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World Team Trials women's freestyle Challenge Tournament results, Saturday, June 22
6/22/2002
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
48 kg (105.5 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament consolation semifinals
Malinda Ripley, Antioch, Calif. (Sunkist Kids) dec. Julie Gonzalez, Vallejo, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC), 8-0
Katrina Betts, Milan, Mich. (UM-Morris) pin Miriam Jenkins, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marines), 1:47
Challenge Tournament medal matches
1st - Clarissa Chun, Kapolei, Hawaii (Missouri Valley) pin Mary Kelly, Mahomet, Ill. (Dave Schultz WC), 4:03
3rd – Katrina Betts, Milan, Mich. (UM-Morris) dec. Malinda Ripley, Antioch, Calif. (Sunkist Kids), 10-4
5th - Miriam Jenkins, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marines) pin Julie Gonzalez, Vallejo, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC), 4:18
Chun advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Patricia Miranda, Stanford, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
51 kg (112 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament consolation semifinals
Jillian Yost, Manchester, Conn. (New York AC) won by tech. fall over Laura Obuhanych, Ewa Beach, Hawaii (Rainbow Wahines), 11-0, 1:46
Challenge Tournament medal matches
1st - Katie Kunimoto, Kaneohe, Hawaii (Pacific) dec. Danielle Hobeika, Cambridge, Mass. (Dave Schultz WC), 5-1
3rd - Jillian Yost, Manchester, Conn. (New York AC) dec. Sarah Hayes, Aurora, Colo. (Cumberland College), 10-6
5th – Laura Obuhanych, Ewa Beach, Hawaii (Rainbow Wahines),
Kunimoto advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Jenny Wong, Stillwater, Minn. (Sunkist Kids) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
55 kg (121 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament consolation Semifinals
Malissa Sherwood, Bates City, Mo. (Stars and Stripes) pin Jill Remiticado, Forest Grove, Ore. (Pacific), 5:08
Challenge Tournament medal matches
1st - Tina George-Wilson, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) won by tech. fall over Marcie Van Dusen, Twin Peaks, Calif. (MFWC), 12-0, 0:58
3rd - Malissa Sherwood, Bates City, Mo. (Stars and Stripes) won by tech. fall over Tela O’Donnell, Homer, Alaska (Pacific), 12-2, 2:16
5th - Jill Remiticado, Forest Grove, Ore. (Pacific)
George-Wilson advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Stephanie Murata, Minden, Nev. (Sunkist Kids) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
59 kg (130 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament Consolation Semifinals
Kiersten Hyatt, Carmichael, Calif. (Missouri Valley) won by inj. dft over Cathilee Albert, Boulder, Colo. (Black Knight)
Tonya Evinger, Bates City, Mo. (Stars and Stripes) pin Leigh Jaynes, Burlington, N.J. (Missouri Valley), 2:14
Challenge Tournament medal matches
1st - Brandy Rosenbrock, Warren, Mich. (Shamrock) dec. Erin Tomeo, Volant, Pa. (Sunkist Kids), 5-2
3rd – Tonya Evinger, Bates City, Mo. (Stars and Stripes) pin Kiersten Hyatt, Carmichael, Calif. (Missouri Valley), 2:16
5th - Leigh Jaynes, Burlington, N.J. (Missouri Valley) won by inj. dft. over Cathilee Albert, Boulder, Colo. (Black Knight)
Rosenbrock advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Lauren Lamb, Farmington, N.Y. (Michigan WC) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
63 kg (138.5 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament Consolation Semifinals
Sally Roberts, Federal Way, Wash. (Pacific) dec. Grace Magnussen, Walnut Creek, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC), 10-3
Challenge Tournament medal matches
1st - Kristie Marano, Albany, N.Y. (ATWA) dec. Tori Adams, Amarillo, Texas (Missouri Valley), 3-1, ot, 6:20
3rd - Sally Roberts, Federal Way, Wash. (Pacific) dec. Tina Arnds, Scottsdale, Ariz. (Missouri Valley), 3-2
5th – Grace Magnussen, Walnut Creek, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC)
Marano advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Sara McMann, Lock Haven, Pa. (Sunkist Kids) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
67 kg (147.5 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament medal match
1st - Mollie Keith, Aurelia, Iowa (Missouri Valley) dec. Cindy Herceg, Los Angeles, Calif. (Spartak), 3-2
Keith advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals runner-up Katie Downing, Pendleton, Ind. (UM-Morris) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
72 kg (158.5 lbs.)
