News
USOEC athletes read to elementary kids
By CHRISTOPHER DIEM, Journal Staff Writer 4/3/06
MARQUETTE — To celebrate literacy in the classroom, USOEC wrestlers were invited to Vandenboom Elementary school last week to read to elementary children.
Children at Vandenboom followed the Olympic Games this year, so the chance to interact with future Olympic athletes was of huge interest to them.
“It’s a nice thing to do. It’s fun and it gives us a chance to see the community and play with kids,” said womens’ freestyle wrestler Jenna Pavlic. “I think a lot of time kids having role models read to them shows them the importance of reading.”
The month of March is recognized as reading month in schools statewide. The invitation to the USOEC athletes was extended by Vandenboom Principal Sarah Kemppainen, who wanted a cross-section of the community involved.
“We wanted to celebrate reading in many different ways. We are trying to create a professional learning community where we reach out to all aspects of our surroundings — seniors, Northern Michigan University student teachers and parents and grandparents,” she said.
Womens’ freestyle wrestler Stefenie Shaw said that her parents read to her all the time when she was young and she looked forward to passing along the tradition of inspiring a younger generation’s interest in reading.
“The USOEC is such a rich resource for all of our community and the more that we have them interact with our little people — it’s win win for everybody. They think these athletes are gods and goddesses,” Kemppainen said.
As Greco-Roman wrestler Harry Lester read to a third grade class, the students sat in rapt attention, applauding when he finished the book. Lester even obliged the children by showing off a few of the easier wrestling moves.
“I really liked it,” said Evan Bonsall, 9, “He was very authentic and read with a lot of enthusiasm. Considering this was the first time he had read in front of a large group, he did well.”
Calla Martysz, 9, said she had followed the Olympics on television and was eager for the summer Olympics, where she could see some wrestling.
“(Lester) did a really good job,” she said, “It’s fun because he might be an wrestler in the Olympics one day.”
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4/6/06
• Morris Shines on Mat: Amanda Morris of Lawrence Prairie Fire Wrestling earned a second place at the USGWA Nationals last weekend. Teammates Dottie Housworth, Mariah Guilfoyle and Stephanie Simpson all posted fifth-place finishes.
March 23, 2006
Housworth Makes It Three: Deidre Housworth of Lawrence Prairie Fire Wrestling Club became a three-time champion at last weekend’s girls state mat meet. Sister Dottie Housworth earned a reserve championship. Other LPFWC state qualifiers were Mariah Guilfoyle, Jessica Coffman and Natalie Ellison. Last month, Deidre Housworth and Coffman won titles at the USGWA Missouri girls championships while Dottie Housworth and Ellison were runners-up. In the folkstyle regional, Deidre Housworth, Jeanne Morris, Amadna Morris, Guilfoyle, Coffman and Ellison won individual titles while Dottie Housworth, Stephanie Simpson and Hanna Geer were reserve champions.
• Girls Mat Gold: Lawrence’s Shelby Bowman, Taylor Young and Jessica Bowman earned gold medals at the USA Girls Wrestling championships. Silver medals went to Jeanee Morris, Amanda Morris, Payton Covert and Baily Knowlton. Third-place medals were earned by Alexandra Clark, Kayla Gore and Emaliegh Clark.
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Manchester raises another champion
Jackson wins national girls' wrestling title
By Marsha Johnson Chartrand, Editor
PUBLISHED: April 6, 2006
Off the wrestling mat, 11-year-old Nichole Jackson doesn't look much different than any other middle school girl.
But on the mat, her competitors better watch out.
A member of the Manchester Wrestling Club for five years, this young woman has earned a national championship, taking first place in the United States Girls Wrestling Association tournament held in Lake Orion last weekend.
With 651 female wrestlers representing 41 states participating in the tournament, Nichole's grandparents, Dave and Cheryl Bunn, said they were surprised at the number of girls wrestling, from the elementary, middle school, high school and college levels.
Nichole wrestled her way through the tournament, collecting four pins for a perfect record to earn her first-place medal and stand atop the podium.
