Alyssa Lampe will try this year to become the first girl to place at the state meet.
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A spot on the podium
Tomahawk wrestler aims to place at state meet
By JOE SHINNERS
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Feb. 10, 2006
Alyssa Lampe's history-making run through the Wisconsin high school wrestling record books is nearing an end.
Quotable
Alyssa has already established herself as a top recruit for whatever she decides to do. She's definitely a national-caliber Olympic hopeful.
- Gary Abbott ,
USA Wrestling
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Alyssa Lampe will try this year to become the first girl to place at the state meet. |
The Tomahawk senior isn't finished, though, and the 103-pounder has one more goal to achieve as the regionals begin this weekend.
Lampe, already the first girl to win a Lumberjack Conference championship and the only girl to advance to the state wrestling tournament, will try this year to become the first girl to place at the state meet.
Her final journey begins Saturday at the Tomahawk Regional, where she will attempt to advance to the Somerset Sectional and on to her third consecutive Division 2 individual state wrestling tournament. If she gets to Madison, Lampe will try to make a little more history by earning a spot on the place-winners podium at the Kohl Center.
"That's her goal," said her coach, Bob Skubal. "She wants to be on the podium, and she wants to be up high on the podium. We think she can do it."
Lampe, a multi-sport star who is ranked No. 4 among Division 2 103-pounders in both the wiwrestling.com poll and the Crossface All-State poll, has twice won a match in Madison but failed to win again.
But this year, she has already added to her growing list of accomplishments and seems poised to make a deep run at state.
In late December, Lampe won the 103 title at the Oshkosh on the Water Classic, a 54-team tournament held over two days at UW-Oshkosh. She did it with authority, too, posting two pins and a major decision among her five victories to become the first girl to claim a championship at the prestigious tournament. In the final, she beat Winneconne junior Joe Behm, 7-3. And she was named outstanding wrestler at the invitational, obviously the first girl to win that honor.
Don Kreuser, the coach at Hartford, was there, and he came away impressed.
"She overpowered people there," Kreuser said. "That's how she won. She's one strong kid. I don't know if she can win (a state title), but she should place."
Lampe, who has pushed her overall record to 125-29 and owns a 37-3 record with 19 pins this year, was thrilled with the award.
"It was pretty exciting," said Lampe, who last week picked up her second conference championship at 103. "There were a lot of other really good wrestlers who could have won it. But I feel like my wrestling pretty much spoke for itself."
On a national level, Lampe has excelled also, earning All-American honors the past two years at the Girls Junior National Freestyle Tournament in Fargo, N.D., by finishing second and third, respectively, at 102 pounds.
She also won the 101-pound national championship at the Fila Cadet Nationals in San Diego for girls between 15 and 17, earning the outstanding wrestler award at the tournament.
She was named to the second team of the TheMat.com / ASICS Girls High School All-American wrestling team. The list of 72 wrestlers includes Alaska sophomore Michaela Hutchison, a first-team selection who became the first girl in the country to win a state wrestling title competing against boys earlier this month.
"Alyssa has already established herself as a top recruit for whatever she decides to do," said Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling. "She's definitely a national-caliber Olympic hopeful. She's going to be having some decisions to make and part of it may be determined how she does this summer in the major events. She has the potential to be here in Colorado Springs. She already is wrestling at a very high level in freestyle."
Not too bad for a kid who got her start in kindergarten when her brother, Anthony, needed a partner to wrestle against.
"My brother didn't have anyone to wrestle with because he was pretty little and they asked me if I would wrestle," Lampe said. "I said yes and just fell in love with it."
Both have excelled in multiple sports since. Alyssa is a member of the school's cross country team that has advanced to the state meet each of the past three years. The school won the Division 2 state title in 2004, when she was named the Lumberjack cross country runner of the year. She has been a member of the track team, finishing eighth in the pole vault at the state meet in 2005 and being an alternate on the state-qualifying relay team and an honor roll student throughout high school.
Anthony is the defending Division 2 state champion in the 800-meter run, a four-time conference champion in wrestling and helped the Tomahawk boys cross country team to three consecutive top-five finishes at the state meet. Anthony, also highly ranked, placed fourth at 112 pounds last year in wrestling and has a 143-29 record and 40-2 with 17 pins this year.
Clearly, the brother-sister tandem is the best ever seen by Skubal, who also doubles as the school athletic historian.
