womens wrestling news

They are both Section II champions in Division II, and will compete in the State Wrestling Championships this weekend at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. It is the second trip to states for the two Black Horses wrestlers, who both went 1-2 at the state meet in 2007.

"Last year, I was overwhelmed, even at sectionals," said Ladd, who was an at-large qualifier for states.

"This year, I know what I'm facing, I know what I'm doing," he said. "It's a lot better going as a Section II champion. Last year as a wild card, I didn't feel like I deserved to be there. This year, I feel like I deserve it. I've worked hard to get here."

Schuylerville head coach Bill Schempp has been very pleased with the progress of his red-haired super-heavyweight.

"He made it as far as he did last year strictly on his athletic ability," Schempp said. "Now he has skills. He's attacking legs this year. He has a legitimate takedown. Dan's going to be dangerous out there. If he goes right into his offense, once he puts them on the mat, they're not going to get up."

Before his sophomore year, Ladd had played basketball and dabbled in indoor track in the winter. Then Schempp and former Horses coach Greg Barthelmas encouraged him to try wrestling. His buddy Greg Baker was on the team. So Ladd started wrestling, but he didn't always enjoy it.

"I didn't know what I was doing, really," Ladd said. "I knew how to take a beating. Now I know how to give one."

After going 33-7 in his rookie season -- including that surprise trip to states -- Ladd has turned in a banner season. It's even more impressive considering he broke his foot on Halloween, then hurt his shoulder the first week he was back to practice.

"I didn't expect to be undefeated, I just wanted to get back into the (Section II) finals," Ladd said. "I honestly didn't think I would pin my way through (the Section II meet). I picked up a lot of technique and I've been working out with (assistant coach) Paul Zebrowski. He's big and strong, he's very knowledgeable -- I couldn't ask for a better coach."

Anderson, who joined Duanesburg's Amy Whitbeck as Section II's only female two-time state qualifiers, is hoping for a first -- becoming the first female state place-finisher in New York wrestling history.

"That would be awesome," Anderson said. "I feel more confident this year going into (the state meet). I want to place higher and make it to the second day. Finishing in the top five or six would be cool."

The cat-quick Anderson has built on her 33-4 record of last year, despite moving up from 96 to 103 pounds this year. Her only loss was by a 6-3 decision to Queensbury's Mike Hewitt at 112 pounds in the finals of the Glens Falls tournament, nearly three months ago.

"I feel stronger and faster than last year," she said.

"I like her chances to make history," Schempp said. "We talked last year about coming back at the state level. We've been looking forward to this tournament since March of last year."

This year, with Whitbeck missing states, Anderson will be the only girl in the state tournament.

Carlene Sluberski of Fredonia, the first female champion in Section VI history, is skipping the state meet in favor of an international freestyle wrestling tournament in Sweden. Sluberski is preparing for a qualifier for the junior world team.

"I know Carlene -- we've trained and gone to camps before," Anderson said. "She's really tough and she trains hard."

So does Anderson.

"She's one of the hardest-working people in the whole area," Ladd said of his teammate. "When we're running the halls, she's always way ahead. She's the inspiration for the team. If Sarah's doing good, we all do good."

Wrestling - The U of R’s men’s team finished in fourth place at the CIS Championships on Saturday at the University of Calgary, but it was Cougar women’s wrestler Ali Bernard who came up with the only gold medal of the meet for the U of R. Bernard won her fourth CIS gold medal in as many years on Saturday after pinning Lakehead’s Nicole Plummer in the second round of the final match. This is Bernard’s first CIS medal at 82 kg, as she won the 72 kg class in 2006 and 2007 and the 80 kg class in 2005. Three U of R men’s wrestlers advanced to the championship finals in their weight classes with unblemished 3-0 records in the preliminary rounds, but all three Cougar grapplers - Cory Horsburgh, Jeff Jones, and Alex McStay - suffered losses and ended up with silvers. Peter De La Cruz was the only other Cougar to medal, recording a bronze in the 68 kg category.

The Clan women upset Canada West champion Calgary to win its fifth Canadian Interuniversity Sport national wrestling championship.

