Katy's Julie Stayton was beaming
after a performance in the Gator Roll tournament that included three
pins in as many matches, all coming in 1:44 or less.
TERRY CARTER:
FOR THE CHRONICLE
After earning a spot in Austin at 148 pounds last season as a
freshman, Tiger Julie Stayton raised her intensity to a new level.
The sophomore stepped on the mat three times at 138 pounds during the Gator Roll tournament. Each time, the result was the same: Aggressive takedown, power move, pin at 1:04, 1:31 and 1:44. Now 10 pounds lighter and quicker, Stayton dominated all three foes, which is likely to move her into a state top 10 ranking as word gets out about her prowess.
Only District 22 rival and 138-pound state runner-up Whitney Disotelle of Waller stands between Stayton and early area supremacy. The pair will likely meet at the Cy Ridge Classic on Dec. 1 or at the Doc Hes Memorial Classic Dec. 22 at Bryan unless another area challenger emerges.
Klein Collins
Klein Collins is not a wrestling team to be quibbled with. The Tiger boys put on a solid show Friday and Saturday at the Gator Roll event at Klein Oak, finishing second behind Katy Taylor.
Collins coach Kenny Rucker, an NAIA national champion at 177 pounds, said he likes his team to stay under the radar for as long as possible. He was not surprised the Tigers were unranked in preseason polls, but he has high expectations. The Tigers managed an unbeaten 3-0 dual record on Friday placed 10 wrestlers in the top six at the Gator Roll individual tournament Saturday at Klein Oak.
Finalist David Salinas at 145 pounds and 152-pound champion Sean Sanders tipped the momentum the Tigers' way. Allen Montoya (160) finished third and Taylor Moses (189) grabbed second to push Klein Collins past Morton Ranch for second in the team race by 2.5 points.
Morton Ranch
The Mavericks are hosting the only event in town tonight at 5 p.m., and it promises to include the first true girls duals this season. The guys will wrestle also, particularly for Klein Collins and Morton Ranch.
Typically, wrestling coaches have a challenge finding dedicated girls to fill the majority of 10 weights, ranging from 95 pounds to 215. Not true this year as girls wrestling continues to grow in Houston.
The majority of District 22 teams — Waller, Katy, Katy Taylor, Morton Ranch, as well as Cy Ridge, Houston Lee and Brazoswood — can put five or more solid girl grapplers on the mat.
Morton Ranch's Ashley Campos, Waller's Amanda Kelso, Whitney Disotelle, Maegan Fellers are among the state qualifiers on the mat at Morton Ranch Wednesday.
Female wrestling KELO tells about the competition, or lack there of, for SD female wrestlers.
It isn't a sanctioned sport in South Dakota, but two members of the wrestling team at Douglas Middle School would like to see girls wrestling added to the list. Right now, the two girls have to wrestle boys, when and where they can find a match.
Amanda Malone and Rebecca James put in a lot of hard work at wrestling practice. But they say the lack of competition gets to be a little frustrating.
"If there are any girls wanting to wrestle then come on out," says wrestler Amanda Malone.
Comments:
Post
a Comment
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 9:21
AM CST
By Amy Sherrill
TIMES RECORD • ASHERRILL@SWTIMES.COM
Fort Smith’s two public high schools may be getting ready to
compete with other schools on the mat.
The Fort Smith School Board Committee as a Whole voted 7-0 Monday night
to approve wrestling as another sport for boys and girls in Fort Smith
Public Schools.
“We’ve always had the philosophy in Fort Smith that
we’ve tried to be the frontrunner of what’s offered
in schools,” said Athletics director Jim Rowland.
There are 38 teams in Arkansas already and if Fort Smith’s
two high schools add the sport, the Arkansas Activities Association
will sanction wrestling as a sport when the state number reaches 40,
according to Greg Hatcher of Little Rock, president of the Arkansas
Wrestling Association.
Hatcher became interested last year when Don Schuler of Fayetteville, who is vice president of AWA, contacted him.
The two knew budget concerns would be an issue so Hatcher took out a loan to pay for the first 40 schools’ initial equipment. Hatcher said he has hopes that once the AAA sanctions the sport, the Arkansas Wrestling Association can begin fundraising to help with the loan cost.
