Photo by Stephen West - Caitlyn McCracken (center) of Cranberry High School is surrounded by her teammates prior to her bout against Jimmy Miller in the Berries' match against Oil City High School.
News
Matt Patterson on Oklahoma high school sports
Notes, quotes and more from one of The Oklahoman's high school reporters
Post details: Small Colleges
01/31/07
Small Colleges
It looks as though Oklahoma City University is going to add women's wrestling in the near future. It isn't quite official yet, but the fact the school's adminstration is talking about it publicly makes it a virtual certainty.
OCU wrestling coach Archie Randall will be in charge a lot of the logistics in getting the program up and running. Speaking with him several weeks ago, he was pretty excited about the challenge and the potential. There aren't a lot of women's college programs around the country. That fact, along with the growing number of female wrestlers on the high school and club level in Texas and nearby states gives OCU a natural recruiting base.
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Concord girl wrestler just one of the boys Ribeiro earns respect and victories
By James Leonard 2/1/07
STAFF WRITER
Glen Knecht has heard it all before.
Opposing coaches have a tendency to be a little condescending when one of your starting varsity wrestlers is a girl. But the Concord High School wrestling coach bites his tongue and lets his 130-pounder do her talking on the mat.
"It's kind of an 'I'll have my guy take it easy on her' type of thing," Knecht said of senior Rebeca Ribeiro. "I don't say nothing, but I'm thinking 'Yeah, I'll get my girl to take it easy on your boy.'
"She's going out there to whoop them. She can hold her own and then some against the boys."
She's done just that this season, starting out 3-2 in Diablo Foothill Athletic League competition. And she was ranked No. 1 in the state at 126 pounds by the California Women's Wrestling Association entering last weekend's California Girls Invitational at Hanford High. Ribeiro placed second at that tournament after winning the regional championship the week before at Liberty.
Knecht is hardly surprised to see his only female wrestler having such success. Ribeiro seems to be a natural, but that's as much because of her work ethic as her physical talent.
"She'll take two or three binders of notes every year on what I'm teaching and coaching and ask questions after practice," Knecht said. "You can't get boys to do that."
It's that dedication that has turned a shy sophomore into one of the top female wrestlers in the state in just two years. Ribeiro, who has also competed in swimming, water polo and track and field at Concord, said wrestling quickly became her favorite sport.
That love of the sport helped her overcome some awkward times as she tried to assimilate into a team full of testosterone.
"It didn't feel as awkward for me as it was for them," she said. "You can see it in their faces, like they don't want to touch you."
They got over that pretty quickly once she started beating them. Knecht said Ribeiro can beat any of Concord's male wrestlers up to 150 pounds, and that she's regarded now almost like a team captain.
"At first, they treated me different because I was a girl," Ribeiro said. "As a junior, it was kind of the same. Now as a senior, they look up to me more because they respect me for being a girl wrestler."
Despite her rapid improvement, Ribeiro struggled to a disappointing third-place finish at last year's North Coast Section girls wrestling championships. She'll settle for nothing less than first place at this year's meet, which will be Feb. 24 at Castro Valley High School.
"She hadn't wrestled girls at all until NCS last year, and even then she was sick as a dog with the flu," Knecht said. "I think she has a lot higher goals (this year). I told her we're going to raise that bar a little higher this year."
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What makes a girl want to wrestle?
By Tony Pinciaro
The Journal News(Original publication: February 1, 2007)
When Sophia Veiras was a seventh-grader at Dobbs Ferry Middle School, she was intrigued by a sport not usually associated with girls.
Veiras and her friend, Margaux Malekin, wanted to compete in one of the most physically grueling and demanding sports. The two girls joined the modified wrestling team.
"We were both excited about it," said Veiras, a Dobbs Ferry sophomore. "We just had to talk our parents into it."
At first, Veiras received the expected response from her parents, especially her mom.
"They kind of thought I was crazy with the idea," Veiras said with a laugh. "My dad was a little more supportive, though. It was my mom who took a little more convincing.
