Caprock girls: The three-time defending state champion Caprock girls won their fourth straight regional title, advancing six wrestlers.
News
Area Roundup: 14 Kelso wrestlers headed to state
By Staff
Feb 11, 2007 - 12:10:24 am PST
CAMAS ---- Five Kelso wrestlers won individual titles and the Hilanders kicked a truckload of sand in the faces of the other 15 teams in attendance at Saturday's Southwest 3A Regional wrestling tournament at Camas High School.
The Hilanders qualified 14 wrestlers (plus three alternates) for next weekend's Mat Classic state tourney at the Tacoma Dome after dominating with 357 team points. Olympic was second with 199.5, with Peninsula (184.5), Yelm (170.5) and Columbia River (100.5) rounding out the top five.
"We've never scored that many points at a regional tournament by far," Kelso coach Bob Freund said. "We've got a big challenge next weekend. We're taking 14, but we're going to have to place a tons of kids to take home a state trophy and make a run at Sedro-Woolley. But the kids punched their ticket. Hopefully we can get some nicks and bangs healed up, and come out ready to bang next weekend."
The 14 state qualifiers marks the highest total ever by Kelso. The previous high was 10.
Winning regional titles for the Scots on Saturday were: Jarad Miller (125 pounds), who pinned Andrew Sicate of Olympic in the first round; Andrew Buck (171), who pinned all three of his regional opponents in the first round, including Robert Harvey of Capital in the finals in just 59 seconds; Josh Miller (189), who beat Laurice Gerig of Olympic 7-1 in the title match; Kyle Hoppe (215), an 11-10 winner of Jayde Delgado of Peninsula for the championship; and Jared Cadwell (285), who edged Kevin Fiterek of Olympic 6-5 for the title.
Two other Hilanders took second. Mitch Giberson (130) gave defending state champ Mason May of Yelm all he could handle before losing 8-3 in overtime, and Ben Willis (145) fell to Ehli Keele of Peninsula 9-2.
Rounding out the state contingent for Kelso are Jason Baker (fourth at 112), Jordan Reimer (fourth at 119), Derek Spjut (third at 140), Jacob Sully (third at 160), Matt Parsons (fourth at 189), Josh Townsend (third at 215) and Jordan Jackson (fourth at 285). Chris Britt (135), Mitchell Tate (140) and Tanner Davis (160) each placed fifth and will go to Tacoma as alternates.
3A GIRLS REGIONALS
Mendoza wears crown
TUMWATER ---- Veronica Mendoza of Kelso pinned White River's Leanna Holmes in the second round to win the 119-pound title at the Southwest 3A Regional girls wrestling tournament at Tumwater High School on Saturday.
Mendoza qualified for next weekend's Mat Classic state tourney at the Tacoma Dome, along with teammate Alisha Beach (285), who took second at regionals after losing to Rochester's Brittany Callie 7-2 in her title match.
Aly Wilson (103) and Emma Destromp (112) each placed fifth for Kelso, which took second as a team out of 31 schools. Hoquiam was the champion.
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Wrestling: Madison's Peterson continues dominance
Web Posted: 02/10/2007 08:53 PM CST
Dan McCarney
Express-News Staff Writer
Marissa De La Garza of Wagner pinned Pflugerville’s Alison Esquivel in the 128 final to claim the area’s only title in the girls bracket. The only other female qualifier was Judson’s Brynn Suttles, who finished third at 110.
“I wanted it,” said De La Garza, who had been so sick she fainted at school during the week. “And when I want something, I work my butt off to get it.”
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Wrestling wins in line with expectations
Guwahati, Feb 11:
All strong contenders for the wrestling medals in team events in different categories registered their victories in the preliminary rounds in the 33rd National Games here yesterday.
Haryana also showed domination in the women's section as they defeated both Manipur and Madhya Pradesh in the first round of 48 kg freestyle event.
In other matches, while Madhya Pradesh showed the door to Nagaland, Delhi registered two wins against Asom and Chandigarh.
