News Page
No Child Left Behind: The Wrestling Version
Thu Mar 10 10:31:18 2005 164.58.213.42
Southern Cross <>
1. All teams must make the Dual State Tournament, and will win the Individual State Championship. If a team does not win the championship, it will be on probation until it is the champion, and coaches will be held accountable.
2. All wrestlers will be expected to have the same wrestling skills at the same time and in the same conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in wrestling, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities. ALL WRESTLERS WILL WRESTLE AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL.
3. Talented wrestlers will be asked to work out on their own without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the wrestlers who aren’t interested in wrestling, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don’t like wrestling.
4. Match and tournaments will be wrestled year round, but won/loss records will only be kept in the 4th, 8th and 11th tournaments.
5. This will create a New Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals. IF NO CHILD GETS AHEAD, THEN NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.
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UPDATED: Women’s wrestler Sarah Tolin, 23, died in Oklahoma on March 7; Updated Arrangements have been announced by the Tolin family
3/9/2005
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
Sarah Tolin, 23, who was a nationally-competitive women’s wrestler and a member of an active USA Wrestling family, died in Norman, Okla. on Monday, March 7.
Tolin was a senior at the Univ. of Oklahoma and died in her apartment there. Police are still investigating the death at this time.
Sarah Tolin competed in wrestling at Kelly Walsh High School in Wyoming, and was a pioneer for providing opportunities for girls to wrestle in her state.
She was also very active in USA Wrestling’s women’s programs for a number of years. She competed at Neosho County CC, which at the time was one of the six women’s varsity wrestling teams in the nation. She was a silver medalist at the 2002 University National Championships, and represented the United States at the 2002 University World Championships, placing fifth.
She also won medals at the respected Dave Schultz Memorial International and the Missouri Valley International Open. In high school, she was an All-American on the national level.
Her parents Don and Vickie are very involved in USA Wrestling, working within the Wyoming state association and as members of the U.S. Wrestling Officials Association. The Tolin family has wrestling friends all across the nation.
The family has released the following UPDATED information for their extended wrestling family:
Visitors:
The Tolin family is receiving friends at:
2105 CY Avenue
Casper, WY 82601
(East End of Grand Lodge of AF&AM of Wyoming Building)
(Across street from TJ's & Quizno's and between Meineke & AutoZone)
Telephone (307) 234-0864
Viewing:
Starting Friday, March 11, 2005 through Monday, March 14, 2005:
Bustard's Funeral Home
600 CY Avenue
Casper, WY 82601
Telephone (307) 234-7123
Funeral Services:
Monday, March 14, 2005 at 3:30 PM
Highland Park Community Church
411 South Walsh Drive
Casper, WY 82609
Interment:
Highland Park Cemetery
5th & Conwell Streets
Casper, WY 82601
Gathering of Family and Friends Following Interment:
Casper Shrine Club
1501 West 39th Street
Casper, WY 82601
Telephone (307) 234-6154
Memorials:
Sarah Tolin Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 50001
Casper, WY 82605-0001
News Story in the Casper Star Tribune:
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/03/09/news/casper/83677da609bf74cb87256fbe006f49ea.txt
Message from the Tolin family
"Vickie and Don, Cece, Josh, and David, want to thank everyone for their gracious support, heartfelt prayers, and outpouring of love at this most difficult time for our family. Cherish your children and loved ones every day..."
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heraldtribune.com 3/10/05
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At left: Lemon Bay Wrestling Club's Jessica Voutour eyes her opponent Sunday during a high school division 120-pound match at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association State Tournament at Lemon Bay High School. Below: Wrestlers warm up Sunday as matches contin
Fleetwill Hernandez won her second girls' state championship of the year Sunday in the United States Girls Wrestling Association State Championships at Lemon Bay High.
The Lemon Bay sophomore captured the 114-pound championship, winning 11-6 and then recording a pin in the title bout. She finished her season unbeaten against girls' competition.
Audrey Shockley, another Lemon Bay student, finished second in the 114-pound division, pinning her opponent and then losing to Hernandez on a decision.
Fifth-grader Emily Rivera, niece of Lemon Bay head wrestling coach Greg Rivera, split four matches and finished second in the Elementary School 130-pound division.
-- Alan Dell
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Keeping the drive alive
Domination the name of the game for Lady Horns
By Jeremy Heath
jeremy.heath@amarillo.com
Amarillo Globe-News
Publication Date: 03/09/05
When the New England Patriots won their third Super Bowl in four years
Feb. 6, the big buzzword in the media became, "Dynasty."
Everyone seemed to have an opinion on what the qualifies a team for
dynasty status.
The Caprock girls wrestling team made its argument Feb. 25-26 at the
Delco Center in Austin, coming from behind to win its third state title in
six years and second in a row with a 76-75.5 nipping of El Paso Hanks.
Since 1998, Caprock has also finished second, fourth and fifth at the
state tournament, won three state duals titles and six Region 1 titles. The
team has won 42 of the 49 tournaments it has entered or qualified for.
This year's title has some added weight. This was the first time the
UIL got enough participation from all four regions to expand the brackets in
each weight division at the state meet from eight to 16 wrestlers. For the
first time, every state qualifier had to finish in the top two at a district
tournament and the top for at the regional tournament.
"It was just so much more competitive," Caprock head coach Scott
Tankersley said.
While many coaches would shy away from a word with the magnitude of
dynasty, Tankersley said it can be used to inspire future wrestlers.
"It can be great for our program," Tankersley said.
"It can be great motivation for the kids. It gives them something to
try to live up to, something to shoot for."
Caprock sophomore Maci Alvarado, who finished sixth at state, defined
dynasty as, "A big family that rules."
She also said the Caprock program qualifies.
