Tom Reel/Staff
Lee's Kayla Gifford (top) tries to flip Austin LBJ's Tasha Young onto the mat en route to her third-place victory in the 148-pound class at the Region IV Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at Blossom
News Page
Breaking ground
Female wrestlers find acceptance, competition at state championship
03/20/2000
Local participants
Name Hometown Wt. Class Place
Rachel Katus Aliquippa 43-48 First
Brittany Stehle Freedom 52-27 Second
Andrea Carson Aliquippa 58-65 Second
Kelsey Juscziak Hopewell 71-72 Second
Kathleen Conn Pittsburgh 101-104 Second
Megan Park Munhall 121-124 Fourth
Lisa Bisers Allison Park 126-132 First
Sissy Lyle Ambridge 126-132 Second
Alyssa Fabian Hopewell 126-132 Fourth
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By Matt Townsend
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Lisa Bisers has dealt with the odd looks and the ridicule for the past eight
years.
"It's been tough at times with what some people say," said the Hampton
junior, who started wrestling eight years ago. "But, I'm not out here to
ruin a boy's ego or ruin his life. There's no other sport where you get this
kind of challenge."
Sunday afternoon Bisers was at ease in a place where she didn't stand out.
The first United States Girls' Wrestling Association's Pennsylvania State
Championship at Quigley High School brought together 40 girls from ages five
to 18 to compete in an arena without judgement or their usual male
opponents.
Bisers, who won the 126-132 pound title over Ambridge's Sissy Lyle, and the
rest of the wrestlers are a rare breed so they compete against boys or don't
wrestle at all.
There are just a few all-female tournaments in the country. This is slowly
changing, though, with organizations like the USGWA, which holds seven state
tournaments and a national championship next weekend in Lake Orion, Mich.
"It's growing nicely," said Nancy Martin of Fenton Michigan, who organized
the Pennsylvania state championship. "We had 305 girls at our national
championship last year."
There even is a campaign to get women's wrestling in the 2004 Olympics as an
exhibition sport.
"I never thought I would wrestle a girl," said Bisers, who was a runner-up
in the USGWA's National Championship last year. "There maybe two or three
other girls when I started."
Kent Bailo started the USGWA after sporadically seeing female wrestlers as a
referee in Michigan.
"There's never enough girls for their own team that's why Kent started
this," Martin said. "They are so spread out."
The USGWA's National Championship meet last season, the second in its
history, attracted girls from as far away Hawaii and Alaska. That's just one
of the reasons Martin believes this sport will continue to grow.
"What's wrong with it?" Martin said. "It builds their self-esteem and
confidence. You will have a lot more balanced girl physically and
emotionally."
Female wrestling is a relatively new sport. There are only a handful of
colleges with club teams, but Martin and the USGWA is trying to build the
sport until it becomes a mainstay in high schools across the country.
"That's what we're hoping for," Martin said. "We're hoping eventually it
will be a varsity sport."
Bisers doesn't want to see girls teams in high schools until the competition
gets a lot better.
"If it can get to the point where the competition is as good as the boys,
then yes," Bisers said. "Now, there aren't enough girls. If they are going
to force me to wrestle on a girls team I'd like it to be at the same level."
Bisers has been wrestling boys since she started. She went 14-12 this season
and finished fifth in Section 4-AAA. Her match against Lyle was one of her
toughest of the season, though, as she scored two late points on a takedown
to win 3-2. Bisers feels she has an advantage over most of her opponents
because she's been wrestling for a long time.
"I'm a lot stronger than most of these girls," Bisers said. "Most of the
guys I wrestle have been wrestling for 10 years. There is a big technique
difference."
There is also a difference in the size and speed of a female opponent.
"It's very different to wrestle girls," Martin said. "These girls are used
to wrestling boys and all of the sudden they are wrestling somebody at their
caliber with more speed. They are limber. It's a different kind of
challenge."
A challenge that will continue next weekend at nationals for Bisers and
several other girls across the country.
"I'm getting pumped to win nationals next week," Bisers said. "It's
one-on-one. You can't blame anyone. You have to have total self-discipline
and extreme intensity."
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Wrestler comes long way to make history
Female qualifies for WPIAL tournament
By Leann Junker 3/12/2000
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Randy and Connie Mort figured if their sons could wrestle, so could their
daughter.
