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Maine
Sports briefs; March 18, 2008
sports@TimesRecord.Com
03/18/2008
Golek continues to shine in wrestling
DORCHESTER Mass. — Mt. Arart High School wrestler
Kelly Golek took first at the New England USGWA Girls Wrestling
Championships at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School on Saturday.
Golek is slated to wrestle USGWA Girls Wrestling National Championships
in Michigan on March 29 and 30.
California
Article
Launched: 03/18/2008 08:13:28 AM PDT
• Christine Alcantara, Hogan girls wrestling - Took
fifth at 95 pounds at the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals in
Oklahoma City.
Maine
The Lowell Sun
Article Last
Updated: 03/18/2008 11:30:34 AM EDT
DORCHESTER -- Three girls from the Tyngsboro Youth Wrestling
organization placed top three in the third annual United States Girls
Wrestling Association (USGWA) New England Tournament at the Frederick
Pilot Middle School.
The top finisher was Jen Moore, a Greater Lowell Tech student,
who finished second in the 132-pound High School Division. She also
placed runner-up (to the same opponent) at the State Tournament the
previous weekend.
Third places went to McKenzie Gilbride in the 89-pound Middle
School Division and Angela Labelle in the 65-pound Elementary School
Division.
All three girls are now eligible to participate in the USGWA
National Tournament on March 29 in Detroit. The nationals attracted 707
participants last year.
Colorado
Rifle High’s Keaton Long wins
girls state wrestling title
By Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
March 18, 2008
STRASBURG — If your
last name is Long and you live in Rifle, chances are high that
you’re a wrestler.
Six of Wayne Long’s seven children, males and females alike,
currently wrestle or have wrestled at some time in the past.
Rifle High School junior Keaton Long is no exception, and
she’s blazing quite the trail for herself in what, at least
in Colorado, is still primarily a guys’ sport.
Long topped all comers to take home the 147-pound weight class title
from the March 8 USWGWA Colorado Girls Wrestling State Championship at
Strasburg High School.
And Long did it in dominant fashion, pinning Angie Beazer from
Westminster in five minutes in her semifinal match and taking down
Alexandria Davis from Thornton by tech fall (16-1) in the final to win
her fifth state title in six years.
It’s no surprise Long developed an affinity for wrestling
growing up considering it’s pretty much a household thing.
“It felt pretty normal since I have three older brothers who
wrestled and my dad was a coach,” she said. “
I’ve just done it all my life. It’s what I
do.”
One of Long’s older brothers, Tim, won a state title for
Rifle High School in 2007. Her other brother Jesse was a three-time
state placer. Her dad was a state qualifier at Eagle Valley back in the
day. Her older sister Tayler and older brother Nick wrestled, and her
middle-school aged sister, Matti, is a wrestler.
On top of doing open tournaments like the girls state meet, Keaton has
three years on the Rifle High School team already under her belt. Since
female wrestlers in Colorado are still somewhat rare, the majority of
her high school competition is against boys. That helps tremendously
come state tourney time, she noted.
“I’m used to wrestling in a mostly real stacked
weight,” Long explained. “It’s not an
easy weight when it comes to guys. When you’re wrestling
mostly guys and you switch to wrestling girls, it’s like
wrestling down. Girls are not usually as competitive as the
guys.”
She hopes to see that change.
“Girls wrestling is a building process,” Long said.
“It’s a lot bigger in California and Texas, places
like that. You didn’t used to have girls wrestling in
college. There used to be no girls wrestling in Colorado.
It’s growing.”
Long hopes to wrestle collegiately once her high school days are up.
She’s not sure where she’ll end up, but there are
only so many schools with girls wrestling programs.
“Most are toward the east,” she said,
“like in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.”
Until then, Keaton’s is simply enjoying the sport she loves,
the sport she’s been immersed since she was 4 years old.
“Wrestling teaches you a lot more [than other
sports],” she said. “For guys, it teaches you how
to be a man. For me, it teaches me to be a better person. You just get
more out of it.”
Just don’t act surprised whenever Long beats a boy, which
she’s done a number of times.
“Everyone’s all excited whenever I win or
anything,” she said. “I don’t know. I
just try to take it like I’m anyone else wrestling.
