By: Ward Gossett
(Contact) 2/29/08

Is there a place for girls in Tennessee high school wrestling?

“Let them play volleyball,” said one coach among 32 who responded to a survey by the Times Free Press.

“Field hockey would be more suitable,” wrote another.

For the first time in history, girls had a championship at Tennessee’s state wrestling duals this year.

“Girls’ wrestling creates opportunities for kids. If it is in our power to do so, then we ought to do it,” said Soddy-Daisy coach Steve Henry, whose team won that first girls’ state title.

Henry says many of his peers are scared of the concept and the social ramifications.

“They haven’t talked to me about it. Some of them are afraid of it,” he said. “With some, it’s the girl issue, but girls are no different.”

Four coaches didn’t answer the question about girls’ wrestling, and another seven said they were unsure. Fifteen said they favored it; six were against.

“I hope I don’t ever have to coach them,” said Father Ryan’s Pat Simpson, one of the state’s coaching veterans. “I guess I wouldn’t have as big a problem if was girls vs. girls. A girl vs. a guy, there’s too much contact. Sometimes in wrestling you grab what you can grab. I’m not against their right to wrestle, but there need to be certain parameters.”

Most coaches agreed with Simpson.

“I’m all for girls against girls, not girls against guys. Everybody kind of cringes,” Chattanooga Christian coach Doc Redd said. “If a girl beats a guy, the guy is humiliated. People who understand wrestling know that a girl with seven years of experience is likely to beat a guy in his first year. But when you wrestle, you have to grab people in places that aren’t socially acceptable in a girl-vs.-guy situation.”

Emily Gessler wrestled for the Tullahoma boys’ team this year at 125 pounds. She is part of a wrestling family; brothers Max, Jason and Jerrod have been to the state tournament. Her father is the middle school coach. She is a good student and a quality athlete, having attained all A’s and one B (by a point, she said) this year and having earned letters last year for softball, soccer, track, cross country, gymnastics, cheerleading and wrestling.

“I enjoy wrestling. I have wrestled since the sixth grade,” she said. “I feel like I get a better workout with the guys. If wrestling girls I probably have a chance to get further. Guys tend to be a little stronger, but I don’t want to be made to wrestle just against girls.”

She ignores the touching and grasping that goes with the sport.

“It’s something I don’t really pay attention to when I wrestle,” she said.

Another coach addressed the differences in strength beyond the age of 10 or 11.

Some coaches had reservations because of practice time. Others said they’d be for it if a female assistant or trainer were there for practices and meets.

Science Hill is moving ahead. The Johnson City school already has approved a girls’ wrestling coaching supplement for next year.

Several coaches felt girls’ wrestling might help with Title IX issues, and others mentioned a chance to broaden the sport’s fan base.

“We need it,” said Sale Creek coach Danny Gilbert, who has been involved in wrestling since he was a state champion at East Ridge in the 1970s. “Girls will do well in wrestling because of their work ethic and their intensity.”

Another of the veteran leaders, Bradley Central’s Steve Logsdon, is against it.

“Major sticking points are availability of facilities, qualified coaches and potential lawsuits,” he said. “There are probably hundreds of guys across the state that would love to play volleyball, but it is classified girls only. Why the double standard?”

If they have it, some coaches would like to see separate seasons similar to girls’ soccer in the fall and boys’ soccer in the spring. The likely standard may be to start the girls’ season a month later but have tournaments at the same time.

Like Gessler, Soddy-Daisy’s Brooke Hensley is a good athlete and student. She plays soccer and runs track and wrestled for the state championship team.

“I get a thrill when I play soccer, but I have never felt anything like it when I wrestle,” the sophomore said. “I love the adrenaline. Wrestling gets you going. I’ll be wrestling till I graduate, because I love it.”

She never tired of practice, either, but the Lady Trojans practiced for about a month to get ready for the state duals.

“I love practice. It was fun,” Hensley said. “You practice new moves, do bikes for conditioning. It’s pretty easy stuff.”

Her coach is one of those most familiar with girls’ wrestling.

“Girls are like sponges. They soak it up,” Henry said. “The thing that is so refreshing is that they don’t stall. It’s 100 percent from the first whistle to the last.”

He also found a whole new fan base that dates back to the first girls’ wrestling fundraiser in the early 1990s when Soddy-Daisy girls wrestled girls from Red Bank.

“It is one of our biggest fundraisers. Excluding concessions, that one match probably brings in $2,000 per year,” Henry said. “You see aunts and uncles and grandparents who had never seen a high school wrestling meet. It is more than a novelty, and people realize it after seeing a girls’ meet.”

The future of girls’ wrestling is in coaches’ hands, said TSSAA executive director Ronnie Carter.

“I saw the girls wrestle at the state duals and I was impressed,” Carter said. “It’s not just some silly thing. It’s important to them. I happened to be walking down the hall, and over in one corner one of the girls was crying. It hurts them when they lose just like the boys.

“Where it goes is pretty much up to our schools. It’s up to the coaches, but I can visualize a girls’ individual tournament running in conjunction with the boys. That isn’t a major step — probably 10 weight classes, although you might only have four in each weight class to start.

“We have to be attuned to the fact that girls’ wrestling is part of the summer programs. We want to see what’s happening and determine if the demand is there.”

Canada

View Larger Image Brina Kurtenbach rides on the broader shoulders of Amy Buettner Richard Marjan, The StarPhoenix

A & B are sound.

Amy Buettner and Brina Kurtenbach have helped make the St. Joseph Guardians one of the top female wrestling squads in the city. They'll contend for the Saskatoon city high school girls wrestling title today.

Despite wrestling at opposite ends of the weight spectrum, the two Grade 12 students are as much the same as they are different.

"Both wrestlers began in Grade 9 and have continued into their Grade 12 year," said St. Joes coach Larry Hounjet, whose squad is playing host to the city wrestling championships. "Both attend practises on a regular basis and also practice with the Jr. Huskie wrestling club. Because they are both at extreme ends of the weight divisions -- Brina, the lightest, and Amy at the top end -- finding sparring partners is not always easy. However, they both show up every day. Because of the time they have put into the sport, they are both doing very well.

"At 42 (kilograms), Brina should get both the city and provincial titles this year. Amy is undefeated so far this year and should capture both (heavyweight) titles as well. This would be a repeat performance for Amy should she win provincials this year."

The city championships wrap up today with the medal round in the late afternoon. Medal presentations should begin around 4:30 p.m. Walter Murray is the defending girls champion. Holy Cross is trying to defend its boys' title against a strong push from Walter Murray.

"Both of these girls are very intense and don't like to lose -- necessities in the world of wrestling," Hounjet says of Buettner and Kurtenbach. "Their successes have made it easier to recruit potential wrestlers to our girls team and the fact that they are at extreme ends, in terms of size, demonstrates that anyone who commits to wrestling can succeed.

"Brina uses speed to her advantage whereas Amy uses her strength. Not only do they use these qualities, they both have a good technical knowledge which comes from practice and repetition. They both are willing to help the younger wrestlers with their technique as they know that it takes success from everyone to strengthen the team.

"They are not only concerned with individual success. The team concept is important. By demonstrating all these qualities, there was no difficulty choosing these two as our girls' team captains. No surprise to their success. Hard work, commitment, a desire to succeed and a willingness to listen all gotta equal success."

Kurtenbach is the tiniest of the Guardian wrestlers. She's not very tall and weighs around 90 pounds. She placed second at city's and provincials a year ago.

"It's pretty exciting (to host city championships), to get to start out early with warm-ups and stuff," she said Thursday. "It's pretty cool. Hopefully I can come out with a city title. That would be cool. For the team, we have a young team. We'll do the best we can. Whatever comes of it, comes of it.

"I've been training really hard since last year. I'm definitely stepping it up this year. Everything's focused on wrestling right now. Nothing can take my focus off winning."

