By Joshua McKerrow -- The Capital
Arundel's Nicole Woody takes on Severna Park's Marcus Monroe.
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Kentucky prep Insider
Northern Kentucky's wrestlers will only get better
BY RYAN ERNST | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER 2/19/06
FRANKFORT - Campbell County female wrestling phenom Priscilla Brownfield couldn't have come along at a better time.
Other than the senior 103-pounder, who won three matches as the first girl ever to compete at Kentucky's state tournament, there wasn't much for Northern Kentucky fans to cheer.
Local teams advanced just four wrestlers to state final matches, the area's lowest total since 1999. The consensus among area coaches, who have cultivated one of the state's wrestling hotbeds in recent years, is that Northern Kentucky teams are still a year or two away from putting up the kind of results they have in years past.
"Northern Kentucky is just so young," said Scott assistant coach Casey Fisk, shaking his head. "We all are."
The numbers seem to prove that point.
Twenty-nine Northern Kentucky wrestlers entered the tournament ranked in the top 15 in the state coaches' association poll. Eighteen of those wrestlers were underclassmen.
"We're rebuilding, and next year will probably be a rebuilding year too," said Ryle coach Tim Ruschell, whose team finished second last year. "But a lot of these teams around the state have a lot of seniors this year. They're going through what our teams went through last year. But we'll be all right. We'll bounce back."
In other words, the North will rise again.
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Campbell County Wrestler First Female in State Meet
www.challengernky.com 2/19/06
ALEXANDRIA - Campbell County High School senior Priscilla Brownfield made history last week when she became the first female wrestler in Kentucky to qualify for the state meet.
Brownfield finished third in the 103-pound weight class at the regional meet, held last week at Simon Kenton High School. The top four from each class qualify for state. Her quest for one of three state medals began Thursday in Frankfort when she took on sophomore D.C. Evans of Whitley County.
Ryle High School won its second straight regional wrestling title. The Raiders feature sophomore Bryan Peace, who won the region and is ranked second in the state in the 130-pound class, according to the Feb. 8 Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association poll.
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TODD MILLES AND MINDI RICE; The News Tribune
Published: February 19th, 2006 02:30 AM
Deborah Robinson sat in the Juanita High wrestling corner Saturday when a Mat Classic XVIII referee approached.
He started giving Robinson instructions on how to operate the electronic scoreboard in the Tacoma Dome.
“I had to get him straightened out,” Robinson said.
Robinson was not the scorer. She is the only female assistant coach for a high school program in the state.
In her first year as a Juanita assistant to coach Jeff Keener, the Rebels brought four wrestlers to the state championships.
“This was something that fell into my lap,” said Robinson, a former active duty Marine and police officer who trains law enforcement officials.
Keener sought out Robinson, the director of the Greater Gold freestyle club out of Kirkland. The club is part of a chain sponsored by 2000 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Brandon Slay.
Robinson first heard Slay as a guest speaker for a Christian-based group in Montana in 2000. They became friends, and a year later Robinson, a 1976 Sammamish High graduate, asked Slay about starting the Greater Gold club in Kirkland. The club trains at Juanita High School.
Three of the four Juanita wrestlers at Mat Classic belong to Greater Gold.
Rule trips Skyview gymnasts
A rule voted into the WIAA handbook in July may cause Vancouver’s Skyview team to drop from third to eighth in the 4A gymnastics standings.
The rule, No. 25.2.4, states that “by entering participants in a state championship meet, contest or tournament, each member school certifies that, barring injury, illness or unforeseen events, the team or individuals representing the school will participate in every game or competition that is part of that championship event, until the final conclusion of the meet, contest or event.”
Two Skyview gymnasts, Olivia Blough-Swingen and Alyssa Click, qualified for Saturday’s finals at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall but missed the first two 4A events – floor and beam – because they started their day at club event in Portland.
“It was a prior commitment,” Skyview coach Sarah Long said of the Multnomah Athletic Club competition.
By the time the two gymnasts, their coaches and teammates made it to Tacoma, the 4A finalists were preparing for the vault and bar routines.