"I remember when I was a little, my mom would always put me in dresses, but I was a tomboy so I went against that. I'm a pretty stubborn person."
Veiras, Suffern junior 103-pounder Jenna Mega and Horace Mann sophomore 103-pounder Eleanor Lewis of Pelham are among those continuing a trend of girls competing on high school wrestling teams in the Lower Hudson Valley. All are either starting or seeing prominent action for their respective varsity teams.
And all have been able to win matches during their careers.
Veiras, who competes at 125 pounds, showed her parents that this was not going to be one-year experiment. Veiras quickly got hooked on wrestling and knew she would stay with it.
"I fell in love with the sport after the first week," Veiras said. "It was not like any other sport I had ever done. It didn't come easily to me, so I had to work harder, and this motivated me."
Not only did Veiras continue, she worked her way into a varsity spot as a freshman.
Before stepping on the mat, the trio had achieved a measure of success in a sport that many boys won't venture into.
Mega is only the second girls varsity wrestler in Suffern's storied history, with the other being Christine King. As an eighth-grader, Mega was named a modified team captain by coach Tom DiTore. Veiras and Lewis have followed in the footsteps of previous girls in their programs.
"I think this has been amazing," said Mega, who began wrestling as a 9-year-old third-grader in the Suffern peewee program. "I still can't believe I'm on varsity and a part of Suffern wrestling, one of the greatest teams and programs in the section."
Geoff Lewis, Eleanor's father, was immediately receptive to his daughter joining Horace Mann's modified team as a seventh-grader. Even though he didn't wrestle, Lewis' younger brother and nephew wrestled for Garden City, so he was familiar with the sport.
"My wife and I thought it was great because that first year there were a lot of girls doing it," Lewis said. "They went to the coach and asked him to start a girls squad in the middle school. We didn't think, at the time, that she would be wrestling exclusively against boys. In terms of the physical and mental discipline, and the kind of work that goes into becoming a good wrestler, it was clear Eleanor could do it. The big question was one of her being strong enough."
Before Lewis received her parents' consent, she had Horace Mann coach Gregg Cuilty's approval. Cuilty has an open-door policy for boys and girls, beginning with the modified program.
"A lot of the kids are unsure about it the first couple of days, so we tell them to give it a try the first week," Cuilty said. "Eleanor took to it right away. The boys treated Eleanor like a wrestler, which was how she wanted to be considered."
Lewis, the starting 96-pounder last season, first proved she could handle herself on modified.
"Wrestling is really independent," Lewis said. "You have to work hard, but I like working hard and getting a result out of it.
"I remember my very first day of practice. I was taking my first step into this unknown. I was excited to learn and try this new thing. It was a lot of work, and I remember I was very surprised at how tired I was."
Wrestling is not for the faint-hearted. Practices can be brutal, starting in a wrestling room where a coach might raise the heat just to make things even more uncomfortable, to a pre- or post-practice run, to drilling and then to live wrestling, where you could be working on different match scenarios. And don't forget the smell that permeates the room.
Mega noted that Suffern practices were intense under former coach Mickey DeSimone and that has continued with first-year coach Chris Matteotti, who was aware of Mega and her modified success.
"We had heard that Jenna was wrestling at the middle school and was doing pretty well," Matteotti said. "From the first moment Jenna walked in the varsity room, she was there to work and wrestle. Jenna works just as hard as anyone else. She is not given any slack because she is a female, and Jenna never complains about it. Jenna has earned her teammates' respect through her hard work."
The threesome echoed each other regarding their respective teammates' reaction to them. Once the boys overcame the initial awkwardness of drilling and wrestling with a girl, they were treated like one of the guys.
"I was a little nervous at first ... Sophia told me to treat her like she was a guy," said junior Alex Chin, who is Veiras' practice partner. "As time and practices went on, I took Sophia's advice and started wrestling her as an opponent as opposed to a girl. And sometimes, she would end up beating me up.
"Sophia has a good work ethic. When we have a timeout, she is not sitting down catching her breath. Sophia is the hardest worker in the offseason also, doing the extra stuff that some wrestlers don't do. Sophia deserves the credit she should have."
If it was awkward for Chin to drill with Veiras, facing her surprised Pleasantville's Michael Esteves, a two-time sectional champion and state place finisher. The two met in a 119-pound bout.
"I didn't know I was wrestling her until I walked on the mat," Esteves said. "I wanted to go out there, make sure she didn't get hurt and get the match over with."
Esteves said he executed a double-leg takedown and pin within the first 30 seconds.
"I didn't feel comfortable being in that situation, but she was a competitor so I had to put that behind me and wrestle," Esteves said.
The hard work and dedication that Veiras, Mega and Lewis sometimes goes unchallenged, though. While they have all won matches, they have also received forfeit wins at one point or another in their modified or varsity careers.
Despite this, they wouldn't change a thing.
"Even on those days when you're tired or you're two pounds overweight, it's definitely worth it because you know you're doing something great," Lewis said. "Not everyone can pull this off, and you're doing it."
Reach Tony Pinciaro at apinciar@lohud.com or 914-696-8234.
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Gender reversal: Girl earns spot in Cranberry High wrestling lineup
By LEIGH PROTIVNAK 2/1/07
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Photo by Stephen West - Caitlyn McCracken (center) of Cranberry High School is surrounded by her teammates prior to her bout against Jimmy Miller in the Berries' match against Oil City High School. |
With the wrestling season nearly over, one Cranberry High School student has been turning some heads. Not because of her record, but because she is a "she."
Caitlyn McCracken, 17, transferred from Clarksville, Tenn., to Cranberry this year - her senior year - and wrestles in the 119-pound class on the Berries' varsity squad.
Female wrestlers are rare in the area, but not unheard of.
In recent years, there have been female wrestlers representing Clarion and Grove City, and all-girl wrestling leagues and tournaments are springing up all over the country.
McCracken has had a rocky 6-14 season so far. Many of her wins came from forfeits from the other teams, she suffered an ankle injury at mid-season, and she has had some troubles with referees - including an instance where she had a guy pinned, but the referee said time was out, causing her to lose by two points.
"I don't know if it's because I'm a girl so they don't want to call anything, or they're not very good," she said, "but the referees are definitely a bigger challenge up here."
Cranberry head coach Jeff Riddle said it took no time to embrace McCracken as one of the guys.
Riddle was unsure how McCracken would handle the weeks of grueling conditioning practices before the season started.
"As a new coach, I needed to set the tone for the season, and it was hard. Once she made it through that, I knew she was here to stay," he said.
As far as technique is concerned, McCracken is as good as anyone else on the team, Riddle said, and mentally, she is one of the toughest kids on the team.
Her biggest disadvantage is in the strength department, Riddle said.
"She doesn't get any special treatment. She doesn't ask for it. She's set, focused, dedicated - I wish every kid was like that," Riddle said.
When asked if having a girl on the team has been a distraction, Riddle said, "Absolutely not. Once you step into that gym, you're just another wrestler."
Whenever an opponent underestimates her on the mat, it goes away in about 30 seconds, Riddle said. And no one goes easy on her just because she's a girl.
"If they did that, she'd own them," Riddle said. "She can absolutely hold her own."
Not everyone is so accepting of her wrestling ambitions.
"I've had a couple guys (from opposing teams) try to hurt me on purpose, I felt, to try to show girls don't belong in wrestling," McCracken said.
On the whole, though, other wrestlers have been supportive.
"They're fine with it. At the beginning of the year, they had never had a girl before, but I practiced with them over the summer and got to know everybody, and everyone's been pretty accepting," she said.
Still, it's not uncommon for McCracken to hear comments like, "Shouldn't you be cheerleading?" and "You can't let her beat you, she's a girl." But it's all in good fun, she said.
There are a few adjustments when there's a girl on the team. McCracken has to use a separate locker room for changing and weigh-ins, and a special, female-cut singlet had to be ordered. McCracken also has to wear a special headgear cover to keep her long, dark hair in check.
Despite the obvious challenges, McCracken said she prefers to wrestle against boys because they are more competitive than girls. In fact, McCracken was used to coed gym class in her old school, and she has opted to participate in the boys' gym class at Cranberry.
McCracken began wrestling in her freshman year at Northwest High School in Clarksville with a female friend.
"We both tried and I ended up liking it a whole lot and sticking with it," she said. Her friend, however, decided to give it up.
Girls wrestling is about as uncommon at her old high school as it is at Cranberry, McCracken said, but the caliber of wrestling is slightly lower because the sport is not as popular in Tennessee and there is little opportunity for athletes to begin wrestling before high school.
"Wrestling is definitely on a higher level here," she said.
At the team's first dual meet tournament, McCracken was pitted against "probably two of the best kids she would see all year," Riddle said. After the two handed her defeats they approached her and shook her hand saying, "Welcome to Pennsylvania," Riddle recalled.
When she isn't wrestling, McCracken spends her time as editor of the school newspaper, Berry Impressive, and hanging out with friends.
McCracken has been accepted into the University of Pittsburgh, where she will study journalism and psychology. She, her father and stepmother and two older siblings moved to Cranberry this year so she would be able to claim in-state residency.
McCracken's father, Michael McCracken, grew up in the area, so she has spent a lot of time here vacationing and visiting with her family.
"My dad was a little edgy at first when I started wrestling. I think he didn't want to see his little girl get hurt, but then he saw I really liked it and was dedicated to it. Now he comes to all my matches," McCracken said.
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Wrestling profile: Neenah's Sam Engelland
Post-Crescent staff writer Ricardo Arguello tries to pin down Neenah's Sam Engelland:
Q: Your father was the wrestling coach at Oshkosh North for the longest time and your older brother Ben, was a heckuva a wrestler. Was it just basically just a matter of time before you found yourself on the mat?
A: Yeah, I've always wrestled since I was 4. Me and my brother used to play hockey and my parents told us we had to pick a sport. My brother decided to wrestle and I just kind of followed him.
Q: Last season, Tomahawk's Alyssa Lampe made headlines by making it to the state tournament. Ever think about what would happen if you ever had to wrestle a girl?
A: I never really would want to. I'd have to make sure I wouldn't lose, because that would be rough.
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By CHARY SOUTHMAYDFeb. 1, 2007
Tampa Bay Newspapers
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NDIAN ROCKS BEACH – It’s fair to say Tara Bone of Indian Rocks Beach isn’t like all the other girls. In fact, when it comes to athletics, her wrestling teammates at Palm Harbor University High School think of Tara as just one of the guys.
Tara has been wrestling for three years on the Palm Harbor University boys wrestling team. Not only is she the only girl varsity wrestler in the county, she more than holds her own against the boys.
“She’s a tough girl and strong,” said Tara’s proud father, Jim Bone. “Her record is 10-12 against the boys this year ... she has pinned four boys and only been pinned once,” he added.
But she also wrestles girls competitively. Last weekend, Tara won the 112-pound weight class at the Florida Girls State Wrestling Championship in Kissimmee. Twelve girls from all over the state competed in her weight class and 131 in the tournament, overall. During the competition, Tara won a pin in both the quarterfinals and semifinals and a major decision (8-0) in the final against the No. 1 seed.
Wrestling is not the only less-than-conventional sports success the independent-minded, 4 foot, 11 inch, 110 pound, 16-year-old junior has achieved. In 2004, she tried out for the junior varsity football team at PHU and made it, playing defensive back.
Football eventually took a backseat to wrestling. Tara opted for competition with a more level playing field, where, unlike football, she competes against guys her same weight.
“She works extremely hard,” said her dad. “She gets no special treatment on the mat.”