Buettner, the defending heavyweight champion, is also focused on the big prize.

"City's this year, I'd really like wrestle as hard as I can and maybe snag another city championship and maybe another provincial title," she said. "We'll just go out there and try our hardest and do the best we can. That's all we can hope for.

"It's really cool to have (city's) here this year. We usually go to different schools and this is the first big tournament we've hosted since we've been in high school. It's neat to go through the motions of setting it up and hosting our own tournament.

"(At provincials) there are a couple of girls from Regina who are also competitive and wrestle at club, as well. When we get to (wrestle) Regina, I'll have to really step up my game."

High school wrestling isn't the end of the mat-paved road for these two Guardian grapplers.

"I'm thinking about doing Huskies; we'll see, though," said Kurtenbach, who will also defend her national title at the Canadian juvenile national championships this spring in Saskatoon.

Kurtenbach is the defending champion in the 38-kg category but will compete in the 40-kg category this time.

"I'm hoping to win it again and maybe go to junior nationals."

Buettner also plans to go on.

"I'm not too sure which university I'm going to next year but, definitely, if there's a wrestling program, I might try it out but maybe not compete as much as high school," she said. "We'll have to see where university takes me.

"At juvenile nationals (in Saskatoon), I'd like to go and really wrestle hard. I had a tough tournament last year but I'll step up on my A-game and do the best I can and have a couple of good matches -- that's all I can hope for."

dzary@sp.canwest.com

Canada

California

Bobcats return to wrestling sessions for freestyle season

From staff reports
Thursday, February 28, 2008 

Local girls to compete in national tournaments

Michi Stoke, Tiffany Leon and Raelyn Pinkard of Pacifica High, and Deyvon Mondragon of Camarillo, all placed at both the CIF Southern Regionals and California Girls Championship meets. Pinkard, Leon and Stoke led the newly established Pacifica girls' program to a third- place team finish at the CIF individual championships at Channel Islands.

The Tritons brought home a sixth-place trophy from the state competion at Hanford West a week later. Stoke was the lone local CIF Champion. She followed with a third-place finish at state. Leon took second at CIF and finished sixth at state, after a loss in the semifinals.

Pinkard was fifth at CIF and eighth at State. Mondragon had garnered fifth-place medals at both meets. Her state performance was especially tough with a large black eye as a souvenier.

The Tritons will travel to Vallejo for their first spring competition on Saturday. Meets in Washington on March 8 and Oregon on March 9 will follow. A major competition in Oklahoma is on the schedule if final details can be worked out. The USGWA Nationals at Churchill High in Livonia, Mich., on March 28-30 is the focus for the girls.

Stoke finished 10th at the 2007 meet. Her goal is an All-America finish in the top eight. Mondragon, Leon and Pinkard will be competing for the first time.

The girls will train with Jim Stych's Bengals program and Pacifica coach Darren Hatch. Mike Kildee and Trevor Keifer of USA Wrestling will also be involved in the preparation.

The girls are seeking donations to defray costs for the national meets. Donations may be directed to the Camarillo and Pacifica athletic departments. Information: Hatch (Pacifica) at 278-5000 or Ron Wilson (Camarillo) 389-6407.

Bengals: The Bengals are taking registration at the Oxnard PAL complex on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Room 203. Information: Stych at 320-1905.

Texas

Oregon

Girls who can grapple show stuff at state

Prep Watch • After inaugural run, exhibition session expected again in ’09

By steve brandon and jesse severson

The Portland Tribune, Feb 29, 2008

©2008 STEPHANIE MATTHEWS Wrestling’s a coed sport in Oregon, but girls got to take on each other in a recent state meet of their own: (back row, from left) Tess White, Megan Howland, Laura Gourley, Tamber Dehart, Jessica Haller, Amanda Kallai, Jesse Trullio, Peggy Driscoll; (front row) Misty Corwin, Joey Bechtol, Paige Matthews, Mandy Binks, Joanna Levy, Shanice Gay, Kelsey Carl, Akila Hoffman.

