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Hutchison is beating up on the boys
Alaska native is the first girl to be seeded at the RTOC
MARC CARIG
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 12/20/2005
Back home the boys used to laugh out loud before matches just as their opponent -- the skinny girl with the long brown hair -- took her position on the opposite end of the wrestling mat.
"Some guys didn't take me seriously," said Michaela Hutchison, who has spent the last few years wiping smiles off the faces of the boys who underestimate her. "They haven't done that for a long time."
Officials at this week's Reno Tournament of Champions weren't laughing either when they seeded the 16-year-old sixth in the 103-pound division, making her the first girl to earn a seed in an event that bills itself as the "toughest in the USA."
"It's a unique situation," said longtime tournament volunteer Doug Rawson, who oversaw seeding for this year's event. "But she's met all of our criteria."
Hutchison has spent two seasons on the Skyview High School wrestling team in Soldotna, Alaska, a town famous for King Salmon fishing about 150 miles south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula.
In that time, Hutchison has racked up a 59-12 career record -- all against boys.
As a freshman, she cruised through the Alaska state championship tournament until losing in the 103-pound division title match, falling just short of becoming the first female state champion in Alaska history. She's 22-3 as a sophomore after spending most of the offseason getting stronger.
"If you're not ready when you step across the mat from here, she can give you a rude awakening," said Skyview wrestling coach Neldon Gardner, who called Hutchison one of the best technical wrestlers he's ever coached -- regardless of gender.
She lost a championship bracket match at the Tournament of Champions at the Reno Livestock Events Center on Monday night, but not before scoring a pinfall victory over Daniel Kwittken of San Diego's Torrey Pines High School.
"I've never seen anything like that," said Jake Burns, assistant coach at Torrey Pines. "She's a sixth seed at this tournament. You know she's doing something right."
Girls have been wrestling against boys at the high school level for the better part of the decade. But coaches say that few have reached Hutchison's level.
"As they see her advance, I know these coaches are going to start recognizing it," said Gardner, who has coached Skyview for 23 years. "They're starting to say 'Whoa, she's for real.'"
Gardner raves about Hutchison's technical ability on the mat and a calm demeanor that has helped her overcome the snickers that come with being a girl beating boys -- at what was once exclusively a boys game.
"She knows all the aspects of wrestling," Gardner said. "She's tough on her feet and when turning and tilting. When you ask her to show a move, she can show it."
Hutchison stared wrestling since she was 7. Her older brother, Eli, who is bound for Boise State on a wrestling scholarship, is also on the Skyview team and entered the Tournament of Champions as the No. 1 seed in the 135-pound division.
Her older sister, Melina, joined 2004 Olympian Tela O'Donnell as the first girls to ever place at the Alaska state wrestling championships.
"I was around it a lot," said Hutchison, who got her older sister Tela into the sport. "So I just decided to do it. I'm not sure why exactly I like it. But I do."
Other than awkwardly bending her knee once, Hutchison has never suffered a serious injury. She enjoys her family's full support and said that her teammates treat her simply like another wrestler.
"I'm like a little sister," said Hutchison, who hopes to follow O'Donnell's footsteps on the U.S Olympic team.
But as the boys in Alaska have already learned, opponents can't afford to treat her like a little sister.
"If a normal high school boy, who has never had a girl on their team, sees her across the mat they'll kind of grin," Gardner said. "But it's not always easy when you're across the mat from her."
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Girls in wrestling are grappling for respect
All-girls tournament in Sitka shows growing impact of women in sport
By KEVIN KLOTT
Anchorage Daily NewsPublished: January 19, 2006
Last Modified: January 19, 2006 at 02:29 AM
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Every year students at Sitka High are required to create senior projects before graduating.
But this year, Abby Gillaspie's project means more to her than just a routine senior assignment -- it's a call-out to all Alaska girls who wear singlets, thrive for mat respect and compete in the only high school sport where girls physically battle one-on-one against boys.
Gillaspie, who wrestles at 119 pounds for Sitka, dubbed the project, "How to create an all-girls wrestling tournament."
She has logged more than 50 hours since taking on the task in November 2004.
And now Gillaspie will determine her project's success by how many girls visit Sitka, a Southeast town of 8,835, next month.