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Wrestling titles decided
Queensbury, Hud. Falls, Duanesburg take crowns
Staff reports
First published: Sunday, February 11, 2007
In the most interesting match of the day, reigning Section II small-school 96-pound champion Amy Whitbeck of Duanesburg won the 103-pound title over Brian Walsh of Loudonville Christian by forfeit. Walsh had to forfeit because of a school rule that says boys cannot wrestle girls. Duanesburg had five other winners on Saturday, including Evan Borst at 112 pounds, Brian Borst at 119 pounds, Wes Coppolo at 140 pounds, David Larson at 160 pounds, and Jack Almy at 275 pounds.
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Randall, Caprock pin down titles
Lady Longhorns grab fourth straight crown,
By Jeremy Heath 1/11/07
jeremy.heath@amarillo.com
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Caprock girls: The three-time defending state champion Caprock girls won their fourth straight regional title, advancing six wrestlers. |
Panhandle teams dominated the Region I wrestling meet at Randall on Saturday.
What else is new?
Between them, the Randall boys and Caprock girls wrestling teams have won eight Region I titles in the past four years. Caprock won its four straight, and Randall won its fourth in a row.
Caprock finished first, Tascosa third and River Road fifth in the girls team standings. Randall, Caprock and Borger finished first, second and third in the boys standings, with Tascosa coming in sixth.
Randall set a Region I record for points with 237. Caprock topped second-place El Paso Socorro,136-104.
Randall qualified 10 wrestlers to the regional. All 10 advanced to state, five of those as regional champions.
"All we want to do now is take our 10 down to Austin, put them on the mat, let them do their best and see where the dust settles," Randall coach David Quirino said.
The state meet is scheduled for Feb. 23-24 at the Delco Center in Austin. The top four finishers in each weight division at the regional advanced to state.
Caprock advanced seven to the regional. Six of them advanced to state.
I'm very pleased that we're taking six to state," Caprock coach Scott Tankersley said. "But now it's time to refocus. For the next two weeks, we've got to rededicate ourselves to winning state."
The match of the tournament was the 125-pound boys final between Caprock's Harvey Suarez and Randall's Kalvin King.
Suarez beat King in the District 6 final and has beaten him four times in the last two seasons.
Suarez and King have squared off dozens of times since youth wrestling. King said he couldn't remember the last time he beat Suarez.
On the strength of a buzzer-beating takedown at the end of the second period that put him up 5-1, King rolled to a 10-2 major decision win.
"It feels amazing. It was great," King said. "It means a lot because you know if you don't win, it's just another time you lost to him. It feels good to finally get over that hump."
Teammate Brandon McDonald, who had just beaten Pampa's Richard Leal in the 119 final, ran over to King and embraced him.
"His goal the whole year was to get to state and beat Harvey in the finals to do it," McDonald said. "I was there all year helping him try to get to that goal every day in practice."
Randall got regional titles from Victor Dotson (103 pounds), McDonald, King, Cody Dudding (180) and Joseph Flores (189). Jace Bennett (130) and Joey Sykes (171) finished second and Josh Martinez (112), Jacob Perez (145), Cameron Padilla (160) finished third.
The Caprock girls got regional titles from Lisa Martinez (102) and Daffney Barbosa (138). Maci Alvarado (165) finished second and Samantha Nava (95), Jennifer Williams (119) and Stephanie Hignight (128) finished third.
Tascosa advanced four boys and four girls. Joe Quinto (135), Collin Brown (145) and Riley Johnson (275) won regional titles. Jacob Bevington (160) beat Weatherford's Jacob Payne 7-4 in a wrestle back to finish fourth.
Breena Maul (148), Marissa Schrepel (185) and Kaylee Smith (215) finished second, and Raven Gilchrest (128) finished fourth.
Palo Duro's Sabrina Plasencio (102) and Jaleesa Stell (185) won regional crowns. Stell had to wrestle back at the District 6 meet just to advance to the regional.