Girls state championship wrestling matches will be back at the Oregon School Activities Association state meet next year, if all goes as planned.

Eight winners were crowned Feb. 15 at Memorial Coliseum during an inaugural exhibition session. The OSAA does not sanction girls wrestling, which is an official –and popular –sport in Washington and a few other states, but the Oregon prep governing body was willing to give the girls a chance to show what they can do.

“The matches worked out fine. Certainly the young ladies were a pleasure to work with. I would anticipate doing a minimum of the same thing next year,” says Brad Garrett, OSAA assistant executive director.

Garrett says the OSAA does want to discuss one issue, though: whether girls who compete for their own title should be allowed to also wrestle in the OSAA state meet, which is for boys and girls.

“In some ways, I want to say you have to do one or the other; in Washington, I think you get your choice,” Garrett says. “I want to hear pros and cons.”

• Among the girls state champions were Cleveland senior Joanna Levy (110 pounds) and Centennial freshman Paige Matthews (119).

Matthews is the daughter of Centennial wrestling coach Roger Matthews, and her brother, Cameron, went to state this year as a 130-pound junior.

“She practices with all the boys,” says Stephanie Matthews, Paige’s mother.

One other girl, sophomore Ashley Sukose, also wrestled for Centennial.

Paige Matthews began wrestling in middle school and took fourth place at district as a seventh-grader. She also has played softball, basketball and soccer.

Matthews and Levy probably will compete March 8 in the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association Washington state championship at Ridgefield High and March 9 in the USGWA Oregon state championship at David Douglas.

Levy also plans to enter the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle national championships March 14 to 16 at Oklahoma City. Matthews might compete there, as well, or at a national meet in Detroit. Other freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments in Oregon, sponsored by USA Wrestling, could be on their calendar, too.

“If Paige sticks with it, she’ll definitely have some opportunities for a college scholarship,” Stephanie Matthews says. “It’s not like soccer, where there are thousands of girls playing for clubs and looking for college scholarships.”

Hockey

A team with mostly players from Lincoln and other PIL schools will play for the Oregon High School Hockey League championship Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.

The title game is set for 8 p.m., following the Winter Hawks’ 5 p.m. game there against Kelowna.

The PIL squad is in the finals for the fifth consecutive year in the non-OSAA sport. After winning three times, the Portlanders fell to Estacada 3-2 last season.

Coach Ken Herman Jr. is confident that the PIL squad (11-1-2 in the regular season) can recapture the crown. In two previous meetings, the PIL beat Pacific 4-0 and finished in a 0-0 tie. Pacific went 9-3-2 to place second in the regular season.

“This year, our chemistry came together quicker than ever before,” Herman says. “We lost last year because we had a couple kids playing as individuals. Most of the clubs play more as individuals, but we knew this year who the other teams’ stars were, and we just shadowed them.”

The PIL has the smallest team, sizewise, in the league, Herman says, but the offense and defense have been solid. Most of the players come from Lincoln; the list includes defenseman Kaitlyn Murff, who teams with Shannon Miller of Banks to form one of the team’s backline tandems.

“The girls hold their own,” Herman says. “Colleges are calling them already to play hockey.”

Lincoln’s Jeff Vorhies is the team captain. Top scorers are James Chavez from Madison and Noah Dolinajec of Lincoln.

Football

This fall, Portland Lutheran will have football for the first time since 2001.

The Blue Jays will compete in an eight-man independent league against teams such as St. Paul, Perrydale and Jewell.

“You could just tell that something was missing,” Portland Lutheran Athletic Director Chad Rush says. “Football is such a school-spirit sport and brings that excitement.”

Portland Lutheran, which has 95 students, had to discontinue football midway through the 2001 season. Playing in the 2A Northwest League, the Blue Jays’ numbers dropped to 17 or 18 players. Rush remembers one practice when only six players were participating.

After all this time away from the game, Rush realizes the school has one big problem.

“We don’t have any equipment,” he says.

The Blue Jays also have to recondition their field –the outfield of the baseball diamond.