Challenge Tournament consolation semifinals
Randi Miller, Arlington, Texas (Dave Schultz WC) dec. Rachel Glogowski, Mechanicsburg, Pa. (Messiah WC), 3-0, ot, 8:35
Kaci Lyle, Eureka, Calif. (Pacific) dec. Donnell Bradley, Aiea, Hawaii (Missouri Valley), 9-0
Challenge Tournament medal matches
1st - Toccara Montgomery, Cleveland, Ohio (Sunkist Kids) dec. Satrinina Vernon, Rodeo, Calif. (Missouri Valley), 8-6
3rd – Kaci Lyle, Eureka, Calif. (Pacific) won by tech. fall over Randi Miller, Arlington, Texas (Dave Schultz WC), 12-2, 5:40
5th – Donnell Bradley, Aiea, Hawaii (Missouri Valley) pin Rachel Glogowski, Mechanicsburg, Pa. (Messiah WC), 0:49
Montgomery advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where she will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Iris Smith, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team.
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14 freestyle wrestlers capture Challenge Tournament titles at the World Team Trials in Saint Paul, Minn. to qualify for Championship Series to be held on Sunday
6/22/2002
Gary Abbott/TheMat.com
The wrestling was spectacular, as 14 athletes claimed the Challenge Tournament title in their weight divisions and qualified for the Championship Series at the 2002 World Team Trials in men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling in Saint Paul, Minn.
Among the winners in the freestyle division was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Cuba, and in the women’s division a talented high school junior from Michigan.
Jesus Wilson (Fayette, Iowa/Minnesota Storm) claimed the Challenge Tournament title at 60 kg/132 lbs., defeating Jason Kutz (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), 4-0 in the final match. Wilson, who placed fifth for Cuba in the 1993 World Championships, defected to the United States during a wrestling competition tour in 1994. He received his citizenship in 2001, in time to place fifth at the World Team Trials. A year later, Wilson, a student and athlete at Upper Iowa University, has put himself in position to challenge for a spot on the U.S. team
Wilson advances to the Championships Series on Sunday, where he will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Eric Guerrero (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) in a best-of-three series for the position on the U.S. World Team. Guerrero has competed on two U.S. World teams.
At 59 kg/130 lbs., high school star Brandy Rosenbrock (Warren, Mich./Shamrock) stopped Erin Tomeo (Volant, Pa./Sunkist Kids), 5-2 in the Challenge Tournament finals. Rosenbrock is a junior at East Detroit High School, and one of the best athletes in USA Wrestling’s age-group program. She is competing at her first Senior World Team Trials event. Tomeo competed for the United States at the 2001 World Championships.
Rosenbrock’s opponent in Sunday’s Championship series will be 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Lauren Lamb (Farmington, N.Y./Michigan WC), a veteran who has competed in the World Championships five times.
All of the winners of the Challenge Tournament earned the right to advance to the Championship Series of the World Team Trials on Sunday, a best-of-three series against the 2002 U.S. Nationals champion. Sunday’s sessions will feature all three styles of international wrestling, men’s freestyle, men’s Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle wrestling. The Greco-Roman Challenge Tournament was held on Saturday morning.
The winner of Sunday’s series earns a spot on the 2002 U.S. World Team. The men’s freestyle team will compete in Tehran, Iran in September and the women’s freestyle team will compete in Halkida, Greece in November. The men’s Greco-Roman team will compete in Moscow, Russia in September.
Three athletes who competed for the U.S. at the 2002 Freestyle World Championships for men and women in Sofia, Bulgaria won their Challenge Tournament finals: Stephen Abas (Fresno, Calif./Sunkist Kids) at 55 kg/121 lbs., Chris Bono (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) at 66 kg/145.5 pounds and Toccara Montgomery (Cleveland, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) at 72 kg/158.5 pounds.
Abas was dominant in a 13-3 technical fall victory over Jody Strittmatter (Iowa City, Iowa/Hawkeye WC) in the Challenge Tournament finals. Abas did not compete at the 2002 U.S. Nationals, after a long season which included his third NCAA Div. I title for Fresno State. Abas will now battle 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Teague Moore (Norman, Okla./Gator WC) in the championship series.
Bono got by Doug Schwab (Iowa City, Iowa/Hawkeye WC), 3-2 in his Challenge Tournament finals.
Bono will now face 2002 U.S. Nationals runner-up Jamill Kelly (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) in a best-of-three series. The winner qualifies for a Special Wrestle-off at a date and location to be determined against 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Bill Zadick (Iowa City, Iowa/Hawkeye WC), who extended his finals series due to injury. Only a U.S. Nationals champion has the right to get a delay on his World Team Trials finals series.
