News Page

Fulp-Allen wins gold, nine others undefeated at the Pan American Championships

5/7/2004
John Fuller/USA Wrestling

Guatemala City, Guatemala - 10 U.S. wrestlers remain undefeated at the Pan American Championships
following preliminary action on Thursday. Sara Fulp-Allen (El Granada, Calif./Menlo College) won a gold medal at 48 kg/105.5 lbs.

Pool competition and medal matches will be completed on Friday.

In men's freestyle, Nick Simmons (Williamston, Mich./Michigan WC), Clint Musser (Akron, Ohio/New York AC), Kirk White (Tacoma, Wash./Dave Schultz WC) and Brian Keck (Cleveland, Ohio/New York AC) all won their initial pool matches.

Simmons, a 2003 NCAA All-American, pinned Luis Vasquez of Guatemala in his first match and defeated 2003 Pan American Championships bronze medalist Freddy Serrano of Colombia 12-9 in his second match at 55 kg/121 lbs.

Simmons will next face Ricardo Castillo of Ecuador in his final pool match. If Simmons wins, he will advance to the gold-medal match.

Musser downed his only opponent, Angel Castro of Colombia, 10-0 in his only pool match. If he defeats Marcelo Castro of Chile in his next match, Musser will advance to the gold-medal match.

White defeated his two opponents by a combined score of 17-0 at 74 kg/163 lbs. He will face Juan Chaparro of Mexico in his final pool match.

Keck won his first three matches in a five-man pool by a combined score of 12-2 at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. In his final match, Keck will face four-time World medalist and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Alexis Rodriguez of Cuba. The winner will capture the gold medal.

2004 Big Ten champion Tom Clum (Arvada, Colo./Wisconsin WC) lost his first match in a five-man pool at 55 kg/121 lbs. 5-1 to 2002 World Champion Rene Montero of Cuba before battling back to win his next two matches.

Clum will next face Mauricio Gonzales of Guatemela. If Clum wins, he will capture the silver medal.

Also losing a close match to a top competitor was Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio/Dave Schultz WC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Rowlands lost 3-2 to four-time World medalist and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero of Cuba. Rowlands came back to win his next match, and is one win away from a silver medal.

In Greco-Roman competition, Russ Davie (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland State) won his first two pool matches at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

Davie will face 2003 Pan American Games gold medalist Mijial Lopez of Cuba for the gold medal.

Also still in the running to earn medals in Greco-Roman are Jason Tolbert (Ft. Carson, Colo./U.S. Army) at 60 kg/132 lbs., Ron Muir (Colorado Springs, Colo./Unattached) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., Steve Woods (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Air Force) at 74 kg/163 lbs., Jeff Funicello (Gilbert, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Brandon Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./Elite WC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Ruiz finished his pool competition, a three-man weight class, 1-1, but based on his win by fall in the first match and 3-1 loss in the second match, he has an opportunity to capture a gold medal.

Muir, Woods and Funicello can all win silver medals with wins.

Undefeated U.S. women's wrestlers are Fulp-Allen at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Danyelle Hedin (Kailua, Hawaii/Team Hawaii) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Alaina Berube (Escanaba, Mich./New York AC) at 59 kg/130 lbs., Stephanie Shaw (Waterford, Conn./Unattached) at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and Stephany Lee (Honolulu, Hawaii/Missouri Valley) at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.

Fulp-Allen won both of her pool matches to win the gold medal. She won both of her matches by fall.

Hedin won her first two pool matches on Thursday. She will next face Dora Martinez of Guatemala. If Hedin wins, she will wrestle for the gold medal.

Berube is one win away from a gold medal after winning her first two pool matches at a four-person weight class. Berube defeated 2003 Pan American Championships gold medalist Joselin Rojas of Venezuela by fall in the first round.

She will next meet Pilar Parra of Colombia.

