News Page
Star Woodward Wrestler Talks About College Plans
|
|
This event served as an Olympic qualifier for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Guam's Maria Dunn, women's 63-kilogram weight class; Palau's Elgin Elwais, Greco Roman, 55-kilogram weight class, and Florian Skilang Temengil, freestyle, 120-kilogram weight class; and Samoa's Faamunu Afele, Greco Roman, 84-kilogram weight class each won a gold medal.
These four athletes will have qualified for the 2008 Olympics if FILA -- the sport's world governing body -- agrees after review and doping tests are completed.
John Tarkong Jr. of the Palau Wrestling Federation provided the information
Walter Murray coaches Gil Wist and Leo Grosjean had to arm-wrestle a bit with Katia Jellicoe.
The power of persuasion may have finally won out.
"We've been trying (to persuade her to join club wrestling)," explained Wist, head coach of the top-ranked Walter Murray Marauders squad. "She said she's going to go out. She's wrestled all four years, but she hasn't wrestled above high school level. She had never gone out with a club
"She's a busy girl. She's also a soccer player."
 Katia Jellicoe is one of Walter Murray's clutch wrestlersRichard Marjan, The StarPhoenix |
Forget soccer for a moment. What a wrestler she is.
"She was a city champion last year and second in the province," Wist says.
"She's potentially one of the top girls in the province on the girls' side."
Jellicoe, a Grade 12 student, says she has now dabbled a bit on the club scene.
"I actually just started going out to do junior Huskie practices," says Jellicoe, one of the top female wrestlers at Walter Murray along with Natasha Kramble.
"I like everything (about wrestling). You're on a team, but it's a really personal point. It's just you out there and it's all about how well you do and how hard you practice.
"It's an individual sport. It's about how much you practice and how much effort you put into it."
She has been wrestling since Grade 9. She is also on two soccer teams. Does she have a preference?
"It depends on which one I'm doing better at it."
In the city dual championship meet, Jellicoe was able to help Walter Murray reach the city final with a quick pin on Marion Graham's Victoria Neufeldt but that's not necessarily the way she likes it.
"Hard matches are good, too, because you get to see how good you are," she said.
"The season has been going pretty good. I had some pretty disappointing matches in Regina, but, other than that, it's been going pretty good."
Wist agrees.
"She didn't do that well in Regina," he recalls. "She started off and looked good, but then slipped after that. I thought she should have won.
"She's strong and very solidly built. She's very strong defensively. Her weak area, right now, is her offence."
Wrestling is quite popular at Walter Murray. It's one of the top high school wrestling programs in the city, joining the likes of St. Joseph, Holy Cross, Marion Graham and Centennial.
"We have good coaches," Jellicoe says of Wist and Grosjean. "Our team is pretty tight, like a big family. Everyone just helps each other out."
The key, she says, is "everybody getting here. We had some people drop out right before."
Jellicoe is considering moving up to the university ranks.
"I'm considering it," she said. "I'm still undecided. I'm going to go to university eventually but I don't know if I'll be going right away."
This year, the provincial high school wrestling championships will be staged at Walter Murray on March 6-7.
"It's pretty exciting," Jellicoe said. "It will be good."
A year ago, Jellicoe won a silver at provincials.
"Getting first this time would be nice."
Wednesday, February 13,
2008
By Somer Breeze, Columbian staff writer
Camas High’s Melissa Watkins finds success in male-dominated sport
 STEVEN LANE/The Columbian Melissa Watkins, a senior at Camas High School, will be wrestling in the 103-pound division this weekend at the Mat Classic girls state wrestling tournament in Tacoma.  |
CAMAS — Melissa
Watkins is used to the teasing.
It’s nothing new when people ask her why she does it.
She’s over the fact that some people think it’s a
joke that she wrestles.
Quite simply, the Camas High School senior doesn’t know what
the fuss is about.
“It’s just me wanting to be part of a
team,” said Watkins, a four-year wrestler for the
Papermakers. “I just feel like I’m one of the same
as everyone else.”
Except she’s not like everyone else.
Watkins has wrestled in the finals of five of the six tournaments
she’s competed in this season. She was even the runner-up at
the Clark County Invitational, wrestling against boys. Against the
girls, it hasn’t even been close. Watkins coasted to regional
and sub-regional titles.
This weekend, she will compete in the girls state high school
tournament, marking the second year the Washington Interscholastic
Activities Association has sanctioned a girls championship.
“She’s just good at it,” Camas coach
Kenny Huddleston said. “She’s aggressive when she
gets on the mat.”