"I don't think I'll see another pair like them in my lifetime," Skubal said.
Skubal sees big things for Alyssa at the state meet this year, and he's doing everything he can to prepare her. He has her wrestling three boys her size, rotating a fresh athlete against her at practice the entire time.
"We've got to break her down in the practice room," Skubal said. "The idea is to cover all of our bases so when she gets tired, she doesn't make a mistake."
It's that work ethic in the practice room and the weight room that has helped Lampe quell the doubts of some who thought it was odd or wrong to see a girl wrestling against boys.
"For the most part, people have been good to her," said Judy Lampe, her mother. "There are some who didn't approve, but not many. I guess I'm not as much interested in how she's going to do (at state) but how she's going to handle it. Last year, she was pretty disappointed because she knows this is the last year."
Alyssa, whose goal is to get to the national women's Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., chooses not to focus on any negative stereotypes those in the stands might have.
"There's still some people out there who say things, but most people, they're always supporting me," Alyssa said. "I always tell people, 'I am a wrestler.' "
She's made a believer out of many and been a role model for many young girls in the state.
"You see it when we go to tournaments," Skubal said. "The young ladies and girls see her and what she's doing. She's inspired a whole generation of girls. We've already got more girls coming out for the sport around here."
Lampe hasn't let the attention, the added pressure this year, or her ranking go to her head.
"I really haven't been feeling (the pressure) too much because I know that rankings don't mean too much," she said. "That's why they wrestle the matches. I treat everyone I wrestle like they are ranked No. 1 so I just wrestle everyone the same."
If things don't go the way Lampe hopes, her mother has a bit of advice to help ease the pain.
"I always tell them to go out and do the best they can," Judy Lampe said. "Ten years from now, no one is going to remember what happened anyway."
Her daughter, though, remains driven and hopeful that maybe she can surpass expectations many have for her this year.
"I'm going to (state) to win it," Alyssa said.
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Five Tomahawk wrestlers won championships at the Lumberjack Conference meet Saturday at the fieldhouse. From left are Hatchet champions Anthony Lampe (119 pounds and a four-time LJC champion), Nick Hagar (130), Dan Silvernale (171), Kevin Murphy (275) and Alyssa Lampe (103).
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Steiner Stresses Pacific's Importance In Women's Wrestling
By Blake Timm, Sports Information Director 2/2/06
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The U.S. Women's National Team Coach hopes that Pacific's groundbreaking women's wrestling program will help continue the sports growth while providing international caliber athletes
FOREST GROVE - On first appearances, Terry Steiner looks like your typical, grizzled wrestling coach. Sweaty t-shirt and shorts, toned legs and shoulders, the cauliflower ear from years of time on the mat.
Yet this 36-year-old, typical looking coach is just the person who Pacific University's women's wrestlers want to impress. And the Boxers are who Steiner wants to put an impression on.
Steiner, the U.S. Women's National Team coach, recently spent three days in Forest Grove. He not only checked out what the Pacific team has to offer, but also spent plenty of time on the mat teaching them some tricks of the trade in the freestyle game.
After two days of two-a-day practices and a 6:30 a.m. Monday morning practice, Steiner feels successful in imparting some of the knowledge that helped the U.S. earn two medals at the 2004 Olympic Games. "We tried to focus on a number of key areas," Steiner said. "They all seemed to pick things up. Now it is a matter of getting some repetition in, learning it, understanding it and using it."
Steiner's visit is part of tour he is taking of the nation's five collegiate women's wrestling programs. His purpose is two-fold: teach aspects of freestyle wrestling that will help collegians advance to the international level and to help programs build and better serve his growing sport.
It will be in the college programs, Steiner believes, where many of the next internationals stars for the U.S. will surface. "We have a development program in Michigan and a program in Colorado Springs for the elite team, but that is only 40 girls," Steiner said. "We need to get out to these other programs because the college coaches will be doing a lot a development work for us. It's getting out here and developing coaches technically too so they can better help their athletes."
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AN IMPORTANT PROGRAM
Pacific's women's wrestling program is only five years old, but has quickly established itself as one of the most important in USA Wrestling's stable. Pacific yielded four of the first 18 women to be part of the U.S. Resident Development Program. One of those women, Sally Roberts, has gone on to be a two-time world medalist. Another, Tela O'Donnell, represented the U.S. at the Athens games.