Dawn Jackson, Nichole's mom, said that one of the hardest things she's ever done is stay and help to coordinate the Wrestling Club's annual home tournament while her parents took Nichole to Saturday's tournament events. Fortunately, however, she was there on Sunday to watch her daughter earn her championship.
Jackson thanks her parents for their support as well as former state champion James Tobias and all-state wrestler Cevin Walker for helping to coach Nichole to her victorious finish.
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2005-06 All-Area Girls Wrestling
09:18 PM CST on Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Selected by Staff Writer Todd Wills
WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: VANESSA EPPS (Frisco, Jr., 138 pounds)
The way to Vanessa Epps' heart isn't with silver.
Try gold. As in state championship gold.
High Schools
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Epps, a junior from Frisco, took her silver medal from last year's UIL State Wrestling Championships to this year's tournament as a reminder of what she didn't want to take back home with her. The pain was too great.
"I just didn't want any part of it," she said. "I took it out several times just to let myself know I wanted gold."
Epps finished a 45-0 season with a dominating performance at the state tournament. She pinned all four opponents, spending less than nine minutes on the mat. She needed just 3:48 in the final to beat Arlington Seguin's Ivonne Ramirez.
So what will Epps do for an encore? What will motivate her next year?
Learning new techniques, she says. Becoming a more complete wrestler. And wrestling for her teammates and coaches.
Oh, and silver. She still doesn't like silver.
Notable: First at state meet; 45-0
About Epps: She said a key to her success is controlling her anger before a match. "If I'm upset, I won't do well," she said.
What you don't know: Epps has her gold medal displayed on a pillow in her room.
RECENT WINNERS
Year Player School
2001 Brandy Killingsworth Arlington Sam Houston
2002 Suekoilya Shelly Hurst L.D. Bell
2003 Suekoilya Shelly Hurst L.D. Bell
2004 Desiree Cazares South Grand Prairie
2005 Katie Klammer Lake Highlands
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Kirsten Strickler, Frisco, Fr., 119 pounds
Notable: UIL state meet qualifier; 29-14
About Strickler: She went 1-2 at the state tournament, but the 119-pound division was considered the most difficult in the girls competition.
What you don't know: Strickler has never been on an airplane. She said the first time she'll fly somewhere is in two years to a family reunion in Florida.
FIRST TEAM
Lené Wood, Frisco Centennial, So., 95 pounds
Notable: First at UIL state meet; 37-0
About Wood: Wood and Frisco's Vanessa Epps were the first two state champions in wrestling for Frisco ISD.
What you don't know: Wood likes to collect duck figurines and stuffed animals.
Toni Rogers, Coppell, Sr., 165 pounds
Notable: First at UIL state meet; 27-1
About Rogers: She was fifth in state at 185 pounds in 2005. She decided to drop in weight class, and it paid off with a state title.
What you don't know: Rogers has been riding, training and showing horses for 13 years. She plans on being on an equestrian team in college.
Sasha McElroy, Arlington, Sr., 148 pounds
Notable: Third at UIL state meet; 34-4
About McElroy: She helped Arlington to a third-place finish at state.
What you don't know: She has been a lifeguard for the last few years at the Emler Swim School and the Elks Lodge in Arlington.
SECOND TEAM
Wt. Name School Cl. Notable
102 Tiffany Larriba Southlake Carroll Sr. Second at UIL state meet, 32-3
119 Tessa Plana Coppell So. Third at UIL state meet, 29-3
215 Sarah Lewis Frisco Centennial Sr. Second at UIL state meet, 22-4
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Prep roundup: Koenning leads Marin at girls wrestling nationals
Staff Report 4/4/06
LAKE ORION, Mich. - Kristina Koenning may have not reached as far as she wanted but she went as far as her shoulder would allow at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association national championships this weekend.
Koenning, a junior at Novato High, finished sixth in the 122-pound class to mke All-American for the third tiem in three years. With a finish as high as third place still possible, Koenning lost her final match to Christina Cox of Washington when she could no longer continue with a dislocated shoulder. She was trailing 8-0 in the match, but her coach Steve Sanner thinks she could have won.
"I had to pull her from the match," Sanner said. "She would've beat that girl. She wrestled most of the match with one shoulder. She hurt it before the match, but sometime during the match she separated it. She's tough, but it was tough to watch because she was making moves, but she couldn't finish them."
