News Page
T-Bird wrestlers lose match
By MICHAEL QUIGLEY
Staff Reporter 12/28/07
The Yucaipa High School varsity wrestling team lost the
last two pairings of the evening in a Citrus Belt League match at home to A. B.
Miller Thursday. Those two losses were the difference in the match, which the
T-B lost 45-33.
When the evening began, it didn't appear that the match
would be even that close. The Rebels, which went into the match undefeated in
CBL competition, won the first three pairings on pins to take an 18-0 lead.
Yucaipa's Ethan Etheredge, wrestling in the 171- pound class, pinned his
opponent in the second period of the fourth pairing to stem the tide
momentarily. After Miller won the next pairing by a pin, however, the Rebels had
a 24-6 lead.
Matt Powell, wrestling in the 215-pound class for the
T-Birds, won by pin and Josh McKee, wrestling as a heavyweight, pinned his
opponent as well to close the gap to 24-18.
Yucaipa's Anthony Downer won a close decision in his
pairing in the 103-pound class. Although Downer was clearly the better wrestler,
he gave six points to his opponent on illegal hold penalties. Downer prevailed
on points 14-11.
Downer's win cut Miller's lead further to 24-21, but his
victory was the last Yucaipa would win on the mat. Summer Runyon, the only
female wrestling for the varsity, lost a decision to her opponent 11-2. Although
the decision was a relatively lopsided one, Runyon's performance was quite
impressive in that she avoided a pin. Runyon spent much of the match on her
back, struggling to keep her shoulders from touching the mat for more than two
seconds. On more than a couple of occasions it looked as if a pin were
inevitable, but Runyon never relented.
After Miller won the next pairing
on a technical fall (leading in the match by 15 points), the Rebels had
increased the lead in the match to 33-21. Miller didn't have wrestlers for the
next two weight classes, however, so the Rebels had to forfeit these matches.
The forfeits evened the score at 33 all. The match would be decided by the last
two pairings of the evening. Unfortunately, both T-Birds were pinned.
With the loss to Miller, Yucaipa's
CBL record drops to 1-2.
By Dick Sparrer
Los Gatos Weekly-Times
Article Launched: 12/26/2007 08:43:21 PM
PST
There was big news for the Fisher
Middle School wrestling team at the county finals earlier this month, and it
wasn't just that Sam Hopkins won an individual county championship for the
Trojans.
Cady Chessin earned a place in the tournament and won a fourth-place medal at
70 pounds. While impressive, that in and of itself wasn't the big news, though.
It was that Chessin is the first female wrestler ever to qualify for the county
finals from the West Valley Athletic League.
It was Hopkins, though, who topped a list of six Trojans who placed at the
tournament. Hopkins finished first at 120 pounds to take a gold medal home to
Fisher.
Sean Summers (75 pounds) and Ryan Gasvoda (115) each finished second in the
tourney and Robbie Chen (85) nailed a third. Chessin (70) and Ben Hopner (125)
were each fourth in the event.
12/27/07
Compiled from staff reports
Email
this story to a friend
Wrestling
Linda DeBakey (Wilde Lake), a sophomore on the Cumberland College women's
wrestling team, earned a victory in the 55k weight class Nov. 10 in an
exhibition match against Oklahoma City University.
BY ANDREW MAY, Staff Writer
(Created: Thursday, December 27, 2007)
It stands to reason that the Frisco girls wrestling team would take a hit after
graduating two-time state champion Vanessa Epps in May. The self-proclaimed
“headlock queen” finished her career at Frisco with more than 110 pins and 130
wins, second all-time in state history. But the Lady Raccoons have a bumper crop
of talent within the ranks that could make the 2008 state tournament the most
successful in program history.
Senior Alannah Griego has qualified for
state the past three seasons, placing fifth in 2007. The natural progression
would have Griego finishing on the podium in her senior campaign if not winning
it all, a prospect head coach Chuck Brown believes is very
realistic.
“When it comes to the state tournament, she wrestles better
than she has all year,” Brown said. “She definitely has a shot to win it if she
puts four matches together.”
Brown said Griego wasn’t a state caliber
wrestler last season, which gives him reason to believe the best is yet to come.
Ditto for junior Kirsten Strickler. Stickler, 18-1 on the season, has been in
Austin each of her two years as a Lady Raccoon.
She failed to place as a
sophomore in what Brown called a “bad” showing. That Strickler fell short of
expectations fueled her workouts in the offseason. She is back to take care of
some unfinished business.
“She realizes what it takes to be at that level
and she is doing everything she can to get there,” Brown said. “She realizes she
can be a great wrestler.” The biggest improvement in Strickler’s game is her
mental toughness. Over the summer, she traveled to Fargo (ND) to compete for
Team Texas at the Junior Nationals in addition to going 4-1 for the Texas Junior
National Dual Team that finished second in the nation. Having stared down the
country’s elite will make the push for a Texas title that much
easier.
“Nobody she will face is as good as the girls she’s wrestled,”
Brown said. “It can’t get any harder. That’s a big boost for her. Wrestling is
such a confidence sport. She gets better and better as her confidence
builds.”
Griego suffered a stress fracture in her foot early in the
season and is just now regaining her form. The injury is such that she was
unable to do any conditioning for fear of re-aggravation.
In her first
match back, the Texas Ladies Classic, which Brown calls the second-toughest meet
of the year behind only the state tournament, Griego placed third.
“She
is wrestling a lot better now that she’s back in shape,” Brown said. “She can
compete with the best girls in the state.”
Both Griego (165) and Stickler
(128) along with sophomore Melissa Reyes (185) are ranked in the state’s top
three in their respective weight classes, according to InsideTexasWrestling.com.
The
trio has learned from Epps over the years, and though she is now gone, has
gained a better sense of what it takes to rise to the top. Brown said Epps was a
natural leader who upped the ante in practice, forcing more inexperienced
wrestlers to grapple with one of the best to ever do it.
“Any time you
have great partners in the room, it helps,” he said. “You know she’s going to
give you a tough match. That makes everybody better.”
Strickler’s
training hit a bit of a lull when Griego was injured because she was forced to
train with less experienced wrestlers. Now that the two have been reunited,
Brown sees the next two months as prime time to prepare for state.
He
points to cross-town Centennial, which finished as a runner-up overall in 2007,
almost strictly based on having two individual state champions. 2008 may be the
year the Lady Raccoons match the feat.
“If you have two girls with a good
weekend, you never know what’s going to happen,” Brown said. “The shot is there
to place fairly high at state.”
Back