Click, first up in the vault, had less than five minutes to get ready.
The WIAA rule also says “any withdrawal or intentional forfeiture shall be considered a violation of WIAA rules and regulations, and shall be subject to penalties as determined by the WIAA Executive Board.”
WIAA official Cindy Hettinger said she sent a copy of the new rule to all gymnastics coaches before the season. Some, including Long, said they didn’t know about the rule until Thursday night.
Hettinger said she would recommend that just the scores of the events the two gymnasts missed be deducted from the Skyview total. That would be 37.725 points for the Storm, dropping the to eighth with 136.45 points.
The next WIAA Executive Board meeting is March 26-27.
Quick-change artist
Even the most experienced wrestlers sometimes get thrown by a referee’s ruling.
That happened to Orting’s Tony Farrington in the middle of his 2A 119-pound semifinal against Medical Lake’s Tony Fino.
During an exchange, Farrington’s Spandex underwear under his Orting wrestling singlet was pulled down.
Farrington, the 2005 state 103 champion, thought nothing of it. He got up to adjust his undergarment when the referee ruled he had 90 seconds to run to the bathroom, take off the underwear and return to the mat to finish the match – or be disqualified.
The junior sprinted off the mat and hopped the surrounding fence.
“There were four guys in the restroom. They were looking at me kind of funny …,” Farrington said. “They didn’t know what was going on.”
Farrington returned with 10 seconds to spare and won, 5-3.
“Today, I was the world’s fastest dresser,” Farrington said.
Girl power
The third annual WIAA Girls Invitational featured 39 wrestling champions.
Area winners included Vashon’s Sylvie Shiosaki, Kentwood’s Antonia Mavejas and Joleen Crook, Shelton’s Sarah Brownstein, Tahoma’s Cheyenne Davis, Foss’ Amanda Sandman, Irian Amison and Tarin O’Donnell, Peninsula’s Rachel Hubbard, Curtis’ Dominique Portis, Washington’s Kylie Bishop and Clover Park’s Lisa Tinney.
Each girl wrestled three matches for the weekend in a round- robin format.
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Wrestling: Broadneck teams up for county title
By SEAN BURNS, Staff Writer 2/19/06
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By Joshua McKerrow -- The Capital |
Despite winning just two of its five matches in the finals of last night's county championship tournament, the Broadneck wrestling team had enough of a cushion to edge three-time defending champion Old Mill by 41/2 points.
The victory was the second county tournament title in Bruins history and the first since 1986.
"It's sweet for us, because this was a whole team effort," said Broadneck second-year head coach Marc Procaccini. "If our 103 doesn't come back and win fifth place, or if Keith Bechtler doesn't win his seventh place match for us, we don't win. Those matches were a huge thing for us."
Seniors Mike Vakas and Xavier Rathlev were the lone class champions for Broadneck, taking 135 and 152 pounds, respectively. Rathlev's victory was the clincher of the tournament, as it left Broadneck ahead of Old Mill by 12.5 with just two Patriots wrestlers left (for a maximum of 12 points)
"It's a great feeling for us, coming so far in the last two years," Rathlev said. "We've all worked hard for the last four years. I thought we'd have had more kids in the finals, but we had a lot of kids come through for us in the consolations."
Arundel senior Justin Bowser also had a big milestone, as he broke the county all-time wins record with his 14-2 victory over Old Mill's Dallas Evans in the 125 pound finals match. His 139 wins are one more than the record of Old Mill's Doug West, set in 2002.
The win also makes Bowser just the fifth four-time county champion, and with a win at next week's region tournament, he would join Northeast graduate Marty Kusik as the only two four-time county and four-time region champions in Anne Arundel history.
"It's good just to have your name recognized for something like this," Bowser said of the record. "My major goal is still to win states, and hopefully have a good showing at senior nationals."
Bowser was one of three Wildcats grapplers to win titles, as he was joined on the podium by fellow seniors George Ester (119) and Terone Travis (189), helping Arundel jump over South River to fourth place in the team standings.
Old Mill saw five of its six wrestlers in the finals take home county titles, but its victories were just shy of keeping its string of county titles intact.
Greg Saumenig (112), Timmy Lobuglio (130), Justin Soblieskie (140), Jon Sillaman (215) and Justin Faithful (275) all won their finals matches, but the 16.5 point cushion that Broadneck had built up after the consolation finals was simply too much to overcome.
"We don't worry about things like streaks," Old Mill coach Jim Grim said. "We're upset that we lost, but hats off to Broadneck."
One gripe that the Patriots had with a tournament that was so close in the end was that four of their wrestlers received byes in the first round.
"Three kids that won championships and one third place kid all got byes," Grim said. "Broadneck didn't have any. That's a lot of bonus points that we might have missed out on, and in a tight race, it makes a difference."
Severna Park had a strong third-place finish, taking home titles by Marcus Monroe (103), Tom Massie (160) and Lew Spadaro (171).
Monroe took the 103-pound title with a 5-3 victory over Arundel sophomore Nicole Woody, who was bidding to be the first female wrestler to win a county title in Maryland history.
South River finished fourth as both of its wrestlers in the finals took losses. Chris Elliot (189) was the victim of a somewhat controversial stalling call in the third period of his match against Arundel's Travis and lost a 3-2 decision.
Annapolis' Bubby Graham was the Panther's only champion, taking first place in the loaded 145-pound division by winning a 3-1 decision in overtime against Broadneck's Abe Hunter.
Team Scores
1. Broadneck, 176.5; 2. Old Mill, 172; 3. Severna Park, 155; 4. Arundel, 136.5; 5. South River, 127.5; 6. Chesapeake, 107.5; 7. Annapolis, 85; 8. Northeast, 74; 9. Meade, 59; 10. North County, 42; 11. Glen Burnie, 34; 12. Southern, 5.
Championship Finals
103: Monroe (SP) d. Woody (AR), 5-3.
112: Saumenig (OM) d. Bosque (CH), 13-5
119: Ester (AR) d. Haney (NE), 7-4
125: Bowser (AR) m. dec. Evans (OM), 14-2
130: Lobuglio (OM) d. Fenton (AR), 6-2
135: Vakas (BN) m dec. Nelson (SR), 16-8
140: Soblieskie (OM) d. O'Keefe (CH), 8-3
145: Graham (ANN) d. Hunter (BN), 3-1 (OT)
152: Rathlev (BN) d. Shum (SP) 10-4
160: Massie (SP) d. Vandeven (BN), 7-5
171: Spadaro (SP) m. dec. Graham (SR), 13-4
189: Travis (AR) d. Elliott (SR), 3-2
215: Sillaman (OM) d. Mulligan (BN), 3-2
275: Faithful (OM) d. Nestor (NE), 2-1
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FUHS wrestlers Cone and Lopez place third in county
2/16/2006 6:28:20 PM
On February 3 and 4, the FHS girls wrestling team went to Hanford High School to compete in the first ever Girls State Championship Tournament. The tournament was a great success, with over 500 girl wrestlers showing up from all over the state. The girls wrestled well, although none of them placed. Jennifer Fauskin, Fallbrook’s seeded wrestler, went 4-2, missing going All-American by only one match.
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The Mad Matter
LHS’ Graff remains undefeated; Ortega also in hunt for state title
The Daily Reporter-Herald 2/18/06
DENVER — Somebody finally figured out a way to take something from Tyler Graff at the state wrestling tournament.
Then again, if you want to slap the headgear off the Loveland High School sophomore’s head, fine. So be it. But like everybody else, you’re going to wind up flat on your back with a good view of the Pepsi Center ceiling.
That’s the way Graff, who made 119-pound semifinal opponent Lorenzo Garcia of Northglenn his third pin victim (a tidy 1 minute, 4 seconds) Friday night at the Class 5A State Wrestling Tournament, works.
The city will be represented by two finalists, as Thompson Valley sophomore Johnny Ortega will wrestle for the Class 4A 160 title. The parade of champions starts at 6:30 p.m., followed by the title round.
