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Mahomet grad wins wrestle-off; Robbins hurt
By Pantagraph staff 8/31/06
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Mahomet-Seymour High School graduate Mary Kelly defeated Clarissa Chun in two straight matches Wednesday in a special wrestle-off to earn a spot on the United States Women's World Team at 105.5 pounds.
In the best-of-three format at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Kelly won the first bout in two periods, 1-0 and 3-0. She scored all of her points on counter takedowns. Kelly prevailed in the second match, 3-0 and 2-1.
Kelly will represent the U.S. at the World Wrestling Championships in Guangzhou, China, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1. This is Kelly's first U.S. World Team berth at the Senior level.
"I'm pretty happy to finally make a World Team," Kelly told USA Wrestling. "I've been No. 2 and No. 3 for a really long time, and I've been really close to the top since I was in high school. There were times when I kind of questioned if I was ever going to get it done. I've been at it for a long time, so it's great to finally do it."
Kelly hugged Chun after the match. The two have been past training partners.
"I don't want to see Clarissa upset or hurt, and I'm sure she wouldn't want to see me that way either," said Kelly. "I know how discouraging it is to lose a big match like this with so much at stake. I just told her 'good job' after the match."
Kelly said she looks forward to preparing for the World Championships.
"I have another month to get ready," she said. "Hopefully, I will come back from China with a medal."
Robbins sidelined
Bloomington's Brett Robbins was not able to compete in the Junior World Championships that began Tuesday in Guatemala City, Guatemala, because of injury.
A wrestler at Northern Iowa, Robbins was injured near the end of the team's training camp and was not given medical clearance to participate.
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www.pioneerlocal.com 8/31/06
Wildcat Wrestling Club is beginning season two of its fall clinics. The sessions will be held at the Ken Kraft Wrestling Complex in Anderson Hall (east of Welsh-Ryan Arena) on the Northwestern campus, starting Sept. 19. Online registration is available: wildcatwc.com.
The seven-week clinic meets from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays (Sept. 19 to Nov. 2). The instructors will include Ryan Bertin, two-time NCAA champion and four-time NCAA All-American, and former world champion and Olympic medalist Bill Scherr. They will be assisted by northwestern assistant coach Drew Pariano and Mark Massery, a former NCAA champion at Nothwestern.
The cost of the clinic is $350 or $315 for those who pre-register. The camp is open to high school and middle school wrestlers, both male and female.
For more information, contact Mark Massery at (847) 803-0191 or e-mail at markmassery@alumni.northwestern.edu.
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The New Rules on Weight Certifications.
Wednesday August 30, 2006
By Brendon Lowe
ITW Strength & Conditioning Columnist
There has been much talk recently about the soon to be infamous wrestling certification regulations that will be in effect starting this season. The general consensus that I have garnered is that most individuals oppose the inevitable regulation on weight-cutting for high school wrestling.
Most of the opinions about the topic are meaningless and without reason. I have heard some ridiculous ideas about why these regulations should not go into effect. None of these ideas have been backed up by concrete knowledge or research. This article will explain why the regulations are a good step forward and will clear up what the certification process will entail this year. This article is a must read.
Wrestling has long had a stigma about drastic weight cutting to weigh-in at a lower class. The whole reasoning behind this is that if you cut 15-20 pounds then you will be wrestling guys that are smaller than your are. Once this practice caught on, it ceased to be cutting to gain an advantage and became a necessity to have any resemblance of a chance at competing at the local and state-level competition.
The top wrestlers in many weight classes were all dropping the same 15-20 pounds and by the time the matches came around, they had gained back at least 4-5 pounds of that weight. Often, much more. Those who didn’t cut weight began the match with a sizable disadvantage.
The only way to lose that much weight in a matter of days, or even hours, short of cutting off a body part, is to resort to dehydration methods. Saunas, sauna suits, vomiting, spitting, diuretics, and laxatives soon became staples of weight cutting for wrestling. All of these methods can be extremely dangerous when abused, and most of the time the only way to drop large amounts of water weight is to abuse these methods.
Until 1997, the sports world left most wrestlers alone and treated it like the family secret. Basically, who cared about what wrestlers so anyway? People knew about it, but they kept it quiet and didn’t really talk about it. Many wrestlers know of buddies who have been sent to the hospital for trying to cut too much weight. But we refused to stop dehydrating ourselves to make weight. I have heard on many occasions, and even said it myself a few times, that “it’s just part of the sport.”
But then, all hell broke loose. There were three college wrestlers who died within the span of thirty-three days while cutting weight. Who will ever forget Elizabeth Vargas of ABC New on the show 20/20 interviewing parents of dead wrestlers? If there ever was a wake-up call to the dangers of weight-cutting this was it. The real culprit was massive weight-cutting (water loss) in a very short time frame.
Many will say that the supplementation of creatine was the cause of these deaths and should not have affected the sport of wrestling in any way. These deaths caused two actions by the NCAA. One was to ban creatine, and the other was to adopt a certification process for the regulation of weight loss in wrestling.
If creatine caused the deaths of these three young men, then why should the NCAA regulate weight loss? The simple fact is that a major side effect of creatine is DEHYDRATION! Creatine may have been the catalyst, but coupled with the already dehydrated state that these wrestlers where in, water loss was the true culprit in these cases.
Why should the experience of these three wrestlers influence the whole scholastic wrestling population? With the increasing and growing abuse of supplements, drugs, and alcohol, more deaths and organ degeneration will surely be prominent. Death and organ failure is what can and will happen.