"We're a big family, and we ruled" Alvarado said. "We dominated. Oh
yeah, and Tank (Tankersley) is our big daddy."
The dynasty appeared ready to crumble in January.
The Amarillo High girls went over to Caprock on Jan. 10 and snapped
Caprock's 41-dual-win streak with a 30-28 win.
The win vaulted AHS into the state duals - a meet Caprock had won three
straight years - where they won six duals to claim the crown.
The Lady 'Horns rebounded Feb. 5, winning the District 5 Meet 121-108
over second-place AHS. It was their third straight district title.
The next weekend, they claimed their fifth straight regional title, but
they needed some late heroics from Erica Martinez to do it.
In the final match of the meet in El Paso, Martinez took the mat
against El Paso Americas' Ashley Ivy needing at least a major decision - an
eight-point win - to give her team a come-from-behind victory. Martinez won 12-4,
and Caprock nipped El Paso Eastwood 125.5-123.
Tankersley said the regional title was nice, but the chances of
defending their state title were not good because the team qualified just four
wrestlers for state.
"We had eight at the district meet and six at the regional but just
four at state," Tankersley said. "Every time I turned around, we were missing
two more wrestlers. There was just a slim, slim chance because so many
other schools had six, even seven, wrestlers going to state. It seemed like
it was going to be mathematically impossible to win it."
Crucial Wins
After the first two rounds of the state tournament, Caprock was in
prime position, sitting in second place 2.5 points behind Austin LBJ.
After the semifinals, the Lady 'Horns had slipped into third place,
five points behind LBJ and 4.5 points behind El Paso Hanks.
Then came more heroics.
Crystal Valdez knocked LBJ out of the race beating its 95-pound
finalist Luz Hernandez 8-6 to claim her second individual title.
Caprock was in position to win, but two things had to happen. Amenda
Howland had to pin El Paso Socorro's Norma Rueda in the 128-pound final, and
Hanks' Chris Ybarra had to lose to Killeen Shoemaker's Emerald Solomon in the
215-pound final.
Rueda took charge against Howland, dominating the match for 21/2
periods and running up a 6-3 lead.
With 40 seconds left, Rueda gambled and tried to shoot in at Howland's
legs, but Rueda did not get low enough on her shot and left her outside arm
exposed.
Howland reached around, grabbed Rueda's shoulder and flipped her
completely over her body. While Rueda was in mid-air, Howland spun her around and
planted her shoulders on the mat.
Howland came down on top and fought for 15 seconds, trying to get
enough leverage for the pin. With 25 seconds left on the clock, the official
slapped the mat, signifying a pin.
"I was worried," said Howland. "I had wrestled her before, and she's a
strong wrestler. But as soon as I threw her over and pinned her in the
grapevine, I was like, 'Oh my God.'"
Tankersley had a different reaction.
"After Amenda won, I started thinking, 'Hey, I think we're ahead. If
the Hanks girl loses, we win state,'" Tankersley said.
Solomon beat Ybarra 7-5.
Tankersley did not know the result of the match until it was relayed to
him in the hallway. He said he was too nervous to watch.
Martinez, who finished sixth at state, said she expected a better
personal finish, but she said she'll take a team title over an individual title
any day.
"I was all down because I expected to do a lot better," Martinez said.
"But as soon as I found out we still had a chance, it made me happy. That (a
team title) is what we really wanted. We only had four girls, and nobody
thought we could do it. Other teams had six girls and seven girls, but we all
put our hearts into winning as a team and we did it."
Alvarado said the team can't let talk of a dynasty affect the
performance of next year's team.
"You have to work even harder to keep it going," Alvarado said. "Our
best seniors are gone, so we're going to have to work twice as hard."
----------------------------------------------------
GET HOOKED
History of Caprock Wrestling
Publication Date: 03/09/05
UIL Women's Champions
1999:
Arlington Houston, 101
Caprock, 68
Arlington, 64
2000:
Caprock, 90.5
Arlington Houston, 88
Palo Duro, 69
2001:
Palo Duro, 134.5
Arlington Houston, 85
El Paso Hanks, 85
2002:
Tascosa, 62
El Paso Hanks, 60.5
Arlington Houston, 59
2003:
Palo Duro, 91
Tascosa, 60
San Antonio Lee, 48
2004:
Caprock, 71
Palo Duro, 64.5
Katy, 55.5
2005:
Caprock, 76
El Paso Hanks, 75.5
Austin LBJ, 71
The Genesis: Caprock's Adam(s) started it all
"One day in 1998, Tori Adams approached me and asked if I would help
start a girls wrestling team. I knew Tori from her childhood days when she and
her family lived across the street. I knew Tori was one special wrestler
and wanted to give her an opportunity to be a part of a team. I made a deal
with her. 'If you can get a full team, I'll coach.' In the next few days,
Tori brought 10 other girls with her. She said, 'Now we have a full team.
When do we start?' And the rest is history."
-- Caprock Head Coach Scott Tankersley
Tori Adams On the Mat:
Three state titles.
United States Girls Wrestling Association National Title, leading
Caprock to a third-place finish at nationals in 1998-99.
Finished sixth at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Won gold medal, named Outstanding Wrestler at the Sunkist Kids/ASU
International Open in Oct. 2004.
Currently training for 2008 Olympic Trials at the Olympic training
facility in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Even the boys can wrestle
Harvey Suarez, a Caprock sophomore, won the 103-pound boys state title,
defeating River Road's Kalvin King 3-2 in the semifinals and Randall's
Brandon McDonald 4-3 in the final.
What will it take to win another title next year?
"I've got to practice twice as hard and keep the right attitude. It's
like coach Tankersley says, 'You've got to wrestle to win. You can't wrestle
not to lose.' That helps me stay focused and stay motivated."