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TheMat.com Wrestlers of the Week Hazewinkel, Kelly, Bregman among guests on Takedown Radio this week
Scott Casber Takedown Radio
04/26/2007
This is a huge weekend for Takedown Radio as we along with our friends at Extreme Contact Fighting are producing a LIVE iPPV MMA event featuring many former wrestlers. Over 19 bouts. Further information can be found on line at Fightsportglobal.com
This week on the show we will talk with –
The following athletes are all Mat.com-TDR Athletes of the Week - We'll do our best to get caught up on our athletes of the week by interviewing these fine kids.
Mary Kelly - Mary knocked off a pair of past World champions at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. as the United States women’s freestyle team placed fifth at the World Cup on March 22-23 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Kelly defeated World champion Xueceng Ren of China 3-1, 2-1 and downed World champion Brigitte Wagner of Germany 5-0, 1-0. Kelly went 2-1 in the dual-meet event. Kelly was a 2006 U.S. World Team member.
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By FELICIA FRANK
Of The Gazette Staff 4/29/07
Saturday marked the completion of the first United States Girls Wrestling Association's Montana State Championships open tournament.
The event, held at Lockwood Middle School, was attended by 41 girls ages five and older from as far away as California.
One of those girls was an 11 year-old newcomer to the sport, Machaela Goggins from Shepherd, who used her background in judo to help her place third in her weight class.
"The throws from judo help," said Goggins, "but a lot of it is illegal, like arm bars." Although Goggins likes wrestling and judo, she is still what one could call a "girly girl." Since she had to cut her fingernails for the competition, she talked her mother, Debi, into getting her a manicure afterwards.
Goggins competed two weeks ago in the USAW freestyle state tournament in Butte, where she placed sixth in her first ever wrestling competition, which was attended by both girls and boys.
Debi felt that when Machaela wrestles against girls it is not as intimidating because when girls wrestle boys, "the boys don't want to go against the girls and the girls don't want to go against the boys."
But when asked how she felt about people who think girls should not wrestle at all, Debi responded, "Everyone's got their own opinion, but people are just old-fashioned. You should encourage your daughter to do anything if that's what she wants to do."
Another wrestler, 14 year-old Jenna Holman, wants to encourage other girls to enter the sport.
"I think that if you wrestle boys it makes you tough," explained Holman, "so I'd encourage other girls to do it. I want them to get into the sport."
According to the Kent Bailo, the director of the United States Girl's Wrestling Association, there are only four colleges in the United States that offer scholarships for women wrestlers and only two states, Texas and Washington, have separate girls wrestling teams in their high schools.
Jenna's dad and one of the event's referees, Jim Holman, explained, "Wrestling's a tough sport. Girls work twice as hard right from the get go. Throughout life girls will have to compete with men for jobs and this will carry with her for the rest of her life."
Jenna traveled to the Body Bar Women's National Championships in San Diego in 2005, where she won her weight division.
The following year she placed second in the tournament, which was held in Colorado Springs, and also became the first girl in Billings history to win the middle school city tournament.
This year, Jenna has won the middle school tournament for the second year in a row and placed fifth in the Rocky Mountain Nationals, an all-girls tournament held in Denver. She also won her weight division in Saturday's tournament.
On his way out of the Lockwood Middle School gym Saturday, a participant's father told Jim that his daughter was "a heck of a role model for the girls in the tournament."
Jenna explained, "People need to realize that if girls lose to a boy, they feel the same way as if a boy loses to a girl."
For the order of finish in each weight class, see the Scoreboard on Page 7B.
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4/29/07
Seth Basler, Marion: Was 26-8 including a first place finish at the Glenwood Invitational at 103 pounds.
Nic Bleyer, Carbondale: Placed first at regionals and won 26 times at 152 pounds.
Jordan Echols, Mount Vernon: Won 25 matches including 16 pins at 160 pounds.
Adam Hawk, Carbondale: Amassed a 23-10 record and was a first team all-conference selection at 140 pounds.
Morgan Krummrich, Carbondale: Placed first in the South Seven and regionals at 135 pounds.
Zach Lomax, Carbondale: Finished 36-9 including a first team all-conference selection at 145 pounds.