Amarillo High advanced two boys and one girl. Kasey Urquhart (140) and Tyler Dalke (1710 finished fourth, and Bethany Courkamp (110) finished third.
Borger's Jeremy Watson (160) finished first, and teammates Jesse Powell (145), Kaleb Luna (152) and Jake Topper (180) finished second.
River Road's Ashly Underwood (128) finished first, and Natalie Ramos (165) finished third.
Hereford's Kirsten Iruegas (148) finished first and Allison Medina (138) finished second.
Area State Qualifiers
Girls
95: 1. Sabrina Plasencio, PD. 3. Samantha Nava, Caprock. 102: 1. Lisa Martinez, Caprock. 110: 3. Bethany Courkamp, AHS. 119: 3. Jennifer Williams, Caprock. 128: 1. Ashly Underwood, River Road. 3. Stephanie Hignight, Caprock. 4. Raven Gilchrest, Tascosa. 138: 1. Daffney Barbosa, Caprock. 2. Allison Medina, Hereford. 148: 1. Kirsten Iruegas, Hereford. 2. Breena Maul, Tascosa. 165: 1. Maci Alvarado, Caprock. 3. Natalie Ramos, RR.
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Hanks cadets bound for military academies
By Michael D. Hernandez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/11/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
As the city's top high-school athletes signed letters of intent Wednesday to attend major universities, a pair of blue-chip scholars from the Hanks High School JROTC program were honored with just as much fanfare for their acceptance into the nation's top military service academies.
Awbrey Lowe, 17, is headed this July to the United States Military Academy, and Jacob Banda, 17, will attend the United States Air Force Academy beginning in June. Those achievements were cheered on by classmates, cheerleaders, teachers and family members during an afternoon celebration at the East El Paso school.
"People always do signing parties for athletes on this day, and we wanted to make sure that these great kids were not overlooked," said retired Capt. Eileen Williams, a senior Army instructor who has been with the Hanks High School JROTC program for 12 years. "We need to be proud about the commitment they are making to our country."
Lowe is a member of the National Honor Society, the student council and a community service club and is a heralded member of the school's wrestling team. Undefeated this season, she is trying to become the city's first female wrestler to win three consecutive state championships.
Banda is also a member of the National Honor Society and the student council, is in two community service clubs and is on every varsity squad for the JROTC program, Williams said.
Lowe is the daughter of Edward and Twila Lowe. Banda is the son of Aura Banda.
Both seniors said their time with the Hanks High JROTC program has prepared them for the challenges they will face at the academies.
"This is one of the best programs in the city because it is truly cadet-run," said Lowe, a cadet colonel who is brigade commander for the Ysleta Independent School District. "You learn to speak in front of other students, you learn to lead, and you just exude confidence when you are part of this program."
The JROTC program at Hanks High School has been rated as an honor unit with distinction for 21 years, Williams said.
Banda, a cadet major, said instructors in the program expected the best of him as a student and person.
"Captain Williams is always demanding perfection from us," he said, adding that he remains focused on succeeding at the next level. "Being accepted is great and is a lot of stress off my back, but I still have to train physically" for the academy.
Banda said that he would take the same work ethic to the academy and that he aspires to fly jets for the Air Force.
Lowe said she wants to join the infantry and eventually serve in a Special Forces unit. It is Department of Defense policy to not assign women to positions that would involve close combat, according to the Selective Service System.
Lowe hopes that policy is changed by the end of her studies at West Point, but she is prepared for any challenge she meets.
Capt. Williams "was a female in the Army back when it was very hard to do that," she said. "I would like to break some barriers if I had to but, most of all, I want to serve my country."
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Goodrich wins overall GAC wrestling championship
GENESEE COUNTY
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Saturday, February 10, 2007
By Keith Morris
kmorris@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6184
It didn't exactly go the way the Martians would have scripted it, but a championship is a championship.
And that's just what Goodrich's wrestling team earned at Durand on Friday.
In one of the few three-way battles in league history, Durand won the tournament, but Goodrich and New Lothrop were right behind the Railroaders.
