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HAMPTON WRESTLER PUTS MARK ON CLASSIC
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 3/28/2001
Hampton senior Lisa Bisers became a pioneer last Saturday, competing in what
had previously been a male-only event, the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic at
the Fitzgerald Field House.
Bisers lost to Erin Tomeo of Grove City, 9-3, in the first match between
females in the 27-year history of the Classic. They received a great deal of
applause after their exhibition match, held between the duals featuring the
WPIAL All-Stars vs. Minnesota and Pennsylvania All-Stars vs. the United
States.
Bisers was a starter for the Hampton boys' varsity, compiling a 49-78 career
record. As a sophomore and senior, she fell one victory short of qualifying
for the WPIAL Class AAA tournament."
"I don't so much look at myself as a pioneer. It's great that there are more
opportunities for women in sports, but I didn't do this for political
reasons," Bisers said. "I love to wrestle and I'm glad I was given a chance
to do it for my high school team. I don't support having women's teams in
high school until the level of competition is comparable to the boys' teams.
I felt I had the opportunity to get better by being on a boys' team."
Bisers, who competed at 119 pounds for Hampton, gave up about 10 pounds to
Tomeo, 54-30 in her Grove City varsity career. Tomeo's older brother, Tom
won a PIAA championship in 1993 and wrestled in the Classic that year.
Some of Bisers victories came by forfeit because a few male wrestlers did
not want to compete against her for fear of losing on the mat.
"It happened a few times the last two years because of boys not wanting to
get beat by a girl," Bisers said. "But for the most part, they're good about
it. Some of them take it better than others ...When I first started I got
teased a little bit at school, but it's never really been a problem because
I've been around it for so long."
Bisers will attend University of Scranton, which has a Division III
wrestling program. She would like to continue her wrestling career in
college as well as women's national tournament wrestling.
"I started with judo when I was younger, and with my brothers [Dave who is a
college wrestler and Dan, a freshman at Hampton] in wrestling, it just fits
my personality," Bisers said. "I would love to coach some day. I referee
Junior Olympics matches and I'm going to try and get my referee
certification next year. I would also like to coach later on.
"I truly believe wrestling is the most intense, most challenging sport out
there. You are the only one on the mat. There is no one to blame."
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CLASSIC BATTLE: LISA BISERS, ERIN TOMEO TO MEET IN DAPPER DAN WRESTLING FIRST
PITTSBURGH Lisa Bisers and Erin Tomeo, two of the more successful female scholastic wrestlers in the United States, will meet in a special preliminary bout in the 27th annual Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic scheduled for Saturday, March 24 at the University of Pittsburgh's Fitzgerald Field House.
Bisers, a resident of Allison Park and four-year member of the Hampton High School wrestling team, and Tomeo, of Volant and a member of the Grove City High School wrestling team, currently are in Sweden competing in the Klippan Ladies' Cup in Klippan, Sweden. The Klippan Ladies' Cup is an international women's tournament.
Bisers recently completed her scholastic career, finishing fourth in the Section 4-AAA tournament a few weeks ago, one win short of becoming the first female to qualify for the WPIAL Class AAA Championships.
Bisers went 7-7 this season and was 39-52, with two winning seasons as a sophomore and junior. She improved markedly after going 3-19 as a freshman.
Bisers is a 2000 Cadet Women's Freestyle national champion and was second in the women's Junior Nationals that year.
Tomeo was 6-4 this season and went 24-13 the past two seasons for Grove City.
Her brother, Tom Tomeo, is a former PIAA champion and competed in the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic.
She finished third in the 1999 Junior World Women's Championships and placed sixth in the 200 Junior World Championships.
Kraig Nellis, a member of the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic committee, said he thought about such a bout as far back as last year.
Our event is about showcasing local high school talent in wrestling, Nellis said. The requirements are really being a senior. These two fit the bill. At the women's level, they've had stellar careers.
I'm not out to make any Title IX statements. My intent is to showcase local wrestling talent to raise money for charity. By having the exhibition match between two quality wrestlers will expose those and educate those in the wrestling community and outside the wrestling community that women's wrestling is just as viable as women's soccer, basketball and swimming.
We're trying to make sure there's not this big expectation that we will be doing this every year. After every Classic we meet and evaluate what we did well and didn't do well. We're looking for blue-chip high school wrestling talent and leveraging that to raise money for Dapper Dan Charities.
Hampton Coach Joe Bursick said women's collegiate wrestling might actually help save college men's programs.
Not only would you have more athletes available, but it helps even out the whole Title IX issue.
The Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic, partially funded by UPMC Health System, benefits the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania.
The Wrestling Classic, dubbed The Rose Bowl of Wrestling, is the premier high school all-star dual meet in the United States.
The preliminary match will feature WPIAL stars going against Minnesota's best at 5:30 p.m. The main event B Pennsylvania versus the USA will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Pennsylvania leads the all-time series 15-10-1.
Tickets for the Wrestling Classic are $12 for reserved seats and $8 for general admission. They can be purchased at Wright Automotive Group in Wexford, Canon-McMillan High School or by mail to Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic, P.O. Box 957, Pittsburgh, PA 15230, or online at