"This has been really hard," Gillaspie said. "How do you get girls to show up on an island out in the middle of nowhere?"
That's easy. Invite two 2004 Olympians -- Tela O'Donnell and Sara McMann -- and provide classic Southeast entertainment, such as wildlife boat cruises in Sitka Sound and tours at the Alaska Raptor Center.
"It's not all about coming to Sitka to wrestle," said Sitka athletic director Steve Gillaspie, Abby's father. "It's about coming to visit Southeast Alaska."
O'Donnell and McMann, who are scheduled to host a wrestling clinic Feb. 10 at Sitka High, inspired America and many of its female wrestlers at the Summer Games in Athens, where women's wrestling made its Olympic debut.
McMann of Chicago became the first woman to record an Olympic pin for Team USA.
And O'Donnell of Homer was one of the first girls to break the girls high school wrestling barrier in Alaska.
When O'Donnell reached the Olympics, she inadvertently encouraged girls, like Gillaspie, Audri Pleas of Eagle River and phenom Michaela Hutchison of Skyview, to strive for their best.
"We're starting to see more girls wrestling," said Skyview head wrestling coach Neldon Gardner. "Especially when you have an Olympic team."
The Alaska School Activities Association is not sponsoring the Feb. 10-11 event, but the United States Girls Wrestling Association is, Gillaspie said.
The organization is calling it the USGWA Alaska Girls State Championship Open.
"I wasn't in charge of the name," Gillaspie said, laughing. "Otherwise I would have tried to come up with something a little cooler and easier to say."
GIRLS WRESTLE TOO
Gillaspie expects 50 to 60 girl wrestlers, from kindergarten to college, to make the trip to Sitka. Last year, 19 showed up at Homer's all-girls tournament.
The wrestler Gillaspie most wants to make the trip is Hutchison, the 103-pounder who as a freshman was the first girl in Alaska to make it to the final round in the Class 4A state championship.
Hutchison's impressive finish and O'Donnell's Olympic appearance have helped put girls wrestling on the map. They give girls hope that they can compete in a sport that has been dominated by boys.
"It's naturally a guys sport," Gillaspie said. "The majority are boys, but it's slowly beginning to turn into a girls sport."
These days, females go toe-to-toe more often against their counterparts.
Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie have golfed on the men's PGA Tour, Danica Patrick races cars in the male-dominated Indy Racing League, and Giuliana Mendiola plays basketball against men in the American Basketball Association.
But no other coed sport matches the physical contact and pain of wrestling.
Hutchison, a sophomore who's ranked No. 1 in the state at 103 pounds, said wrestling against boys is no big deal anymore.
"Whatever," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I just try to go hard."
She will get tips from her older brother, Eli Hutchison, who's ranked No. 1 at 135 in Alaska, and older sister Melina Hutchison, who took third in 2000 at the 4A state championships.
Her father once wrestled too, and he is now the assistant coach at Skyview.
"My dad usually does the pointing," Hutchison said. "He's like, 'Michaela, it's 120 percent or nothin'.' "
Though she was runner-up at state, Hutchison knew she had a lot to learn after the season.
"Last year I would cry (after losing)," she said. "But this year it's different. Maybe it's because I'm a sophomore and because I have more experience."
Or maybe it's her brother's hand-me-down shoes.
"This is the only pair I've ever worn," she said about her dirty-white Adidas. "They're hand-me-downs from Eli, but I don't care. They were already broken in."
Hutchison broke into the sport when she was 11. With five brothers and four sisters in her family who either wrestled in high school or who hope to, it's hard for her to stay away from the mat. Growing up in a wrestling family is a big reason why she's becoming one of the top wrestlers in Alaska.
Gardner, Hutchison's coach, said she makes boys realize that girls can wrestle too.
"With Michaela, boys know they better wrestle or they will get pinned," Gardner said. "The girls have gained a lot of respect.
"And when they place in the state tournament, that really says something."
Hutchison said she plans to attend the Alaska Girls State Championship Open along with her eighth-grade sister, Monica.
Eli, who has never wrestled a girl in high school, will be cheering for his sister and the other girls at home.
