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'Game Face'
Kentucky women are among female athletes saluted in photo exhibit at Smithsonian

By LARRY MUHAMMAD
The Courier-Journal

In a 1973 photograph titled "Twin Muscle Builder," Jo Bush could be any middle school girl in America, flexing her 13-year-old muscles on a chest expander.

But the picture, originally shot as part of The Louisville Twin Study that Bush is involved in with her sister, Jean Millay, was unveiled June 27 at the Smithsonian Institution. It is part of a six-month exhibit celebrating the female athlete.

"I think one of the boys had that exercise spring in class, messing around with it, and we were showing off," said Bush, now 40 and an accountant for a Louisville development firm.

"But me and my sister have been in the Twin Study since we were born, and during our teen-age years had this photographer following us around. He went to school with us. We woke up in the morning -- he's there. It's weird though that that old picture's still around after all these years."

Taken by photographer Charles Harbutt of New York, the photograph also is in "Game Face: What Does A Female Athlete Look Like?" (Random House, $35), a new coffee-table book containing 182 color and black-and-white photographs -- including the 139 displayed in the East Hall of the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building in Washington.

Former sportswriter Jane Gottesman compiled the book and is co-curator of the Smithsonian project with photographer Geoffrey Biddle.

Jo Bush flexed her 13-year-old muscles in 1973 as part of The Louisville Twin Study. The photo is at the Smithsonian Institution. 1973 photo by CHARLES HARBUTT

The pictures will be shown there until Jan. 2 and then begin a 20-city tour over the next five years, starting in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah in time for the Winter Olympics in 2002.

Largely a tribute to Title IX, the 1972 law mandating women's equality in team sports, the book and exhibit feature such superstars as Althea Gibson, Tara Lipinski, Mary Lou Retton, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Chris Everett, Amelia Earhart and Marion Jones.

But they also showcase dozens of unknown amateurs -- playing volleyball, doing hula hoops, pole-vaulting, wrestling, fencing, skiing, fishing, hunting, dancing, surfing, -- some of them, like Bush, in Kentucky.

One is "Cheerleaders, Henry Clay High School," a 1994 picture by photographer Arlene Gottfried of New York. It shows Andrea Cassell as a teen in Lexington doing a jumping toe-touch, pompom in each hand.

"Kentucky has always been known as a powerhouse for cheerleading, and Henry Clay was always strong, winning state championships and national titles for years," said Cassell, now 25 and a Wheaton, Ill., homemaker.

"The photographer followed us around a good week that year, taking all kinds of pictures," she recalled. "We worked all year long, boys' football and basketball season, practiced for summer camp, for competitions, did everything from weight-training to gymnastics, while most sports took off."

The competitiveness of cheerleading has inspired hopes it might one day be classified a sport under Title IX -- and Cassell partly agrees: "Cheerleading was created for team support. But there's a competitive aspect of it that is very much a sport. There are cheerleading teams set up entirely for competition, and those squads never cheer for any games at all."

Another Kentucky picture in the book is "Underwater Nymph," a 1979 photo of Jan Moyer, swimming underwater with her 2-year-old daughter, Anne, on her back in a Diaper Dip class then held at the Southwest Branch YMCA in Louisville.

The Moyers couldn't be reached for comment. But Melissa Farlow, the photographer who took the picture for The Courier-Journal, recalled in an interview: "I just decided to do something different. I'd never done any underwater photography before and was game to experiment. What was really neat is that the kids were squirming and wiggling and having various reactions to getting into the water.

Andrea Cassell leaped as a cheerleader at Henry Clay High School in Lexington in 1994. 1994 photo by ARLENE GOTTFRIED

"They automatically would hold their breath when they went under, and it turned into this surreal-looking scene. So when Jane called looking for pictures of young women athletes, it appealed to her. And I really believed in the mission. I grew up in a time when women weren't encouraged to be athletes."

Now a free-lancer for National Geographic and living in Sewickley, Pa., Farlow is one of several Pulitzer Prize-winners whose work is featured in "Game Face," along with leading photojournalists and fine-art photographers including Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz and Robert Mapplethorpe.

Gottesman exalts sports as a tool for female self-expression and began amassing her pictures in 1994 after noticing a dearth of media images celebrating the woman athlete.

"In the media and bookstores," she writes in the introduction, "I found nothing that reflected the beautiful and complicated relationship women have to sports in a world where prescribed female behavior does not include the muscle, sweat and passion that are ingrained elements of sport."

And her quest to show the woman athlete over time matured just as the seeds of Title IX were conspicuously bearing fruit. U.S. women's teams won gold medals at the 1996 Olympics in soccer, basketball and softball. In the Winter Games in 1998, they won the gold in ice hockey. In 1999, as 40 million Americans watched on TV, the U.S. soccer team won the Women's World Cup.