Simon Fraser University defeated Calgary by just two points on aggregate behind gold-medal wins by Ashley McKilligan, Stacie Anaka and the meet's most outstanding wrestler Miranda Dick.

Dick improved from a bronze medal at last year's championship, beating Brock University's Jessica Bondy in the 55-kilogram women's final

SFU and Calgary have swapped Canada West women's titles for the last nine years, but the Clan holds an edge in CIS banners 5-4.

"It's kind of interesting. If we met (Calgary) in a dual competition they would beat us. But when you put it into a team thing, we have a little bit better chance of beating them," said SFU coach Mike Jones, who was named the top women's coach for a fifth time.

McKilligan helped SFU to its fifth national title in six years, leading off with a gold at 48 kg, while Anaka was also placed first in the 67-kg final.

SFU had two other finalists. Rita Pare, at 51 kg, and Danette Torgeson, at 63 kg, who both won silver medals for the Clan.

Erin Church took a bronze medal at 72 kg and Raissa Dickinson earned SFU points with a fourth-place finish at 59 kg.

"We kind of improved at the Canada West and improved at the nationals. I was very pleased," Jones added.

The Clan men's team came up just four points short of upsetting Brock's run of 10 straight national championships titles.

The men were led by Dustyn Fisher's upset win over defending 90-kg champion Alex Brown-Theriault in the final. Fisher was named the most outstanding wrestler following the bout.

Hardeep Aujla won a silver medal at 72 kg, while Bo Gregson, at 65 kg, and Pat McDonald, at 82 kg won bronze medals. Heavyweight Jag Bhullar, who was the Canada West and CIS athlete of the week, also placed third.

The Clan obtained fourth-place points from Alex Tuura of New Westminster at 57 kg and David Krawczyk at 76 kg.

Tue, March 4, 2008
By RYAN PYETTE - LONDON FREE PRESS SPORTS REPORTER

Takahashi, a 15-year-old Catholic Central student, won the 47.5-kilogram boys' class without
surrendering a point in five matches. Van DenNieuwelaan captured the 64-kg crown to complete
a strong meet for Town of Dorchester.

Takahashi, who finished third as a Grade 9 competitor at last year's OFSAA meet, beat Trevor
Huckle 6-0 in the final, after losing a match to the Sarnia wrestler earlier in the season.

"I wrestled a lot smarter this time around," he said. "I really picked up my game."

Dorchester's Eric Jacobson, who is being recruited for the Western wrestling team, finished third
in the 77-kg class. Dorchester coach Jack Gunnell's daughter Olivia added a bronze in the 57.5-kg division for Mother Teresa to give London and area a fourth medal.

Banting's Michaela Lawrence nearly added another with a fourth-place finish at 41-kg. Clarke Road's Christine Schmidt was fifth in the unlimited class.

Takahashi will be one of five local wrestlers who will compete at the "Ontario Winter Games" starting Friday in Collingwood. The others are Richard Balfour, Kareem El Naggar, Jake Devlin and Nolan Deinum.

Takahashi will also be part of a London-Western club team that will travel to the the "Canadian cadet championships" in Saskatoon. He won the provincial crown last month.

Rubio wins championship

Published: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:43 AM CST

Gridley High School's Jessica Rubio wrapped up her successful year by taking first place in the 8th Annual USGWA Nor-Cal State Tournament at Springstowne Middle School in Vallejo.

Rubio won the championship at 133 lbs. There were six girls in Rubio's weight class.

She went 4-1. The girl she lost to also had a loss to a wrestler that Rubio had beaten.

“Great season,” head coah Brannon Byrne said of Rubio. “Finished it off, got a state championship. She's a hard worker, very dedicated. It's a pleasure to have a girl of that caliber on the boys high school wrestling team.”

Yesenia Zarate, at 120 lbs., went 1-3, injuring her ankle in her final match.

Fourth grader Evalyn Jones from Manzanita School took third place at 90 lbs.

Rockford knocks GH wrestlers out of team tournament

GRANDVILLE -- Alyssa Anderson has seen her team go through a lot of hurdles this winter, but she and the rest of the Grand Haven wrestlers are no worse for the wear.