As coaches of the midget wrestling squad, the couple took all three of their
children to the practices and meets and weren't surprised when they noticed
their 4-year-old daughter Malissa taking an interest in the sport.
"It really didn't bother us at all," said Randy Mort.
The youngster's interest turned into more than just a passing fancy.
"She was always given a choice every year," said Connie Mort, remembering
her daughter favored cheerleading over wrestling in fifth and sixth grades.
"When she hit varsity, I was real nervous. I was afraid she was going to get
hurt," said Connie Mort. "There have been times when I've given out screams
at matches. The boys basically wrestle her just like another wrestler and
we've lucked out - no injuries with her like her older brother."
Aside from an injured ankle, Malissa Mort has experienced a very rewarding
wrestling career at Bethlehem-Center High School.
The 16-year-old of Fredericktown enjoys wrestling because "you can't blame
anyone else for what you do wrong."
Some might say she's competing in a boy's sport, but Malissa Mort doesn't
feel that way.
"I'm used to it," she said. "I don't see any difference in wrestling with a
guy because that's what I grew up with."
She feels her community, school and coach Joe Kuhns have supported her
decision to be a part of the team. Occasionally she'll experience some
animosity from a competitor, but not as a matter of course.
"Some of the guys don't appreciate girls being there," she said. "I get some
looks sometimes."
"The acceptance in this area for her on the mat has been outstanding," said
Randy Mort. "There's never been a kid who took a fit because he had to
wrestle her or refused to wrestle or anything else."
Anyone who doubted Malissa Mort's ability was proven wrong last month when
the 5-foot, 120-pound junior became the first girl to make it to the WPIAL
wrestling championships.
She advanced by defeating Brian Gildea of Brownsville in the consolation
finals. Mort trailed 6-4 when she used a power-half and exposed Gildea's
back to the mat for a 3-point nearfall and a 7-6 victory.
Her advancement to the championships ended in bittersweet feelings when she
lost to two wrestlers.
"I was disappointed," said Malissa Mort.
"I could understand how she felt," said her mom. "She felt she made it that
far, then let everybody down. I kept telling her, `No you didn't.' I said
nobody can ever take away what you've accomplished so far."
An honor roll student, Mort has quite a competitive spirit.
"I don't like losing," says Mort who won freestyle states for girls a few
years ago.
"We've been proud of everything she's done," said Randy Mort, adding his
daughter has also done well in volleyball and track.
Athletes themselves in high school, Randy and Connie Mort encouraged their
children to be active in sports.
"Every kid in town came here," said Connie Mort, remembering her back yard
became a football or baseball field from time to time. "We wanted to be
there for our kids."
The living room carpet in their home is more commonly known as the wrestling
mat when the kids begin to roughhouse, added Connie Mort.
Citing a decline in participants in the sport of wrestling, Randy Mort says
he feels there's "too much Nintendo."
"In my opinion, kids are lazier now. It's a very, very hard sport, and the
kids just don't seem to want to do it," he said.
Malissa Mort can attest to the challenges she's faced as a wrestler.
Her next obstacle will be to get her weight down to 103.
Unlike most of her male counterparts, Mort has dropped a weight class each
year in the past few seasons.
She stresses sensible weight loss over a period of time rather than taking
extreme measures to cut weight. She believes in exercising and eating right
to achieve her goals.
In addition to reaching her ideal weight class, Mort will work on
strengthening her ankle. Matt Vogel, the trainer for sports at her school,
has helped her progress, but she hurt her ankle again at sections.
The season is winding down for most high school wrestlers, but Mort will be
competing next Sunday at the girls state tournament.
She hopes to make it to the WPIAL competition next year and she looks
forward to a day when there will be separate wrestling teams for boys and
girls.
If that happens, Mort says, "More girls will come out and do it, I think."
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The Newest Pioneers
When girls want to play on boys’ teams, many things can happen, ranging from unwelcoming teammates to lawsuits. In this article, those who have been there give their advice.
By Lorraine Berry
Last year, your girls’ soccer team won its district championship and almost beat the top-ranked team in the state. The team has several outstanding players including one who takes deadly shots from 35 yards out. One day, this player comes to your office. She has a question. It turns out that she has always wanted to play football, and this coming season, the team is without a kicker. She wants to know whether she can try out for the team, and, if she can, whether you will support her.