Shaw won her pool with two wins. In the gold-medal match, she will face either Juliana Borges of Brazil or Ana Gonzales of Venezuela.

Lee, a 2004 U.S. Nationals runner-up, defeated Rainiel Guerra of Venezuela by fall in her only pool match. She will next face Rosangela Conceicao of Brazil for the gold medal.

See Women Results

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

2003-04 All-Area Girls Wrestling Team

MILENKO MARTINOVICH / Special Contributor to The Dallas
Morning News 4/18/04

GIRLS WRESTLER OF THE YEAR Deseree Cazares
South Grand Prairie, Sr., 119 pounds

Even though a loss in the state championship match ended Deseree
Cazares' bid for an undefeated season, she looks back with satisfaction.

"I remembered my goal at the beginning of the year was just to place at
state," said Cazares, a South Grand Prairie senior. "I wish I would
have won, but it was a great experience."

Cazares had won her first 35 matches and led going into the third
period of the 119-pound final against Amarillo Palo Duro's Brittany Owens.

Owens won, 7-5. But Cazares helped South Grand Prairie finish fifth at
state. She was 67-10 the last two seasons.

Cazares said she plans on attending Brookhaven College, then
transferring to a university. She wants to be a paramedic.

"I know I'm going to miss it [wrestling]," Cazares said. "But I'll
still be around. Maybe I can come back and work out with some of the girls next
year."

•

Achievements: Second at the UIL state meet in the 119-pound division.
Cazares went 35-1, her only loss coming in the state final against
Amarillo Palo Duro's Brittany Owens.

Why I wrestle: "I wanted to join a sport, and wrestling sounded cool. I
love it."

My influence: "Former coach Mike Eaton and teammate Crystal Molinar.
Crystal has helped me so much."

About me: "I want to be a paramedic."

RECENT WINNERS
1999: Brenda Malott, Arlington Sam Houston
2000: Brenda Malott, Arlington Sam Houston
2001: Brandy Killingsworth, Arlington Sam Houston
2002: Suekoilya Shelly, Hurst L.D. Bell
2003: Suekoilya Shelly, Hurst L.D. Bell

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Erica McClendonArlington Seguin, Fr., 185 pounds

Achievements: Won the Region II championship at 185 pounds; 24-8.

Why I wresle: "I wanted to try something new. I really wasn't sure what
they expected out of me."

My influences: "My parents, Randall and Lisa Porter. They've been there
every step of the way."

About me: "I like to write stories and poems."

COACH OF THE YEAR
Chris ScrogginsArlington

Achievements: Led Arlington to second place at the UIL Region II meet
and 12th place at state.

Why I coach: "I had some good teachers growing up, and I wanted to
emulate them."

My influences: "In coaching, my father-in-law, Don Radzewicz, and
father, James."

About me: "I've known I wanted to teach since kindergarten. I also
married my high school sweetheart."

FIRST TEAM
Crystal Molinar
South Grand Prairie, Jr., 110 pounds

Achievements: Won UIL state title at 110 pounds; 36-4

Why I wrestle: "Former coach Mike Eaton. After I met him, he bugged me
to come out for the team."

My influences: "Eaton and former teammate Daisy Callado. She was a big
motivator and never let me quit."

About me: "I love taking pictures."

Jessica Surratt
Hurst L.D. Bell, Sr., 185 pounds

Achievements: Second at UIL state meet; 18-4.

Why I wrestle: "My twin brother, Jared, commented that there were no
girls on the team."

My influences: "My coaches, Chuck Brown and Scott Pope."

About me: "Sometimes when I'm bored at tournaments, I'll knit."

Emmy Thompson
Keller Fossil Ridge, Sr., 148 pounds

Achievements: Second at UIL state meet; 33-3.

Why I wrestle: "Pure interest and curiosity."

My influence: "Former Fossil Ridge wrestler Jenny Finley. She was a
great leader."

About me: "I'm really involved in church and youth group."

