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Not being pinned downFossil Ridge girls not discouraged by others
12/06/2001
By MELINDA WEAVER / The Dallas Morning News
Wrestlers Jenny Findley and Emmy Thompson know about negative perceptions.
They have been mocked by male teammates and questioned by adults who didn't
know girls could wrestle.
Thompson said even Fossil Ridge coach Clint Wood gave the girls a strange
look when they showed up for practice, saying he had never heard of girls
wrestling.
Despite this, the girls took to the sport well, and Thompson qualified for
the state tournament in her freshman season. Their success has doubled the
girls participating, from last season's total of five to 10.
But Thompson said learning the sport's skill was challenging.
"I lost every match I wrestled in at the beginning," Thompson said. "But
then there was a period where I had no one to wrestle and only the guys were
wrestling. I would just sit there and watch the guys for hours, what they
did, what their opponents did. I figured out the basics, and that has really
helped me out."
Being "just one of the guys" has come easily to Thompson. She has always
enjoyed contact sports, and, in the seventh grade, she joined the football
team as a safety and cornerback.
But her teammates continued to grow, and she stayed 5-4, 138 pounds,
hampering her football skill. Wrestling offered her a way to release her
aggressions and compete in a contact sport in which her size wouldn't hurt her.
Findley had the same longing.
"It's like when you're boxing and you beat an opponent, you get this
adrenaline rush where the blood rushes to your head, and you are pumping
your fists in the air," Findley said. "It's the win that counts. It's the
best feeling in the world when you have just won a match, and the ref is
holding your hand in the air. That's what keeps you going through everything
else."Though the sport is growing, Findley said the girls still faced obstacles.
When Findley watches her female teammates giggle when trapping an opponent
in an awkward position or ignore practice to flirt with male teammates, she
wishes the girls teams could have their own practice time, free from the
distraction of boys.
"A lot of girls are interested but don't want to compete in a guy's sport,"
Findley said.
Wood said half the battle of creating a competitive wrestling team was
recruiting athletes. Wrestling is relatively new in Texas, becoming a
UIL-sanctioned sport three years ago.
"The kids understand the sport now," he said. "Others are interested because
their friends are doing it, and they want to try it. When I got here, these
kids were as green as you can get, but now we have kids with experience who
can assist with the coaching process. I expect us to be a lot better this
season."With that kind of success, even the teasing can get to be bearable.
"I have looked to God and asked him for answers," Thompson said. "And it has
gotten easier. I know this isn't something normal for a regular girl to do.
It's not like running the mile or playing basketball. It is different, and I
will be treated differently. It's just something I've learned to accept."
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West fifth in opening mat meet
by MARK SPEZIA, sports editor
December 6, 2001 -
BAY CITY -- John Virnich knew this might happen and accepted his fate with grace.
After all, the Lapeer West wrestling coach was taking a team with seven new starters to a loaded Michigan Duals Tournament to open the season. In addition to the two-defending state champion Panthers, the event boasted one other defending state champion (Dundee) as well three state runners-up, four state semifinalists and two quarterfinalists.
The Panthers, who won the tournament a year ago, began with a 42-28 win over state quarterfinalist Bay City Western. A 37-30 loss to regional finalist Thornapple-Kellogg ended a their dual-meet winning streak at 59. Fenton handed West its last loss in January, 2000.
The Panthers trailed 25-14 and 34-23, but never drew closer than five points after the early matches.
"How disappointed can you be, really?" said Virnich, whose 2000 state champion team went 2-2 at this tournament. "We were going up against a team we really don't match up well against. People realize how young we are with so many rookies. The only thing that matters is the end of the season with the league and state tournaments. Everything is preparation for that. We came back and beat some very good teams."
The Panthers knocked off state quarterfinalist Detroit Catholic Central (45-25), semifinalist Grandville (40-35) and traditional power Howard Tri-County (50-23) to place fifth. Davison crushed Richmond, 52-20, in the title match.
"I am proud of how the guys wrestled," Virnich said. "The two freshmen -- Jimmy Hewson (112) and Justin Chrzanowski (119) -- stepped up like veterans and (Davison transfer) Keristen LaBelle (103) looked awesome."
Roger Kish (189) went 5-0 at the tournament for third straight year while Jason Fellows (135) was 5-0 for the second straight year. LaBelle ended 4-0. Chrzanowski was 4-1. David Schlaud (125) was 3-1, bringing his two-year record at the event to 7-2. Jon Ranger (130), 5-0 a year ago, was 3-2 as was Josh Cross (140). Hewson was 2-1.