Since Durand lost both its dual matches to Goodrich and New Lothrop, the Railroaders entered the day needing to finish first and have Goodrich finish no higher than third. If New Lothrop would have finished second and Goodrich third, the three teams would have found themselves in the first three-way tie for the title in conference history.
Durand scored 183 points, but the Martians had 1761/2 points to finish 31/2 points ahead of the third-place Hornets. So Goodrich's 9-0 GAC dual record pushed the Martians to their first GAC crown since sharing the 1999 title with New Lothrop. The Martians also won outright titles in 1994 and '96.
"We're a little disappointed in finishing second (here), not to take anything away from Durand," said Goodrich coach Matt Turnbow. "It's an accomplishment. The GAC is always tough. The top two or three teams are usually some of the toughest in the state."
Goodrich had four champions, including C.C. Weber, who was 2-0 at 103 pounds to become the first girl to win a GAC title.
"It means just as much to me as any guy that would win it," said Weber, a sophomore who is 31-6. "I'm just trying to be a good wrestler, not a good girl wrestler."
Her brother, two-time state champion Mark Weber, won his third individual conference title. The junior only needed to wrestle one opponent to claim the 125 crown and improve to 44-1.
"It feels awesome but I wish I could have wrestled in the finals," said Weber, who won by injury default in the title round."
As for his sister making news before his match, Weber said, "I thought that was pretty cool. But she's got to focus on state now."
Grant Overcashier (130) and Drew Weil (135) also won titles for the Martians.
Durand also had four champions in Eric Telford (112), Brian Hittle (145), Will Vincent (189) and Chase Friess (285).
Championship matches
103 - C.C. Weber (Goodrich) d. Blake Birchmeier (New Lothrop) 3-2; 112 - Eric Telford (Durand) d. Allen Krupp (New Lothrop) 8-2; 119 - Cody Wray (Montrose) d. Kirk Britton (Goodrich) 7-6, OT; 125 - Mark Weber (Goodrich) d. Kevin Schafer (Byron), injury default; 130 - Grant Overcashier (Goodrich) d. Justin Kirby (Byron) 3:05; 135 - Drew Weil (Goodrich) d. Dave Spiegel (New Lothrop) 4-0; 140 - Jason Musall (Byron) d. Nick Gatchell (Goodrich) 1:50; 145 - Brian Hittle (Durand) d. Joe Hopkins (Goodrich) 26-11; 152 - Ryan Confer (New Lothrop) d. Josh Tabit (Mt. Morris) 1:20; 160 - Troy Smith (Lake Fenton) d. Adam Tabit (Mt. Morris) 13-1; 171 - Dennis Emmendorfer (New Lothrop) d. Tim Mann (Lake Fenton) 1-0; 189 - Will Vincent (Durand) d. Corey Drury (Byron) 1:04; 215 - Roger Emmendorfer (New Lothrop) d. Zach Ritter (Byron) :47; 285 - Chase Friess (Durand) d. Jake Kucharski (LakeVille) 2:38.
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No first-day surprises / Randall boys, Caprock girls jump in front
By Jeremy Heath 2/10/07
jeremy.heath@amarillo.com
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As expected, the Randall boys and the Caprock girls jumped out to first-day leads Friday in the team standings of the Region I wrestling meet at Randall.
Randall advanced eight of 10 regional qualifiers to today's semifinals, and the Caprock girls advanced six of seven.
On the boys side, Randall leads second-place Caprock, 93.5-69. El Paso Franklin and Borger are tied for third with 53, and Azle is fifth with 52.5.
"These kids are coming together," Randall coach David Quirino said. "They're out there pulling for each other, rooting each other on, and it shows by the way they are performing on the mat."
On the girls side, all six Caprock wrestlers received first-round byes, so they received no bonus points in first-round matches. All six made up for it in the quarterfinals by scoring pins. Caprock leads second-place El Paso Socorro, 54-51. El Paso Hanks is third with 40, El Paso High is fourth with 33, and Tascosa is fifth with 32.