So Steiner is familiar with the type of wrestler Pacific turns out, but he had not had a chance to see the program work first-hand until his visit.
And he likes what he sees.
"Things are very stable in the team aspect, just with the team members and how they interact," Steiner said. "They like where they're at. There are not a lot of worries about if they are doing the right things or if the coaches are catering to the girls."
In fact, Scott Miller's program continues to grow. Pacific's current roster of 16 wrestlers is the largest in the team's five seasons and is nearly as large as its men counterpart. In the most recent U.S. College Women's Individual Rankings, released in late January, a record 12 Pacific wrestlers earned poll positions.
Miller, in his fourth season at Pacific, said that Steiner's visit couldn't have come at a better time for the Boxers, who are beginning to gear up for this month's Canada West Championships and the March national tournament. "He showed us some really good stuff," Miller said. "I was able to pick his brain on things for both the men's and women's teams."
As much as the visit was important for the team's growth, Miller said it was just as important for his personal growth as a freestyle coach. Steiner shared needed tips on transition offense and scoring from the neutral position, a pair of aspects that Miller admits he and his team can improve in.
"You don't like to talk about your weaknesses, but he worked a lot on two of our biggest weaknesses, which helps immensely," Miller said. "My weakness in my coaching freestyle has been from the par terre (top) position, and in the past once we have scored we have had a hard time scoring again. That is something that will help us."
Both Miller and Steiner agree, however, that the most important aspect of the visit comes in starting to sync training styles and techniques that national teams will look for when choosing future team members. "We want to make sure that they are learning the right things here so that when they make that transition to the national level, then we will only have to tweak some things."
That's important for a Pacific team that has yielded international competitors and national collegiate champions. Roberts, currently No. 1 ranked wrestler in the nation at 59 kg. (130 pounds) has won two world championships medals. O'Donnell was one of four women on the first U.S. Olympic Women's Wrestling Team, finishing seventh at 59 kg. Kapua Torres (Jr., Kahuku, Hawaii) earned double national championships in 2005, winning the collegiate championship and the Body Bar Junior Nationals title at 51 kg. (112.25 pounds).
In fact, Steiner sees plenty of potential in the Pacific program. "There are some girls who are on the verge of being national team members," he said. "I think there are some girls who could be our Junior World Team members of University World Team members."
GROWING THE SPORT
Despite the recognition of women's wrestling as an Olympic medal sport, Steiner is concerned about the slow growth of the sport in the United States. Only five U.S. colleges currently field recognized varsity programs and only three states, Florida, Hawaii and Texas, have high school championships for girls.
Building numbers, Steiner said, is the first challenge to building the U.S. into becoming a true world power in the sport. That has to start at the junior high and high school levels and begins with breaking down long standing stereotypes of wrestling as a men's only world.
"If you sit down with wrestling coaches and ask why they coach, they will say that they believe in the sports," Steiner said. "To be successful in the sport, you have to dedicate yourself. You have to have discipline. There's a lot to be taught.
"If that is the reason why they coach, then why does it matter if it's a man or a woman? Why do you want to limit it to half the population? If coaches start looking at it that way rather than they old way of saying girls shouldn't be on the mat, then they will have a different appreciation of the sport and will open those doors."
The next challenge will be to develop the sport at the college level. Steiner quickly points out that American colleges provide a great infrastructure for sport development, but those opportunities are currently limited with a lack of competition.
Steiner proposes a system that combines the current U.S. programs with the 12 to 14 recognized varsity programs in Canada. His concept would develop a schedule of 10-12 dual meets involving American and Canadian schools, up to four open or invitational tournaments, a U.S. national championship, a Canadian national championship and a North American championship.
Pacific has already taken a step in that direction with their provisional membership into the Canada West Conference. The Boxers will compete in their first Canada West Championship meet beginning on Feb. 11.
The concept would allow both countries to benefit. "All of the European countries grow off of each other and feed off each other, and if we don't used Canada and Canada doesn't use us, then we're really missing the boat," Steiner said. "I think we have established it with their national staff. We have a good relationship, now it's a matter of setting the college system up."
Growing the program on a multi-national scale will take some organization, but Steiner feels that the time is right to efforts into motion with or without other national athletics governing bodies. "Women's wrestling is so new that we can really shape it however we want to," Steiner said. "We don't have to make it a NCAA sport, and maybe we don't want to. Maybe we want to make it different and have a different organizing committee with different guidelines and rules."