Kyle Lonas, Mount Vernon: Finished 21-10 and earned first team all-conference honors at 130 pounds.
Eric Pierce, Mount Vernon: Compiled a 20-10 mark and was first team all-conference at 119 pounds.
Alli Ragan, Carbondale: Became the second female ever to qualify for the state meet and was the South Seven Conference champ at 112 pounds.
Jared Ragan, Carbondale: Qualified for state and led the Terriers with 40 wins at 125 pounds.
Kyle Shea, Marion: Took second place at regionals and finished with a 28-10 mark at 171 pounds.
Mike Smith, Carbondale: Won 38 matches and a regional title at 215 pounds.
Dayton Spears, Centralia: Finished 22-15 and placed third at regionals at 189 pounds.
Joey Taylor, Centralia: Won a regional and was selected first team all-conference in the 285-pound weight division.
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'Girl Among Boys' scores TV honor
SCOT ALLYN, Morning Journal Writer
04/29/2007
AMHERST -- Emily Brumenschenkel is one of those inspiring people who quietly marches to the beat of a different drummer and ends up ahead of the pack.
On Tuesday, the 18-year-old Amherst Steele High School senior will collect a national award for a three-part video series she created with student Anthony Karhusz called ''Girl Among Boys.'' In it, she practices shoulder-to-shoulder with the Amherst football, wrestling and hockey teams. For the sake of her art, she endured weight-lifting, gruelling physical drills and a barrage of hockey pucks.
Brumenschenkel will travel to New York City for the honor, a National Student Television Award for Excellence, which is given by the Foundation of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). If the group sounds familiar, that's because they also give out television Emmys.
Brumenschenkel is carrying on a tradition of greatness at the high school -- last year a group of students won the National Student Television Award in the news category.
Amherst entries also won six categories in regional competition last year, against high schools in the Cleveland chapter, which includes schools in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, eastern Indiana and southern Michigan. This year, Amherst students won five regional awards.
Emily's mother, Ann Brumenschenkel, said her family was thrilled to learn of the award, but Emily's focus on sports in her project was not exactly unexpected.
''Emily's father coached wrestling, her older brother Peter wrestled for Amherst and she was a tomboy, so I'm not totally surprised,'' Ann Brumenschenkel said. ''She's enjoyed the TV course and it's been a good fit for her. She likes editing and being behind the scenes.''
Ann Brumenschenkel emphasized her daughter's independent personality.
''I'd say Emily is an individual,'' she said. ''She'll do what she wants to do, and is not afraid to try something different.''
According to Av Westin, the executive director of the NATAS Foundation and a former ABC news executive, Brumenschenkel's singular approach to her subject helped her win the award.
''Her entry was one of the more clever ones,'' Westin said. ''We judge on content, creativity and execution, so simple play-by-play can lose out. In the sports category, she was unique.''
Westin praised Brumenschenkel's light-hearted touch.
''She put herself in the game with a great sense of humor,'' he said. ''Her ability to convey that humor in video is wonderful. If she wanted to have a career in broadcasting, she's well on her way.''
Brumenschenkel has a 3.755 grade point average and is in the top 10 percent of her class, according to her teacher Mark Lowrie. She has already been accepted to Bowling Green State University, where she will start next fall in the Visual Communications Technology program.
She took Lowrie's TV Communications class her junior and senior years, she said.
''I have to thank Mr. Lowrie for his input on this award,'' she said. ''He puts in a lot more than he needs to. He cares a lot about all of us. For midterms he stays at the school until 11 p.m. because he wants to help us.''
Lowrie said Emily won her award the old-fashioned way, with dedication and hard work.
''She didn't win this award on the wrestling mats, the weight room or the ice,'' he said. ''She won it from hours and hours of editing. She used natural sound, letting it speak for itself, instead of writing narration. Each three-minute story took hours to edit, and that was after she endured the physical pain of the sport itself.''
In the three episodes, Emily is sweating and out of breath as she keeps up with the larger boys on their own turf. Some of the boys tease her, but others show respect for her efforts. The 5-foot-3-inch Brumenschenkel had to wear pads that belonged to one of the hockey coaches' sons when she took a turn as goalie, she said.