Koenning went 3-2 on the weekend and finished the season 40-6 wrestling both boys and girls. She was joined by two other wrestlers from Marin, Kristen Esterheld of Redwood and Courtney Madson, a seventh-grader at Hill Middle School in Novato.
Esterheld finished 10th in the heavyweight class, but found out she was a lightweight in the division for girls 165 and over, going 2-3.
"She won her first match, but then she ran into those twins - Jessica and Sarah Deardorff of Illinois - and they both weigh about 265 pounds," Sanner said. "Kristen is about 205. I hope the add another weight class. Kristen wrestled well, but if you get stuck under one of those girls it is almost unmanagable."
Sanner is looking forward to both juniors giving it another shot next year. Madson also has a good future, placing fifth in the 83-pound class for middle scholl students. Madson won her class in NorCal and then at Western Regionals before going 3-2 at nationals.
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Youth wrestlers compete at girls national tourney
Iosco News 4/4/06
LAKE ORION - Paige Gasper and Jenny Ross from the Tawas Youth Wrestling Club competed in the United States Girls Wrestling Association National Championships at Lake Orion High School Saturday and Sunday.
After wrestling some really tough matches in the elementary division, Ross earned a fifth place medal in the 78 pound weight class and Gasper earned a sixth place medal in the 67.2 pound weight class.
Ross wrestled against girls from Michigan, Hawaii, Missouri and California. Gasper wrestled against girls from Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Arizona.
NATIONAL WRESTLERS - Two members of the Tawas Youth Wrestling Club competed at the United States Girls Wrestling Association National Championships at Lake Orion High School over the weekend. They are Paige Gasper, who finished sixth in her weight division, left, and Jenny Ross, right, who placed fifth in her weight class. - Courtesy photo
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April 7, 2006
Wrestling
Three locals place in nationals
Three county wrestlers placed in their weight classes at the United States Girls Wrestling Association Nationals last weekend in Lake Orion, Mich., and helped California to the team championship.
Megan Agajanian, who lives in Moorpark and attends Louisville High, finished with a record of 3-2 at 144 pounds and placed sixth.
Jade Anderson of Royal High was sixth at 130 pounds, and Samathan Stych of Oxnard High had the fastest pin of her 130 class, but had to forfeit with a shoulder injury and placed 11th.
California finished with 302 points. Michigan was a distant second at 168 points.
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Heavyweight limit increased in high school wrestling
Associated Press 4/10/06
INDIANAPOLIS - The National Federation of State High School Associations has approved a rule change increasing the weight limit from 275 pounds to 285 pounds in the heavyweight class. It's the first increase in the sport's heaviest division in 19 years.
Jerry Diehl, assistant director of the NFHS, said Monday that high school athletes are bigger than they were when the 275-pound limit was set in 1987. He said the rules committee made the change to encourage more athletes, particularly football players, to compete in wrestling.
Among other wrestling changes approved by the NFHS board was one adding up to two 30-second tiebreakers after an initial 60-second overtime period.
If the score remains tied after the second tiebreaker, one additional 30-second sudden-death period will be conducted, and the first person scoring will be declared the winner. If no points are scored, the offensive wrestler will win the match.
Previously, only one 30-second tiebreaker was conducted after the one-minute overtime period.
More than 243,000 boys and 4,300 girls participated in high school wrestling in 2004-05, according to the group.
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Parkinson wins national wrestling title
Midland Daily News 04/04/2006
Midland's Andrea Parkinson took first recently at the United States Girls Wrestling Association National Championships held in Lake Orion. Parkinson, a sixth-grader at Bullock Creek Middle School, competed in the middle school 123.5-pound weight class. She earned a national title by pinning Kayley Marshall of California, then beating Brieanna Delgado of South Carolina 4-2 in overtime in the championship match.
Parkinson was representing both the Wack-Pack Wrestling Team of Sanford and the Meridian Youth Wrestling Club.
Earlier this year, she won championships at the USGWA Up North, Western Michigan, State of Michigan, and United States Midwest tournaments.
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