Justified or unjustified, the weight certification will be performed in the following manner. First, the specific density of your urine will be measured. This will tell how much water is present in the urine. If not enough water is detected, then you are deemed dehydrated.
The magical number that has been chosen is 1.025. This is the medically agreed upon measurement that divides hydrated and dehydrated. Anything above 1.025 will fail. A big drawback to this is that the assessors will be using a colored dipstick, which will be used to match the color of your urine to the color on the dipstick.
Each color on the dipstick represents a different specific density measurement. This allows the measurement to be subjective rather than a true and numeric reading. Instead, a refractometer should be used. These only cost $150-$230 and can be reused, as opposed to the dipsticks which are one-time use and cost about $1 each. If you fail the hydration test, you must wait 24 hours before retesting. You cannot continue the certification process until you have passed the urinalysis.
Once you have passed, your bodyweight will be measured immediately. You cannot spit, vomit, or do anything to try to lose weight after the hydration test. Males can wear shorts and females can wear shorts and a halter-top or sports bra. No allowance will be given for clothing. This weight will be your “alpha” weight.
Following weigh-ins, you will have your current body fat percentage determined. Skin fold calipers will be used to measure the body fat at three sites for males and two sites for females.
The males will be measured on the triceps, just under the shoulder blade, and just beside the belly button. Females will be measured on the triceps and just under the shoulder blade. Each site will be measured three times and an average will be determined from the measurements. All skinfold measurements will be taken on the right side of the body.
Once the body fat percentage is figured this is where the entire math comes in to determine your minimum wrestling weight (MWW). The lowest body fat that any wrestler is allowed to cut to is 7% for males and 12% for females.
First, your fat-free body weight is determined. This is how much you would weigh without any fat on your body. The example I will use is for a male wrestler who weighs 124 pounds and who has a body fat percentage of 12%. The fat free weight is calculated be multiplying the alpha weight by the body’s nonfat percentage (remember that percentages in decimal use will move the decimal to the left two spaces). This wrestle’s nonfat percentage is 88% (100% whole body weight minus 12% body fat).
124 x 0.88 = 109.12 pounds
Without fat, this wrestler weighs 109.12 pounds. Next, your weight will be determined as if you had the lowest allowable body fat percentage. In this case, it would be 7% for a male wrestler. The fat free weight will be divided by 0.93 (100% minus 7%) for males and 0.88 (100% minus 12%) for females. This will be the minimum weight that this wrestler could weigh and still have 7% body fat.
109.12 / 0.93 = 117.33 pounds
This wrestler is not allowed to weigh less than 117.33 ponds, so the minimum wrestling weight class would be 119.
The final calculation will be to determine the maximum amount of weight that you can lose, which is 1.5% of your alpha weight. The wrestler mentioned above would multiply 124 pounds by 0.015 to determine how much weight can be lost each week.
124 x 0.015 = 1.86 pounds
So, this wrestler could not wrestle his minimum wrestling weight (119) until 3 weeks after the certifications.
124 ponds – 1.86 (week 1) – 1.86 (week 2) – 1.86 (week 3) = 118.42 pounds
Your minimum wrestling weight must be complete before you can compete against a wrestler from an opposing school. Each wrestler is permitted one appeal that must be submitted in writing to the UIL within seven days following the initial skinfold measurements.
So far there has been a lot of debate over whether the regulations should be used, and there will be always proponents and opponents in relation to these rules. I am not saying that the new regulations will solve all of wrestling’s problems with regards to dehydration, but it is a positive step.
There will need to be many adjustments made in the next few years. Issues will arise and they will be handled, hopefully. Remember that this isn’t just in Texas, but every state must create their own regulations that fit within the NFHS criterion.
Brandon Lowe
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Women's wrestlers awarded USOEC scholarships
Kimberly Stobb USOEC media relations
08/31/2006
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The United States Olympic Education Center has awarded nine new female freestyle resident athletes the B.J. Stupak Scholarship for the 2006-07 academic year.
Scholarship recipients are Whitney Conder (Puyallup, Wash.) and Vianny Amparo (Copiague, N.Y.) in the 48-kilogram weight class; Amanda Breezley (Midland, Ohio) and Alyssa Lampe (Tomahawk, Wis.) at 51 kg; Shyla Iokia (Denver, Colo.), Cherae Pascue (Mililani, Hawaii) and Tina Pihl (Colorado Springs, Colo.) at 55 kg; and Dallas Monreal-Berner (Niles, Ill.) and Jenna Pavlik (Lewes, Del) at 72 kg.
Nine other athletes continuing their USOEC residency are retaining the scholarship. They include Amy Borgnini (Terre Haute, Ind.), Nicole Darrow (Lanesboro, Mass.), Dany Hedin (Kailua, Hawaii), Kierstin Hyatt (Carmichael, Calif.), Sadie Kaneda (Honolulu, Hawaii), Jenna Pavlik (Lewes, Del.), Stefanie Shaw (Waterford, Conn.), Elizabeth Short (Lombard, Ill.) and Melissa Simmons (Ridgefield, Wash.) training at the USOEC.
As a federally funded grant program, the B.J. Stupak Scholarship is designed to provide financial assistance to Olympic-aspiring student athletes. Named in honor of Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak’s high school son who tragically died in May 2000, the program has helped more than 200 athletes continue their education while training for athletic competition at the USOEC at Northern Michigan University.