In winning his three matches at state this year, Graff has spent a total of 3:06 on the mat, which follows suit for the season at large. Now 43-0, he’s posted a phenomenal 34 pins this season, and Graff sees no reason why the state tournament should be any different.
“I want to dominate everybody,” he said, and not with a twang of showmanship. “My coach had me working on different moves this year, but this is business. Now it’s time to just pin everybody if I can. It’s all serious, all business.”
Tonight, he’ll be looking to add another title to the won he earned at 103 last season. Still, he said he doesn’t feel like he can be beaten, a feeling he likes to use to keep him sharp and intense.
“I never feel invincible,” he said. “I don’t overlook anybody. Being dominant is fun, and working hard is fun. But the funnest thing is winning; that’s the reward.”
His opponent will be an unfamiliar face, Grand Junction Central’s Sean White.
As for Ortega, he knows his opponent — Eagle Valley’s Chris Harvey — well enough. Harvey is only one of two wrestlers to beat Ortega this season; the other was Longmont’s Steve Haddock, and Ortega pinned him in the quarterfinal round. There’s no question Ortega would love to continue to settle old debts.
“Revenge would be nice,” Ortega said. “I just have to go out there and give it all I have. Hopefully, I’ll come out on top.”
For awhile Friday, it was in question whether Ortega would get the chance. At times, Ortega looked sick to his stomach, and in a way, he was.
“The nerves got to me,” he said. “I’d reached this point last year, and I lost. I didn’t want to lose again. I knew I had to leave it all out on the mat.”
The worst time was having just fought off his back against Fountain Fort Carson’s Bryce Clemmer, looking at the wrong end of a 4-3 score. Ortega walked back to the center of the mat for a restart muttering to himself, and when the whistle blew, Clemmer came after him.
Bad idea. Ortega caught Clemmer and tossed him to his back for a five-point swing that put the match firmly back in Ortega’s control.
“I’ve gotten a lot better this year at feeling things out,” he said. “When he charged, I hit him with a head-and-arm. I just told myself I had to get going.”
The most interesting match for the team on the day was Sean Ender’s first in the consolation round. He wrestled it in the fishbowl, guaranteed to become the answer to a trivia question when he took on Golden’s Brooke Sauer, the first female in Colorado to qualify for state. Ender can be remembered as the guy who ended her stay with a 9-0 major decision. Sauer walked off the mat to applause as she left the bowl of the arena.
“It was a little different,” said Ender, who has wrestled a girl before. “All that attention was on her. I had to put that out of my mind.”
Halfway through the first period, TVHS coach Dave Juergensen yelled at Ender, saying, “You’re being too soft on her. Get after it,” and Ender responded.
“I probably was (too soft) early,” he said. “But after coach yelled that, I turned it up.”
Ender’s assessment: “She’s pretty good. Hey, you have to be pretty good to make it to state.”
Ender’s run would end in the next round, but the rest of the team is still in place with James Rowell (125), Jeff Phillips (135) and Robbie Ververs (140) in the draw, Phillips moving on with a pair of late, exciting wins, including a 7-6 decision over Mountain View’s Mike Pollman in the first consolation round.
Loveland 103-pounder Josh Kreimier dropped his quarterfinal match to Brighton’s Paul Montoya, 4-3, but came back to win a consolation match. The Indians lost Ethan Saffer (189) in the first round of consolation, but 171-pounder Luke Vandenburg moved on with a pin, then kept his medal hopes alive with a 6-4 overtime decision over Heritage’s
Eric Goral in the second round.
Berthoud’s three quarterfinalists, Brandyn Wahlert (103), Graeden Sadlo (112) and Tyler Carron (125) lost their matches, but Wahlert and Carron came back in the night session to win consolation matches, while Sadlo was eliminated.
The rest of their teammates are also done — Scott Meuse (135) in the first round of consolation, while Nick Ludwig (119) and Spenser Sadlo (135) dropped out in the second round.
Mountain View had its tournament run come to an end Friday.
The Lions’ lone quarterfinalist, senior Chris Muller, dropped his 189 match in a 7-4 decision by Brenden Ross of Pine Creek, then lost in the second round of consolation, as did teammate Kent Blackburn (152).
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