SECOND TEAM
Name School Cl. Notable
Katy Klammer Lake Highlands Jr. Region II champ finished third at
185 pounds at UIL state meet
Tashia Lewis Arl. Sam Houston Jr. Finished third in 110-pound class
at UIL state meet; 27-6
Candy Guevara Arlington Jr. Finished third in 138-pound class at UIL
state meet; 41-8

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

Welcome mat

May 8, 2004

Wrestling is one of the oldest sports. Wrestlers competed in the first ancient Olympic Games in Greece in 776 B.C. The sport also was part of the first modern Olympic Games, in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Women's wrestling will make its debut at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It's the only new sport.

• There will be four freestyle weight classes: 105, 121, 138 and 158 pounds. The team will be selected May 21-23 in Indianapolis.

• Of the 28 sports on the Olympic program, boxing and baseball are the only ones left without women's events, although women's softball has been played since 1996.

• Women's wrestling long has been popular in others countries, but it started slowly in the United States. At the World Championships in September, the U.S. women claimed a medal in all seven weight classes - one gold, four silver and two bronze.

• The first Women's Wrestling Resident Athlete Program, providing a full-time training opportunity for elite female freestyle wrestlers at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, began in August 2003.

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

Going to the mat for Kayla

By Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News
May 8, 2004

COLORADO SPRINGS - To her friends and family, everything seemed to be falling into place for Kristie Marano when she returned from a wrestling tournament in Chicago in April 1998.

Unpacking her bags in the family home in Albany, N.Y, the 19-year-old world traveler pulled out a gold medal from the national University Games, the latest addition to a bulging treasure chest.

She chatted about the upcoming U.S. national championships in Orlando, Fla., and mapped out a tentative practice schedule.

But behind the business-as-usual facade, Marano carried a heavy secret, one that neither friends nor family members even suspected.

She was nine months pregnant.

After weeks of worry and exhaustion, Marano went into labor early the morning of April 15, tiptoed into the bathroom, started a bath, climbed into the tub and delivered a 6-pound, 8-ounce girl without alerting her parents, who were asleep in a nearby bedroom.

Laying her baby in a pile of blankets on her bed, Marano drove to a store for groceries, hurried home and waited, scared and dazed, for whatever would happen next.

Two weeks later, Marano won a gold medal at the national championships, masking her pain as effectively as she had her pregnancy.

Six years later, she is determined to win a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics for Kayla, 6, now a bubbly kindergartner with an inexhaustible supply of charm and admiration for her mother.

The Maranos will celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday in their Colorado Springs apartment, savoring a relationship that only a single mother with an only child really grasps.

"Kayla is my inspiration," said Marano, who was married for a while to her daughter's father. "When she was born, I looked down at her and said: 'I'll win for her.'

"I can't even imagine my life without her."

Constant companion

Wherever Marano goes, Kayla usually follows. Before a recent practice at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, she ran alongside her mother during warm-up drills.

During a special wrestle-off for a spot in the world championships last year, she stood by the side of the mat, clenching her fists and screaming instructions.

"She's hilarious at tournaments," said Grace Magnussen, a member of the national team. "She screams the whole time. I've never seen a kid yelling out wrestling moves - legit moves, too. 'C'mon, Mom, take her down; pin her, Mom.' "

When a dozen U.S. team members decided to see a movie in Colorado Springs recently, they invited Marano and Kayla, the only child among a group that included Kerry McCoy, a heavyweight on the men's freestyle team.

"Kristie has always been inordinately shy, but Kayla is a real social butterfly," said Conrad Stenglein, Marano's father, who moved to Colorado Springs to help out.

"I stopped by (the OTC) one day and she's talking to Kerri McCoy, who was second in the world championships. This guy is huge, 285 pounds, not an ounce of fat, and there's Kayla just talking away. I said (to him): 'How do you know her?' "

Marano has little time for socializing now. Women's wrestling will make its Olympic debut this year but in only four weight classes, meaning Marano must beat teammate Sara McMann - she was ranked No. 1 in the country last year - in the 138.75-pound division at the U.S. Olympic trials May 21-23 at Indianapolis.