And it’s what she’s done on the mat that has proven
that she can wrestle with the best of them, boy or girl.
“I like the respect I get,” Watkins said.
“It feels good because when they respect me, it’s
not because, ‘She’s manly.’ They look at
me as a woman, and they still respect me.”
Watkins’ success this season came as a bit of a surprise to
the wrestler herself. For someone who placed fifth at districts her
freshman year, and then sixth at regionals her sophomore year, the
senior is winning title match after title match in the 103-pound class
this season. And she didn’t even wrestle in the postseason
last year.
“I didn’t really know what to expect from the
boys’ tournaments because I always placed down in third and
fourth, and that was good because nobody ever sees girls
there,” Watkins said.
Everyone is seeing Watkins at the top this season, and that’s
where she said she hopes she will be in Tacoma this weekend at the Mat
Classic. Watkins has earned a first-round bye and will open the
tournament in the quarterfinals Friday.
She is gunning for one more tournament title, one that would have a lot
of meaning behind it.
“It’ll be my final goodbye to the sport,”
Watkins said. “I’ll get the team a state champion,
and I’ll be able to bring Camas High School its first (girls)
state champion.”
Watkins anticipates she will face a good friend, Columbia
River’s Sarah Rowen, in the finals.
Rowen, the defending 103-pound state champion, and Watkins have
wrestled in back-to-back tournaments leading up to the Mat Classic.
Watkins won both meetings — an 8-0 decision on Feb. 2 for the
sub-regional title, and a 15-2 decision last weekend at regionals.
“She has respect
for me, and I definitely have respect for her,” Watkins said.
“I just think of it as another match when we go out there,
and we’re just friends before and after.”
But if Watkins advances to the title match like she hopes, it
won’t be just another match. It will be a match that could
permanently place her name on the Camas wrestling room wall, next to
the word ‘champion.’
If she wins, she won’t be the only Watkins on the wall. Her
older brother Micaiah won the 108-pound title in 1999. He also placed
fifth in 1998 and sixth in 2000. Watching her brother build toward a
state championship led Melissa to the sport.
“Just seeing him work hard and being successful at
it,” she said. “I was young, and I didn’t
know it was out of the ordinary for a female to compete in
wrestling.”
It was surprising news for Watkins’ mother when one of her
four daughters said she wanted to wrestle. Nothing really transpired
out the 7-year-old’s desire, not right away anyway.
Watkins found a way to become involved in the sport, and was set to
join the Camas wrestling team her freshman year — as a team
manager. But the Papermakers had a competitive female wrestler in
Termae Rowshan, who wanted someone to wrestle her. Watkins took the
cue, and her career began. She then became involved in a club team and
competed in national tournaments.
Girls wrestling became a state-sanctioned sport last season, but
Watkins opted out of competing for personal reasons.
Now that she is back, Watkins wants one final moment of glory.
And if she wins the championship, maybe people will stop asking her why
she does it. Maybe the teasing will end. Because they will know it is
not a joke — it would be Watkins writing herself into school
history.
By Michael Leonard
Gateway News Sports Editor
ROOTSTOWN -- All season long, the Portage Trail Conference race appeared to be a battle between Ravenna and everyone else.
When the smoke cleared following the conclusion of the PTC Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at Rootstown High School, the Ravens had confirmed their dominance.
Five weight-class championships led the Ravens to 218.5 points, good for their third consecutive PTC Tournament title and their third straight Metro Division title.
Woodridge put up a fight for the team title, but didn't have enough firepower to catch the Ravens. The Bulldogs finished with 194 points, good for second place overall and their third consecutive County Division title.
Norton (150.5 points), Streetsboro (137.5) and Crestwood (137) rounded out the top five.
Ravens coach Mike Whitmore was very happy with his team's effort.
"I think we went out and showed we were the best team here," Whitmore said. "(Woodridge) is tough, but our seniors really wanted this one. They went out and really wanted to end their careers on a high note."
All five of Ravenna's champions were seniors, beginning with 125-pounder Scott Meyer, who scored a 19-3 technical fall over Coventry's Ian Burley.
"I finally got healthy, and it's the right time for me to be healthy," Meyer said. "The goal is to be a state champion."
At 140 pounds, Ravenna's Isaac Dukes seemed to toy with Coventry's Colton May on his way to a 16-1 technical fall.
Whitmore called 152-pounder Tony Karaffa "my MVP" after he defeated Woodridge's Pat Rado 5-3 in the semifinals and won a tight 5-4 decision over Springfield's Jerry Boso in the final.
"I had to wrestle solid against Boso, and he wasn't giving anything up early," Karaffa said. "Finally, in the third period, I got him."
