Tianna Camous can hold her own on the wrestling mat, competing against girls or boys. Courtesy
News Page
Oklahoma City University recruits Results Junior Nationals 2007
Nicole Woody-1st
Ashley Hudson-2nd
Samantha Phillips-2nd
Marrina Piccolotti-2nd
Carrie Clark-3rd
Stephanie Waters-4th,
Lene Wood-6th,
Jennifer Peabody-6th.
TheMat/Asics Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team signed with OCU.
Nicole Woody and Joey Miller
OCU Women's Wrestling 2007-08
44KG Lene Wood Fr. Centennial HS, TX
Stephanie Waters Fr. Joliet Township HS, Ill.
Helen Timmons Fr. Lanier HS, TX
Crystal Grajeda Fr. Arlington HS, TX.
Cindy Pacheco Fr. Oak Grove HS, Ca.
48KG Nicole Woody Fr. Arundel HS, MD.
Christina Varland Jr. Missouri Valley College, Mo.
51KG LeAnn Barney So. Cumberland University, KY
Jennifer Peabody Fr Ayersville HS, Oh
55KG Ashley Hudson Fr. Lafayette HS, Mo.
Emma Mercer Fr. Lawrence HS, OK
Erica Torrez Fr. Granite Hills HS, Ca.
Joey Miller 2008-09 Woodward HS, Ok
59KG Samantha Phillips Fr. Manteca HS, Ca.
Chandra Peterson Fr. Lake Mills HS, Ia.
63KG Cheyenne Stokes Fr. East Central HS, Ok.
Sheila McCabe Fr. Cumberland University, KY
Sara Hillard Missouri Valley College, Mo
67 KG Marina Piccolotti Fr. Pacifica HS, Ca.
Briana Conway Fr. Jersey Shores Area HS, Pa
72 KG Melissa Simmons Fr. Northern Michigan, Mi
Ashley Sword Jr. Pikes Peak CC.
82KG Carrie Clark Fr. Vista Ridge HS, TX
Lacy Novinska So Missouri Valley College, Mo
95KG Nkeonyeakonia Okasfor Fr. Bellaire HS, TX
Karon Scott Fr LBJ HS, TX
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Pan Am bound: wrestler intends to bring her 'glorious best' to Games
(Posted Date: Monday, July 16, 2007)
By Carmine Bonanno - Toronto Town Crier - Canada
As far as Oweneha Akuffo is concerned, nothing beats representing the maple leaf.
That's exactly what the North York native and York University student will do later this month when she travels to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, looking for gold in women's wrestling at the Pan Am Games.
Akuffo hopes taking a silver four years ago, at her first games in Puerto Rico, will help improve her performance this time around.
"I've matured as an athlete since then and now you are able to condition your mind for an experience when you've already been there," said the 28-year-old, during a break from a hectic training schedule that has her on the mat two times a day, five or six days a week.
"The heat is going to be tough again, but since I remember those challenges, I know what to expect," she says. "Plus, I love representing my country, so it will be very exciting."
Akuffo, who wrestles in the 72 kg category, has posted strong results so far this year, including winning gold at the senior nationals in March and the Canada Open late last month. She also won a silver medal at the Austrian Open earlier in June.
"You always go into tournaments looking for gold, so I'm aiming for nothing less," she says of her chances in Brazil.
The 13-year veteran's trip to wrestling success is unusual. Akuffo moved from North York to Ghana when she was 3. Five years later, she came back to the Mississauga area where her family still resides.
As for her start in wrestling, Akuffo admits she had no clue such a sport existed before she started high school and how she made the wrestling team was "a fluke".
"I heard about it and decided to try out, not knowing exactly what wrestling was," she said. "So when I made the team, all I could say was, 'Wow'.
"It was such a challenging sport that I wanted to master it. But you can't, so all you can do is get better and better with every day of training."
And better is what Akuffo has been getting.
She is a two-time junior and five-time senior national champion, placed in the top five at the 2006 world championships and has stood on the podium 15 times, claiming seven gold medals in international events since 2001.
"The best part of wrestling is it is an individual and team sport," says Akuffo. "You need your teammates for training as they help bring the best out of you.
"But at the end of the day, it is all about you. You know your glorious best, but you have to be able to bring it. In team sports you can have a bad day and the team can still be victorious, but that doesn't happen in wrestling."
Akuffo, who is taking administrative studies, marketing and sports administration at York, says there is no timetable of how long her wrestling career will last because she still loves to compete. But there is one event she has her sights set on.
"There is an Olympics around the corner and I'll do my best to get there," she says of the 2008 Games in Beijing. "If my body is willing to keep doing this, I won't stop wrestling."