At the University of Colorado, female Katie Hnida made headlines as a back-up kicker last year. In 1995, Heather Mercer was briefly a member of the Duke University football team after kicking a winning field goal during the annual Blue-White scrimmage. And, according to the most recent NFHS statistics, nearly 800 girls play football on boys’ prep teams.
So, while your soccer player’s request to join the football team may not be your idea of a fun challenge, it cannot be brushed aside. There is a growing trend to allow girls to compete on boys’ football, wrestling, and even baseball teams, which is only gaining in momentum.
In this article, athletic directors and coaches who currently have girls playing on boys’ teams give tips on how to handle this situation, along with opinions on its pros and cons. We’ll also detail the legal aspects.
Equal Rights
The first question most athletic directors have on this subject is: What are the girl’s legal rights? Must she be allowed to try out for and participate on a boys’ team? According to Title IX, in non-contact sports, such as golf and tennis, girls must be allowed to try out for—and if qualified, participate on—a boys’ team, if there is no comparable girls’ team. However, Title IX specifically exempts contact sports, such as football and ice hockey, from that requirement.
Even these seemingly straightforward rules have created controversies, though, as courts have had to rule on what constitutes a contact sport and what makes for comparable teams. For example, a court in West Virginia ruled that baseball and softball are not comparable sports, so a girl was allowed to try out for baseball even though the school offered softball. But in Illinois, the courts rebuffed a girl who wanted to play on the boys’ basketball team instead of the girls’ team in order to face tougher competition. And although some states allow boys to play on girls’ teams in certain situations, the courts have generally looked on that differently than girls playing on boys’ teams.
Title IX notwithstanding, several courts have ruled that girls do have the right to try out for any boys’ teams under a different legal precedent: the Equal Protection Clause from the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. This clause’s modern interpretation essentially guarantees all persons, regardless of gender, equal protection under the law.
“There have been cases bringing suit alleging that not allowing girls to try out for boys’ teams is a violation of the Equal Protection clause,” says Neena Chaudhry, Counsel with the National Women’s Law Center. “It seems to me that the standard for gender under the Equal Protection clause is that the state has to show some important objective as to why it doesn’t want girls to play with boys. I’m not sure what that would be. The traditional argument is, ‘Oh, girls could get hurt.’ But that seems a little outdated and patronizing. If girls want to play, if they’re able to play and if they take the same precautions that the boys do, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”
First Steps
Back to the female soccer/football player sitting in your office, what should your initial response be? Due to the legal precedents previously discussed, most athletic departments choose to not fight the request. Some even welcome it.
At Vallejo (Calif.) High School, which has had several girls on its wrestling team for the past six years, Athletic Director Donna Russell takes a positive approach. “We’re real supportive of girls who go out for wrestling,” she says. “The coach really sets the tone for their success, and it’s a good situation.”
Keith DeGraaf, Head Wrestling Coach at Mercer (Pa.) High School, currently has two girls on his team. His advice to athletic directors is, “Keep an open mind. If a girl is sincere about it, I think she’s going to give you as much, if not more, effort than the boys,” he says. “If she gives you all the wrestling she can, she can be very successful.”
However, administrators also say it is a good idea to initiate some communication about the topic before tryouts start. The first discussion should be with the girl interested in going out for the boys’ team. Athletic directors who have been in this situation say they don’t try to dissuade the girl from trying out, but they do caution her about the realities of the situation.
The number one reality is that she may not have the support of other students. “Coaches can’t be around every single minute that the players are together,” says Karen Smith, Athletic Director at Berkeley (Calif.) High School, where there are girls on the wrestling team and one girl on the football team. “And throughout the schoolday, teammates run into each other. A lot of things can go on, and a girl has to have a really strong character. She has to have high confidence and good self-esteem because it’s all going to be tested.”
Another reality is that competing with boys is often harder than it looks. “Sometimes, when girls are going against bigger guys who might be faster than they are, they don’t feel good about themselves,” says Todd Kulawiak, Athletic Director and Dean of Students at Benzie Central High School in Benzonia, Mich., where girls comprise half of the boys’ soccer team and there are girls on the wrestling squad. “Trying to compete sometimes ends up being demoralizing; they don’t want to compete against guys and they wind up quitting.”
The next step is a discussion with the head coach. “In order for this to work, I think you have to have the support of everyone on the team,” says Russell. “I’m talking about administrative support, from the head coach right on down to the volunteers, that this is the law—the girls can participate, you have to give them a fair chance, and you can’t sabotage their efforts.”
If the coach resists allowing girls to try out, Russell says she wouldn’t hesitate to involve upper-level administrators. “You’d have to call in administrators to sit down and have a talk with the coach,” she says. “Sometimes, coaches just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Oh well, I’ve got to do it.’ But that’s about the worst response we get, ‘Oh well.’”
Then, most athletic directors suggest, let her try out and do not treat her any differently than the boys. In many cases, she won’t make the team or will decide to drop out. “In the past,” Russell says, “we’ve had girls try out for baseball, and while they got through the conditioning phase, they eventually couldn’t keep up. We also had a girl try out, a while ago, for our football team. She made it through the tryout phase, but when they got to the point where they were beginning to hit, she couldn’t take that, and she cut herself from the team.”
Being Accepted
However, if she is able to stick it out through to the first competition, in many cases that show of perseverance eliminates further problems. When the coaches and players see that she is as dedicated and skilled as the male athletes, most administrators find she simply becomes another teammate.
Smith says that once the female kicker on her school’s football team became a full-fledged member of the squad, the boys forgot about her sex. “When we told the team members that we had made special locker room arrangements for her, the kids were surprised,” she says. “They said, ‘Oh yeah. She does need a place to change. We don’t even think about her being a girl.’”
As for the coach, “He says that as long as she’s kicking field goals, he’s happy,” explains Smith.
Marty Ruley, Head Wrestling Coach at Grove City (Pa.) High School, had a similar experience with his first female wrestler, Erin Tomeo. “I wasn’t all that keen on a girl wrestling on the boys’ team,” Ruley admits. “But that was what she wanted to do, and as long as she was willing to do all the things that had to be done, I didn’t have a problem with it.”
Tomeo did consistently prove herself willing to do anything asked of her, which then earned her the respect of her coach and the boys on her team, many of whom had watched her wrestle in elementary and junior high school. “There wasn’t any objection from the boys,” says Ruley. “She paid her dues, so she had every right to be there. For example, we start our practice with a three and a half mile run and she does that as well as the boys.”
At Vallejo High School, Russell also has found that it’s the girls’ efforts that allows them to be accepted on the wrestling team. “I think the girls get a lot of respect from the gentlemen on our team,” she says. “The boys wrestle against the girls all the time in practice. The girls are very tough. They put up a really good fight and they’re highly skilled.”
A similar process often takes place with opponents. DeGraaf tells the following story about the time top female wrestler Micah Kelly competed in her first high school scrimmage. “Micah was a freshman and she’s a cute girl,” says DeGraaf. “The boys had seen her when we were warming up and some of them who were wrestling in her weight class were talking to one another. I heard a lot of the comments they were making, and a lot of giggling. Other boys were asking, ‘Oh, can I wrestle her, too?’ Then, when we went to live wrestling, she was beating the snot out of them and it changed their attitudes real quick. We went back down there last year and it was a whole different story.”
However, for some first-time opponents, the situation can be difficult. “For the guys sometimes, it’s a lose-lose situation,” Kulawiak says. “They think, ‘If I lose to her then everybody tells me that I got beat by a girl. If I beat her, then everybody says, Oh, you beat a girl.’”
“I think in the beginning it was difficult,” says DeGraaf. “A lot of teams would forfeit to the girls; they just wouldn’t wrestle. They would wrestle the girls if they thought they had a chance of beating them. But if they knew they were going to get beat, they would forfeit.”
The Logistics
Even when girls are wholeheartedly accepted on a boys’ team, you’ll still need to solve some logistical problems. One of the more obvious is locker room facilities. Since visiting boys’ teams often use the girls’ facilities, it’s not as simple as telling a girl to get dressed in the girls’ locker room. One solution is to have athletes suit up while still at their own school.
At Benzie, the players dress before they get on the bus, explains Kulawiak. “And at half-time, the coach addresses the players out on the field so they don’t have to go into the locker room,” he says.