Although sicknesses, injuries, and a self-imposed quarantine hindered the progression of the wrestling program this year, the Buccaneers pulled it together to reach the Feb. 20 Division 1 regional semifinal at Grandville High School where they took third-ranked Rockford to the final match of their dual meet before falling 36-26.

"A lot of crazy stuff happened," Anderson said. "We had a lot of sickness, a lot of snow days, and a lot of injuries.

Rockford, 26-2, won the regional title and advanced to the state quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year with a 53-18 victory over Jenison in the regional championship match.

"They're never easy," Rockford coach Don Rinehart said. "We had a battle with Grand Haven. We knew it was going to come down to the last match, and it did. The key was keeping their best kids from scoring a lot of points."

Against Rockford, the Buccaneers fell behind 23-0 after five matches, but regrouped to make the meet interesting.

"We knew where the strength of their lineup was, and the key would be if we could wrestle well against those strengths and keep it close at the beginning and then score a considerable amount of points later in the dual," Grand Haven coach James Richardson said. "Our kids didn't have anything to lose coming in, so we could be physical."

Grand Haven's Seth Holt and Josh Nelson posted victories at 189 and 215 pounds, respectively, before Anderson gave the Bucs a big lift by pinning Alex Padilla with 37 seconds remaining in the 103-pound match.

"I worked hard the last four years, and I'm really glad my senior year has taken a great turn," said Anderson after raising her record to 31-9. "I started out wrestling at 112 at the beginning of the season, thinking I wouldn't cut down to 103. I worked my butt off to get there, and since then things have been going pretty good."

Grand Haven also received a pin from Tyler Leppanen at 112 and victories by Jake Montgomery at 119, Dan Sabin at 125, and John Houseman at 130 to pull within six points with one match remaining. Rockford's Adam Bonner posted a major decision at 140 to seal the victory.

"If we would have scored 10 more points, it would have gone the way we wanted it to go," Richardson said. "We felt like pins would win the dual and we needed pins in every situation we could get them. It just wasn't enough."

"Overall, the kids worked extremely hard," Richardson said. "The last month, I've been unbelievably proud of this team.

"In 17 years, I haven't seen as many kids injured or have illness as this year. Their ability to overcome adversity is obvious with the way we've been able to finish the season. It's a testament to these kids."

Four girls have been members of the Grand Haven wrestling team for the past three years. Alyssa Anderson's twin sister, Sarah, Cindy Kaffenberger, and Molly Boersma are also members of the team.

"It has been us four girls since my sophomore year," Alyssa Anderson said. "I always like having my sister around. We do everything together. She's my wrestling partner."

The Buccaneers advanced seven individual wrestlers to the Feb. 23 regional competition. Those qualifiers included Alyssa Anderson at 103, Leppanen at 112, Colin Bertucci at 119, Sabin at 125, Houseman at 135, Chris Lucas at 160, and Holt at 189.

Sabin, Houseman and Holt all won regional individual titles in qualifying for the Division 1 state finals set to run through Saturday, March 1 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

March 5, 2008

Former Olympic wrestler Tela O'Donnell yells out instructions to one of her Homer Middle School wrestlers at Saturday's Borough meet. O'Donnell often finds herself balancing work, coaching and her 15-month-old son Raiden.

In the four years following her Olympic wrestling debut in Athens, Greece, Homer native Tela O'Donnell learned quite a few things about life — and herself. The 25-year-old went back to school, became a mom and earned her bachelor's degree in psychology. She subsequently moved back to Homer, started a new job and embarked on a coaching journey via high school and middle school wrestling.
She also developed a deep appreciation for mothers.
"You never really recognize the value of the things your mother knows until you become a mother," she said. "Now, I think she has this incredible wisdom."
O'Donnell said her mother, Claire, is absolutely thrilled about having a grandson. Raiden is 15 months old and often assists his mom with coaching duties.
"Oh my goodness, she's ecstatic," Tela said of her mother. "The two of them can spend all day together."
O'Donnell is the first to admit that balancing her son, a full-time job and coaching duties isn't exactly easy. But it just brings to light yet another thing she's learned about herself.
"I kinda thrive on overcoming adversity," she said — a bit of an understatement from someone who not only petitioned the school board to allow her to wrestle in high school, but was also one of the first girls to play football for the Mariners.

