News Page
Don Seeley, dseeley@pottsmerc.com
01/02/2007
Firen Gassman, a two-time Virginia state tournament qualifier, became the first female to compete in the long history of the Manheim Holiday Tournament. The 119-pound Gassman, who was 32-8 last year - with one of those victories coming in the state tournament - came up short last Thursday, though, dropping 3-2 and 5-4 decisions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Times reviews the year 2006 in sports news.
Posted on Tuesday, January 02 @ 13:42:34 PST
After the Christmas break, the Lassen High School girl’s soccer team picked up right where it left off, claiming a pair of shutout victories over Anderson and Las Plumas.
Lassen High School’s wrestling team is looking pretty tough on the mat this season with a number of impressive finishes in December tournaments. The team took third place in the Chester Tournament, second place in the Modoc Tournament and first place in the Battle of the Borders at Klamath Falls. A strong group of Lady Grizzlies, all juniors, including Kelly Urionaguena, Sonya Lucetero and Beth Pentridge have all earned top-five finishes so far this season.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Vallejo's Miller dominant as senior
By RYAN GARNER, Times-Herald sports writer
Article Launched: 01/02/2007 06:41:18 AM PST
|
|
Dominant has become a fitting adjective to describe Angie Miller this season.
The talented senior finished first at the Lady Lancer wrestling tournament in Manteca over the weekend, compiling a perfect 5-0 record.
Building on a successful junior year, Miller has become a star on the Vallejo High wrestling team, improving her discipline in a sport that requires strength, sacrifice and determination. Finishing undefeated and earning tournament MVP honors at nearly every event, she's matured into a dominant wrestler.
"She is more focused this year on her technique, and she's grown a lot technically speaking," said Vallejo wrestling coach Mike Minahen. "She's always been physical, but the technical side has caught up with it this year."
More confident and less patient than she's been in previous years, Miller used to wait to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes. This season she's the aggressor, creating mistakes and leaving opponents on their back.
"I've focused on my shots this year," Miller said. "Last year I wouldn't usually shoot, I would just wait for the opponent to make a move, but now I go after them."
Competing between 138 and 144 pounds, Miller's a threat at either weight, against either gender. She's
found success wrestling against boys in some events this season, and the stronger opponents have only helped her improve.
A large part of her success has been a focus on training and practicing harder, putting herself in the best position to win every time she steps on the mat.
"Her conditioning has been great," Minahen said. "She rides the bike at home and jumps rope in the garage. It's really helped her a lot."
Miller has become such a strong wrestler that her matches are becoming shorter every week, leaving less time for opponents to make adjustments. Her five matches in Manteca averaged only 1:12, and each match ended with a pin.
"I just try to wrestle my best," Miller said. "I try to make (a match) last so I can watch the tapes and see what I have to work on, but sometimes I just have to take them out."
Expecting a top three finish at last year's state championship tournament, Miller settled for fourth place. She followed it up with an impressive sixth-place showing at nationals.
"I think she can be a state champion this year," Minahen said. "Maybe top three in the nation, but it's still too early to tell."
Miller credits her success with an increased work ethic and plenty of help from her coaches. Focused on making technical improvements, she's hoping for a strong finish among the best in the nation.
"I want to place really high in state and place in the top four at nationals," Miller said. "I'm hoping to take my senior year out with a bang."
Other nominees:
Christine Alcantara, Hogan wrestling - Took first place in the 103-pound "B" bracket at the Lady Lancer tournament in Manteca.
Krystalle Alcantara, Hogan wrestling - Took first place in the 103-pound "A" bracket at the Lady Lancer tournament.
------------------------------------------------
castro valley girls' tournament photo's
-------------------------------------------------
Grizzly girls wrestle for respect
Published: January 2, 2007
By ALLEN MOODY Of the News-Register
The McMinnville girls wrestling team is out to prove they're no novelty act and they're doing it in the best way they know how — by working hard and getting solid results.