Until that happens, USA Wrestling will depend on programs like Pacific to blaze the small trail for women's wrestlers to reach their Olympic dreams.
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VIRGINIA'S EASTERN SHORE — High-school girl wins district wrestling title
Northampton 103-pounder pins male counterpart to take crown
By Greg Merritt 2/9/06
Eastern Shore News
EASTVILLE, Va. – Northampton High School sophomore Nicole Beasly wrote a new page in Virginia's Eastern Shore District history book. Wednesday night she became the first female wrestler to win a district individual weight class championship.
Wrestling in the 103-pound weight class, Beasly pinned Nandua's Adam Belote in 3:48 in the championship match.
"It's pretty cool, exciting," said Beasly. "I was a little bit nervous, but confident."
Beasly had defeated Belote earlier in the season while earning a 12-6 overall record. But she was taking nothing for granted in the title match. "It's been a few weeks since I wrestled him and I didn't want to underestimate my opponent. He was better this time."
Beasly earned a takedown and three near fall points in the first period. "I almost pinned him in the first period," she said.
In the second period she recorded a reversal, then quickly put Belote on his back for the fall.
After being declared the winner, she shook Belote's hand, then rushed to the corner where here wrestling coaches were waiting with a big hug.
"She earned it," said Northampton head wrestling coach Brian Harman. "We treated her just like we do the boys. There's no difference."
Beasly was one of eight Northampton wrestlers to win district weight class championships as the Yellow Jackets earned the team championship for the wrestling year.
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Pair of Puma girls among eight headed to state wrestling meet
By KEVIN CAROLAN
Wednesday, February 9, 2006 11:30 PM MST
HERALD/REVIEW
BISBEE — The Bisbee Puma wrestling team will send eight wrestlers to the Class 2A State Wrestling Championships at Glendale Arena this weekend.
Nothing new for the Puma matmen, who have had a consistently strong wrestling program throughout the years. What is new for the Puma matmen is that two of the eight state qualifiers are girls.
Bisbee Puma wrestlers Gloria Ortega, junior, left, and freshman Jackie Garcia in the school training room. (By Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
Freshman Jackie Garcia, who wrestles at 105 pounds, qualified by finishing third in the 2A East Regionals Saturday, going 3-1 in the regional meet and will take a 10-11 overall record to state, while junior teammate Gloria Ortega at 121 placed fourth and will enter state with a 5-7 overall record.
“We have had girls out for the team in the past, but Jackie and Gloria are the only ones who have stuck with the program,” Bisbee coach Richard Chavez said. “They go through the same practice session as the guys. They are never first, but they are never last.”
Garcia, the youngest of the two female grapplers, was on the Bisbee girls basketball team when one day she had to go into the wrestling room for something and became very curious about the sport.
“I asked coach Chavez about how I could become a wrestler,” Garcia said. “He told me to get out on the mat and I did. I quit basketball the next day.”
Garcia has no fear of getting hurt wrestling against her male opponents. “I know there is always a chance, but it’s the same with every sports,” she said.
Garcia is looking forward to continuing her wrestling career and wants a state championship before she graduates.
An honor roll student, Garcia has no time for other interests. “School and wrestling takes up most of my time at this time of the year,” Garcia said. “At first my Mom didn’t want me to wrestle, but now she is very supportive of me.”
As for Ortega, this is her third year on the mat as a Puma wrestler.
“I wanted to wrestle when I was at Lowell,” Ortega said. “But I was told it was a “boys” sport and they wouldn’t let me.”
Chavez was glad to get her when she became a freshman at Bisbee High.
Ortega took a short break from Bisbee when she moved to Tucson the end of December, but that didn’t last long and was back in Bisbee and on the mat again three weeks later.
“Wrestling is a challenge,” Ortega said. “It’s hard going against boys, they are stronger and faster, but it is also a challenge against myself, having to endure the physical preparation and demand wrestling requires.”
Unlike Garcia, Ortega is involved in other activities. Ortega also is a member of the Puma cross country and track teams and also finds time to do a little body-building.
As for Ortega’s future, the Puma junior is still deciding on a career, but is sort of leaning toward the medical field. She has a lot of support from her family and speaks very highly of her coaches.