Wrestling may present the most complex challenges because of the added requirement that a wrestler weigh in before each competition. “Erin is treated exactly like every other wrestler on my team, with the exception of weigh-ins,” says Ruley. “We have a parent from the other team go in and watch her weigh in. We make sure that she has a different dressing room. At our school, she dresses where the officials dress because the other team is in our girls’ locker room. At some places, she has to dress in the restroom, but most schools make accommodations for her.”
DeGraaf has to make similar arrangements for his female wrestlers. “We just bought a new scale that’s electronic,” he says. “We can actually take the scale and put it in a room and run the cord to a readout outside the door. Then the wrestler steps on the scale and we can read the weight outside in the hall. At other schools, they send in another female to weigh her. But, a lot of times we can just take the scale out into the hallway, and she can make weight while wearing her singlet. We do not run into too many problems.
“The little things that you have to do, and all the other concerns,” DeGraaf adds, “they’re kind of minor. They take care of themselves and everything works out. It’s not really a problem as a coach.”
The Pros and Cons
Although some administrators have wonderful stories to tell about the benefits of having girls on boys’ teams, others are wary of the trend. Dr. Sandra Scott, recently retired as Executive Director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA), feels that physical differences put girls at too much of a disadvantage when trying out for boys’ teams. “If we can, we try to counsel a girl toward a girls’ program,” Scott says. “Of the girls who have gone out for the boys’ teams, sure, there are a few who have been highly successful. But most of them are not starters; they are just there.
“Years ago, I did some work examining where a girl might be successful on a boys’ team, and quite frankly, we couldn’t find, in general, a sport where that would be the case,” she adds. “For example, at the beginning we thought that girls might be very successful in competitive diving. But in talking to officials, they said that the boys could get more height in executing some of the dives because of their strength.”
Another reason Scott opposes girls on boys’ teams is because she feels it doesn’t do anything to solve the gender equity problem that necessitates girls trying to make boys’ teams in the first place. “Many of us in the leadership felt that it was an easy way out,” she says. “Instead of trying to develop a soccer program for girls, they said, ‘Okay, we’ll let girls go try out.’ But it wasn’t really helping the establishment of programs for girls. And it certainly wasn’t doing anything for participation. I think many of us still feel the same way.”
Several administrators have had experiences with girls who try out just to make a point—to prove girls can do it—and end up being demoralized by the experience. “Their self-esteem goes down,” Kulawiak says. “At the high school level, against other girls, they might be awesome, but some get shot down when they’re not able to compete against boys.
“Girls who are less experienced and less skilled still make the team,” Kulawiak continues, “but sometimes they get frustrated and they may not come back out or they may quit. And that hurts me, because if we had a girls’ team, some of these girls would get more experience, more playing time, and be able to contribute more than they are now.”
However, some coaches and administrators feel any negatives are outweighed by the positives, and that includes the effect that girls have on their male counterparts. “We have some better practices, overall, because the boys see the girls going through all this,” DeGraaf says. “I think it’s a macho thing for them. They think, ‘Well, my goodness, if they can do it, I’ve got to be able to do it.’ A lot of times, that’s actually not the case because the two girls on our team are special in that sense. Our practices are very hard, and these girls excel through practice. That pushes the boys. So, I think it’s a big positive.”
Ruley agrees. “Erin is well-respected because she gets out there and does the same as everybody else,” he says. “We’ve treated this as a positive, because it is a positive thing for her and the boys around her.”
Smith admits that the female place-kicker’s success is an inspiration to her, too. “I was surprised by my reaction as an athletic director,” she says. “I was so excited that we had a girl as a kicker. I always thought that was the best thing when I was younger. I always wanted to play that position when I was in high school, and I was not allowed. When I found out it was happening here, I was thrilled.”
Sidebar - One State’s Solution
In 1978, New York’s State Education Department designed a series of guidelines for schools to use if a girl wishes to play on a boys’ team, or a boy wishes to play on a girls’ team. The importance of the guidelines is that they give an athletic director at a public high school in New York the means to determine what his or her response should be when a girl asks for the opportunity to try out for a boys’ contact sport.
One of the guidelines is based on whether a girl is physically capable of playing at a boy’s level. (Other guidelines assess an athlete’s physical maturity.) The girl is instructed to take eight tests, and, by passing five of them, proves that she is capable of meeting the baseline requirements of the sport. A boy wishing to try out for a girls’ team also takes these tests to measure whether he is significantly stronger or faster than the girls he would compete against. The state has also instituted an “exceptional girl rule,” in which a girl can try out for a boys’ team if her level of play far exceeds that of the comparable girls’ team.