Eli said if he were to wrestle a girl, he would "look at it the same as facing a guy."
"I'm not going to try to hurt her, but I'm not going to take it easy on her either.
"My sister is pretty good, so who knows? Maybe one of them could kick my butt?" he said.
NOTHING TO LOSE
Audri Pleas, a wrestler for Eagle River High, never had siblings to drill against or a dad to ask for wrestling pointers. In fact, nobody in Pleas' family has ever wrestled, and nobody but Pleas believed she could.
"I didn't want to do volleyball and I thought it would be new, interesting," she said. "But I knew I could go further in this sport than in any other sport."
Pleas wrestles at 215 -- a rare weight class for girls. Most girls make weight between 103 and 135, she said.
"I've never wrestled a girl," she said. "I don't expect a girl to be as heavy as me because most girls aren't. But I think I'm in pretty good shape for being in my weight class."
Her Eagle River teammate C.J. Jacoby, who wrestled her on the first day of practice, agrees.
"She's pretty good," he said. "She almost beat me."
If Pleas would have beaten Jacoby, he said, it would have messed with his head.
"I wouldn't want to lose to a girl."
Pleas, a junior, has won three times against boys this season. Her athletic inspiration is fueled by O'Donnell.
"To see how hard (O'Donnell) worked to get (to the Olympics) makes me work ten times harder," she said.
Pleas' hard work is apparent in her participation in wrestling and two other sports.
Earlier this year, she played linebacker on Eagle River's junior varsity football team. She also plays on the Wolves' JV basketball team.
"She's got a very aggressive attitude," said Eagle River assistant wrestling coach Sam Phillips. "She likes to take it to them, and that's what we look for."
Scrapping with a 215-pound male sometimes makes Pleas quiver. Boys are naturally stronger than girls, but Pleas' size and attitude helps even the playing field.
"Coming from Chugiak, either you roll with the punches or you get off the team," she said. "What's the worst that can happen to me?
"I could get hurt, but the ref would just call the match. And if I lose, it's either cut weight or try harder. I choose to try harder because the older I get, the more I realize that I have nothing to lose."
Pleas didn't lose when Eagle River needed her most, helping her team record its first dual-meet victory.
"She had to fight this guy off her back in the first period, then in the second, she threw him on his back and pinned him.
"She was our champion of the day," Phillips said.
OLYMPIC SPIRIT
As a sophomore, Abby Gillaspie had a vision for an all-girls wrestling tournament but no money to fund it.
She e-mailed about 30 businesses in Sitka asking to donate airline miles to help bring the 2004 Olympians into town.
The only business that responded was Marsha Howard, the owner of Work and Rugged Gear Store.
Howard hardly knows Gillaspie, but her son wrestled for Sitka years ago, so she donated 20,000 miles -- enough to fly McMann in from Chicago.
"I just think girls wrestling is a great sport that develops character," Howard said. "I don't know Abby real well, but she's real articulate. It was hard to say no."
Gillaspie's next step was finding $600 to pay for O'Donnell and McMann's wrestling clinic.
"I was in a really tough spot," Gillaspie said.
So she wrote a letter to Sitka's booster club and asked for help. The club wrote her check right away for $700.
"I just needed to show them that this tournament was going to happen," she said.
Once the money started flowing, girls from Juneau-Douglas, Colony, Wasilla, Kodiak, Nome, Bethel, Skagway, Mount Edgecumbe, Petersburg, Hoonah, West, Homer and South made commitments.
"I thought maybe 20 people would come," Gillaspie said. "But I guess since the Olympics, girls have goals to strive for.
"They see Tela's success and it gives girls something to look forward to."
If the tournament succeeds, Gillaspie hopes ASAA will give girls their own state championship.
John Andrews, ASAA's director of special events, said creating a separate championship could happen in the future, but the numbers aren't there.
"We don't have enough weight classes for girls to wrestle all year," he said. "But just look at girls hockey. Teams started off with low numbers and it's starting to grow every year.
"Girls wrestling is definitely on the horizon."