"We've only wrestled in one tournament this year," said head coach Marshall Roache. "We went down to West Albany, a co-ed tournament, and we had one girl place first and one girl place second and all of a sudden we had all these parents coming up to us and asking about our program. We have several people from outside the area that have expressed interest in coming to work out with us."
The girls wrestling program is now in its second year with Roache at the helm and there have been a number of changes since last year, with the main difference being the addition of middle school girls.
"This year is a lot more intense," said McMinnville High School sophomore Jessica Haig, who qualified for nationals last year. "Last year we only had two girls finish. It's a lot more intense having eight different girls wrestle every single night."
Many girls learn the hard way that wrestling isn't a very glamorous endeavor and the number of athletes that finish the season is typically less than the number that start, which is also the case with boys wrestling teams.
"I was hoping to have a few more girls come out," Haig said. "We had a dozen to start, but I'd rather have two girls that are going to stick with it."
The girls partake in grueling practice sessions that rival anything the boys teams do, if not exceed them.
"It's been different because our practices are so intense — they're kind of geared toward high school or college kids — that some of our middle school kids have had some troubles. But the ones that stuck it out are holding their own," Roache said.
One of those middle school students is eighth-grader Dionne Staple.
"I wanted to become stronger and work with the team," Staple said. "They announced it at our school and I decided I wanted to wrestle. I definitely thought it was going to be hard."
Roache believes the girls' hard work has paid off and he sees good things in the future.
"We have some girls who have a serious shot at not only placing at state, but they could be All-Americans this year," he said. "We have a couple of middle school girls that are really going to be special if they stick with it. Dionne has a bright future ahead of her."
Haig said having last year under her belt was a huge plus for this season.
"I'm doing a lot better this year," she said. "I was in good shape coming into it."
Roache agrees that the trials and tribulations of last year were an asset for everybody involved with the team.
"The most enjoyable thing this year has been seeing the progression from the girls who were here last year," he said. "They've become leaders on the team and they know what we're trying to accomplish.
"Those girls are now influencing the other girls in our wrestling room and it makes our job as coaches a lot easier. We're far above where we were last year because of those girls."
There's no doubt the popularity of girls wrestling is picking up throughout the state, and Roache believes that trend will continue.
"I expect within the next few years you're going to see over 400 people in the Oregon state tournament," he said. "We had over 200 last year and I would be surprised if we don't hit 300 this year.
"We've seen a tremendous amount of girls wrestling. At the tournament we went to there was one weight class that there were three girls and one boy in a four-man bracket."
The Oregon Classic, arguably the most prestigious event in the state short of the state tournament, has a separate girls division, which attracts wrestlers from all over the state.
Area residents will get to see some of the top girls wrestlers in the region when the team hosts its tournament on Feb. 3 at McMinnville High School.
With athletes from three different schools on the team, funding for the program is a bit complicated, with certain money earmarked for particular athletes.
"The largest part of our budget comes from McMinnville High School ASB," Roache said. "That's the part that goes toward the high school girls. On top of that, both Patton and Duniway middle schools each contributed money to support the middle school program."
The team also has picked up several corporate sponsors, which Roache said the team could not do without.
"Reser's Fine Foods is our largest corporate sponsor," he said. "Without Reser's we would not have had a program last year. They've been unbelievable."
Having corporations help with the expenses has given Roache more time to work on other aspects of the program and assistant coach Mark Haig said he's done an unbelievable job.
"Marshall has done a tremendous amount of work with the team and it really shows in the smoothness of our program," he said. "He's taken a start-up program and made it first class."
One of the things Roache did was certify the team as a charter club for USA Wrestling, making it the first all-girls charter club in the state.
"All of my coaches are USA Wrestling certified coaches now and that's good for us," Roache said.
Richard Wheeler and Marlea Roache round out the four-person coaching staff.
The rest of the team members include high school students Malia Unrath, Lacy Haig and Kayla Paulson and middle school students Hannah Meinke, Bethany Palacios and Angela Drury.