Ravenna got a big win at 171 pounds to seal the title, as Brandon Boggs put Woodridge's Andy Jenkins on his back in the first period and held on for a 6-2 win.
Heavyweight Brad Hager put the icing on the cake for the Ravens with a 12-6 win over Norton's Joe Rutherford.
While his team fell short of the overall title, Woodridge coach Mike Massey said his squad's performance was far from a disappointment.
"I'm proud of these guys," Massey said. "Every kid wrestled as hard as they could today. Ravenna's got a great team. I heard Mike (Whitmore) say that everyone was missing some people, but we're as healthy as can be."
Woodridge's second-place effort was aided by a 6-2 record in the final session, although only one Bulldog brought home gold.
That honor came from 160-pounder Jeremy Hathaway, who survived a wild first two periods with Mogadore's Shayne Stewart before scoring the pin at 5:55.
"It was a battle the first time I faced Stewart," Hathaway said. "He's a tough kid, but I knew he might slow down in the third period. I train hard, so I never run out of energy."
Norton and Southeast each had two champions. The Panthers got titles from 103-pounder Josh Beddow, who pinned Crestwood's Paige Nemec in 5:15, and 145-pounder Drew Leonard, who bested Streetsboro's Joe Rydzinski 14-6.
Meanwhile, Southeast got titles from 112-pounder Chris Hylton, who beat Mogadore's Joe Bailes 10-7, and 119-pounder Brent Ford, who pinned Garfield's Travis Harbert in 5:34.
Streetsboro's fourth-place finish overall was enough to give the Rockets second place outright in the County Division. The Rockets also got their first league champion since Todd Densmore in 2005 when 135-pounder John Fraley beat Ravenna's Randy Carpenter 2-0.
A switch in the Kent Roosevelt lineup that allowed Phillip Smith to move to 215 proved to be a good move. Smith ended up winning the 215-pound title with an 18-3 win over Field's Josh Bovino.
Other champions included Coventry's Randy Henline at 130 pounds and Springfield's Mike Talbert at 189 pounds.
By Tom Nader
Record-Courier staff writer
MANTUA -- Six years ago the Mantua Girls Wrestling Club was founded, and since, the club has helped put area female wrestlers into a national spotlight.
The club, now known as the Northeast Ohio Girls Wrestling Club that consists of 19 girls, includes junior Lisa Light and freshman Paige Nemec from the Crestwood Red Devils program, as well as other area female wrestlers.
The club's head coach, Dean Olson, wrestled at Aurora High School, where he finished second in the state in 1971. He then went on to wrestle at Defiance College and was a conference champion, and he has been coaching Crestwood youth wrestling for the past nine years.
His group of girls recently participated in the Girls Wrestling Nationals and proceeded to further expand on the club's success on a national level.
Of the nine girls from the club to attend the national tournament, eight qualified as All-Americans. Six other girls from the club could not attend the tournament this year because of injuries, three of whom were All-Americans last year.
Light placed ninth in the competition and was one of the members recognized as an All-American. She is also a four-time Ohio girls state champion, which includes two titles at the middle school level and two more at the high school level. Light's list of accomplishments also includes winning the West Virginia Girls State Tournament in March.
Meanwhile, Nemec is a five-time Ohio girls state champion, a streak that dates back to Nemec's time as an elementary student-athlete.
Alongside their state championships, both Light and Nemec are ranked nationally for girls competitive wrestling by Wrestling USA magazine. Light is ranked sixth, and Nemec is seventh
"What sets Lisa and Paige apart is their willingness to work so hard to be as good as possible," Olson said. "They do whatever is asked of them, and they do many extra workouts at home. They are like all the girls in the club in the sense that they want to be the very best they can be."
As for girls wrestling as a sport in general, it continues to grow to a level that Olson said most people probably never could have expected.
At this year's national tournament held in Detroit, 673 girls participated in a tournament that saw the largest turnout in history in thhttp://www.recordpub.com/news/article/1835731e elementary age group. Also, at least 43 states were represented in the event.
"Following the 2004 Olympics, the sport has really taken off," Olson said. "I think having the sport be a part of the Olympics gave it a lot of respect around the world. No one would ever believe that the sport would have grown the way it has now, or that it would have become so popular. The interest level and popularity is only going to continue to rise.
"Paige used to be the only girl in the area wrestling, and she certainly has become the most well-known in Northeast Ohio," Olson said. "But now the numbers are definitely growing, especially at the elementary level."
Olson said that the national tournament is more than just about wrestling.