The Olympics
The need to overcome adversity was apparently strong motivation for O'Donnell as she started her climb toward a spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Women's Wrestling Team. Following an outstanding high school career, Tela attended Pacific University for one year before moving to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center to focus on her wrestling career.
Working her way through opponents in the challenge tournament at the Olympics Trials, O'Donnell stunned the two-time World silver medalist, Tina George by pinning her twice in a best-of-three final. The wins gave Tela the Olympic berth at 121 pounds.
O'Donnell didn't medal in the Olympics, but seems anything but concerned about it. She also said she didn't get nearly as much from participating in the Olympics as she did from preparing for them.
"The Olympic title, the success — it's like some kind of suit you put on. It becomes the focus of your life," she said. "It became the focus of my life, and that's really just not me."
When asked if all the cheeseburgers she skipped to make weight during her years of training were worth the Olympic experience, O'Donnell hesitated.
"Well, there were certainly plenty of cookies I gave up," she said. "And Fettuccini Alfredo."
Apparently some unresolved food issues remain.

Life after the Olympics
Following her stint with the Olympics and interviews with ESPN and USA Today, O'Donnell did a little more wrestling, but something just wasn't right.
"I wasn't feeling like that's where I should be," she said. "I knew I needed to spend some time focusing on academics."
O'Donnell enrolled in Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where she majored in psychology.
"Things are a lot different out there; It's a much faster pace," she said. "It was hard, but I think it taught me a lot. It's a great place to focus on something — anything."
In addition to earning her bachelor's degree, O'Donnell minored in art.
"Well, I am from Homer," she said.

Coaching
When O'Donnell returned home, she fairly quickly took on a few coaching responsibilities to get her feet wet. Under the tutelage of Homer High Wrestling Coach Mike Illg, Tela picked up a few things about coaching the sport she had so long participated in.
"I learned a lot from Mike — he was just great," she said. "I took a coaching class my last semester and didn't really think I would ever want to be a coach. That was less than a year ago, and here I am now. I absolutely love it."
O'Donnell's Husky team recently finished up the Middle School Borough Championships at Homer Middle School on Saturday. (See related story, page AX.)
"At first, I was afraid to coach junior high wrestlers. They're kinda scary, you know," she said. "But, I also think they are at a pivotal point in life — trying to break away from their parents and become more social with peers. The focus seems to become less on the family, and more on a new, outside environment. A coach can be part of that environment, so I see coaching as a pretty important responsibility."
O'Donnell said she remembers how important her coaches were to her when she was growing up, and hopes that she is able to reach some kids.
"I want to give some of that back," she said. "Even though I coached those guys for just a couple of months, it was incredible to see the growth and maturity they developed in such a short amount of time. And to know that I might have helped that happen in some way — that just feels incredible. I love those guys."
And the prospect of coaching junior high wrestlers again?
"You know, it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be," she said.

The job
O'Donnell recently took the position of recreation specialist for the TRAILS program at the Independent Living Center. She fills the opening left by former recreation specialist Hillary Hollenbeck.
"I have such a cool job," she said of her work. "I feel so lucky to be working in a program with such a solid foundation. I really have Hillary and Tom Beaty to thank for that."
Just last month, Tela had the opportunity to take a group from the TRAILS program dog sledding. Jason and Kelly Cameron of Kachemak Kennels hitched up the sleds and led riders on a thrilling snow ride via dog power.
"They (Camerons) did it just because they knew how much fun everyone would have," O'Donnell said. "I think that's something that's fairly unique to Homer; people are very giving."
Perhaps it's that kind of giving nature that allows Tela to feel comfortable raising her child here. Whatever the reason, she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
"Things are good — really good," she said. "I love Homer. There's no other place I want to be."

SFU women win fifth mat title

Tom Berridge, Burnaby Now

Rubio wins championship

Published: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:43 AM CST

STATE CHAMPION--Pictured (L to R) is Manzanita Elementary student Evalyn Jones, and Gridley High School students Yesenia Zarate and Jessica Rubio. Rubio took first place in the state tournament to win the championship.

Rockford knocks GH wrestlers out of team tournament