sgt. Jason Loukides placed fourth in the 96-kilogram/211.5-pound Greco-Roman class. Staff Sgt. Keith Sieracki was slowed by a sore back and finished fifth in the Greco 84-kilogram/185-pound division.

Spc. Iris Smith was in control of her 72-kilogram semifinal match before getting pinned by Stephany Lee with five seconds remaining. Smith finished fourth after losing 4-2 to Katie Downing in the consolation finals.

Although the Army lost the Greco-Roman team title to New York Athletic Club, snapping the Soldiers’ three-year stranglehold on that trophy, Lewis was proud of his team’s performance.

“I’m really pleased at how our guys came out and competed and fought all the way through,” Lewis said. “I’m just elated at what we’ve done.”

ESPN2 will telecast a one-hour show of the tournament May 21 at 11 p.m. EDT.

(Editor’s note: Tim Hipps is a staff writer for USACFSC Public Affairs.)

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Two Lady Vikings make U.S. Nationals finals

Tuesday, April 13, 2004
By Chris Allen/Sports Editor

LAS VEGAS -- Several members of the Missouri Valley College women's wrestling team are still in the running for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2004 Summer Games in Greece.
Sophomore Stephany Lee and freshman Debbi Sakai made the finals at the U.S. National Championships Thursday at Las Vegas, both dropping tilts against the highest-ranked wrestlers in their age groups, according to The Mat.com's latest Senior Women's poll.

Sophomore Kelly Branham's fourth-place showing kept her Olympic hopes alive. Senior Tina Arnd's eighth place at 63 kilograms also made the cut.

The only roadblock to a gold medal for Lee was once again Cumberland (Ky.) junior Tocarra Montgomery, a three-time World silver medalist who won her fourth national title with a 3-1 decision in the 72-kilogram finals. Otherwise, the third-ranked Honolulu, Hawaii, native streaked through the preliminary with a technical fall over former Lady Viking all-American Donell Bradley and a pin of veteran Iris Smith of the U.S. Army.

Sakai, No. 2 at 51 Kg, won two tech falls and then beat Danielle Hobeika of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club, 5-4, to get into the title round. There the Mililani, Hawaii, product was matched against defending champion Malinda Ripley of the Sunkist Kids, who notched an 11-0 victory in 2:24.

Branham won two of her first three matches, splitting falls and winning a tech, before running up against another former Valley wrestler in the 67-Kg third-place contest -- dropping an 11-4 decision to the Stars and Stripes' Malissa Sherwood.

The Lady Vikings claimed three more medals, with sophomore Brooke Bogren defeating senior teammate Kiersten Hyatt with a fall in 1:19 in the 59-Kg seventh-place match. Two 59-Kg freshmen won two of three contests before being eliminated by other MVC grapplers, Julie Duarte nipped by Hyatt, 6-2, and Erika Chew stopped in 1:30 by Bogren on a 10-0 count.

Seniors Mollie Kieth (63 Kg) and Sandra Szendrey (51), sophomore Danielle Bowen (51) and freshman Maika Watanabe (55) also picked up wins during the meet. Valley was often plagued by tough early draws against highly-experienced foes -- such as first-round clashes pitting Watanabe against the Sunkist Kids' Jenny Wong, freshman Kayci Thompson (48) versus College Nationals champion Sara Fulp-Allen of Menlo (Calif.), freshman Clarissa Calibuso meeting eventual finalist Lauren Lamb of the Michigan Wrestling Club and Bowen taking on Ripley.

Such has been the quality of the program during its five years that several ex-Vikings medaled -- including second-place Clarissa Chun of the Gator Wrestling Club and the likes of Sherwood, Tonya Evinger, Tori Adams, Kaci Lyle and Satrinina Vernon.

Lee and Arnds will each have a shot at making Team USA for the Summer Games at Athens in their usual weight groups during the U.S. Olympic Trials, set for May 21-23 at Indianapolis. Sakai and Branham will have to move either up or down into one of the four Olympic divisions.

Kieth had already qualified for the trials by winning at the University Nationals, but other current and former Valley wrestlers -- such as Hyatt, Szendrey and '03 grad Leigh Jaynes -- still have a chance to advance through regional tournaments being held in New York and New Orleans during the next two weeks.

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All Things Girl
Conference to offer activities for girls, women

By MARTY PRIMEAU 4/11/04
marty.primeau@amarillo.com
The Amarillo Globe-News

Camped out in the men's locker room at West Texas A&M University's Event Center, Geneva Schaeffer is working on "Girl Power!"
Go figure.

"They've given me a temporary office here," Schaeffer said with a laugh. "There's so much to get done before the big event."

Girl Power! will be an all-day conference April 24 featuring inspirational speakers, home decorating tips, a spring style show, hair and makeup demonstrations, dancing lessons and more.

Schaeffer, a WT alumna and supporter, has been planning the day for more than a year.

"We want to get girls on campus to see all the fun, inspirational things there are to do at WT," she said.

Programs - for pre-teen girls to grandmothers - will focus on boosting self-esteem and overcoming obstacles to achieve success, Schaeffer said.

Guest speakers include such notable women as Marsha Sharp, head coach of the Texas Tech University Lady Raider basketball program; author Jodi Thomas; basketball star Sheryl Swoopes; Olympic gold medalist Carla Overbeck, captain of the 1999 world champion U.S. women's national soccer team; and Natasha Taylor-Stewart of Childress, a former All-American basketball player.

Hazel Kelley Wilson, 86-year-old chief executive officer of the world's largest trucking company, will talk, and so will Jinna Wright, a student at Caprock High School who has overcome a profound hearing loss to become a member of the girls' wrestling team and an award-winning member of FFA.

"We also have some incredible door prizes, including a $1,000 scholarship, a computer, digital camera, great bracelets and designer handbags," Schaeffer said.

Doughnuts will be available in the morning, and a salad luncheon will be served at noon.

Tickets for Girl Power! are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Advance ticketholders will receive a commemorative Girl Power! T-shirt.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the WT women's athletics scholarship fund.

Leading sponsors include Stanley and Geneva Schaeffer, Bob and Nancy Josserand, Bill and Helen Piehl, Pamela Barnes Stewart, McDonald's, MicroFour Inc., Panhandle-Plains Student Loan Center, Plains Capital Bank, Plains Dairy, Xcel Energy and WTAMU Equestrian.

Tickets are available at the WT Event Center and all panhandle-ticket outlets. For more information, call 651-1414

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Bronze for Billerbeck

By Matthew Obernauer and Rick Cantu

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, April 9, 2004

Pflugerville senior Rachel Billerbeck was named an All-American after
finishing third at a national wrestling meet March 29 at Lake Orion,
Mich.

The honor comes from the United State Girls Wrestling Association,
which
sponsored the event. By placing third, Billerbeck has been chosen to
train
at the U.S. Olympic Training Center this summer in Colorado Springs,
Colo.

She placed 16th in the same meet last year. Her goal is to compete in
the
2008 Olympics in Beijing. The 2003 state wresting champion recently
decided
to sign with Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo.