News
OLYMPIC CHALLENGE At Marquette, Mich., Feb. 20
USOEC 4 Czech Republic 1
48 kg/105.5 lbs. – Eva Krejsova (Czech Republic) dec. Liz Short (USOEC) 0-1, 1-0, 1-0
59 kg/130 lbs. – Sharon Jacobson (USOEC) dec. Martina Zyklova (Czech Republic) 2-2, 2-3, 4-2
55 kg/121 lbs. – Amy Borgnini (USOEC) dec. Sarka Andrlova (Czech Republic) 1-0, 4-3
72 kg/158.5 lbs. – Randi Miller (USOEC) dec. Nina Sklenkova (Czech Republic) 2-0, 0-1, Fall 1:30
Featured Match
51 kg/112.25 lbs. – Mary Kelly (USOEC) dec. Lenka Martinakova (Czech Republic) 2-0, 4-1
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WL wrestlers advance to Provincials
Feb 21 2006
Six Williams Lake high school wrestlers will be heading off to the B.C. High School Wrestling Provincial Championships, to be held in Prince George, March 3 - 4.
Grapplers from Columneetza and Williams Lake Secondary were among the 68 athletes competing at the North-Central Zone Qualifiers, held February 18 at College Heights Secondary School in Prince George.
A total of ten high school teams from Fort. St. John, Williams Lake, Prince George, Vanderhoof, Valemont and Mackenzie met on the mats to determine who will comprise the Zone Team at the Provs. The top three girls, and the top four boys in each weight group advance to the Championships.
Columneetza led the lakecity contingent by nailing five spots on the Zone Team.
Jody Scheer (Girls 54kg) and Melissa Burtenshaw (Girls 69kg) both took gold medals.
Travis Heitmann (Boys 63kg) scooped a silver medal, while Lisa Manuel (Girls 51kg) and Micheal Holm (Boys 60kg) captured bronze.
Corey Jessee (Boys 63kg) wrestled gamely, but failed to advance earning a sixth place finish in his weight group.
WLSS’ Wes Black (Boys 84kg) took a gold medal and a berth on the Zone team, with a hard-fought gold/silver match against Prince George’s Kirk Applegate.
“What a match!” said Williams Lake coach Rick Bryan. “Kirk had beaten Wes in the Northern B.C. Winter Games two weeks ago. So Wes figured it was his turn. These are big boys, but they came out flying. We had to evacuate the first three rows of the bleachers.”
For Burtenshaw, Scheer, Heitmann, and Manuel the trip to Provincials won’t be a new experience.
“They’ve been there before,” said Bryan. “They’ve all improved noticeably since last year’s Provs, and should be strong contenders for spots on the podium this year.”
But Black and Holm, in their first year of High School, will be making their first trip to Provs.
“No problem,” said Bryan. “They are already well known in our Zone as tough competitors. Their skills, toughness and poise against older opponents have turned a lot of heads already. What a future they have in the sport!”
In team standings, the Columneetza girls’ team finished in third place among seven teams, while the Columneetza boys took a respectable fifth among ten teams.
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Redbank Valley sports female wrestler
Wes Cedar
LEADER TIMES SPORTS WRITER
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Nadia Kundick is a quiet honor roll student at Redbank Valley, but when she gets on the wrestling mat, she can be heard.
Kundick, a sophomore, is 0-4 in varsity matches but she is getting statewide and national attention for her wrestling.
She the 12th-ranked female high school wrestler in the Commonwealth at 100 pounds by the United States Girls Wrestling Association, and she plans on attending a tournament at Montrose High School in Susquehanna County in March and another in Michigan in April.
"She is an excellent wrestler," Redbank Valley wrestling coach Mike Kundick said. "She is quick, has great moves and handles herself well on the mat. She has the tools. She is just a good, solid wrestler."
Although she isn't consistently wrestling at the varsity level, Kundick is doing well in junior varsity matches. She won a tournament at Indiana earlier this season at 103 pounds. She earned a 17-11 victory in the championship bout.
Over the weekend, she wrestled in another junior varsity tournament in Clearfield.
"Afterwards, they say 'I didn't think a girl could be that good,' " Nadia Kundick said.
Kundick credits her success to her hard work and her family, which comes from a long line of wrestlers. Her father was a wrestling coach at Redbank Valley, and then Nadia's uncle, Mike Kundick, took over.
Nadia went to practice with her father, tried wrestling and enjoyed it. And for the past seven years, she has honed her technique to become one of the best female wrestlers in the state.
"My whole family is a wrestling family," Mike Kundick said. "My dad coached at Redbank, (and my) brothers wrestled. She picked it up and has done quite well. When she wrestles against girls, she is a standout."
But when she wrestles in high school matches against boys, she struggles. In her four matches, she was pinned in three and the other was a major decision.
Some of her opponents have trouble wrestling a girl.
"For some guys, it is tough to wrestle a girl," Mike Kundick said. "They don't know how to react to wrestling a girl. Moves that come naturally to them, they are afraid to hit them."
But as she continues to gain valuable experience at the junior varisty level, she can be more dangerous the next two years for the varsity team.
Kundick is the only female in the wrestling room among 24 boys at Redbank Valley, but she practices just as hard her fellow grapplers.
"She is probably as intense in the room as you want," Mike Kundick said. "She practices right with them."
Kundick is also a versatile athlete, competing in soccer, basketball and track.
"She is just an athlete," Mike Kundick said. "I am sure they are noticing her now."
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Lampes return to state tournament
By Daily News Sports 2/20/06
Elcho, Crandon qualify two for individual wrestling championships
The Tomahawk Hatchets' brother-sister combo of Anthony and Alyssa Lampe will be back in Madison on Thursday for another crack at the state tournament - both sporting sectional titles after Saturday's Division 2 sectional in Somerset.
Alyssa Lampe (47-4) defeated Thane Antczak of Chetek/Prairie Farm 2-1 in the 103-pound title match, avenging her 7-2 loss to Antczak on Tuesday during the team sectional which THS lost, and Anthony (47-2) won by a 15-7 decision over Medford's Pat Willis in 112 pounds.
Both seniors draw first-round byes in the Division 2 field and will wrestle Friday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
The Hatchets will also bring freshman Nick Hagar (125) and senior Dan Silvernale (171) after both grapplers garnered second-place finishes at the individual wrestling sectional. Only the top three wrestlers in each weight class advance to state.
Hagar (45-3) takes on Travis Prohaska (33-14), a senior from Belmont/Platteville in the opening round Friday at 10 a.m. - the same time Silvernale (37-5) wrestles Luke Smith, Union Grove (29-8).
This year will mark the fifth straight season Tomahawk has been represented at the individual tournament. The Lampes were the first sister-brother duo in the nation to wrestle together in a state tournament last year.
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Eight of 22 local wrestlers come home with state medals after Tacoma Dome showdown.
by Brian Jones/for The Herald 2/21/06
For the high school wrestlers in the State of Washington, The Mat Classic is the pinnacle of a long wrestling season. Those who have competed there know anything can happen. Underdogs can win, someone will be leaving unfulfilled and the unexpected will happen.
This year, 22 local wrestlers qualified for Mat Classic XXVII. Eight came home with medals. Along the way, however, a few underdogs won; one was left unfulfilled; and the unexpected happened.
Whitney Conder of the Puyallup Vikings made state in the 103-pound classification. Competing in a sport dominated by males, Conder proved the skeptics wrong — a female can compete at this level. Wrestling with everything she had, Conder finished the state tournament with a 3-3 record and a sixth place medal. She was the only Viking to medal.
“I think I did really well,” Conder said. “But I know I could have done a little bit better. I’ll just have to try harder and go after it next year.”
Conder’s achievements this year did not go unnoticed.
“Whitney’s a fighter,” said Emerald Ridge coach Jim Meyerhoff. “She hates to lose.”
Brynsen Brown of the Emerald Ridge Jaguars was expected to win state. It was his goal at the end of last season.
“Just getting out there and wrestling is the best feeling,” Brown said.
Just four consecutive wins would mean his goal would be accomplished ... but his goal was not to be fulfilled. In the quarterfinals, Brown lost a hard match 11-10. He could have folded with his goal unreachable. But that, he said, is just not his style. Instead, he took sight on third place. Four wrestlers stood in his way and Brown pinned all four of them.
“It showed a lot of heart by him to come back and get third,” Meyerhoff said.
Chris Grady of the Rogers Rams competed in one of the hardest brackets at state, 160 pounds. Most wrestlers avoid defending state champions. By not leaving, Grady became the unexpected. After making the finals, Grady squared off against two-time state champion Mike Sewell. At the end, though, Sewell defended his title in a 3-1 victory.
Other wrestlers from the area fared well. Brown’s younger brother Aaron finished fourth at 171 pounds for the Jaguars in a 3-0 loss. All of Aaron Brown’s losses this year came to top three finishers in the state.
“The guys he’s lost to are some quality kids,” Meyerhoff explained.
Aaron is only a sophomore and will be back to lead the Emerald Ridge squad next season. Brynsen said he has high expectations of his brother.
“I think you’ll see a state championship out of him next year,” Brynsen said.
Jaguar teammate Keith Schlect got some revenge in defeating Casey Finnicum 7-4 for fifth at 160 pounds. Finnicum defeated Schlect in the quarterfinals.
Kraig Wilson of Rogers took fifth place at 103 pounds by defeating Conder 15-2.
His teammate Marshall Giovannini had some excitement early on in the tournament, winning his first match with a takedown in the final 15 seconds. Giovannini finished fifth at 152 pounds with a 6-3 win.
James Albert of Rogers fought all weekend after being pinned in his first match. He finished eighth at 140 pounds with a 7-6 loss.
Overall, Emerald Ridge finished sixth as a team. Rogers finished in eighth place.
The future looks bright for SPSL wrestling, however, as Emerald Ridge returns six state qualifiers. Puyallup will return four, including Conder. Rogers will have Albert and Giovannini back to lead the Rams.
As this chapter is closed on the Mat Classic, Brynsen Brown offers a bit of advice to future SPSL wrestlers”
“Give it your all,” he said, “and don’t give up.”
MAT CLASSIC STANDINGS
* TEAM: Emerald Ridge High School tied for sixth place with South Kitsap at 55 points; Rogers placed ninth with 48 points and Puyallup was in 42nd place with 9 points.
* Semifinals 152: Marshall Giovannini of Rogers, loss by decision of 5-2.
* Semifinals 160: Rogers Ram Chris Grady win by pin in 3:41.
* Semifinals 171: Aaron Brown of Emerald Ridge loss by decision of 8-4.
* Consolations loser out 103: Whitney Conder of Puyallup win by decision of 5-4; Kraig Wilson of Rogers win by decision of 12-0.
* Consolations loser out 140: James Albert of Rogers loss by a 6-0 decision.
* Consolations loser out 160: Keith Schlecht of Emerald Ridge win by 5-4 decision.
* Consolations loser out 189: Brynsen Brown of Emerald Ridge win by pin in 1:34.
* Championship 152: Giovannini win by 6-3 decision.
* Championship 160: Schlecht win by 7-4 decision.
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2/21/06
If girls wrestling continues to grow at its current, rapid pace statewide, it could create the possibility of a separate state wrestling championship for girls in 2007, said one state high school official.
For the past three years the girls tournament has been an exhibition, held during the breaks in the state boys tournament.
Nearly 160 girls competed in the invitational this year, up from 109 a year ago.
"The criteria for the girls to have a state championship would be to have at least 20 schools competing with at least five girls on each team," said WIAA assistant executive director Jim Meyerhoff. "If those numbers are reached during the first three weeks of next season, we’ll have a separate girls’ tournament."
Meyerhoff went on to say if there is a separate girls’ tournament, girls would no longer be able to wrestle in the boys’ event.
However, Robert Griffith, Olympic High wrestling head man who coached 103-pound girl wrestler Camie Yeik, said, "I think were a couple years away from that yet. Just talking to coaches I don’t know if you would have 100 percent support from the coaches if they decided that. It would not help girls like Camie (Yeik) and (Puyallup’s) Whitney (Conder).
"Hopefully they would have some discussions with coaches before they did something like that. .. But utlimately we want to do what’s best for kids."
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A total of 39 groups competed in the 2006 girls invitational. Click the navigation buttons at the bottom of each page to view the results of each grouping.
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Girl wrestles through vision problem
reported by: Chris Vanderveen 9NEWS Reporter
Created: 2/19/2006 3:01 PM MST - Updated: 2/19/2006 4:56 PM MST
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She's slowly losing her sight, yet 12-year-old Carissa Ortega is constantly trying to find ways to remind people that she's still a normal kid
Appearances can often be deceiving.
Carissa Ortega just might show you that.
She was barely 2 when a doctor told her mom Carissa had a degenerative condition known as Rod Cone Dystrophy. She wasn't blind, but it was a likely possibility sometime down the road.
At age 12, she hasn't completely lost her sight, but her condition has left her with extremely poor vision.
But that hasn't stopped her from being the only girl on a pee-wee wrestling team.
Beyond fighting the stereotypes of wrestling being too tough for girls, Carissa has to be led to the wrestling mat before each match because of her poor vision.
Carissa pins her opponent for the win. |
So it probably was no surprise when Carissa lost her first match of a competition, by quite a lot.
By the time the next match rolled around, Carissa looked a little tired, and she didn't exactly seem pumped for victory.
The story could end there, with a little girl who really is a winner because of her courage and determination.
But that's not how this story ends.
Down in points with less than a minute to go, Carissa showed that she's not just a good wrestler for a girl, with a degenerative eye condition.
No, Carissa showed that she belongs by dramatically pinning her opponent for the victory.
And no, this wasn't a lucky win, and it wasn't even the first time she pinned one of her opponents. Carissa pinned another boy just a few weeks earlier.
So you see, appearance can often be deceiving.
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