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California
Cinco Ranch class of upper division
For the Chronicle 2/6/08
Katy
Maricia Shelvin wants to raise the bar for 215-pound female wrestlers. She's tired of the traditional style for heavyweights of leaning, pushing and falling down.
Shelvin (22-0) wants to turn up the tempo and the technique. As the District 22 champion, she will have her chance this weekend during the Region III championship.
"At state, I want to show them all how well a 215 can wrestle," the junior said after lifting Waller's April Parmigiani for a throw and subsequent pin Saturday. "I want to take actual shots, maybe a few throws, too."
Arizona
TEMPE, Ariz. 2/5/08
CAMPBELL ON THE ROSTER
This year, the Sun Devils have a
first on their roster as Kelsey
Campbell is the first woman to join the Arizona State program. A transfer
from Pacific (Ore.), Campbell comes to Tempe after competing for the Boxers
during the 2005-06 season and then representing the ASU Women's Club Team last
year. During the 2006-07 season, Campbell competed in her first National
Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships and won the 63kg (138.5) national
title as an unseeded competitor. In the event, she knocked off the No. 4, No. 1
and then No. 2 seeds on her way to her first tournament title.
TOP OF HER CLASS
Kelsey
Campbell is currently ranked on a pair of national women's lists, including
No. 2 at 59kg in the Collegiate Women's Wrestling Association rankings. She also
is ranked No. 5 in TheMat.com's U.S. Senior Women's Rankings (May 2007).
CAMPBELL TAKES FOURTH
On Jan. 20, Kelsey
Campbell competed in the Guelph Open in Canada and wrestled in six bouts,
posting a 4-2 record and finishing fourth in the international event. With the
women, she improved to 12-5 on the year with her final win giving her 20 career
wins.
Overall, both the women’s and men’s teams finished second in their respective divisions.
On the women’s side, wrestlers Jennifer Nguyen, Lesley McCallum, Gill McCallum and Katrina Huszarik all took home silver medals. The men’s team finished with five medals, with Austin Van Horne and Robert Grant taking home silver.
Although nearly 60 wrestlers could not participate due to the weather, Nguyen said the team still had some difficult matches.
“Wrestling in a tournament is completely different from wrestling in practice, and I think it was important for us to go and get some last tough matches in before competing in [OUA championships] in two weeks,” she said.
“Our team performed very well and I think it was definitely advantageous for us to get some matches in with ... out-of-province teams. We can use it as a learning experience and take the next two weeks to make any improvements and adjustments on our wrestling.”
Head coach Ray Takahashi said the open gave the women’s team a chance to play against some elite competition.
“At the Western Open we wanted our women to get matches, so we’re fortunate that three US teams participated,” he said.
“This gave the tournament an international flavour. The women’s competition was outstanding since it’s nice to compete ... outside the conference. The men’s division was smaller, but good, as almost all our team members had good competitive matches.”
While the team performed well collectively, Nguyen said teammates Huszarik and McCallum stood out over the weekend with their silver medal performances.
“Before coming to Western, Katrina had very little experience with wrestling, but within the last four years, she has really proven that hard work pays off and I think a lot of people on the team really respect her for that,” she said.
“Over the weekend Gill was matched up with Martine Dugrenier, a three-time world silver medalist and current member of the Canadian Olympic team. I think Gill wrestled very well and gave Martine a very good go.”
The open also gave the coaching staff a chance to appraise its own talent as some team members squared off against one another, Takahashi said.
“We had some team members face each other, which gave the coaching staff an idea of how certain individuals have progressed and also allows us to gauge who may comprise our final OUA team.”
With expectations high and championships less than two weeks away, Nguyen said the team has to stay focused on its fundamentals to be successful.
“This is the last stretch and we just want to perfect what we know,” she said. “If we keep drilling our bread and butter moves, it will come naturally in competition and that’s what we want. I think it’s important for us to stay in shape, stay healthy, and just have fun.”
