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Hawaii wrestlers to compete in nationals
By Jason Kaneshiro 3/13/02
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com
A trio of three-time state champions headline a group of Hawaii wrestlers heading to Michigan to compete in the fifth annual U.S. Girls Wrestling Association national championships.
The meet is March 23 and 24 in Lake Orion, Mich.
"It's a huge tournament and it's great exposure for us," Moanalua wrestling coach Joel Kawachi said.
McKinley's Melissa Orden and Moanalua's Caylene Valdez and Stephany Lee won their third state titles earlier this month. Orden won the 103-pound weight class, Valdez the 108 class and Lee the 155 title.
Orden was named the OIA East girls wrestler of the year after going 20-1 this season.
State champions in four other weight classes are also making the trip -- Kahuku's Justine Swafford (98 pounds), Kailua's Danyelle Hedin (121), Mid-Pacific's Jennifer Miyahira (130) and Moanalua's Shani Alvarado (140).
State runner-ups Kawai Chee (Kahuku, 103), Shanel Vivas (Kahuku, 108), Elizabeth Torres (Kahuku, 114), Eva Chan (McKinley, 121), Anna Tong (Kaiser, 140) and Anela Iseke (Kahuku, 155) are also on the Hawaii roster.
Tong is ranked first in her weight class by the USGWA.
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Three Hawai'i wrestlers win gold
Advertiser Staff 3/24/02
Three high school seniors from Hawai'i won gold medals and two others earned silver yesterday at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association National Championships at Lake Orion, Mich.
Hawai'i's high-school division champions were:
Melissa Fukushima of Punahou at 114 pounds, in which she was runner-up last year.
Shani Alvarado of Moanalua at 138 pounds.
Stephany Lee of Moanalua at 152 pounds.
Silver medal winners were:
Jennifer Miyahira of Mid-Pacific, was pinned by the USGWA's first four-time champion, Alaina Berube of Michigan, in the 126-pound final.
Anna Tong of Kaiser, who was runner-up for the second year in a row at 144 pounds. Tong also was pinned.
Hawai'i placed third in team scoring behind California and Michigan.
The 24 members of Team Hawai'i won a total of 17 medals, which were awarded for the first 12 places.
Alvarado won her final by a pin with 12 seconds left in the first round. Fukushima and Lee won by decisions.
"This is a bonus," Alvarado said in a voice cracked and hoarse from yelling and cold weather. "I had concentrated on states (she won her second state title in three years) and just came here to have fun. But when I got here, I focused a little bit more.
"I wasn't sure if I wanted to wrestle in college, but now I do."
Lee has won three state championships and now a national title, all with a right rotator cuff injury. "It happened my sophomore year, I may need surgery," she said.
It was 18 degrees in Lake Orion, about 30 miles north of Detroit, and the Hawai'i girls played in snow before competition began.
Hawai'i was one of the first states to sanction girls high school wrestling; its first state championship meet was held in 1998.
Yesterday's gold- and silver-medal winners are all four-year veterans of the Hawai 'i program.
Melissa Orden of McKinley and Shanel Vivas of Kahuku lost in the semifinals yesterday and Orden defeated Vivas 12-6 for fifth place. Orden's 10-9 loss was one of the closest and most controversial of the semifinals.
There were 428 entrants in the tournament, significant growth from its origins several years ago. State championships were held in more than 22 states this year.
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Ali Bernard wins national title; ranked No. 1 in nation
By ANDY ROGERS
Journal Sports Editor 3/27/02
NEW ULM -- New Ulm Public's Ali Bernard won the National Folkstyle Individual Wrestling Championship in her weight class in Lake Orion, Michigan last weekend.
Fifteen-year-old Bernard pinned all seven of her opponents (one forfeited), and helped Team Minnesota to a second place finish in the National Championship for girls high school wrestling.
"Last year I got third, and it was a big goal of mine to get it this year," Bernard said.
This was definitely the highlight of her career she says.
"There were some pretty tough girls," Bernard said. "Although I probably have better competition on varsity (at New Ulm High)."
Bernard is also the No. 1 ranked Folk and Freestyle female wrestler at in the nation, according to sources.
She currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in both Freestyle and Folk wrestling. She currently ranked No.1 in both the FILA Cadet division (15-17 year olds) and and No. 1 by USA Wrestling in Junior division (grades-9-12).