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Tianna Camous is just one of the guys
Camous enjoys competing against boys on football field, wrestling mat
By: Matt Long
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
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Tianna Camous can hold her own on the wrestling mat, competing against girls or boys. Courtesy |
Tianna Camous is a girl playing in a boys' sporting world, but that hasn't stopped her in her quest to compete.
Camous, a 14-year-old freshman-to-be at Folsom High, is about to begin her sixth year of youth football and her fifth year in wrestling. When she began playing those sports she was looked at as a girl, but now she feels as though she's just one of the guys.
"I started playing football because I saw my friends playing and I wanted to do it," Camous said. "During football season the wrestling coach, Tom Ward, came out and talked to the team, saying that wrestling is a great way to stay in shape for football so that's how I got started in wrestling."
At 5 foot, 3 inches and weighing 120 pounds, Camous has filled out some and will be on a level playing field with her teammates on the Folsom Jr. Bulldog Midget football team this year. When she first started playing football, it was a different story.
"I was one of the smallest players out there and I was really nervous," Camous said of her first practice. "One person said that girls can't play, but I just like showing people that I can do it. I like being out there running with the guys, making tackles and catching the ball."
Camous played for the Jr. Midget team last year for Coach Corey Gaide and she'll be with Gaide again this year on the Midget team. Camous' main position is cornerback.
"Tianna just amazes me," Gaide said. "She works hard and is just one of the guys. Once she straps that helmet on you'd never know she was a girl. She's one of the hardest hitters and she's not afraid to mix it up."
Her mom, Monica, is the president of the Jr. Bulldog football and cheer program and is proud of her daughter.
"I'm proud of her for playing the male-dominated sports," Monica said. "She knows she's not going to get any special treatment and she's earned respect from her teammates, coaches and other players. She's proved that girls can be out there if they really want to be."
In all her years of playing football and wrestling, she's never had a serious injury. When she was younger and smaller, her mom used to worry about her getting hurt, but not anymore. "She can hold her own now," Monica said.
After years of wrestling at the middle school level, Camous signed up to wrestle with the Mad Dawg Wrestling Club last year and enjoyed it.
"I just like going out on the mat and doing it for myself," Camous said. "It really gets my adrenaline pumping."
In May, Camous won the 120-pound girls' freestyle state championship in the junior high division and placed in the top-10 in the boys' division, so she's obvious got some talent on the mat, as well as on the football field.
Ward, her coach at Folsom Middle School, and Mike Collier, her Mad Dawg and high school coach, are impressed with her.
"She's a tough girl who's not like any other," Ward said. "She's definitely as tough as the guys. She did a phenomenal job last year for me. She kicked butt."
Collier echoed Ward's sentiment.
"She's tough mentally and physically," Collier said. "She's got a great work ethic and I'm looking forward to coaching her in high school. She could end up competing at a national level on the girls' scene and she'll be competitive with the boys."
In both football and wrestling, Camous said her teammates have been great to her.
"I've received a lot of support and help from them," Camous said.
Her teammates aren't the only people who support her. Camous said her girlfriends are a big help too.
"They think it's cool and they're all for it," Camous said. "They think I'm crazy, but they're there for me."
Camous spent last week training with the California National girls' wrestling team in San Jose. She said it was a good experience for her.
"One of the coaches saw me at a tournament and invited me to train with the team," Camous said. "It was pretty good. The coaches told me I could hold my own with the girls, but I still have to gain a lot of experience. It was a little too advanced for me. I realized that I need a couple more years to compete at that level. As she begins high school next month, Camous plans on continuing her athletic career at the next level. Camous said she'll play football and wrestle throughout her high school years. In fact, she hopes to someday earn a wrestling scholarship to compete in college.
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Maryland girls win national wrestling titles in North Dakota
1 day ago » Maryland girls win national wrestling titles in North Dakota «
21 days ago Chasing her Olympic dream
23 days ago Woody signs with Oklahoma City University
Jul 25, 2007 2:00 AM (1 day ago)
by Luke Broadwater, The Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Arundel’s Nicole Woody and Magruder’s Helen Maroulis won national titles Monday at the Women’s Junior Freestyle Nationals in Fargo N.D., the nation’s largest wrestling tournament.
Wrestling at 109 pounds, Maroulis went 8-0, punctuating her tournament with a second-period pin over Utah’s Candace Workman.
“I’m ecstatic. It’s an awesome feeling,” Maroulis said. “I was nervous, but I knew I would be so disappointed in myself if I got anything less than first.”
Woody, who competed in the 102-pound class, went 7-0 and defeated New York’s Amy Whitbeck in the final bout.
Two seasons ago, Maroulis became the first girl to place at a Maryland state public school wrestling tournament when she placed sixth in the Class 4A/3A’s 112-pound division.
This past winter, Woody was the first girl to wrestle for a Maryland state tournament title, as she placed second in the Class 4A/3A’s 103-pound division.