Among the amateur Kentucky athletes shown in the book, Bush has remained active, playing softball and practicing martial arts.

"I have a black belt in tae kwon do," she said.

It's a love of sports poignantly expressed in the "Game Face" foreword by Penny Marshall, director of the 1992 hit movie "A League of Their Own" about women in pro baseball: "It doesn't matter if you're a good player or a bad player, a boy player or a girl player, a new player or an old player.

"What matters most is that you play the game, give it the best shot you can, and perhaps open the doors for a few new players to sneak into the locker room and join you."

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Pacific's start to the 2001-02 season came in grand style as the Boxers placed five men and four women at the Clan International Freestyle Tournament, Saturday in Burnaby, B.C.
The meet, featuring competition from the United States, Canada and Japan, gave the Boxers a strength building leading into the regular season. No team scores were kept in the open competition.
Jon Small (Sr. Tigard, Ore.) led the Boxer men, placing third in the heavyweight class. Troy Hall (Sr., Kooskia, Idaho) was fourth at 69 kg, Kahaa Rezantes (Sr., Kahaku, Hawaii) was fifth at 54 kg, while Jeremy Spence (Fr., Wesier, Idaho) opened his collegiate career with a fifth place finish at heavyweight. Kris Sherrill (Jr., Butte, Mont.) finished sixth at the 58 kg-class.
For the women, Kaci Lyle was the runner-up at 68 kg. Tela O'Donnell placed fourth at 56 kg, while Kristen Fujioka (Fr., Kaneohe, Hawaii) placed third at the 46 kg- class. Sally Roberts (Jr., Federal Way, Wash.) was sixth at 64 kg.
"These were reasonably good results in view of the level of competition and the fact that it was freestyle," said Pacific assistant wrestling coach Mike Clock. "There were at least 15 teams represented, including one from Japan that included several of their ranked wrestlers. There were also a few of the United States' best international level competitors in the field."
Small had the strongest outing of the day for the Boxers, going 3-1 on the day with three shutouts. In the third place final Small downed Suama of Japan 4-0. He scored an 11-0 win over Pacific's Spence.
Hall's fourth place finish came thanks to a pair of pins to open the day. In his first match, Hall pinned Burnaby Mountain's Sangau in 4:06, then took down Douglas' Vaghari in 4:18. Hall lost to Brock's McDonald 6-5 in the third place final.
On the women's bracket, Lyle needed only two matches to wrestle into the championship. Lyle scored a 13-2 major decision over Simon Fraser's McManne, then pinned the Rebels' Yanish in 3:49 to advance to the championship. In the final, Lyle found herself out matched by Simon Fraser's Samler, who beat Lyle 11-1.
Likewise, Fujioka needed only one winning match to make it to the third place match. After a first round bye, Fujioka lost to Simon's Fraser's White 18-8. The freshman quickly recovered to beat Simon Fraser's Ball 13-7. In the third place bout, Fujioka needed only 1:20 to down the Rebels' Brown.
In other performances of note, Aaron Heinberger (Jr., Yuba City, Calif.) had the Boxers' fastest pin of the day. He needed only :25 seconds to down the Rebels' Kellet in the 69 kg-class.

Top Performers
JON SMALL: The senior from Tigard opened his season with a third place finish at the Clan International Tournament. Small's three wins were all shutouts, with scores of 10-0, 11-0 and 4-0.

KACY LYLE: Lyle had the Boxers' best women's performance of the day, going 2-1 en-route to a second place finish at the Clan International Tournament.

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Men's and Women's Freestyle Wrestling Championship to Be Held in Sofia

: SOFIA, November 13,XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is honorary patron of the
biggest sport event in Bulgaria for 2001, the 35th Men's World Free Style
Wrestling Championships and the 14th Women's Freestyle Wrestling
Championship from November 22 to 25 in Sofia.
Traditionally, senior statesmen -the president of Russia, the king of Sweden
and the prime minister of Turkey, lend their names to wrestling
championships. State Administration Minister Dimiter Kalchev is chairman of
the steering committee and will open officially the championship.
400 entrants from 60 countries are expected to arrive in Sofia for the event.
"I hope our athletes do not sustain any injuries in the remaining ten days
till the championship begins. We are holding shorter but more intensive
training sessions. We are scouting out our opponents, currently we are
watching videotapes of the World Cup and the Asian Games," said the men's
team head coach Ivan Tsonov.
All women wrestlers are in good physical state. Only head coach Valeri
Raichev has an ankle injury, which, however, does not prevent Raichev from
instructing the team.

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U.S. Women’s College Wrestling Preview - Missouri Valley College aims to continue national dominance

11/12/2001
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

Women’s wrestling in college is an evolving sport in the United States, with new opportunities each year as more young women graduate from high school seeking a chance to wrestle in college.

Currently, there are five women’s college wrestling varsity programs, and a number of club teams of various sizes. In addition, a number of talented women wrestlers are members of their men’s college teams, training daily and participating in the major women’s wrestling events.

For the first time this year, TheMat.com will rank teams and individuals in U.S. women’s college wrestling. The teams that will be ranked are either varsities or established club programs. All women wrestlers who are on a college varsity, college club or are members of their college men’s teams are eligible for the individual rankings. The NCAA and NAIA eligibility rules will be considered, with undergraduates considered as well as those with undergrad eligibility who are in graduate school.

The top team in the preseason rankings is Missouri Valley College, which has quickly set the standard for women’s wrestling on the college level. This NAIA school has had the most success recruiting talented prep athletes and maintaining a large squad size. The Vikings won the team titles at the University Nationals and the U.S. Nationals last year, and have successful athletes at every international weight class. This year, men’s head coach Mike Machholz will also lead the women’s team, and has high goals for this year’s crop.

Among the star individuals are top-ranked Clarissa Chun at 101.25 pounds and Nina Vernon at 165.25 pounds. Other top stars are Malissa Sherwood and Carrie Birge at 123.25 pounds, Tonya Evinger and Tori Adams at 136.5 pounds and Melanie Macari-Montierth at either 149.75 or 165.25 pounds. The Vikings are strong in either dual meets or tournaments, and have made a major impact on the U.S. women’s wrestling program.

Lock Haven’s club program received the No. 2 team rankings, with just four athletes. However, three of these talented stars will represent the USA at the 2001 Senior World Championships. Sara McMann, who competes at 136.5 pounds, may be the best U.S. female wrestler right now. She won the World Team Trials for the second straight year, and can dominate opponents. Freshmen Erin Tomeo (123.25) and Jenna Pavlik (165.25) will also compete in Bulgaria as replacements, as Tomeo won a Special Wrestle-off for the spot and Pavlik earned the chance by winning the title at the Sunkist Kids International Open. The other competitor is Jenny Wong, a Team USA athlete with a No. 2 college ranking at 112.25 pounds. These athletes train with Carl Poff’s Div. I program at Lock Haven, and are making inroads for women’s wrestling at one of the nation’s most storied wrestling schools.

The team that got this all started, the Univ. of Minnesota at Morris, has the No. 3 ranking, with hopes of climbing higher. Coach Doug Reese started the nation’s first women’s varsity in the mid-1990’s, and continues to recruit and develop talented athletes. UM-Morris has been very successful in dual meets, and often competes against the best of nearby Canadian schools.

The best athlete on the UM-Morris team is clearly Katie Downing, a National Team member who boasts a Junior World medal and can compete with the world’s best at 149.75 pounds. Samantha Branka, at 165.25 pounds, is also nationally ranked on the Senior level and has shown tremendous improvement. Coach Reese is excited about a pair of freshmen, Katrina Betts at 101.25 pounds and Patrice Crenshaw at 112.25 pounds.

Cumberland College has had a varsity team for the last three years, and is starting to become a force. Kip Flanek, a successful club coach in Ohio, has been added to the staff to work with the women wrestlers, and a number of talented freshmen have joined the program. The top name in the program is the exciting Toccara Montgomery, who is ranked No. 1 in the USA on the Senior level and has beaten three World Champions during a glorious break-through year. Other wrestlers to watch are Jessica Shirley at 123.25 pounds, Stephanie Bolton at 149.75 pounds and Wendy Hunter at 165.25 pounds. This team should improve as the season goes along, and is looking for big things in the future.

Pacific University, a Div. III college in Oregon, started an official club program this year and it has developed into one of the best women’s college opportunities in the nation. Mike Clock, an assistant coach to Frank Johnson, has placed tremendous effort into the team, and the results have been impressive. Pacific is a mix of a few returnees that trained with the squad last year, along with some transfers and freshmen recruits. Junior Jill Remiticado at 123.25 pounds is the top returnee, after qualifying for last year’s World Team Trials. Transfers Sally Roberts at 136.5 pounds and Kaci Lyle at 149.75 pounds bring experience to the team, and freshman Tela O’Donnell at 136.5 pounds leads the incoming class.

Neosho County College in Kansas has built a strong NJCAA team in recent years, and added a varsity team for women this year. John Taylor is coaching the women’s team, which features some young talent with potential. This team is gaining experience in freestyle and may need some time before it begins to make an impact. Among the top name recruits are Danni Presley at 101.25 pounds and Sara Tolin at 123.25 pounds.

Menlo College in California started NAIA varsity wrestling teams for men and women this year, and brought on veteran coach Lee Allen to lead the women’s team. Allen was an Olympic Greco-Roman coach, but has trained women athletes for over a decade on the national level. Allen’s first team is a bit inexperienced, but features a pair of talented sisters, Melina and Tanica Hutchison from Alaska, both who may compete at 123.25 pounds. California is rich with women’s wrestling talent, and Menlo is expected to make an impact in the upcoming seasons.

American International College in Massachusetts, a Div II school under former Puerto Rican wrestling star Anibal Nieves, is also beginning to put together a strong women’s club. The top returnee for AIC is sophomore Jillian Yost at 112.25 pounds and leading the freshman class is folkstyle star Jennifer Wormwood from Maine, who will compete at 136.5 pounds or 149.75 pounds.

Messiah College in Pennsylvania has had a club program in recent years. Rachel Glogowski, who has competed there and is now a post-graduate, is helping organize the team workouts and competition. Emily Barna, who competes at 165.25 pounds, has the best chance of the undergrads on the club of making progress on the national level.

The Univ. of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Club features a number of athletes who are college students. Coach John Kerley is training both university and top high school athletes in the club, which is seeking official status with Hawaii’s athletic department. Candice Takamatsu at 101.25 pounds, Cathy Migita at 112.25 pounds and Hillary Broad at 149.75 pounds are among the top college students on this club.

A number of other colleges either have emerging club programs or individual women wrestlers training with the men’s teams. Those of note include Stanford senior Patricia Miranda at 112.25 pounds, who was a World silver medalist in 2000, and freshman Lisa Bisers of Johns Hopkins, who has placed at the U.S. Senior National Championships last year.

You can not look at the women’s college scene without noting the Canadian colleges, which have organized a strong program. There are currently about 16 colleges in Canada with varsity teams, as well as some club programs that feature college athletes. UM-Morris has traditionally competed often against Canadian teams, and a number of the other U.S. teams are also scheduling events in Canada this year.

The eligibility rules in Canada differ from the U.S. system. Canadian athletes may be eligible for competition for five years, rather than the four years in U.S. colleges. In addition, there are seven Canadian college women’s weight classes, one more than the six international weights which are used most often in the U.S. schools.

TheMat.com is working to create a panel to select North American team rankings for women’s wrestling, as well as help develop individual rankings in the international weights. Three Canadian coaches and two U.S. coaches have agreed to serve, and the first ranking is expected in late November.

The Canadian colleges compete more often in tournaments than dual meets, and will face many U.S. college athletes at these tournaments. Their season ends with the CIAU championships, held the first weekend in March. The defending CIAU champions are the Univ. of Calgary, followed by Brock Univ. and the Univ. of Alberta. Also with strong teams last year were Western Ontario and the Univ. of Guelph. The Canadian colleges have been successful in supplying quality athletes for Canada’s Senior and Junior World Teams, and has developed into a strong feeder system for its National program.

Simon Fraser, which through its Burnaby Mountain Club, has trained many top Canadian women’s freestyle wrestlers, has developed its women’s program into a varsity team this year. Simon Fraser’s men compete in the NAIA against American colleges, with Olympic champion Daniel Igali among its most storied grapplers. This year, the NAIA will host a women’s competition alongside its men’s national championships, held in Havre, Montana, March 1-2. NAIA teams Missouri Valley College, Cumberland College and Menlo College will battle Simon Fraser in this women’s event, and other college programs are also invited to participate. Pacific is expected to send its team to the NAIA event.

The women’s college season is longer than the men’s, because the major USA Wrestling national events on the Senior and age-group levels are always an important conclusion for the season. Many of the top U.S. women wrestlers on the Senior level compete on college teams, and the U.S. Junior World Team has featured numerous college students.

Two major USA Wrestling events for the U.S. women’s colleges are the U.S. Senior Nationals, set for Las Vegas, Nev., April 25-27, and the University National Championships in Evanston, Ill., May 1-5. In addition, college athletes between the ages of 17-20 are expected to compete at the FILA Junior National Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 16-19.

Missouri Valley College, which has the largest team in U.S. college wrestling, as well as many of the most experienced wrestlers, is expected to be the strongest college teams at the USA Wrestling National events. These events will truly help sort out the final rankings for U.S. college women’s wrestling and show which teams and individuals have made the most progress during the season.

College wrestlers who placed at the U.S. Nationals, won golds at the University Nationals, or have had success at international events, will be eligible for the World Team Trials in June. By then, most of the colleges are out of session for summer break, but their talented women athletes will continue to train to attempt to make the U.S. Women’s Team USA.

As college wrestling continues to grow for women, more college athletes are expected to make an impact within the U.S. Senior program. With women’s wrestling added to the Olympic Games, women’s college wrestling takes on increased significance as a feeder program for future U.S. teams. It is quite possible that athletes wrestling on the college level this year may represent the USA at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.