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Kim Solheim Named Webster Bank Scholar/Athlete Of The Week
By Kim J. Harmon 1/19/06
Kim Solheim, with the advantage here on Alex Crownin of Immaculate in a meet last week, was named the Webster Bank Scholar/Athlete of the Week and was taped, in school, by a News Channel 12 crew. - Bee Photo, Harmon |
Finding a successful balance between athletics and academics can't be easy, but Newtown High School senior Kim Solheim has managed quite well.
Kim, 18, has been, is, and will be an integral member of the field hockey, wrestling and girls' lacrosse teams this year and even with all the time she spends at practices, meets and games she has worked hard enough in the classroom to be ranked #21.
Her effort was rewarded last week when she was named Webster Bank Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
"I really think that during the season I'm able to manage my time better," said Kim. "When I don't have anything to do, I end up wasting my time. But when I know I'll have practice or a game and that I'll be tired afterwards, I get to work."
Kim was nominated for the award by Newtown High athletic director Gregg Simon and last Friday she was taped by a News Channel 12 crew during her economics class and later interviewed along with her math teacher, Kevin O'Sullivan.
It was start of a busy weekend for Kim.
Last Saturday, the Newtown wrestling team hosted a quad meet with Immaculate, Thomaston and Brien McMahon and over the course of the day Kim had to hit the mat three times. Her first match in the 103-pound division was a thrilling, high-scoring 20-14 loss to Alex Crownin of Immaculate.
"Wrestling is so mentally challenging," said Kim. "That's the part that has helped me grow."
Kim first thought about wrestling back in the seventh grade and although she thought it was cool and wanted very much to try out for the team as a freshman, her mom - naturally worried about her daughter's physical and mental health - ultimately said no.
The following year, though, when friends persuaded Kim to try out again they were able to convince her mother to say yes.
But while she has a lot of fun wrestling in the winter and playing field hockey in the fall, lacrosse is the sport she will take to college. Kim has already committed to play next year at Division III Christopher Newport University in Virginia.
"I knew I wanted to play lacrosse in college - Division III or Division I club," said Kim, "and (CNU) recruited me."
The CNU women's lacrosse program is only five years old. After a 2-9 season in 2001 under Nancy Billger, coach Kwame Lloyd has led the Lady Captains to a 27-33 record, 17-2 in the USA South Conference.
Although she is undecided about her major, there is little doubt that Kim Solheim will be able to balance her academic and athletic lives and continue to be a success in college.
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Five Star Athlete: Onondaga Wrestler Anna Cummings(Ranked in N.Y.)
They did a video report on her. Click on the video icon onto watch the
video report:
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Lady Brahman wrestlers take fifth
newszap.com 1/18/06
The Lady Brahman wrestling team celebrated their fifth place finish Saturday at Vero Beach High School. They placed fifth against nine other tough girls’ teams. Team members are (front row) Brittany Daugherty; (middle row left to right) Suzane Gunter, Mary Flores, Luz Rodriguez and Tabitha Freeman; (back row left to right) Evettah Samuels, Bobbi Register-parent, Bruce Jahner-coach and Candi Rivero. Special to Okeechobee News |
The seven-member Lady Brahman wrestling team battled their way through nine other girls’ teams to finish in fifth place in the Vero Beach wrestling tournament last Saturday.
This was the first tournament of the new year for the Lady Brahman grapplers as they prepare themselves for the girls’ state tournament the last weekend of January at Osceola High School in Kissimmee.
The Lady Brahmans put four wrestlers in the finals with Evettah Samuels coming home with the gold.
“This was Evettah’s first appearance in the finals, and she came out and dominated the match from the whistle,” stated Brahman head coach Bruce Jahner.
Mary Flores, Luz Rodriguez and Candi Rivero all made the finals but came up a little short bringing home silver medals.
Suzane Gunter and Brittany Daugherty came home with fifth place honors. Tabitha Freeman was unable to wrestle due to injury.
The girls will travel to Harmony High School this weekend for a final tune up before the state tourney.
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More photos have been posted by Tech Fall of the Nappa Valley Classic:
http://www.tech-fall.com/05HSNVGC1.html
http://www.tech-fall.com/05HSNVGC5.html
http://www.tech-fall.com/05HSNVGC6.html
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NWCA National Duals photos:
http://www.amateurwrestlingphotos.com/women/nationalduals06-women/index.htm
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