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Gator wins area's first girls state championship
By JAMAL THALJI
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 4, 2001
OVIEDO -- History was made in about, oh, 40 seconds Saturday night.
That's how long it took Land O'Lakes' Dana Kearney to take down Ocala Forest's Jennifer Campbell, drag her back in bounds, throw her onto her back and pin her in the final of the 122-pound class of the Florida Ladies State Wrestling Championships.
Kearney and Gators teammate Jessica Worthington, both sophomores, made history at only the second ever girls high school wrestling tournament. Kearney became the first girls wrestler from the Tampa Bay area to win a title. Worthington is the first to earn second. About 80 girls from across the state made their way to Oviedo for the unofficial state championships in a sport that is beginning to take life in Florida but is not yet sanctioned by the Florida High Schools Activities Association.
Land O'Lakes coach Ed Goodpaster said he was proud of the hardware both brought back to Pasco County.
"Dana being a state champion was no surprise at all," Goodpaster said. "And I was very proud of Jessica coming here to her first state championship and finishing second."
For Kearney, it was the ending she envisioned after finishing third last season. She is a starting lightweight on the boys varsity who qualified for the regionals last season and is Land O'Lakes' third state wrestling champion in the past two seasons. "I felt very good," she said. "I was just really ready for this.
"Ever since last year, I knew I could come in here and win it."
In her first season in the sport, Worthington, who starts for the Gators' boys junior varsity team, flew through the tournament until the 131 final.
There, she met defending state and AAU national girls champion Kristen Ianuzzi of Winter Springs. Ianuzzi scored the first takedown and built a 6-2 lead that Worthington could not overcome even though the Gator took over the last three minutes of the match.
Worthington closed the gap to 8-6 and slammed Ianuzzi onto her stomach and kept her there for the last 1:30 but could not turn her over before time expired.
"I was very nervous," Worthington said.
"I was trying to get her in a half, but I ran out of time."
Both Gators reached the final by plowing through their respective brackets. Both were unseeded, however, because neither had wrestled in last week's Seminole Athletic Conference tournament, the local confederation of Seminole County schools that sponsors its own girls wrestling league.
In fact, Kearney's bracket included six wrestlers who placed at last year's state meet. -- not that it mattered.
Kearney started her run by pinning Forest's Aimee Nelson in 5:30. Then Kearney scored a technical fall over Merritt Island's Alana Campitelli, winning 17-2. Kissimmee Gateway's Sulika Cuevas was next to fall as Kearney pinned her in 5:26 in the semifinals. Worthington started by scoring a pin in 3:45 over Paxton's Charmaine Morgan. Then Forest's Danielle Daubert fell to Worthington 18-11. Worthington pinned DeLand's Christine Anasterio in 5:45 in the semifinals. Gateway won the state title, scoring 113 points, 71/2 more than runner-up Forest. DeLand was third with 82 points, and defending state champion Lyman was fourth with 65.
Land O'Lakes finished seventh as its girls scored a combined 511/2 points.
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McMann wins 2000 Senior Women's Championship Belt Series
2/2/01
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
Women’s World Team member Sara McMann (Lock Haven, Pa./Sunkist Kids) has won the 2000 Championship Belt Series on the Senior level in Women’s freestyle wrestling.
The series is sponsored by USA Wrestling and honors the top point scorers among U.S. wrestlers, based upon actual success in competition during the year. The point system is based upon results from events on the regional, national and international levels and gives greater credit for success in the major competitions. The top point scorer in the series for each style receives a handsome plaque. On the Senior level, a separate award is presented in men’s freestyle, men’s Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle wrestling.
Women's champion - Sara McMann, Lock Haven, Pa. (Sunkist Kids)
McMann, who placed ninth in the World Championships at 136.5 pounds, won the Women’s Belt Series for the second straight year. She scored 533 points, placing 223 points ahead of runner-up Clarissa Chun (Kapolei, Hawaii/Missouri Valley), who also competed in the 2000 World Championships.
McMann won gold medals at the Sunkist Kids International, the Clansman International in Canada, the Dave Schultz International, the U.S. Nationals and the World Team Trials. She was named Outstanding Wrestler at the U.S. Nationals. She won a silver medal at the Pan American Championships, and bronze medals at the Klippan Cup in Sweden and the Guelph Open in Canada.
Chun was a gold medalist at the Dave Schultz International, competing at 101.25 pounds. She claimed silver medals at the Pan American Championships, the U.S. Nationals, the World Team Trials and the UM-Morris Open. Chun was a bronze medalist at the Sunkist Kids International and the Austrian Open.