The field doesn’t have lights, so home games will be played on Saturday or Friday afternoons, unless Portland Lutheran decides to rent another facility for night games.

Despite its low enrollment, Portland Lutheran will field football, soccer and cross-country teams next fall.

And, after years of playing up at the 2A level, Portland Lutheran is going to drop to 1A.

“We really enjoyed the Northwest League,” says Rush, who also serves as the boys basketball coach. “It was a tough decision to make the appeal to move down, but I think it’ll be a good move for us.”

The Blue Jays have hired a head coach –Jeremy Nichols, who has been an assistant coach at West Linn for several years.

“This is not a job for a first-year coach,”Rush says. “This person is starting from scratch.”

• Parkrose’s new head coach, Tim Price, says he moved back to Portland after two seasons as a Southern Oregon assistant to be closer to his son.

Price is hoping to have enough players this fall for varsity, junior varsity and freshman squads as the Broncos try to rebuild a program that has taken its lumps for more than a decade.

“Parkrose kids will be competitive, work hard and play hard, and eventually the wins will come,” says Price, who had success in a previous stint at Jefferson.

Benson called him, too, he says, wanting to interview him for its coaching vacancy, but he already had accepted the job at Parkrose.

Texas

Canada

Girl last unbeaten local wrestler; NPC's Jessica Kirk in Ontario school semifinals today

Posted By Ed O'Leary

Posted 6 hours ago 2/29/08

Jessica Kirk of North Park Collegiate has her eyes set on a gold medal as she begins competition today in Caledonia at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association's wrestling championships.

Kirk, who competes in the girls' 67.5-kilogram weight class, won two matches Thursday to qualify for today's semifinal rounds.

The wrestler, who was seeded third in her division, defeated Jasmine Warner of Toronto Newtonbrook and Julie Huynh of St. Francis Xavier in Mississauga.

Kirk won a gold medal at the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association's championships in Guelph last week.

The NPC student, who received a first-round bye, was the only Brant County wrestler to get through Thursday undefeated.

Alex Guillemette, a Grade 12 student at W. Ross Macdonald School, scored two impressive victories in the 89-kg. class but suffered a devastating loss in his third match.

Guillemette opened the tournament by defeating George Alkouri 4-0 in round one and 5-1 in round two. It was a satisfying victory for Guillemette since Alkouri had defeated him earlier this season.

disappointment

The Brantford wrestler outpointed Arthur Rodin of Vaughn 3-1, 7-1 in his second match.

Guillemette was sent to the B-side of the draw when he was outpointed 2-1, 4-3 by Trevor Hockley of Uxbridge.

"It was one of those heart-breakers," said WRM co-coach John Howe. "It was a tough match.

He (Guillemette) was terribly disappointed but he gave it his all. We just told him that it was his (Hockley's) day in that match."

Guillemette still has a chance to finish as high as third in the division and win a bronze medal but he must win his first two matches this morning just to guarantee himself a Top-6 placing.

North Park's Rob Mudford, who would have been seeded No. 1 in the boys' 55-kg. division, wasn't able to wrestle because of an knee injury sustained last Saturday while showcasing his talents for the wrestling coach at Brock University in St. Catharines.

"He was scrimmaging with Olympic silver medalist at 55-kilos, Tonya Verbeek, and when he came off the mat, he said he had some kind of a problem," said his co-coach Jason Flinders. "Sunday morning he woke up and said 'no go.' The (knee) injury was diagnosed on Monday as a torn LCL and torn meniscus."

Flinders called the injury the "curse of this (OFSAA) tournament."

"You never want to be predicted to win this tournament and he was predicted to win this tournament," said Flinders, a three-time CWOSSA champion and a runnerup at OFSAA.

"I believed I was going to have my first OFSAA boys champion. I couldn't even get to the champion level myself here. My last year (in high school) was the teachers' strike."

Mudford's brother, Shane, became the No. 1 seed in the 55-kg. class and he had a first-round loss to a wrestler from Central Elgin.