I’m not anyone special.”
Arizona
Published: 03.18.2008
Sabino High School senior Bridgette Kathleen Larsen is the only female
wrestler on her team.
That hasn't stopped her from being one of the best female
wrestlers in Arizona.
It's really hard being the only girl on the team," said
Bridgette, 17. "But I am very flexible, which gives me an advantage
over boys because it's hard for them to pin me down."
Larsen received a bronze medal in the 130 pound weight class
at the girls state championship Feb. 23 in Deer Valley. She won two of
her three matches by pinning her opponent, according to her mother
Nadia Larsen. She lost the first match to the eventual state champion.
Nadia said Bridgette got involved in boxing after taking a
self-defense class when she was 16. Nadia's goal was for her daughter
to learn how to protect herself, but it turned into something more
significant.
Bridgette enjoyed the class and tried out for wrestling with
a friend. Her friend dropped out, but Bridgette kept going.
"I really wanted to see if I could do it," Bridgette said.
She enjoys the challenge of the sport and how she has to push herself
when wrestling against boys.
Bridgette and Nadia believe wrestling teaches life skills.
"There is a saying among wrestlers that once you've wrestled,
everything else is easy," Nadia said.
Nadia said Bridgette will be able to do anything she wants
to in life with hard work and dedication. She said wrestling taught her
daughter to take care of her body and eat right.
While wrestling is growing among female athletes nationwide,
Sabino coach Larry Willingham said the Arizona Interscholastic
Association, the governing body for athletics in Arizona, does not
allow girls wrestling to be a separate high school sport. But that does
give girls one edge, he said.
"Female high school wrestlers have a much better chance for
scholarships from Division I schools than male wrestlers," he said.
"They don't have to be as good as the male wrestlers to get a look
because there are fewer ones coming out of the high schools."
Willingham said there are a handful of female high school
wrestlers in the area, including Sahuarita's Andrea Hughes, who was
state champion twice. Flowing Wells, Cienega and Sahuaro high schools
also have female wrestlers.
Bridgette said she thinks most girls are afraid to try out
for wrestling. Her mother said girls are probably intimidated by the
fact that they have to wrestle boys.
Last week, Sabino held its awards banquet. Bridgette
received a varsity letter for wrestling as well as the "most
courageous" wrestler award.
She is also the co-captain of the varsity track team. Other
interests include swimming, snowboarding and traveling.
She will attend the University of Arizona Eller College of
Management in the fall and major in accounting. She hopes to eventually
work for the FBI.
Bridgette plans to try out for the UA track team.
She believes what she has learned as a wrestler will serve
her throughout her life.
"Wrestling teaches me self-discipline, determination and
hard work," she said.
Arizona
March 18, 2008
Kelsey
Campbell, a junior on the Arizona State University wrestling team, won her
weight class at the 2008 U.S. Women's College Wrestling National Championships
over the weekend at Oklahoma City University. Campbell, who moved through the
bracket as the top seed at 59kg (130 pounds) to claim a national title, adds a
second crown to her collection after winning the 63kg division last year in the
same tournament.
"It felt great to win a second national title," Campbell said
of her victory. "My coaches and teammates at Arizona State believe in me, so I
think what I realized after my final match was I need to give myself more
credit, especially going into the (Olympic) Trials. I plan to win this
tournament again next year because I work hard and am pushed by my coaches and
teammates to succeed and I know I will be prepared."
Campbell opened the tournament with a first round bye before
meeting J'amie Sage of Menlo College in the quarterfinals where the Sun Devils
pinned her opponent in 31 seconds. In the semifinals, Campbell faced Samantha
Phillips of Oklahoma City University on her home mat and scored a 2-0, 3-0
decision victory to advance to the final. In the championship bout, Campbell
faced Nikki Darrow of USOEC/Northern Michigan and again was not scored on,
winning 2-0, 4-0.
Five of Campbell's teammates will head to St. Louis this week
to compete in the NCAA Wrestling Championships inside the Scottrade Center. Anthony
Robles (125), Chris
Drouin (141), Patrick
Pitsch (165), Brent
Chriswell (184) and Jason
Trulson (197) all will compete in the competition.