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Lapeer West wrestlers eye third state title
Wednesday, November 28, 2001
By Keith Morris
JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER
Can they win three in a row?
The high school wrestling season opens Thursday and among the big stories will be the bid by Lapeer West's Panthers to send coach John Virnich out with three consecutive Division 2 state wrestling championships. Virnich has announced he will step down as West's coach after the season because of a 50-mile commute.
West has gone 180-48 in eight seasons under Virnich. The Panthers were 73-3 in winning the title the last two years and set a state record for wins in an unbeaten season at 39-0 last season. The Michigan Wrestling Association honored him as a Coach of the Year for a second time last year.
He coached two years at Algonac and has a 202-63 record in 10 seasons overall.
The Panthers, coming off a season in which they edged Lowell for the second straight year in the state finals, open defense of their titles in Saturday's Michigan Duals at Bay City Western. Lowell has finished second in Division 2 the past three years.
West is ranked second behind No. 1 Lowell in the Michigan Wrestling News rankings and that's fine with Virnich.
"It's nice going in being the underdog," he said. "Now the bulls-eye's on their back."
West is only 16 wins from Dundee's state-record of 74 consecutive dual meet wins. The Panthers, who won 19 straight matches in 1999-2000 after a 36-32 loss to Fenton, have won 58 consecutive matches. Dundee's streak ran from Dec. 10, 1994-Feb. 1, 1997.
Junior Roger Kish, whose father, Roger, will co-coach with Virnich this season, looks to win his third individual state title. Kish is 125-2 with 101 consecutive wins after going 63-0 last year and needs only 93 wins to break the state record of 217 career wins held by Kearsley's Matt Brady (1988-91).
West's Jason Fellows also returns to defend his 125-pound state title.
While another state title is in their sights, the Panthers will first have to get past solid Metro League opponents like Fenton, Oxford and Holly.
Keristen LaBelle, a senior who transferred from Davison after the regular season a year ago, will attempt to become the first girl to win a match at the individual state finals. She won 50 matches and qualified for the finals two years ago at Davison but didn't win a match there.
While Davison lost LaBelle, Chase Metcalf will finish his career as a Cardinal this winter after wrestling at Goodrich as a freshman. Metcalf, who has signed a National Letter of Intent to wrestle at Michigan, could break Brady1s state mark this year as he tries to win a second state championship after back-to-back third-place finishes. At 167-10, he is 51 wins from passing Brady and has won at least 50 matches in each of his first three seasons.
Metcalf leads Davison as the Cardinals look for a second state team title in three years after finishing second to Temperance Bedford in Division 1 last year. Davison, 26-2-1 last season, has gone 64-3-1 the past two years, including a school-record number of wins in a 38-1 campaign in 2000.
Davison and Lowell could hook up in the semifinals of Saturday's 16-team tournament at Bay City Western.
In Division 3, Montrose has reached the state quarterfinals four times in five years under Dave Beazley and won two state titles in the process. The Rams will look to continue that run of success and claim their first state championship since winning back-to-back crowns in 1997 and 198.
The Rams' chances are helped significantly by the addition of Marlette transfer Curtis Roddy, who went 54-1 in winning the 125-pound Division 4 state championship last year. His only loss came against Fellows.
The Rams' Genesee Area Conference rival, New Lothrop, looks to build on last season when the Hornets reached the Division 4 quarterfinals despite having nine underclassmen among its 10 individual state qualifiers. With so many returning qualifiers, the Hornets hope to make a strong run at their first state title since pinning down the Class C-D crown in 1994 that gave them a state-record 10 state titles.
New Lothrop was tied for the most state crowns with Temperance Bedford before the Kicking Mules won their 11th by finishing first in Division 1 last season. New Lothrop hasn't reached the championship match since falling to Dundee in the Division 4 final in 1996. Only three of the Hornets' state crowns have come in the 14 years of the team tournament, while seven of them came under the previous individual format.
The season closes with the state team finals March 1-2 at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek and the individual state finals, which moves from Detroit's Joe Louis Arena to The Palace on March 7-9.
Keith Morris covers high school wrestling. He can be reached at kmorris@flintjournal.com
Davison's Keristen LaBelle pinning her Bay City Western opponent.
Keristen LaBelle from Davison is trying to get back points on her Fraser opponent