She also grabbed the United States Girls Wrestling Association Minnesota State championship March 17 at Kimball High School to qualify for the tournament in Michigan. She was named "Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament."
She is a three-time defending Minnesota USA state champion. She's also reigning Cadet National Champion.
Bernard went to the meet as a member of the New Ulm Rolling Thunder Wrestling Club.
According to Kevin Orr, she has aspirations of wrestling in college and representing the United States in the Olympics, which has been added to the next Olympics.
"She's certainly being considered for the Olympics," Orr said. "She's already nationally known. It may be next year, or it may be in four years when she's in college."
Bernard has considered trying out.
"I've been thinking about it. Hopefully I'd like to try out for the team, but nothing is for sure yet," Bernard said.
She's also considering wrestling in college, but she is undecided.
"She's certainly very determined," Orr said. "She takes her practices very seriously and she has a lot of support from her family and friends. I think that's going to take her a long way."
She had a welcome home party Monday, which she was grateful for.
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DiCesare beats flu, wins title
BY THE EVENING NEWS SPORTS STAFF March 25, 2002
A bout with the flu couldn't keep Laura DiCesare of Monroe from winning her second National High School Girls Wrestling championship in the past three years.
LAKE ORION - Even a bout with the flu couldn't prevent Laura DiCesare from winning a title Sunday in the National High School Girls Wrestling Championships.
The Monroe High junior went 4-0 in the three-day meet. She was scheduled to compete for Team Michigan Friday but was too ill. She came back Saturday and Sunday to win the individual title at 165 pounds.
"I didn't have anything to eat for two days except an orange,'' she said. "After they gave me the trophy, I had to run off because I was ready to vomit.''
DiSecare had a close call in the semifinals. She trailed by three points with 30 seconds remaining, but got an escape, then put the girl on her back and pinned her.
She easily beat Alcia Mena of Minnesota in Sunday's finals with a pin in 1:20.
It is the second time in three years DiCesare has won a national championship. She took first place as a freshman and second last year.
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Little Falls also has a female wrestler
By MIKE BIALKA
Sports Editor 3/19/02
Females wrestling in Minnesota State High School League competition is becoming more of a common occurrence.
More than 345 Minnesota high schools sponsor wrestling programs. According to MSHSL statistics, 28 girls were registered to wrestle in the 1997-98 school year and 26 in 1998-99 and 1999-2000.
Brainerd has two female wrestlers this season and Little Falls one, Rachel Holthaus, a freshman 103-pounder.
Flyers coach Mike Hendrickson said Holthaus wrestles in the off-season and her goal is to be an Olympian. This season, she is 2-7 in varsity matches, 6-3 on the junior varsity.
"Last year she wrestled in our practice room all year," Hendrickson said. "She works hard, she likes to work hard. She's for real. Her technique is pretty good. For a girl, she's pretty strong, but that's sometimes how she gets beat, because of the physical part of it. Some boys out-horse her a little bit."
Hendrickson said Holthaus is accepted by teammates because she's a legitimate competitor.
"She's been around," he said. "As a ninth-grader she wrestled all year in our high school room. The guys have accepted her very well.
"I give Rachel a blanket apology for all the times I say, 'You guys,' but she says, 'Don't worry about it.' We try to include her in everything, and we try to be as fair as we can be in everything. It's different, but at the same time she's very understanding."
"There's not a lot you can do about it," Hendrickson said of females wrestling. "That's the way it is. The only thing I worry about is if boys, especially a younger boy, gets beat by a girl, what will he think? I don't have a problem with it, but some boys would."
Brainerd coach Bob Brakke said some coaches detest the idea of girls being allowed to wrestle.
"When they come to wrestle a girl, (coaches) don't know what to say," Brakke said. "Some of them tell (male wrestlers) to do a move that doesn't involve touching them hardly at all. People have to get past that and realize this is just competition. You're going hard to win, not for anything else.
"I had a girl wrestle for me in California, thank goodness. That helped make this an easier thing for me. It was a great experience, one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life as far as coaching."
Brakke is not daunted by the prospect of more girls wrestling in the future.
"I don't think it hurts the sport at all," he said. "The more people involved, the better it is for the sport."