2000 Women's Championship Belt Series Top Ten
1. Sara McMann, Lock Haven, Pa., Sunkist Kids, 136.5 pounds, 533 pts.
2. Clarissa Chun, Kapolei, Hawaii, Missouri Valley, 101.25 pounds, 310 pts.
3. Dominique Smalley, Iowa City, Iowa, Missouri Valley, 165.25 pounds, 296 pts.
4. Malissa Sherwood, Rocklin, Calif., Missouri Valley, 123.25 pounds, 285 pts.
5. Patricia Miranda, Saratoga, Calif., Dave Schultz WC, 112.25 pounds, 282 pts.
6. Iris Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo., Sunkist Kids, 165.25 pounds, 267 pts.
7. Julie Gonzalez, Vallejo, Calif., Peninsula Grapplers, 101.25 pounds, 264 pts.
8. Toccara Montgomery, Cleveland, Ohio, Sunkist Kids, 149.75 pounds, 262 pts.
9. Kristie Marano, Albany, N.Y., ATWA, 165.25 pounds, 258 pts.
10. Melanie Macari, Fremont, Calif., unattached, 149.75 pounds, 245 pts.
CHAMPIONSHIP BELT SERIES HISTORY
Women
1994 - Shannon Williams, Ontario, Calif., Sunkist Kids, 116.5 pounds
1995 - Tricia Saunders, Ann Arbor, Mich., Sunkist Kids, 103.5 pounds
1996 - Jackie Berube, Evanston, Ill., Wildcat WC, 125.5 pounds
1997 - Lauren Wolfe, Okemos, Mich., Michigan WC, 136.5 pounds
1998 - Stephanie Murata, Minden, Nev., Sunkist Kids, 112.25 pounds
1999 - Sara McMann, Lock Haven, Pa., Sunkist Kids, 123.25 pounds
2000 - Sara McMann, Lock Haven, Pa., Sunkist Kids, 136.5 pounds
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Sam Houston girls repeat as wrestling champs
02/04/2001
By Rick Kretzschmar / Special Contributor to the Arlington Morning News
Arlington High's wrestling team found strength in numbers Saturday, even when that strength was not that strong. It almost led to an upset of its nemesis.
Sam Houston did just enough to win the District 15-5A meet before 500 spectators at Bowie's main gymnasium. Sam Houston repeated as district champions with 120 points, to 112 for Arlington.
However, the majority of 10 weight classes had just two competitors. Arlington had eight wrestlers advance to the finals, but three did not compete, with drawing because of injury defaults.
The maneuver was not popular with Sam Houston wrestlers, such as Brandy Killingsworth, who had one of the injury-default championships at 148 pounds. All eight Sam Houston wrestlers who advanced to the championship round competed or were available to compete.
"When we were weighing in, I asked some of the Arlington girls if they were competing and they were like, ' ... We're weighing in." " Killingsworth said. "I'm happy we won, but I'm very disappointed. I thought I would get to wrestle."
Out of the six Sam Houston wrestlers who competed in the finals, four won. Latosha Gillon (215 pounds) and Glory Dalton (138) had first-period pins.
But the most dramatic win was for Maria Garza at 165 pounds. Martin's Randi Miller had control for most of their match, holding a 7-1 lead in the second period. But with 20 seconds left, Garza got a headlock, and got a pin with 9.1 seconds left in the second. Garza has a 2-1 advantage over Miller in head-to-head matches this season.
"I didn't think about it when I got the headlock. I just went for it," Garza said. "It felt good to repeat as district champions. It was a smart thing for Arlington to enter those wrestlers for the points, but if they weigh in, they should wrestle."
The tournament was not a qualifier for the Region II meet, which starts Friday at South Grand Prairie's Warrior Coliseum. Arlington girls coach Andrew Bauer pointed that out after the meet Saturday, but he said he was not certain which of the girls who were out by injury default will compete at regionals.
"Basically, we were just trying to have a full lineup," Bauer said. "Who competes at regionals is up to the girls. Whoever shows up and works this week will go, and we have enough girls so I'm not worried about a full lineup."
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Challenge matches prove to be some of the most exciting in District 15 competition
By Rick Mauch 2/4/2001
Special to the Star-Telegram
ARLINGTON -- Never underestimate challenge matches, those wrestling bouts where the person who loses the final has to face the winner of the third-place match if they haven't wrestled each other previously in the tournament.
Perhaps the best match in the District 15 wrestling tournament on Saturday at Bowie was a challenge match. Arlington's Jonathan Houston rallied for a 7-5 overtime victory against Martin's Jesse Keenan to qualify for the Region II Tournament at 171 pounds.
Houston entered the district tournament as the top seed. He qualified for the state tournament last season but lost in the final, 12-8, to Bowie's Nathan Tirado. In Saturday night's match, he trailed Keenan 4-3 with 40 seconds to go before taking the lead with a reversal, but saw Keenan awarded a penalty point with seven seconds left to force overtime.
Houston got a takedown in the extra period for the victory and kept his season alive.
"That tells you how good this district is," Houston said. "I dread district because it's so hard every year."
Bowie lost two potential regional qualifiers in challenge matches, and Martin and Lamar each gained one. Jason Sansone rallied from the consolation bracket to qualify for the Warriors, and Wes Anderson did the same for the Vikings.
"This district has always been solid," Martin coach Tony Warren said. "This season is no exception."
Texans girls ready for postseason
After her team won six championships in the finals Saturday, Sam Houston girls coach Brooke Dolberry said she believes the Texans have a strong chance to regain the state championship they won two years ago and thought they had won last season before a scorekeeping error took it away.
"Today they came to wrestle and if they can keep doing that, they can win [state]," Dolberry said.
"That's been something in the back of their minds all year [last season at state]," boys coach Ryan Menard said of the girls team. "We've got the horses to do it."
The Texans' experience was evident when Maria Garza overcame a 7-2 second-period deficit to pin Martin's Randi Miller at 3:51. Garza saw a chance and used a headlock to throw Miller to the mat.
"That was a state-champion caliber move," Sam Houston assistant coach Tommy Bonds said.
No upset to Tai
Most considered Malala Tai's 9-3 victory against Martin's Nick Bowers to win the heavyweight championship the upset of the tournament, but the Sam Houston wrestler said he knew going into the match what he had to do to win.
"Get position," Tai said. "... I figured if I could get some points and let him have to play catch up, I could keep my distance enough to win."
Tai nearly got a pin at the end of the first period, but the buzzer saved Bowers -- for the moment.
"[Ryan] Menard's done a good job with him," Warren said. "Tai is a big, strong athlete. He could be the darkhorse and surprise everybody again at regionals."