womens wrestling news

Her win sets up a title match with Tonya Verbeek of Canada later Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The Pan American tournament is a qualifying event for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Verbeek, a silver medalist at the 2004 Olympics, defeated Enid Rivera of Puerto Rico and Marcia Andrade of Venezuela to reach the finals.

Clarissa Chun of the U.S. moved into the 105 1/2-pound finals with wins over Susana Almeida of Brazil and Lindsay Rushton of Canada. Her opponent will be Ingrid Cuellar of El Salvador.

American Tatania Padilla pinned Amanda Gerhart of Canada in a 130-pound round-robin bracket. Martine Dugrenier of Canada defeated American Tori Adams in the 138 1/2 class and will wrestle for bronze medal later Saturday.

Canadians Verbeek, Dugrenier fighting for medals at Pam Am wrestling event

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Tonya Verbeek of Beamsville, Ont., will battle for a gold medal in the 121-pound freestyle division Saturday at the Pan American Wrestling Championships.

Verbeek, a silver medallist at the 2004 Olympics, defeated Enid Rivera of Puerto Rico and Marcia Andrade of Venezuela to reach the final.

Verbeek will meet American Marcie Van Dusen in the final. Van Dusen qualified for the championship match earlier Saturday by pinning Magdalena Arellano of Mexico in a semifinal bout.

The Pan American tournament is a qualifying event for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Montreal's Martine Dugrenier will wrestle for a bronze medal in the 138.5-pound class after being pinned by American Tori Adams earlier Saturday.

2008-03-01 08:10:00 pm

Marcie Van Dusen couldn’t complete the puzzle.

The Colorado Springs wrestler lost Saturday in the 121-pound women’s freestyle finals of the Pan American Championships at the Olympic Training Center, failing to qualify her weight class for the Beijing Games in August.

In a six-person bracket, Van Dusen, 25, fell to Canadian Tonya Verbeek 1-1, 1-0, 1-1 in the championship match following a first-round bye and a semifinal pin of Mexican Magdalena Arellano.

“Wasn’t that a bummer?” Van Dusen said with watery eyes after receiving her silver medal.

The U.S. has qualified 13 Olympic weight classes, including three of four in women’s freestyle. It must qualify five more — 132 and 163 in Greco-Roman, 121 and 132 in men’s freestyle and 121 in women’s freestyle — to field a full 18-person team in Beijing. Two world qualifying tournaments in each discipline remain after this weekend.

The 18-country Pan American Championships conclude today at the OTC with Coronado High School graduate Henry Cejudo (121 pounds) and Mike Zadick (132) trying to qualify. The elimination and repechage rounds begin at 9a.m. and the finals start at 5:30 p.m.

The previous time Verbeek, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist, and Van Dusen wrestled, Van Dusen won an 0-7, 2-1, 7-2 decision at the 2007 Pan American Games, where she finished second.

This time, Verbeek went on the defensive, letting Van Dusen become the aggressor. The strategy worked.

Verbeek controlled the first period and lost the second when Van Dusen scored a takedown at the buzzer. Van Dusen took a 1-0 lead less than 20 seconds into the third, then Verbeek drew even with 67 seconds left and withstood Van Dusen’s late attempts.

“She didn’t shoot as much,” Van Dusen said. “She was a lot more cautious, and she waited for me to come to her. I should have set her up a little bit better, and I think I would have had her.”

Verbeek said the key to the third was wiggling free from Van Dusen’s leg grabs.

“That would have been her point and her round, which meant the match,” Verbeek said. “I tried to stick with it and not give her that takedown. I don’t think it was my best match, but I got the job done.”

Asked if she feels pressure to qualify her weight class, Van Dusen said, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But I know I’m going to qualify. It’s just a matter of time.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.blogspot.com

Verbeek, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, pulled out the win late in the match on a single leg shot that took Van Dusen to the mat.

"It's just my heart," Verbeek said. "I think I can get a lot more out there technically, but sometimes that's not enough. As a wrestler you get to a point in a match where you know you can, but sometimes you start doubting yourself. Tonight was all about me believing that I can and pursuing it until the very end."

Verbeek's win dampened Van Dusen's bid to gain an Olympic berth for the United States at 121 pounds, the only female weight class where the U.S. has not qualified.

Van Dusen beat Verbeek in the 2007 Pan American Games en route to a silver medal.

"I know I'm a much better wrestler than I was then," Van Dusen said. "I'll go back and review the tape and find out what I did wrong. She had the better of it tonight, but it won't happen again."

"I've had some ups and downs in my career since the last Olympics. I'm trying to work my way back up and kind of feel myself get back in competition, so it's a big win for me."

In weight classes where the U.S. already has Olympic berths, the Pan American Championships also served as confidence builders for gold medalists Clarissa Chun (105.5 pounds), Patricia Miranda (112.25), Tatiana Padilla (130). Elena Pirozhkov (147.5) and Stephany Lee (158.5).

Miranda was making her first mat appearance since injuring a knee in practice shortly before last summer's World Championships.

