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Five Lady Vikings place at University Nationals
Friday, June 2, 2006
By Chris Allen/Sports editor
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COLORADO SPRINGS -- The Missouri Valley College women's wrestling team won five medals in the upper division and six in a younger class of the Body Bar University Nationals tournament last month.
The USA Wrestling-sanctioned meet, held May 5-7 at Colorado Springs, was lightly attended -- with four or fewer entries in six of the eight weight classes. It also wasn't a true "university" event, since American women's wrestling has no umbrella organization like the NCAA or NAIA to provide command and control -- like hosting a full-participation national championship tournament or instituting eligibility and transfer rules.
The Lady Vikings had two grapplers place in the highly-competitive 55 kilogram class. Freshman Samantha Schuman notched an upset when she knocked off Jessica Medina of Cumberlands, No. 4 in TheMat.com's Senior Women 51 Kg rankings, by a slim 1-1, 0-1, 1-1 margin. Schuman, who be ranked seventh at 51 in the subsequent poll, won two out of three matches before meeting sophomore teammate Courtney Martell in the trophy round.
Martell, whose only loss was to top-ranked champion Sharon Jacobson of the Gator Wrestling Club, lost the first period, 1-0, but pinned Schuman with one second remaining in the second set for third place.
The 59 Kg weight class also had some stiff competition, but Valley's only entry was freshman Karen Howe -- who won one of four matches for sixth place.
Freshmen Sara Hilliard (72 Kg) and Lacey Novinska (77) each took a silver medal by splitting two matches in their three-entry divisions. Hilliard emerged No. 10 and Novinska as No. 7 among Senior women in their respective classes.
Several of the Lady Vikings who wrestled at the University level also did so in the FILA Junior competition -- with Schuman going 4-2 for second place, Hilliard finishing third, Novinska fourth and Martell and freshman Christina Varland (51) sixth.
Freshman Colette Curtis (79.5) won her first two matches, but withdrew from her third and final contest due to an injury and had to settle for second place.
Valley didn't take most of its Top 10 athletes to the meet, with junior Stephany Lee (No. 2 at 72 Kg), sophomore Rachel Billerbeck (No. 4, 63) and freshman Michelle Hooker (No. 5, 67) among the missing.
The season finale for the Lady Vikings will be June 29-30 at Colorado Springs, site of the women's World Team Trials.
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Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend features historic firsts in Stillwater, Okla., June 2-3
Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
06/02/2006
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum will be hosting its 30th Honors Weekend in Stillwater, Okla., June 2-3.
All four of the Distinguished Members who will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame this weekend in Stillwater, Okla. have achieved some incredible firsts during their careers in wrestling.
THE FIRST WOMAN INDUCTED
Tricia Saunders of Phoenix, Ariz., a four-time World champion wrestler and coach of the historic 2004 U.S. Olympic women’s wrestling team, will be the first woman inducted as a distinguished member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
Tricia Saunders Hall of Fame biography
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First woman enshrined in Wrestling Hall of Fame
AP - 6/3/2006 12:02 PM
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) _ Tonight in Stillwater, the Wrestling Hall of Fame will induct its first woman athlete.
Tricia Saunder is the most successful female wrestler in US history. She won gold at the world championships in 1992, 1996, 1998 and 1999 and is the only American woman to win more than two world wrestling titles.
Other inductees include four-time NCAA champion Pat Smith, two-time freestyle world champion Terry Brands and Josiah Henson, the first US referee to officiate in the Olympics.
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Republic news sources
Jun. 3, 2006 12:00 AM
Four-time world champion Tricia Saunders of Phoenix becomes the first woman inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame this weekend during ceremonies in Stillwater, Okla.
Saunders won world gold medals in 1992, '96, '98 and '99 and a silver medal in '93. She won a record 11 U.S. titles and was named outstanding wrestler at the 1992 World Championships. She and her husband Townsend, 1996 Olympic silver medalist, coached the first U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team at the 2004 Olympics.
The Saunders have three children. Tricia works as a physician assistant in Ahwatukee
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2005 Izmir (TUR)
Weight Gold Silver Bronze
48.0 kg Hughn, Carol CAN Funatsu, Yuri 2 JPN Kohut, Aleksandra UKR Fulp-Allen, Sara USA
51.0 kg Melnik-Merleni, Irina UKR Belisle, Lyndsay CAN Kareicha, Alena Ivanovna BLR Kelly, Mary USA
55.0 kg Yoshida, Saori JPN Verbeek, Tonya CAN van Dusen, Marcie USA Levkovskaya, Olga UKR
59.0 kg Shoda, Ayako JPN Barciak, Justyna POL Lee, Yeon-Mi KOR Graham Breanne CAN
63.0 kg Icho, Kaori JPN Khilko, Olga Selloum, Myriam FRA Berube, Alaina USA
67.0 kg Shinkai, Mami JPN Muhcu, Hatun TUR Howourn, Stefanie CAN Kysina, Natalya RUS
72.0 kg Akuffo, Ohenawa CAN Burmistrova, Katerina UKR Murashima, Ayako JPN Wieszczek, Agnieska POL
2004 Lodz, POL
48.0 kg Momoko Sera JPN Iwona Sadowska POL Fani Psatha GRE
51.0 kg Sylvia Bilenska POL Victoria Brandush UKR Palina Kascheyeva BLR
55.0 kg Tetyana Lazareva UKR Jessica Peterson CAN Yu Sekine JPN
59.0 kg Marcie Van Dusen USA Volha Serbina BLR Breanne Graham CAN
63.0 kg Ayako Shoda JPN Helen Hennick CAN Volha Khilko BLR
67.0 kg Martine Dugrenier CAN Monika Maj POL Zlatowa Waleria UKR
72.0 kg Stephany Lee USA Agnieszka Wieszczek POL Maria-Luiza Vivioni GRE
2002 Edmonton (CAN)
Weight Gold Silver Bronze
48.0 kg Noguchi, Mika JPN Zhong, Xiue CHN Chou, Belinda TPE
51.0 kg Icho, Chiharu JPN Gao, Yanzhi CHN Belisle, Lyndsay CAN
55.0 kg Yamamoto, Seiko JPN Sun, Dongmei CHN Verbeek, Tonya CAN
59.0 kg Yoshida, Saori JPN Su, Huihua CHN Richardson, Emily CAN
63.0 kg Bassa-Roguska, Malgorzata POL Yanik, Viola CAN Xu, Haiyan CHN
67.0 kg Yang, Yanli CHN Samler, Shannon CAN Kim, Han-Na KOR
72.0 kg Wilson, Pamela CAN Branka, Samantha USA Murashima, Ayako JPN