Kentucky
-
- DATE: 3/17/2008 1:00:00 PM
-
- By Kim Hamby
University of the
Cumberlands
The University of the Cumberlands Women’s Wrestling Team
claimed their third straight women’s college national title by a single point on
Saturday, March 15th in Oklahoma City, OK at the fifth annual Women’s College
Wrestling Association Freestyle National Championships. Senior Patriot wrestler
Jessica Medina (Pomona, CA) was named as the Outstanding Wrestler for the
tournament for her impressive performance during the weekend.
Cumberlands edged out host Oklahoma City University in the final round
of matches with an overall team score of 118 to OCU’s team score of 117. Four
senior Patriot wrestlers led the way for the team at the tournament, all
claiming 1st in their respective weight classes. The individual champions for
the Patriots included seniors Melissa Girard (Norway, MI), Jessica Medina, Sandy
Do (San Diego, CA), and Theresa Fennell (Amarillo, TX).
Girard claimed
the top spot in the 44K/97lb weight group with a decision victory over her final
OCU opponent of 4-1 and 3-2. In the 51K/112.25lb division, Medina took home the
gold medal with an impressive upset three-round win of 0-1, 7-2, and 1-0 over
USOEC at Northern Michigan’s Junior World bronze medalist.
Do also
recorded a 1st place finish with an upset victory in the 55K/121lb weight class
over another USOEC wrestler with scores of 2-1 and 2-1. In the 95K/209lb group,
Fennell took the top spot for Cumberlands in a round-robin style bracket, easily
pinning both of her opponents in less than a minute.
“We had four
seniors and had four champions,” comments UC Head Women’s Wrestling Coach Kip
Flanik. “That is what we hope for. Oklahoma City brought up the quality of this
tournament. Northern Michigan brought a strong group. I am proud of my girls.
They had challenges and injuries all year. It was difficult having Jackie Stiles
in the stands. This team is a family. We came together, and everybody wrestled
hard.” Stiles is currently a sophomore at the University of the Cumberlands and
a defending national champion that unfortunately was unable to compete this
year.
Numerous other Patriot Ladies placed during the tournament.
Sophomore Priscilla Brownfield (Alexandria, KY) finished in the 4th place spot
in the 44K/97lb group, while junior Ashley Dehnz (Naples, FL) claimed 3rd place
in the 48K/105.5lb division. Junior Shannon Reeves (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) took
home 6th place in the 51K/112.25lb class, and junior Antonesia Giles (Chino, CA)
finished in 5th in the 55K/121lb division.
Both freshmen Breisja
Gallo-Macera (Kissimmee, FL) and Jessica Kelvas (Putnam Valley, NV) claimed
spots in the 59K/130lb weight group. Gallo-Macera actually defeated Kelvas in
the final match to take 5th place, giving Kelvas a 6th place finish.
Sophomore Lauren Knight (Vallejo, CA) took home the 2nd place spot in
the 63K/138.75lb class, while Bethany Harris recorded a 3rd place finish. In the
72K/158.5lb division, junior Sherolynn Eppinger (Warrensville, OH) claimed 4th
place, and both freshmen Christen Paysee (Fullerton, CA) and Teri Milkoff (Los
Angeles, CA) finished 2nd and 3rd place in the 82K/180.5 weight class,
respectively.
The Patriot Ladies have more than a month to train before
their next competition, which is the Senior Women’s Wrestling Nationals in Las
Vegas, Nevada. The team will take to the mat on Thursday, April 24th through
Sunday, April 27th when the champions will be crowned.
Hawaii
By Tom Patrick
3/17/2008 4:00:24 PM
When it came to the boys and girls wrestling teams, with two members have such
outstanding seasons, the recipients were easy to determine. For the girls,
junior Justina Luafalemama, who came second in the 175-pound division at the
state tournament at the start of the month, was named the team’s Outstanding
Athlete.
“She’s improved every year,” said wrestling coach Ponciano
Raguindin. “As a freshman she took fifth, as a sophomore she took third, this
year she made it all the way to the finals.
“Hands down, she probably
had the best season out of all our girls — so [it’s] hard to give it to anybody
else,” added Raguindin, referring to the award.