"After the girls get done wrestling against each other, they exchange a small gift from their hometown state," Olson said. "It might be something as small as a bottle of maple syrup or candy buckeyes, but it is something that is really neat to see, and it is a special part of the whole experience."
SH girls in state wrestling finals
Published: February 13, 2008
Two Sweet Home girls, Mandy Binks and Laura Gourley, have qualified for the finals of the state high school wrestling girls invitational tournament, to be held Friday afternoon at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
The girls finals, in eight weight divisions, will be held at 4 p.m., said organizer Bobo Umemoto.
Binks, a freshman in her first year of wrestling, qualified in the 119 pound division, where she will face Paige Matthews of Centennial.
Gourley, high school junior and a veteran of state and national girls wrestling, in which she is an 11-time All-American, qualified at 158 pounds. She will face Tamber DeHart of Cottage Grove.
The qualifying rounds of the tournament, the first-ever all-high school girls state tournament in Oregon, were held at Nelson's Nautilus in Portland on Feb. 3.
Girls who are wrestling in the boys competition at state will be allowed to wrestle in both competitions this year and next, Umemoto said.
"After that, they will have to choose," he said.
2/13/08
 Lorraine Infante, the first female certified wrestling referee in New Jersey, getting close to the action at Paramus. |
The items and jerseys that Lorraine Infante has worn over the course of her athletic career range from track shorts to soccer spikes to boxing gloves, to rugby shirts to cheerleader skirts to wrestling singlets.
Now, the assistant product manager for a retail company in Rochelle Park believes she may look best in zebra stripes.
Infante, 24, is the first woman to become a certified wrestling referee in New Jersey and work varsity matches, according to Bob Whitaker, the membership chairman for the New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association.
"My college wrestling coach [at Montclair State], Steve Strellner, said, 'I think you'll be really good, I think you should try it,'" said Infante, in her first season as a carded member for the NJWOA's Northeast chapter, which includes Bergen and Passaic counties. "It's a good way to stay in the sport."
But it's not the only way Infante stays on the mat. She also assists Betsy Montanez, a former Montclair teammate who wrestled for North Bergen, in running a program for girls at Premier Wrestling Club in Saddle Brook.
The program was started last year with about 20 girls ranging from ages 5 to 18, and Infante and Montanez hope to do it again this summer.
"It's women teaching women, and we know what our strengths and weaknesses are," Infante said. "We have wider hips, we should be in a different stance. The older you get, the stronger the males get and you have to learn not to tie up with them."
And Montanez, following Infante's lead, is in her first, or cadet, season as a referee-in-training. NJWOA rules stipulate referees go through a cadet and a provisional season of training where they train on rec and middle school matches before they can be considered for certification.
"I'll be carded. I intend to do a State final one day," said Montanez, 29, who also coaches boys and girls in the Bergenfield rec program. "I think it validates our work, the fact that women can wrestle and they can know what they're doing."
Whitaker has no doubt about Montanez succeeding. To be certified, officials must be approved on ratings sheets from at least 10 coaches in addition to attending classroom sessions and passing the yearly National Federation test.
"[Infante] has good mat presence, she knows how to anticipate moves, though she needs to work on getting there quicker," Whitaker said. "But she's extremely athletic. But Betsy probably will be better than Lorraine. She anticipates better."
Infante's schedule is comprised mainly of non-varsity matches. But she said working some varsity matches has done wonders for her confidence.
"Being carded, the coaches show you more respect," said Infante, a resident of Wharton in Morris County. "Once you're confident behind the call, people question you less and less."
Infante and Montanez also have been busy pushing the third coach in their girls program at Premier to start officiating.
But Kim Salma, who placed second in the districts in 2003 for Fair Lawn, prefers to remain a coach.
Still, Salma loves what her friends are accomplishing.
"If you're a little girl, you don't want to wrestle with all the guys," said Salma, 22. "But if they see more girls wrestling, more girls coaching and, especially, more girls officiating, it'll be great. Being an official, you're completely knowledgeable, like a coach, but there's definitely the power of calling the moves."
Salma hopes girls wrestling eventually will emerge as a separate entity in New Jersey, as it has in Texas and Hawaii.
So do Infante and Montanez.
"As the number of young women grow, it'll become easier and women's wrestling will gain the respect it deserves," Montanez said. "It has; it just hasn't in New Jersey."
Participation surveys show more than 5,000 girls are wrestling nationwide, including more than 1,000 in California. In 2006, Michaela Hutchinson became the first girl in the U.S. to win a state title competing against boys when she took the 103-pound championship in Alaska.
E-mail: grossa@northjersey.com