"They were on fire," Caprock coach Scott Tankersley said. "I hope they can keep it going. There was no hesitation out there. They were wrestling to win instead of wrestling not to lose."
The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state meet Feb. 23-24 in Austin.
Randall advanced Victor Dotson (103 pounds), Josh Martinez (112), Brandon McDonald (119), Kalvin King (125), Jace Bennett (130), Joey Sykes (171), Cody Dudding (180) and Joseph Flores (189) to the semifinals. Jacob Perez (145) and Cameron Padilla (160) lost quarterfinal matches but can still qualify for the state meet with perfect consolation-bracket performances today.
"We want 10 in for Austin," Quirino said.
The Caprock girls advanced Samantha Nava (95), Lisa Martinez (102), Jennifer Williams (119), Stephanie Hignight (128), Daffney Barbosa (138) and Maci Alvarado (165) to the semifinals.
On the boys side, Caprock advanced Thomas Harris (112), Harvey Suarez (125), Chris Contreras (130), Rene Montoya (135), Devon Woods (189) and JJ Naranjo (275) to the semifinals.
Tascosa advanced all four of its qualifiers to the semifinals. Joe Quinto (135), Collin Brown (145), Jacob Bevington (160) and Riley Johnson (275) all went 2-0 on Friday.
Amarillo High advanced Mike Tran (103), Kasey Urquhart and Tyler Dalke (171). Dalke will face Sykes in the semifinals, a rematch of the District 6 final which Dalke won with an overtime takedown. River Road advanced Andrew Allen (215).
On the girls side, Tascosa advanced Breena Maul (148), Marissa Schrepel (185) and Kaylee Smith (215).
Palo Duro advanced Sabrina Plasencio (102) and Jaleesa Stell (185).
Amarillo High advanced Bethany Courkamp (110).
River Road advanced Ashly Underwood (128) and Kessa Bybee (215)
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PREP WRESTLING: Millard's Robbins goes for 2-A championship
By Jay Drew 2/10/07
The Salt Lake Tribune
Also, Uintah's Candace Workman, the only girl in the state tournament, won both her consolation matches Friday and has assured herself a top-6 finish. Workman (3-1) can finish third if she wins both matches today.
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3 teams are within striking distance of Prescott
Lindsey Frazier
Special for the Republic
Feb. 9, 2007 01:16 AM
Also of note was Tucson Catalina Foothills No. 10 seed Andrea Hughes (103), who was the only 4A-I female wrestler to qualify for the state tournament.
She defeated seventh seed Nicolas Navarro 18-7 in the first round before falling 9-2 to McClure in a quarterfinal match.
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Tea signs to play at Oklahoma State
Daily News staff
Published: February 8, 2007
Last Modified: February 8, 2007 at 03:38 AM
Skyview's Michaela Hutchison never quite understood all the attention focused on her last season when she became the first girl in the country to win a state wrestling title while competing against boys.
After that, interview requests poured in and she was invited to appear on "Late Night With David Letterman."
Hutchison thought older brother Eli was more deserving.
Eli last season made a case as the best Alaska wrestler of all, winning his fourth state title, a national title, and finishing undefeated against in-state competition for his career. He is now a red-shirt freshman at Division I Boise State University.
"He's the better wrestler," she said.
Perhaps in time, Hutchison, now a junior, will recognize the significance of her win. She and the wrestler she beat in the 103-pound championship last season, Colony's Aaron Boss, are, if not friends, on friendly terms.
Both moved up to 112 this year. They faced each other again during the second round of the Class 4A state meet at Chugiak. Boss, also a junior, pulled out a 6-4 victory. He went on to beat top-seeded Anthony Ricketts of Service in the semifinals, then lost in double overtime 4-3 to teammate Kyle Wilson in the finals.
Hutchison battled through the consolation rounds to face Ricketts in the third-place match, where she fell 11-6.
Last season, Hutchison entered state as the top seed. She was expected to make the finals.
This season she was seeded fifth -- more to her liking.
"I was the underdog," she said. "I like it that way."
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