"It felt awesome," Brown said. "It wasn't perfect. It was good to put a singlet on and represent the U.S. This was a good warm up. Next week we head to Belarus and I should get a lot of good matches in."

Martine Dugrenier also won a gold medal for Canada, taking the 138.75-pound title with a decision over Sandra Ro of Colombia.

Tournament action will resume Sunday morning with early round competition in the men's freestyle division. Finals will be contested in an evening session.

Goodrich come from behind to win state title

BATTLE CREEK — To hear C.C. Weber tell it, the Goodrich wrestling team could have faced the U.S. Olympic wrestling team on Saturday, and the Martians still wouldn’t have been rattled.

“It doesn’t matter who we were going to have,” Weber said. “We were going to win.”
As it turned out, top ranked Goodrich had Dundee, the defending Division 3 state champs, in the team wrestling finals. And, like Weber predicted, the Martians came away victorious, clinching the program’s first state championship by hanging on for a 30-27 win.

“This is all we’ve been working on since day one,” Weber said. “Since we were all little we’d break it down at the end of practice saying ‘state champs,’ and our dream just came true.”

A majority of the Goodrich wrestlers have been together since middle school and rose to the varsity ranks with their current head coach, Matt Turnbow.

Goodrich came back from a 21-12 deficit at the 125-pound class to win. The Martians received early pins from 189-pounder Kyler Elsworth and Nick Lovell (285). Dundee had a chance to win it in the final match, in the 171-pound class, but Goodrich’s Drew Weil staved off a pin in the second period before losing to Jarryd Gotts.

Each Martian played their role to perfection, including Weber and Kristi Garr, two girl wrestlers who didn’t win their bouts but did avoid pins to a pair of quality opponents in the 103- and 112-pound class, respectively.

“If we didn’t have them we possibly could have given up two pins in those weight classes,” Turnbow said. “Those are the two toughest wrestlers that we have. That’s why they’re out there and why we’re winning the state championship.”

Whether spelled Kelsey or Kelsie, it was a golden day for a pair of Mount Royal Mustang wrestlers Friday at the Saskatoon high school championships.

Kelsey Gsell captured a gold medal in the girls' 71-kilogram category, while Kelsie Boszak won gold in the 52-kg event.

"It was really exciting," Boszak said. "It was just a great experience. It was very interesting to do, just to go out in front of everybody and just do your hardest."

In the 52-kg event, it was Special K over Golden Grahams as Boszak defeated Marion Graham's Shay Southern. Bedford Road's Shannon Hurley claimed the bronze.

"I just tried not to get too cocky, getting all caught up in the final match and stuff," said Boszak. "I just tried to do my best, just fought smart."

Gsell, a multi-sport athlete at Mount Royal, defeated Walter Murray's Katia Jellicoe in an upset victory.

"It was pretty much (a surprise)," said Gsell. "I was really nervous and she's, like, really good. She's a Grade 12 and this is my first year of wrestling.

"I just had to trust myself, get over my nerves and just do my leg shots like I knew I could and just keep going at it and not give up."

The Guardians led the way with four gold-medal winners: Brina Kurtenbach (42 kg), Melanie Haanen (77 kg), Katie McAuley (85 kg) and Amy Buettner (85-plus kg).

Other gold-medallists were: Hannah Franson, Holy Cross (45 kg); Sam Braun, Marion Graham (56 kg); Kathleen Kent, Holy Cross (60 kg) and Jacqueline Schoenfeld, Marion Graham (65 kg).

Gil Wist, in his final year as head coach of the Walter Murray wrestling program, made a grand exit. The Marauders claimed the boys championship.

"It's a nice way to finish up my career," said Wist, who is retiring after 311/2 years in the public school system, 29 years as a coach.

"I'm quite happy," Wist said. "Maybe there were a couple of finals I would have liked to see go our way, but for the most part, I'm quite happy.

Gold-medal winners were: Colton Weigers, St. Joseph (40 kg); Cody Fredrickson, Marion Graham (43 kg); Nick Laursen, E.D. Feehan (46 kg); Dylan Bray, Walter Murray (49 kg); Mark Mattern, Marion Graham (52 kg); Chris Fabian, Bethlehem (58 kg); Kemper Mierau, Marion Graham (62 kg); Chris Hillis, Holy Cross (66 kg); Ryan Myrfield, Bedford Road (70 kg); Adam Abel, Bedford Road (75 kg); Peter Olver, Holy Cross (82 kg); Landon Squires, Walter Murray (90 kg); Levi Hurlburt Walter Murray (98 kg); Tyler Gelowitz, Mount Royal (110 kg) and Tristan Hoath, Bedford Road (110 kg-plus).

Canadians Verbeek, Dugrenier fighting for medals at Pam Am wrestling event

Goodrich come from behind to win state title

St. Joseph, Murray lock up wrestling titles

Kelsey Gsell and Kelsie Boszak, two Grade 10s from Mount Royal, impressive in girls' division

Darren Zary, The StarPhoenix