Caprock girls get mat title - barely

By Steve Brannan 1/23/02
sbrannan@amarillonet.com

With the past two state wrestling champions meeting on the same mat, a close match was to be expected Tuesday between Caprock and Palo Duro.

But not this close.

Tied at 30 after the completion of all matches, the Lady Longhorns got the benefit of a favorable tiebreaker to defeat Palo Duro on near-fall points and claim the district title in front of 250 fans at Caprock.

The Longhorns completed the Caprock sweep later, winning the last five weight divisions to hand the Dons a 64-15 loss.

Nonetheless, it was the girls' match that proved to be as close as advertised Tuesday. And after the two teams wrestled to stalemates in both pins (four) and forfeits (one), it took yet another in a long list of criteria to give Caprock the win and a berth in this weekend's state duals at Grapevine.

"It could have gone either way," Caprock coach Scott Tankersley said. "It was one of the most exciting girls' matches I've seen."

That excitement was proved after the Lady Longhorns needed a miraculous comeback just to tie Palo Duro and keep their hopes alive.

Down 30-12 after Teresa Fennell and Star Ponder scored consecutive pins at 187 and 217 pounds for the Lady Dons, Caprock gained a forfeit win at 97 by Crystal Valdez to cut into the lead. Even then, the Lady Longhorns still needed pins by Lindsey Bohensky (104) and Yvette Madrid (112) to stay alive.

Bohensky got hers at the 1:13 mark of the first period against Stormy Grear, giving Madrid and her team hope. And after fighting off a Brittany Owens takedown in the second period, Madrid turned Owens with a reversal and eventually got the pin at the 3:28 mark.

Once the rulebook came into play, Caprock's 12 near-fall points proved paramount against the Lady Dons' five.

"When we got to the point where it was 30-12, I thought there was no way we could lose the match," PD coach Steve Nelson said. "But I guess we have to chalk it up to experience and eat some humble pie."

Madrid was helped by an aggressive mentality knowing that nothing short of a pin would do against Owens.

"I was just trying everything I could to get the pin," Madrid said. "I thought she had me there at one point. But I thought it was a matter of time because I knew we needed the pin."

The scene was eerily reminiscent of Palo Duro's loss two years ago during the state duals. PD lost in the finals when the rulebook was needed to determine a winner after the match was tied.

Caprock, on the other hand, earned a valuable piece of momentum heading into the state duals after losing to the Lady Dons earlier in the season.

"This means a lot to them because I told them at the beginning of the year, if they continue to work hard, they would be rewarded," Tankersley said. "You get what you put up."

Unlike the earlier matchup, the Caprock boys had less trouble in their dual against the Dons. Palo Duro, in fact, was put in a difficult situation after giving up 24 points because of forfeits at 112, 119, 130 and 189.

The Longhorns, meanwhile, never relinquished control as Rigo Mendoza and Patric Solis scored solid decisions at 103 and 135, respectively. Steven McNeil added a major decision at 140 against Chris Johnson to give Caprock a 28-3 advantage.

Trey Gerber and Michael Fields would tally pins for the Dons at 145 and 160. But the Longhorns responded with five more pinfall victories by Michael Littlejohn, Marty Eakin, Tim Murphy, Kenny Holmes and Beau Fletcher - four of which came in the first period - to give Caprock the victory.

The Longhorns also will make a trip to Grapevine for the state duals after Tascosa - the district boys' champion - declined the invitation.

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Hanks boys, Montwood girls wrestle to Bowie tourney win

Pablo Villa 1/20/20
Special to the Times

Reggie Armstrong casually scooped himself off the mat in the aftermath of his 180-pound championship match at the Bowie Invitational on Saturday.

The Hanks junior had just pinned Juan Olivas of Carlsbad to claim the 180-pound title, a victory that was important to the entire Hanks team. Armstrong sauntered back to his teammates, who were waiting for him. The compliments were immense as the Knights realized that with the head-to-head win against Carlsbad, they were all but assured of their second consecutive Bowie Invitational team title.

"You knew I could do it," Armstrong jubilantly proclaimed to his teammates. "We've got this."

They got the meet title, too.

Hanks won the tournament with a score of 205.5. Carlsbad finished second with 197.5 points. Socorro was third with 178.

"We did all right," Hanks coach Anthony Carter said. "I had a lot of guys hurt and sick. But the kids I brought here did real well. We had a slim lead going into finals over Carlsbad. We had nine wrestlers in the finals to their 11. Our guys just had to go out there and do what they could."

And they did. Along with Armstrong, Jacob Kirtley came up with a victory in a 130-pound consolation match with the Cavemen's Aaron Aguilar that came to be a six-point swing in the standings.

"My 130-pounder came up with a big win," Carter said. "That was a big swing in our direction. And then Reggie came up with the big pin. We just put it together today."

A dent was placed in the Knights' effort by Josh Dodson. Dodson, from Moriarty (N.M.) High, toyed with Hanks' Danny Hernandez in the 119-pound title match. Dodson would not stand for any of Hernandez's ploys.

And when Hernandez was able to get an upper hand, Dodson nullified his efforts. With one leg barred, Dodson hopped on one foot to avoid Hernandez's tripping attempts. The feat summed up the match, which Dodson won by a 14-2 major decision.

"I was just trying to stay up, trying to wrestle," Dodson said of his first Bowie title match. "I feel good to have won. The competition here was really intense."

The competition was just as intense for the girls. But being intense is something Montwood High has been familiar with.

The Rams girls claimed the first team title at Bowie in school history, mustering enough to deny the Hanks girls their second straight title.