But Marano is a clutch performer. In seven world championship appearances, she has won seven medals, including two golds, a record unmatched in women's wrestling.

Not surprisingly, she won the top seed for the Olympic trials by pinning McMann.

"When it's time to shine, when the lights are on, she's always ready," national women's team coach Terry Steiner said. "Kristie has fears like everyone else, but there's one difference: She pushes through it. She's a survivor. In fact, she comes out smelling like a rose every time.

"Kristie also realizes it's not only her life she's fighting for in a few weeks at the Olympic trials. It's about Kayla's life, too."

Runs in the family

Wrestling is part of the Stengleins' DNA. Matt and Josh, Kristie's younger brothers, were all-star wrestlers in upstate New York. Conrad was a high school wrestler in Albany in the early 1970s and learned judo after joining the Air Force.

Kristie Marano took up judo in elementary school. As a 15-year-

old, she won a national championship in the open division in 1995 and finished third in the junior worlds the same year. She switched to wrestling because of a knee injury in 1996 and won the first of four consecutive national championships.

Before a 1998 tournament, though, Marano struggled just to finish her workouts, unable to fend off increasing fatigue. On the eve of her first match, she failed to make weight, a humiliating moment for any wrestler.

But after returning to Albany, Marano returned to the gym and started training for the University Games. With a slight paunch - it was visible only to her - she realized she was pregnant but assumed she was only three months along.

"You couldn't tell, because she carried the baby so high in her ribs . . . when she was pregnant, she just looked like she'd gained a couple more pounds," Magnussen said.

"She told me later she was surprised no one could tell. But she couldn't tell anyone - she was too scared."

Added Marano: "I thought I'd be letting everyone down. I thought I'd be such a disappointment. I was in a daze."

Though nine months pregnant, Marano cruised to another gold medal, at the University Games in Chicago, then returned to Albany to prepare for another run at a national championship.

Fear, then relief

Less than a week later, she was yanked from sleep by severe back pains. Hoping for relief from a bath, her water broke instead and Kayla was born in the tub about 6 a.m.

"I look back and wonder what I was thinking," she said. "I went to buy her formula. When I came back, she was asleep. She looked so calm."

Not long afterward, Kayla's cries awoke her stunned grandparents.

"It was pretty hard," Conrad Stenglein said. "I asked her, 'Was it me? Were you afraid of telling me?' I felt a little bad. My wife was even more upset.

"Kristie's a very sensitive person. If I want to (make a suggestion) about wrestling, I have to put it in just the right way or she'll get very annoyed.

"Once she realized she wasn't going to get tossed out on her head, I think she was relieved. When something like that happens, you just have to say: 'Well, what do we do next?' "

For Marano, the answer was easy. "I love wrestling," she said. "It's my escape."

A couple of weeks later, she flew to Orlando, where stunned teammates still were catching up on her story.

"It was one of those really crazy Oprah stories," Magnussen said. "She had a baby, went to nationals and won it, even though she was in a lot of pain from really bad cramps."

In Albany, Marano worked at Friendly's Restaurant, took classes at Hudson Valley Community College, looked after Kayla, went to wrestling practice and coached young wrestlers a couple of nights a week.

"She stayed clear of some of the kids you can get into - cliques and stuff like that," Steiner said. "She had so many other things to worry about. She didn't have time to worry about that stuff. She tends to her own business."

In 2000, Marano won her fourth U.S. title, at 165.25 pounds, the heaviest women's class. Kayla, wearing a mini red wrestling uniform, watched from her grandparents' laps.

At the 2003 World Championships in New York City, Marano won her second gold medal, cementing her legacy as one of the fiercest competitors in American wrestling history.