Hatcher, 46, an insurance agent at Hatcher Agency, competed in wrestling in high school and in college in Michigan, and wanted Arkansas schools to accept the sport since he moved to the state about 20 years ago. However, he said, he was involved in other community events and hadn’t pursued the matter.
Rowland chose not to participate last year in wrestling because many of the schools were competing in the sport as a “club sport,” without funding from the school districts.
“Quite frankly, without any wrestling background in Arkansas, I didn’t really know what kind of acceptance we would have,” Rowland said.
In talking with other athletic directors in the 7A West conference, Rowland learned there is a lot of interest in it and preliminary participants are 30 to 40 per school.
Boys and girls compete against each other in the sport.
Board member Jeannie Cole said if wrestling would get more youths connected to school then she was in favor of adding the program
“It’s still all about kids and helping kids get involved in school,” Rowland said.
The wrestlers would have to purchase their own shoes, knee pads and headgear, Rowland said.
There are no coaches on staff in the school district who has expertise in wrestling, but a Mulberry man, whom Rowland did not immediately identify, has agreed to volunteer and help mentor coaches on staff in the sport.
The man was a state championship wrestler in high school and also wrestled at the college level, Rowland said.
Hatcher said what he likes about wrestling is that it requires wrestlers to maintain their weight and watch their nutrition.
He also believes that it takes courage to get on the mat alone with no teammates and perform in front of peers.
He added that there are “no politics,” in the sport about who a coach allows to participate.
“There are no bench sitters in wrestling,” Hatcher said.
Rowland said that smaller students and larger students can participate in wrestling because of the many weight classifications.
Hatcher said he wrestled as a 98-pound freshman in high school and as a 170-pound senior and that the sport was forgiving to athletes who matured later than others.
Classification and conferences will be set by Arkansas Activities Association, Rowland said.
The sports season would run from the second week of December through the end of February.
The matter will go before the School Board at Monday night’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting.
Last spring, gymnastics was cut from the sports programs at the two Fort Smith high schools because of lack of interest and because Arkansas Officials Association had stopped training gymnastics officials.
11/19/2007
The Challenge: No Challengers In Girls Wrestling
It isn't a sanctioned sport in South Dakota, but two members of the wrestling team at Douglas Middle School would like to see girls wrestling added to the list. Right now, the two girls have to wrestle boys, when and where they can find a match.
Amanda Malone and Rebecca James put in a lot of hard work at wrestling practice. But they say the lack of competition gets to be a little frustrating.
"If there are any girls wanting to wrestle then come on out," says wrestler Amanda Malone.
"It would be pretty cool to have lots of girls," adds her teammate Rebecca James.
But because so few girls take part, James and Malone often wrestle against boys in tournaments.
"It just depends on if there are girls, then I wrestle girls, but there is usually not so I just wrestle boys," says James.
That is, If those boys, their coaches and their parents are up for it.
"In AAU the people won't let me wrestle boys so I usually sit back and get first but I don't want first if I don't have anything to wrestle," says Malone.
Amanda's father, Ed Malone, is also the assistant coach of her wrestling team. He would like to see other wrestlers be more open to competing against girls.
"I'm old fashioned to a point but there is also a new era with equality and if they want to try it let them try it," adds Malone.
He says its usually not the athlete who is uncomfortable wrestling his daughter.
"Its all in the parents, it really is. If you're parent says Oh you lost to a girl and that's all that's being taught, that's not right," says Malone.
He says if enough girls get interested in wrestling, then the gender issue wouldn't matter anymore.
Kristie Marano looking to complete historic career with
trip to 2008 Olympics
Craig Sesker USA
Wrestling
11/19/2007
This story
originally ran in the November issue of USA Wrestler
magazine
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Kristie Marano admits she hasn’t
seen much of the record nine medals she’s won from her nine trips to the World
Championships.
Shortly after returning home following her second-place
finish at the 2007 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Marano’s silver
medal wound up in familiar, and good, hands.
“My mom confiscates all my
medals – I only get to see them for a brief period,” Marano said with a laugh.
“My mom has them all framed and displayed at their house back in New
York.”