The duo has been training together and are roommates in Fargo.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while now, how we both want to win nationals together,” Maroulis said. “Every 10 minutes we say, ‘Oh My God. We both won.”
In the male portion of the tournament, Curley’s Mitch Fenton (130 pounds) went 6-3 and earned All-American status by placing eighth in the Junior Greco-Roman division.
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Who will walk away with medals at the Empire State Games?
By FROM STAFF REPORTS
(Original publication: July 24, 2007)
Who will win hardware?
The Empire State Games are still a day away. But it's not too early to start predicting who'll be leaving Westchester with medals around their necks. Below is a quick guide to the Games, outlining the favorites in every sport - both men and women, and open and scholastic:
WEIGHTLIFTING: Amy Whitbeck, a junior at Duanesberg High School and a two-time Section 2 Division II wrestling champion, is the returning gold medalist at 105.75 pounds for Adirondack.
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It's official: wrestling arrives at Andover High
Takedowns , Dave Dyer
Eagle-Tribune 7/23/07
Thank goodness for Andover wrestling boosters, which are a growing number, Bill Fahey is not one to be discouraged by hurdles.
Fahey, who has been the Director of Youth Services in Andover since he started the department in 1994, has been relentless in his efforts to get wrestling started at the high school level.
"I've been working on it for nine years," said Fahey, who had a similar problem when he initially went about adding lacrosse at the high school years ago. "Wrestling is a phenomenal sport, which teaches discipline and is for kids of all different weights. There have been kids and parents every year who asked about it, but it's been tough to get off the ground."
Among the obstacles were lack of a mat, a place to train and telltale signs that there was enough interest to warrant starting a wrestling program. Fahey, with help from dedicated boosters and fund-raising heroes like Mike and Sharon Oliveiri, cleared every obstacle one by one.
Ambitious fund raising helped purchase a mat, room was secured at the Doherty School and a youth program was started to gauge interest. And was there interest!
The youth program was popular from the moment it began two years ago and attracted 45 youngsters last year. Meanwhile, a high school club team under the direction of former Needham standout Sobhan Namvar boasted nearly 40 athletes this past winter and compiled an 8-2 record against JV teams.
Still, Andover athletic director Brian McNally expressed caution about officially adding the sport at the high school, saying that it must first show sustainability and that there could be a problem with Title IX restrictions.
But Fahey brought a lawyer to the last school committee meeting and he basically pointed out that wrestling is open to girls (there was one girl on the team last year) and that there was really nothing to worry about.
The school committee agreed and, with the provision that the "Friends of Andover Wrestling" booster club fund the program for two years, it was approved for the high school. Andover will wrestle a JV schedule this year and transition to a varsity program after a year or two.
"I don't think it will take long to be competitive," said Kevin Cote, a former standout at St. John's Prep and the head of Andover's youth program last year. "The youth program is going good and there are tons of good athletes in Andover. Andover has always had good athletes."
Namvar, who wrestled on the national team in high school and had a Division 1 scholarship to Lock Haven before returning to the area, is just as optimistic.
"I think we'll be competitive in a year or two," he said. "We had a lot of kids this year who never competed before and they did amazingly well. I think we'll end with 50 kids on the team this year."
Namvar did an excellent job his first year and, with help from Cote and assistants like Chris Baer and Peter Wong, it made the job of wrestling booster Andrea Vames relatively easy when she made the presentation for wrestling in front of the school committee.
Vames is the husband of Brian Lynch, who was on Andover's last wrestling team back in 1979, and her son Caleb wrestled in the youth program and will be a freshman this year.
"It (the presentation) wasn't that difficult because, under Bill's leadership and his choosing good coaches, he was able to develop a good program that got going quickly," said Vames. "Sobhan has done a great job and the kids absolutely love him."
Namvar works so well with youngsters that Fahey appointed him as a full-time assistant for the Department of Youth Services, and that will help keep numbers flowing into the wrestling program.
Whenever a new program gets off the ground, its staying power relies on good leadership and, under Fahey's guidance and a persistent boosters group, there shouldn't be a problem at Andover.
It all adds up to good news not only for wrestling in Andover, but wrestling in the Merrimack Valley Conference as well. Long considered the toughest league in New England, the MVC can't help but get even stronger in future years.
Varadian leaves a void
Although not everyone agreed with how he ran the New England Tournament, long-time director Haig Varadian, who passed away June 21 at the age of 81, will certainly be missed by the wrestling community.
Varadian, referred to by many as the "Father of Rhode Island Wrestling," began his career in the sport as an all-state wrestler at Cranston High School in 1944, later wrestled at Brown, coached wrestling at Cranston High for 12 years and later became a top official before becoming the sport's best-known administrator as a member of the New England Council.