About two dozen friends and family members rode the train from Albany to Madison Square Garden, where they watched her beat Ewelina Pruszko of Poland 7-1 in the gold-medal match.

Marano also kept up an international schedule, traveling to France, Sweden, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere while her family looked after Kayla.

"I call Kayla every couple days when I'm away," she said. "When she was younger, it was like: 'Hi, Mommy, I gotta go watch TV.' Now it's like: 'I really miss you.' That just makes my trip."

But with the 2004 Olympics looming, Marano realized it was crucial that she train with the U.S. team in Colorado Springs.

Moving from Albany, though, went against family instincts.

"When she told me she wanted to come out here, I said: 'What about Kayla?' " Conrad Stenglein said. "She said: 'Oh, we'll be fine.' "

Noting her overwhelming schedule during a visit, Conrad Stenglein decided to move to Colorado Springs last fall, taking a job to pay the bills. His son Matt joined him a while later to provide more support.

"It always comes back to family for us," Matt Stenglein said. "It's hard to comprehend if you're not inside the family.

"We don't have a lot of free time. It's definitely in and out. But on Sundays, when we slow down, you can hear Kristie and Kayla giggling in the bedroom. They have those typical mother-daughter moments. They both know that the other is the closest one they have."

Kayla will quantify her feelings Sunday, on Mother's Day.

"I have seven cards for her, and flowers that are very pretty," she said. "She's my best friend. She thinks about me all the time."

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

Wrestling mom: How does this grab you?

BY CATHY HARASTA 5/8/04

The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - (KRT) - Moms everywhere have said it time and again: "Quit
wrestling in the house!"

But Kristie Marano will not spend Mother's Day telling her daughter,
Kayla, 6, to take the sport outside.

Marano, America's top female wrestler and a reigning world champion,
will spend that special morning working out at the U.S. Olympic Training
Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"After the workout, Kayla and I will have the afternoon together," said
Marano, the top seed in her weight class for the U.S. Olympic Wresting
Trials on May 21-23 in Indianapolis. "Kayla's funny. One day, she'll
say she wants to wrestle. The next day, she doesn't."

Women's wrestling will make its Olympic debut at this August's Athens
Games. And Kristie Marano, 25, wants to add an Olympic medal to her seven
world medals.

"It's awesome to have a chance to make history," she said. "It's a huge
adrenaline rush."

Marano, 5-6 and 138.75 pounds, started wrestling at age 16. She had
been training for the Olympics in judo when she suffered a knee injury. At
the time of her comeback, judo players could not wear a brace but wrestlers
could, she said.

She joined the wrestling team at her high school in Colonie, a suburb
of Albany, N.Y. Marano said she met no resistance from her all-male
teammates.

"A lot of the guys knew me from my judo background," she said. "My
younger brothers also were wrestlers."

Her brother Matthew, 21, moved to Colorado Springs to train and help
his sister care for Kayla. Marano's father, Conrad, also relocated to help
his daughter, who is separated from her husband.

Marano, who is the only mom among her teammates, said she has plenty of
help with Kayla.

"The girls are always willing to play with Kayla," Marano said. "I have
such a good support system."

Just one woman from the United States will go to Athens in Marano's
weight class. Her match at the trials - where she secured a spot in the final
by virtue of winning the nationals last month - could be the meet's
highlight. She and Sara McMann, also a 138.75-pounder, are widely regarded as the
nation's best women wrestlers.

McMann would have to win the challengers bracket to meet Marano in the
trials.

"I think it's just two wrestlers going at it," Marano said. "We're all
good friends."

Kayla will be in Indianapolis to cheer for her mom, who wrestled at the
national championships just 10 days after her daughter's birth.

"She's been around wrestling since she was born," Marano said. "Kayla
is very understanding.

"She'll tell me, `You've had a rough day, Mom, so I'll put you to bed
early.'"