In addition to Garcia and Ortega, Bisbee will send regional winner Wesley Taylor at 173 pounds (27-3), runner-up Anthony Jimenez at 147 pounds (28-9) and fourth-place finishers Dominic Gunsauley at 137 pounds (19-14), John Taylor at 142 pounds (18-11), Antonio Garcia at 217 pounds (21-7) and Alex Hernandez at heavyweight (14-7).
While Bisbee will open their state competition Friday morning, Buena will be sending one wrestler to the final eight of the Class 5A Individual Wrestling Championships.
Senior Jay Bergstrom was the lone Colt qualifier from last weekend’s opening round, winning two bouts and losing one.
Bergstrom defeated Jon Long from Casa Grande, 7-1, then lost to the No. 2 seed from Red Mountain before taking a 15-7 decision from Wes Case of Highland.
Bergstrom will have to win his next bout to be assured of making it to the medal round (top six).
The Colt 154-pounder takes a 25-10 record into Friday’s consolation semifinals against Nathan Leidigh of Horizon who is sporting a 35-10 record.
A win would put him in a bout with either Preston Pico of Mesa Mountain View or Preston Pruett of Desert Vista.
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Thursday, February 09, 2006
Melissa Watkins, Camas wrestling: The junior became the first female wrestler in Clark County history to win a district title. The sister of 1999 state champion Micaiah, Watkins was trailing Kelso's Jason Baker 4-2 in the Class 3A 103-pound final Saturday at Kelso before catching Baker with a throw. Watkins pinned the freshman at 1 minute, 21 seconds.
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Melissa Watkins may very well have provided a first at last weekend's 35th annual Clark County Wrestling Championships.
The Camas sophomore went 4-2 to place fourth at 103 pounds in the tournament, which is believed to be the first time a female has earned a top-six finish in the event. All four of her victories were pins, which tied for the top total in the tournament.
"I knew she was capable," Papermakers coach Glenn Hartman said.
Watkins' older brother is Macaiah Watkins, who won a Class 3A state championship for Camas as a 108-pounder in 1999.
After wrestling some as a child, Melissa Watkins returned to the mat as a freshman at Camas. She placed fifth at last winter's 3A District IV tournament, then took second in her group in the girls invitational portion of Mat Classic XVI last February.
Watkins, 17-9 overall this season, is a contender for a 3A state berth this winter.
"She was wrestling at 112 early in the season," Hartman said. "She's only lost to kids who've been to the state tournament. ... The guys are a little bit stronger at times over her. But when they make a mistake, she makes them pay for it. She does a good job of using her balance."
Watkins also is often a crowd favorite.
"She has pink shoe strings, but she's one of the guys for the most part," Hartman said. "People want to come watch her wrestle, and she goes after it."
The Papermakers, 1-1 in 3A GSHL duals, resume their league season Thursday night at 7:30 at rival Washougal.
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Hutchison's victory is garnering national attention
By KEVIN KLOTT
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 9, 2006
Michaela Hutchison rarely watches television. But her historic wrestling win last weekend could land Hutchison on some of the biggest shows on the tube.
David Letterman and Jay Leno each want Hutchison, the nation's first girl wrestler to win a high school state championship against boys, as a guest, said Skyview head wrestling coach Neldon Gardner.
"She might do it," Gardner said, "But she's not the type to step into the limelight."
She had no choice this week; her unprecedented feat spread from coast to coast.
Hutchison was a guest on a Los Angeles County radio show; Paul Harvey mentioned her in his news broadcast; O, The Oprah Magazine and ELLEgirl Magazine each said it wanted to write her story; and MSNBC and ESPN put her one of their newscasts.
How does Hutchison, a soft-spoken sophomore, react to all of this attention?
"I don't know," said the 16-year-old. "My parents would be the ones to make all the decisions."
Hutchison's story was so popular, it might go Hollywood. A man named Wayne Boyd called the Daily News from Palm Springs, Calif., on Tuesday, asking for more information on Hutchison because her story matches a movie he wrote in the 1980s.
The movie, which never made it to the big screen, was about a 103-pound high school girl who won the first state title wrestling against boys, he said.
Even if Boyd were to make Hutchison's story into a movie, it's doubtful Hutchison would watch it on cable.
"We own a TV, but we don't have any channels that work," she said. "Besides, I don't really watch TV."