The evaluation of whether the athlete can continue to play on the opposite-sex team is done on a yearly basis, and it measures whether the athlete can still compete at that level of play. “There was a situation where a boy was on a girls’ field hockey team,” says Dr. Sandra Scott, recently retired Executive Director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA). “He had played on those teams from the junior high level to his sophomore year, and then suddenly, he was bigger and stronger. Previously, he did not have an adverse effect—in fact some people did not know he wasn’t a woman, because he had a slight build and wore the kilt for that particular team uniform—but after his sophomore year, he could no longer play.”
While these rules seem to give the situation some clear-cut guidelines, Scott was, and still is, opposed to them. “When the staff of the association reviewed it [back in 1978], we were very much opposed to it,” she says. “We felt it hampered the growth of women’s sports because it said for a few, we can let them go try out for a team instead of starting a team for themselves.” Currently, there are no plans to change the standards.
Sidebar - A Kicker in Court
Recently, the issue of girls playing football has returned to the legal arena. Heather Mercer tried out to be a place-kicker on the Duke University football team in 1994. She was a freshman and did not make the team on her initial foray. In the spring of 1995, after kicking a game-winning field goal in the annual Blue-White scrimmage, she was invited to join the team by then-Head Coach Fred Goldsmith. When she showed up in the fall, however, Goldsmith informed her that she would not be allowed to play.
“Mercer's complaint was that once she made the team, they didn't allow her to meaningfully participate,” says Neena Chaudhry, Counsel with the National Women’s Law Center. “This is actually a different situation, the court held. Under Title IX, you don't have to allow her to try out for the football team, but she did, and she made it. Once she did, they cannot discriminate against her.”
In 1997, a lower court dismissed Mercer’s lawsuit, but in July, 1999, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s decision, and ruled that Mercer could legally pursue a discrimination suit against Duke. The case is still pending.
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Express-News: High School Sports
Mavs grab region title
By John Welch
Special to the Express-News
Madison posted four individual weight-class victories and racked up 193 points to claim its first boys team title at the Region IV Wrestling Tournament at Blossom Athletic Center on Saturday.
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Tom Reel/Staff |
After leading briefly at one point in the meet, Austin Bowie finished second with 1761/2 points. Cedar Park was third with 168.
Paced by three wrestlers who each captured bronze medals in their respective weight classes, Lee finished fifth in the girls team standings with 68 points.
Killeen Ellison secured the girls team title with 169 points, followed by Houston Lee (151) and Austin Crockett (871/2).
The top four boys in each of the 15 weight classes and the top two girls in each of the 10 weight classes qualified for the UIL State Wrestling Tournament at the Austin Convention Center from Feb. 23-24.
Tom Reel/Staff |
Madison maintained a slim lead over Bowie throughout most of the tournament, but put the crown out of Bowie's reach midway through the finals.
"I'm proud of these kids for winning the matches they did, and everybody contributed to (the win)," third-year Madison coach Blaine Pederson said. "I just think that everybody gave great effort the whole weekend, and they were all focused on what they wanted. That was our goal since last year, to come back and win (regionals)."
Following a conservative start that saw him fall behind on points early in the match, Mavericks senior Jon Delgado pinned Joel Phillips of Beeville just 35 seconds into the third two-minute period of the 119-pound bout to claim his second consecutive region title.
"(Phillips) was strong at first, but as we started going through the match, he started weakening," Delgado said. "I don't think he had enough endurance, because he started getting tired."
Paul Quirindongo (135 pounds), Jacob Gutierrez (160) and John Stringer (275) also earned victories for Madison.
Led by weight-class champions Cory Torkelson (140) and Matt Schautteet (171), MacArthur finished fifth in the boys team competition with 1061/2 points.
Schautteet, who recently dropped from the 180-pound class, looked impressive with a pin of Weslaco's Victor Olvera at 1:35 into the second period.
Other area athletes claiming regional titles were James Soto of Roosevelt (125) and Ted Marley of Churchill (180).
Lee was paced by Kayla Gifford (third, 148), Edith Smith (third, 165) and Jennifer Garcia (third, 185).