Montwood won the tournament with 87 points, finishing ahead of Socorro's 56 and Irvin's 51.

"They deserve it," Montwood coach Leo Garcia said. "The girls have so much heart and desire. They've worked so hard to get to this point. I'm glad to see them getting rewarded for their efforts."

The Rams were led by their two stalwarts, Mariana Chavira and Diane Esquivel.

Chavira and Esquivel won the 95- and 110-pound titles, respectively, paving the way for the team victory.

"It's great to get a team title," Garcia said. "It's a good group of kids that we have. It's been a matter of instilling in them leadership and trust and pushing them. And you know -- every sacrifice has its rewards."

A chance to reap more comes in two weeks, when district tournaments take place.

"We have to keep them focused, keep them wanting more," Garcia said of his girls, who will take the mat against district power Hanks at the tournament. "We have the desire for that first district title. And we are going to work for it."

To get it, they'll need to get by Hanks.

"We need to get back to basics," Carter said. "We just need to get focused and get mentally and physically prepared."

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Lady Vikings No. 1 in continental poll

01/02/02
By Chris Allen/Sports Editor

Missouri Valley College junior Clarissa Chun again came in second in the points standings for USA Wrestling’s Championship Belt Series in the Senior Women’s class for the year 2001.

Chun, a 46-kilogram grappler from Kapolei, Hawaii, was second to Women’s World silver medalist Toccara Montgomery of the Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club and Cumberland College (Ky.) in the contest, which awards credits from events in regional, national and international competition.

One of the most active wrestlers on the circuit, Chun took gold medals at the Klippan Open in Sweden, the Manitoba Open, the University Nationals and the Sunkist Kids International Open. That goes along with a second-place finish in the World Team Trials and third at the U.S. Nationals. Placing sixth in the top-athlete list was Lady Vikings sophomore Tonya Evinger of Bates City.

In the latest ranking of North American college teams, Valley moved up one spot into first place with 94 points – two points ahead of Brock (Ont.) and Simon Fraser (British Columbia). Chun was second in her weight class to SFU’s Carol Huyhn.

Five other Lady Vikings were ranked among the best wrestlers in the U.S. and Canada: junior Rachel Bernardes was fifth at 46 Kg, senior Malissa Sherwood fourth at 56, Evinger (fourth) and sophomore Tori Adams (sixth) were the only Americans at 62 Kg, and junior Nina Vernon was rated sixth at 75.

Valley is scheduled to return to action Jan. 11 in the Pacific Duals at Redmond, Ore.

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Williams’ win crucial for Huntington

By DAVID WALSH -- The Herald-Dispatch
dwalsh@herald-dispatch.com 1/21/02

HUNTINGTON -- Robbie Williams cut it kind of close. So did his teammates. In the end, though, the Huntington High wrestlers had enough left in the tank to repeat as Class AAA champion in the 23rd annual WSAZ Invitational at Veterans Memorial Field House.

Williams, a senior and one of four Highlanders vying for titles in the championship round Saturday night, beat Neal Lakia of Riverside, Ohio, in overtime at 130 pounds. The two were tied 4-4 after the third period and first one-minute overtime. In the second overtime, Williams chose to be on top, and he held his foe down for 30 seconds to secure the win by criteria.

When Jason Mays, Huntington’s other senior, won by pin at 160, the Highlanders locked up the team title with 213 points. Nitro, which went 4-for-5 in the finals, placed second with 209.

"In the overtime, I wanted to keep the pressure on," Williams said. "I chose top because I knew I could hold him in."

Lakia appeared he might get free in the closing seconds, but Williams held on.

"We were rolling," he said. "It looked like it, but I knew where he was at."

Williamstown, top-ranked in Class AA/A in the first West Virginia Coaches Association poll, went 1-for-4 in the finals, but it didn’t matter. The Yellowjackets had secured a repeat as Class AA/A winner when the consolation round ended. They finished with 190.5 points to 141 for runner-up Wirt County.

Huntington coach Bill Archer said his seniors delivered in the clutch.

"We have two real good seniors. What they did made the difference," he said.

Huntington, which has won all five tournaments it’s been in so far this season, had 11 wrestlers place compared to nine for Nitro. Last Saturday, John Marshall handed the Highlanders their first dual loss in a match at Cabell Midland.

"This is real big. It does more for our confidence," Williams said. "We had a bad bout against John Marshall. We made mistakes, and we learned from them."

Huntington’s other champion was Steve Riner at 112.

Nitro’s champions were Anthony Easter at 103, Matt Easter at 119, Jacob Frerichs at 125 and Robbie Ripley at 140. At 152, Mitch Casto lost to Eric Greig of Riverside, Ohio, 5-3 in overtime.

Anthony Easter, a freshman, attracted a lot of attention because he met senior Erica Dye of Wirt County, who had won three matches earlier to bring her record to 23-3. Easter was all business when the whistle sounded, winning by technical fall (19-4).

"He got after her. He cut her no breaks," Nitro coach Steve White said.

At 140, Ripley won 6-4 over Cabell Midland’s Chris Gibbs. At 135, Point Pleasant’s Nick Duncan won in overtime.

Williamstown’s individual title came at 145 where Shane Smith edged Ben Wood of Independence, 5-4.

In the junior high division, Shady Spring denied Blennerhassett a three-peat. The Tigers amassed 246 points to 241.5 for the runner-up Bobcats.

Shady Spring had one individual champion and two runners-up. Blennerhassett went 3-2 in the finals.

Point Pleasant captured the middle school division with 172.5 points. Milton was second with 146.

In the freshman division, Cabell Midland racked up 102 points to claim the title. Riverside was second with 65.