The 28-year-old Marano, a two-time World champion, has ascended to
legendary status with all the medals she's won in women’s freestyle wrestling.
She tied freestyle legend Bruce Baumgartner’s American wrestling record of nine
World medals.
But even with her impressive medal collection and a resume
filled with glowing achievements, Marano already has shifted her focus to her
next big goal.
She is taking aim at winning a gold medal at the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She fell just short of qualifying for the 2004
Olympics in Athens, Greece.
“Competing in the Olympics is a goal I’ve had
since I was five years old,” she said. “Reaching that goal would pretty much
complete me. It would complete everything I’ve worked for over the last 23
years.”
Marano placed second to Toccara Montgomery at the 2004 Olympic
Team Trials at 158.5 pounds. Marano did make the trip to the 2004 Olympics in
Athens as a training partner for Montgomery. Women’s wrestling made its Olympic
debut in 2004. Marano narrowly missed making weight at 138.75 lbs. at the 2004
Trials before moving up to 158.5.
“What happened in 2004 definitely is a
motivator for me,” said Marano, who now competes at 158.5 pounds. “It was
heartbreaking, not making the Olympic Team. But when I was asked to go to the
Olympics as a training partner, I just tried to put what happened behind me and
help our team get ready for the Olympics. It was an honor being part of the
Games and it was a great experience. And it gave me even more motivation to be
on the next Olympic Team.”
Marano, whose 9-year-old daughter Kayla just
started competing in wrestling this year, said she is not sure how long she will
compete.
“I will take it year-by-year after 2008,” she said. “It’s hard
to even think about the end of my career right now. I know I will really miss
the competition when I am done.”
Marano has been right in the middle of
the growth of women’s wrestling, not only in this country but on the
international level as well. The numbers of participants and the skill level for
women’s freestyle has improved significantly over the past decade.
“I’m
very proud of women’s wrestling and where it’s gone,” Marano said. “It’s great
to see how far we’ve come, and hopefully it will continue to
grow.”
Marano owns two gold medals from the World Championships, along
with five silver medals and two bronze medals. She’s an unthinkable 9-for-9 in
winning medals at the World Championships.
So what’s her
secret?
“I’m not really sure what it is,” Marano said with a laugh. “I
really, really, really love to compete, that’s basically what it comes down to.
I really push myself to do my best, no matter what tournament I’m competing in.
I want our sport to get more recognition and I put a lot of pressure on myself
to win. I just love to compete – that’s why I’m still doing this.”
The
nine medals she’s won in World competition, including a silver and bronze in the
past two years, is something Marano admits she hasn’t thought much
about.
“Nine medals, it definitely is a huge accomplishment,” she said.
“One day, it will be really nice to look back on what I’ve done. But I need to
live in the present, and I’m always looking forward. That’s just my
personality.”
USA Wrestling National Women’s Coach Terry Steiner can’t
say enough about what Marano has achieved.
“Nine medals – that just
speaks for itself,” Steiner said. “To be in this fire nine times and win nine
medals is pretty amazing. The level of wrestling is improving, no doubt about
it, and for her to continue to succeed at this level is very
impressive.”
Being a World class athlete is something Marano said has
opened a lot of doors for her.
“It’s been great,” she said. “I’ve been to
a lot of places I never thought I would ever be and I’ve traveled all around the
World. I’ve had some great experiences – it’s been pretty amazing. The best part
of being on the team has been all the friendships I’ve made.”
Sharing her
wrestling accomplishments with her family means a great deal to
Marano.
“I know my family is really proud of me, and that means a lot,”
she said. “My daughter, my mom, my dad, my brothers, my entire family has been
so supportive. Without their help and without their support, I wouldn’t be able
to do this. My family means absolutely everything to me. I love making them
proud.”
KRISTIE MARANO’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS
1996
Sofia, Bulgaria – Silver
1997 Clermont-Ferrand, France – Silver
1998
Poznan, Poland – Silver
1999 Boden, Sweden – Silver
2000 Sofia, Bulgaria –
Gold
2002 Halkida, Greece – Bronze
2003 New York, N.Y. – Gold
2006
Guangzhou, China – Bronze
2007 Baku, Azerbaijan – Silver
NYAC Holiday International Open: Women's Freestyle