Canada
Wrestlers star at provincials
ST. CATHARINES (Staff) — A total of 35 members of the Bluewater Wrestling Club competed at the Ontario Wrestling Championships at Brock University.
The event featured two age groups, Cadet for grades nine and 10 and Juvenile for grades 11 and 12.
The event is a qualifier for the Canadian National Championships April 11-13 in Saskatoon. The top six placings in each division qualify for the nationals. The top three winners in the Cadet divisions also qualify for the Ontario Winter Games in Collingwood March 7-9.
In the Cadet girls division, Darby Huckle was first at 43 kilos, Payton Butler third at 38 kilos and Noelle Stewart sixth at 56 kilos.
In the Cadet boys class, Paul Kaija was third at 45 kilos, Tyler Sole third at 63 kilos and Josh Warner fourth at 51 kilos.
Marianne Pickering placed first at 46 kilos in the juvenile girls divisions while Darby Huckle was third at 43 kilos.
In the Juvenile boys division, Trevor Huckle was first at 51 kilos, Troy Huckle second at 54 kilos, Anthony Prail fourth at 76 kilos and Ethan Handy fifth at 100 kilos.
The next action for local wrestlers is Thursday at Northern with the Lambton Secondary Schools Athletic Association meet. Wrestling begins at 11 a.m. and should end around 4 p.m.
Live Oak's Moriah Fernandez won a California Girls Wrestling Invitational title Saturday at Hanford West High by pinning Holly Thein of Paradise High in the 138-pound final.
Fernandez pinned all five opponents in the first period.
"Moriah is an all-around wrestler; she is super tough on top and has a lot of pinning combinations," said her father and coach, Robert Fernandez. "She sticks to the basics and wrestles well on her feet. Not many girls take her down."
Fernandez finished third last year and fourth as a sophomore in the state tournament. She plans to compete next season at Menlo College.
Other Central Coast Section wrestlers to win titles included Prospect's Kelly Kusumoto, who won the 132-pound title, and Scotts Valley sophomore Haylee Childs,
who took the 114-pound crown.
Washington
Coaches and fans asked to send letters to help save
Yakima Valley CC wrestling team
Mike Schmitt
Yakima Valley CC Wrestling
02/06/2008
Dear Wrestling Coaches and fans:
The Yakima Valley
Community College (YVCC) wrestling team is on the chopping block. The
administration has recommended to the board of directors to drop the wrestling
program and add women’s cross country due to Title IX issues.
We, the
wrestling community, have requested that they keep the wrestling program and add
a women’s wrestling program. We believe that we can help the school resolve
their title IX issues while adding an opportunity for women in the northwest for
their fastest growing sport. This will help the wrestling community as a whole,
and as we know the northwest is loosing program after program. Just in
Washington we have gone from once having 44 colleges and universities with
wrestling to now having 2 and potentially 1 by 2010.
Please assist us in
showing YVCC what a great idea adding a women’s program is by writing letters in
support of adding the women’s program and perhaps some words why. Even better
would be to have all the girl wrestler’s you know or coach write letters stating
that would like and deserve the opportunity to wrestle in college and there are
very few possibilities out there, and none in Washington. It would be even
better if they would say that they would or would seriously consider YVCC if
they were to begin a program.
We need to show the board of directors and
the administration that the time is right for this and that we could field a
team of at least 20 women the first year and 40 or more by the second.
There are some examples of some good letters that we have already
received on the www.Washingtonwrestlingreport.com site’s message board. Also
on that site is the original proposal made by us to the board after the
administration provided theirs. We make our next written presentation to the
board on 03/03/08 and we need the letters by that date. The actual verbal
presentation will be on 03/13/08, call me if you would like to attend and show
support.
I can be contacted at mschmitt@lakemontyakima.com, (509)
307-0140 and fax at (509) 972-9010 and 1410 N 16th Ave Yakima, WA 98902.
Coach Pimentel can be reached at apimentel@yvcc.edu or (509) 941-8486.
Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.