Lowrie said Brumenschenkel threw herself into the project.
''Emily would rather be doing the dirty work behind the scenes for the betterment of the product, than be out in front of the camera,'' he said. ''She does well on the set, but it's not her preference. She doesn't seek the glory, and she's been a little uncomfortable with all the attention since she won the award.''
Lowrie said what happened when he was told she won the national award illustrated Emily's spirit.
''When I learned she won the award, I wanted to tell her in person,'' he said. ''But when I called to set up a meeting, it was spring break and she was in New Orleans with the Martin Luther King Hurricane Katrina Leadership Project. She was helping other kids rebuilding homes that were wrecked in Hurricane Katrina.''
Brumenschenkel's award-winning series ''Girl Among Boys'' can be seen on the Amherst Steele High School Web site, at http://www.amherst.k12.oh.us/steele/steele_news_live/index.html.
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Casper rivals take different routes to success
By PATRICK SCHMIEDT
Star-Tribune staff writer Sunday, April 29, 2007
Chelsea Carrick takes an academic approach to distance running.
Veronica Schmidt's approach is based more on fortitude.
Both methods have worked.
Carrick, a freshman at Natrona County, and Schmidt, a senior at Kelly Walsh, have developed a solid rivalry -- and a bit of a friendship -- as they run toward state titles.
Schmidt won the 1600 at the Wyoming Track and Field Classic on Friday in a state-best time of 5 minutes, 21.86 seconds. Carrick won the 3200 in a time of 11:57.77, and still has Class 4A's top time this year, 11:48.73.
At Saturday's Casper Invitational, Carrick finished second in the 1600.
Schmidt's victory was little surprise. She has been a state placer each of the past two years and has continued to improve this year thanks to some training -- with the wrestling team.
Instead of running indoor track last winter, Schmidt was the KW wrestling manager and ran with the team.
"It helps a lot, it really does," Schmidt said. "They run more than the indoor team does, sometimes."
Schmidt's coach, Kevin Williams, said the wrestling training doesn't directly correlate to distance success in the outdoor season. But there are positives to running on a mat rather than a track.
"The one thing about it, the wrestlers, you know they work hard," Williams said. "You have to be a hard worker to be in that sport to begin with.
"We're glad that she was doing something this winter, because in distance you have to have that strength base."
Carrick, meanwhile, has burst onto the track scene like few freshman could have. She was the state indoor champion in the 3200 in March and has carried that success into the outdoor season.
Shelly Coventry, the girls coach at Natrona, said Carrick's mental approach and focus are beyond compare for a freshman. Specifically, Coventry is impressed with how well Carrick knows her competition.
"(Before the race) she wants to see that heat sheet," Coventry said. "She wants to know exactly where she's sitting. I don't get freshmen that do that.
"If there's somebody ahead of her, that's all it takes (to motivate her)."
Carrick said she picked up that habit during the indoor season. During the outdoor season, she checks the online list of state qualifiers every few days, just to see how she stacks up. In part, Carrick's analytical approach led to her victory on Friday.
"I knew who my competition was, and I knew their times," Carrick said. "I knew I had to push it."
Together, Carrick and Schmidt are the best hope for girls' distance titles at the state meet. Neither runner claims a cross-town rivalry -- in fact, they've gone as far as to trade bits of advice.
"We have a lot of fun together," Schmidt said. "We just push each other more than anything."
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High school girl likes Barbies, dancing - and wrestling—
BALTIMORE (AP) - 4/29/07
One of the Baltimore area's top 103-pound wrestlers has been known to braid hair and play with Barbie dolls.
Arundel High School's Nicole Woody started wrestling at age 9.
She's 18 now and has a collection on national and international titles.
She is currently the U-S Girls' Wrestling Association top-ranked 100-pounder and could become the first girl to win four titles at the annual Junior National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota, this summer. Her career varsity record is 66-and-18 -- almost exclusively against boys.
In February, she became the first girl to win an Anne Arundel County title. And she's also the state's first female regional champion.
She has received a scholarship offer from the U-S Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University, one of four Olympic training centers in the country --- Information from: The Baltimore Examiner, http://www.examiner.com