So, what’s it like to have a wrestling daughter?
“It’s great when she wins,” Jim said, “but its tough when she’s down, getting beaten by a boy and you’re the dad watching ...”
A straight-A student in the medical magnet program, Tara wants to attend college at the University of Florida, or possibly the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. She hopes to be an orthopedic surgeon or a Navy pilot, someday.
In her spare time when she isn’t practicing, Tara cleans boats at Clearwater Yacht Club. The Bone family enjoys boating.
As for being thought of as just one of the guys, Tara’s dad mentioned a notable exception.
“When she is all dolled up for the wrestling banquet, the guys notice that she is a girl, after all,” he said.
It’s a safe bet that whatever Tara Bone attempts, she will nail it.
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Blue Raiders’ wrestling team makes fast work of the Warriors
07:08 AM EST on Thursday, February 1, 2007
BY RUSS WATERMAN
Special to the Journal
SOMERSET — It took Somerset’s wrestlers just 40 minutes to post a 63-4 victory over Nauset in an Atlantic Coast League meet last night. The Blue Raiders (12-8) won all except four of the 10 scheduled matches by pins.
Chris Silva (145) won for the Warriors, downing the Blue Raiders’ Jon Faria, 10-2. It was the final home meet for co-captains Katie Bruce (119) and Chad Stewart (135), and also for Matt Therrien (160) and heavyweight Jack Keller. "All of them put in tremendous work in their careers and led by example," said Somerset head coach Nick Peachy.
"It’s a young team of two-thirds freshmen and sophomores, but we’ve made a lot of progress," said Peachy. "Earlier in the season, we never could have won by this much."
The meet began with a hard-fought tussle between Somerset’s Austin Brough and James Deluca. Brough finally put together two takedowns and a near-fall to pull away from his Nauset challenger for a 16-1 triumph. Keller, normally at 215, grappled with Rob Sliney at heavyweight until the second period, when Keller reversed from a leg ride to emerge with a pin.
Katie Bruce, last year’s MIAA girls state champion at 103, dominated her match at 119, turning the contest around in the second period. "Katie is the best girls wrestler I’ve ever coached and the best I’ve ever seen in Massachusetts," said Peachy.
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2/1/07
Vasilisa Marzaliuk of Belarus won a silver medal in the 72kg category at the freestyle wrestling tournament in the memory of Ivan Yarygin in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Belarusian Olga Khilko won a bronze medal in the 63kg category while Marina Markevich finished in fifth in the 51kg category.
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A girl in a boys’ world
Canete, a junior, is the first female wrestler from KHS to qualify for a boys state wrestling tournament
Article published on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007
By DEREK CLARKSTON
Mirror Writer
As a freshman Michelle Canete faced one of the toughest choices of her young life.
She was torn between two sports, basketball and wrestling.
She had only been wrestling for one year and wanted to continue, but on the other hand she really wanted to play basketball.
The choice she would make, would change her life forever.
“There was basketball tryouts and I told the coach that I was also wrestling and that I would like to do both sports,” Canete said. “She said ‘No, dedicate yourself to one.’ So I walked out.”
When head coach Pat Costello saw her walk back into the mat room, he knew she wouldn’t last.
“With all honesty, as a freshman I thought she would be gone in three weeks,” Costello said.
Two years later she is still hard at work and it’s now apparent she chose the right sport.
On Saturday, she became the first female wrestler from Kodiak High School to qualify for a boys state wrestling tournament when she placed fifth in the 103-pound division at the Northern Lights Conference regional tournament.
The achievement is satisfying, but she hasn’t really thought about the fact that she is the first female to make it to the big stage for Kodiak. She sees it in a different light.
“The team is mostly guys, I just don’t see it as boys and girls. I just see it as a team,” said Canete, who finished second at the girls state tournament in the 110-pound class last year.
It is a historic happening for Kodiak’s wrestling program.
“We have now broken the ice here in Kodiak,” Costello said.
When Canete defeated Kenai’s Quintun Pribbenow 7-6, in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket, she realized she was headed to Friday and Saturday’s state tournament at Chugiak High School.
“For a second I really didn’t believe it, but I’m glad I did make it because there are still some kids that I haven’t faced that I want to see,” Canete said.
Canete’s road to state wasn’t an easy path. She sprained her shoulder earlier this season, which forced her to miss some tournaments.
Her left shoulder was still hurting during regionals, but she pushed through the pain to finish the regular season with an 18-9 record.
There was even a moment when she thought her season was over during her match with Pribbenow.
“I know, and my coach knows, that I am better on top, but for some stupid reason I chose to be on bottom and that almost made me lose the match,” Canete said.
“The guy that I was wrestling was really tall and lengthy and it was hard to stand up and get away. I actually did get caught on my back and was almost close to getting pinned, but I got out of it. It was so nerve-racking, because we both wanted to make state.”
Knowing she had qualified for state, she set her eyes on Wasilla’s Kendra Nelson in the fifth-sixth place match.
This season Nelson’s pinned Canete twice. “I was hoping to come up and find her in the consolation bracket,” Canete said.
Canete took advantage of their third meeting, this time pinning Nelson two minutes and 49 seconds into the match.
Her next destination: the state tournament where she will be one of three girls to represent the Northern Lights Conference. The other two are Nelson and Michaela Hutchison, who finished fourth in the 112-pound class.
Last year, Hutchison, from Skyview, made national news when she won the 103-pound large school state boys title, becoming the first female in the nation to win a state title in a boys tournament.
This year, Canete, who is a friend of Hutchinson, would like to follow in her footsteps, but hopes she just has a good showing on Alaska’s biggest stage.
“It doesn’t really seem like a big deal, it’s just another tournament that I hope I do really good at and one that I don’t make any mistakes at,” she said. “I just hope that I don’t get pinned in any of my matches. I just have to wrestle smart.”
Canete is just one of many female wrestlers nationwide who are proving they can succeed in a predominantly male sport.
Last year 17 female wrestlers nationwide advanced to a boys state tournament. The numbers will probably rise this year with Alaska being represented by more than a handful of female wrestlers.
Female wrestlers are nothing new to Kodiak wrestling.
Megan Simpler became the first girl to wrestle all season and was the first Kodiak female to win a varsity match in 1996.
Since Simpler several other female wrestlers have appeared at state.
“I can’t say we are a pioneer, but we are on the cutting edge,” Costello said.
“This group of girls right now is the best crop of girls we have had.”
Kodiak has one other female wrestler — freshman Chloe Ivanoff. She has helped Canete throughout the season.
“It’s been more fun with her on the team than the last two years,” Canete said. “The last two years were horrible. Sometimes you feel out of it when you are the only girl, because the team isn’t used to that.”
It didn’t take long for the girls to be accepted by the boys. They work just as hard.
“Our girls wrestle really well,” Costello said. “They wrestle extremely hard with the guys. They don’t take a second seat to them.
“They work hard and have strength and quickness,” he added. “But their biggest strength is they have a big heart and like to work hard.”
Earlier this year, Ivanoff and Canete became, what Costello believes, the first pair of female teammates to start in a dual meet lineup in Alaska history. Together they combined for a 33-19 record.
They have one more year together and just maybe they will become the first pair of female teammates to make a boys state tournament.
Mirror writer Derek Clarkston can be reached via e-mail at sports@kodiakdailymirror.com.
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Great victory for FUHS wrestling
2/1/2007 4:14:30 PM
FALLBROOK — On Friday and Saturday, January 19 and 20, three female Fallbrook Union High School (FUHS) wrestling members, Sonia Martinez, Jessica Koch and team captain Patty Diaz, competed in the CIF Girls Wrestling Southern Regional Tournament. Though Diaz, who took fourth place at 125 lbs, was the only one to place, all three qualified to go to the California Girls Invitational Tournament in Hanford last weekend.
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