Round in top form
Former North Andover wrestler Chris Round, who was a senior stalwart for the Knights last year, recently captured the USJA nationals in Indianapolis and then took a bronze medal in the USJF junior nationals. A member of Pedro's Judo Club, Round is currently ranked No. 2 in the country at his weight class.
It only makes sense ...
* Andover High School was the only Merrimack Valley Conference school without wrestling
r With more than 1,600 students, Andover was the largest school in the region without wrestling
* Andover offers sports, like golf and boys gymnastics, which generally attract fewer participants than wrestling
* Much smaller schools than Andover, such as Pelham (640) and Georgetown (400), offer wrestling
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Back to Back: California beats Texas in finals of Women's Junior National Duals for second straight year
Matt Russell Special to TheMat.com
07/24/2007
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FARGO, N.D. – California used four pins in a span of five matches to defeat Texas, 35-19, winning its second consecutive title at the Women’s National Junior Dual Meet Championships at the Fargodome on Tuesday, July 24.
California and Texas have met in the finals the last three years. Texas took home the title in 2005, but California gained revenge last year, 30-22.
“This is just an awesome feeling,” said California women’s head coach Julie Gonzalez. “The competition gets harder every year and during camp this week we challenged them to ‘do what you have to do’ and they got fired up and really pulled it together. I’m incredibly proud of these girls.”
California jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after wins from Adriana Arzola and Victoria Anthony at 95 and 102 pounds, respectively. But Emily Martin from Texas closed the gap to 6-5 after scoring a pin over Samantha Lopez at 109.
That would be as close as the women from the Lone Star State would get as California would score bonus points in the next five matches, which
included four pins.
All-Americans Tina Linhsamout and Trinity Plessinger recorded falls at 124 and 132 pounds to extend California’s lead to 16-5.
Three-time national champion and 2007 TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School Wrestler of the Year Tatiana Padilla scored a 6-0, 6-0 technical fall over Kirsten Strickler at 132 pounds to give California a 20-5 lead.
At 139 pounds, national runner-up Marina Picollotti notched a first-period fall before Megan Agajanian scored the championship-clinching pin at 146 pounds over Texas’ Brenda Mendoza. Agajanian defeated Mendoza the previous day in the fifth-place match in the Junior National Championships.
“I just beat her on points yesterday so it felt great to score the pin for our team,” said Agajanian, who wrestled her last match for Team
California. The outgoing senior graduated from Louisville High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., last spring and will wrestle for the University of the Cumberlands this fall.
“It’s been so exciting the last two years coming here and winning the title,” said Agajanian. “It’s been great to be a part of such an awesome team. I’ll miss all of my teammates.”
Texas’ Lindsey Brooks scored a technical fall at 153 pounds and national runner-up Jami Moore notched a pin at 165 to put their team back on the scoreboard and close the gap to 30-14.
In a battle of All-Americans, Angela Vyborny of California pinned Carrie Clark at the 1:08 mark of the first period to increase California’s lead to 35-14.
In the final bout of the match, Amanda Athon of Texas pinned California’s Paloma Basulto at 220 pounds.
California defeated Michigan 39-16 and Texas took care of Florida 50-6 in the semifinals to qualify for the championship match.
Michigan defeated Development Team #2, 28-28 in the third-place match and Florida loss to Development Team #1, 35-25 but took fourth place in the team standings. Development Teams are not eligible to place in the final team standings. Hawaii and Wisconsin rounded out the top six.
Team Standings
1st – California
2nd – Texas
3rd – Michigan
4th – Florida
5th – Hawaii
6th – Wisconsin
First-Place Match
California 35, Texas 19
95 – Adriana Arzola (California) over Crystal Grajeda (Texas) Dec 3-0, 1-0
102 – Victoria Anthony (California) over Lene Wood (Texas) Dec 3-0, 3-0
109 – Emily Martin (Texas) over Samantaha Lopez (California) Fall 5-0, 1:06
116 – Tina Linhsamout (California) over Mia Mickelson (Texas) Fall 0:44
124 – Trinity Plessinger (California) over Mia Herrera (Texas) Fall 6-0, 1:09
132 – Tatiana Padilla (California) over Kirsten Strickler (Texas) TF 6-0, 6-0
139 – Marina Picollotti (California) over Tessa Plana (Texas) Fall 1:50
146 – Megan Agajanian (California) over Brenda Mendoza (Texas) Fall 1-0; 0:50
153 – Lindsey Brooks (Texas) over Angela Miller (California) TF 7-0, 6-0
165 – Jami Moore (Texas) over Holly Thein (California) Fall 1:03
190 – Angela Vyborny (California) over Carrie Clark (Texas) Fall 1:08
220 –Amanda Athon (Texas) over Palmoa Basulto Fall 3-3, 1:40