Montgomery was a 2002 U.S. Nationals champion at 67 kg/147.5 pounds, but gave up her No. 1 position in the World Team Trials to move up to 72 kg/158.5 pounds, one of the four weights that will be contested at the Olympic Games. Montgomery edged Satrinina Vernon (Rodeo, Calif./Missouri Valley), 8-6 in a very competitive finals bout. Montgomery will battle three-time U.S. Nationals champion Iris Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) in the Championship series on Sunday.
Other men’s freestyle Challenge Tournament champions were Casey Cunningham (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Sunkist Kids) at 74 kg/163 pounds, Lee Fullhart (Iowa City, Iowa/Gator WC) at 84 kg/185 lbs., Chad Lamer, Iowa City, Iowa (Hawkeye WC) at 96 kg/211.5 pounds and Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio/Dave Schultz WC) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Cunningham defeated 1998 Junior World Champion Donny Pritzlaff (Madison, Wis./Dave Schultz WC), 4-2 in the Challenge Tournament finals. Cunningham will now battle 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Joe Williams (Iowa City, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) in the Championship series. Williams was a 2001 World bronze medalist. Williams beat Cunningham 9-1 in the finals of the U.S. Nationals in April.
Fullhart stopped 2000 Olympian Charles Burton (Bloomington, Ind./New York AC), 5-1 in the finals of the Challenge Tournament. Fullhart’s next obstacle will be 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Cael Sanderson (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) in the best-of-three series. Sanderson made history this year by becoming the first undefeated four-time NCAA champion in wrestling. Sanderson qualified for the 2001 U.S. World team, but did not compete, so he will be trying to have a chance to wrestle in his first World Championships. Sanderson beat Fullhart in the U.S. Nationals finals, 4-0.
Lamer defeated Daniel Cormier, Stillwater, Okla. (Gator WC), 5-3 in the championship finals. Lamer also competed in the Championship Series of the 2001 World Team Trials, placing second. He will face 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Tim Hartung (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) for the World Team spot. Hartung edged Lamer, 4-2 in this year’s U.S. Nationals finals.
Rowlands, the 2002 NCAA champion for Ohio State, topped veteran Tolly Thompson (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids), 6-1 in the Challenge Tournament finals. Rowlands moves on to face 2000 Olympian Kerry McCoy (State College, Pa./New York AC) in the deciding best-of-three series.
Among the stars in the Women’s Freestyle Challenge Tournament finals was 2000 World Champion Kristie Marano (Albany, N.Y./ATWA), who won a 3-1 overtime decision over talented young Tori Adams (Amarillo, Texas (Missouri Valley). The regulation match ended tied at 1-1, and Marano scored the winning points on a throw from the clinch position. Marano will seek to avenge a loss to 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Sara McMann (Lock Haven, Pa./Sunkist Kids) in a best-of-three series. McMann stopped Marano 7-1 in the U.S. Nationals finals.
At 55 kg/121 lbs., three-time U.S. World team member Tina George-Wilson (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) scored a quick 12-0 technical fall over Marcie Van Dusen (Twin Peaks, Calif./MFWC) to advance to the Championship Series. George-Wilson will battle 2001 World silver medalist Stephanie Murata (Minden, Nev./Sunkist Kids) in Sunday’s series.
Other women who won their Challenge Tournament finals were Clarissa Chun (Kapolei, Hawaii/Missouri Valley) at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Katie Kunimoto (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Pacific) at 51 kg/112 lbs. and Mollie Keith (Aurelia, Iowa/Missouri Valley) at 67 kg/147.5 lbs.
Chun pinned high school sensation Mary Kelly (Mahomet, Ill./Dave Schultz WC), in 4:03, after Kelly jumped to an early lead. Chun advances to face 2000 World silver medalist Patricia Miranda (Stanford, Calif./Dave Schultz WC) in the Championship series.
Kunimoto stopped 2002 U.S. Nationals runner-up Danielle Hobeika (Cambridge, Mass./Dave Schultz WC), 5-1 to move onto the finals series, where she will battle 2002 U.S. Nationals champion Jenny Wong (Stillwater, Minn./Sunkist Kids) in a best-of-three series.
Keith defeated Cindy Herceg (Los Angeles, Calif./Spartak), 3-2 avenging an 11-3 loss to Herceg in the fifth-place match at the national championships. Keith now battles 2002 U.S. Nationals runner-up Katie Downing (Pendleton, Ind./UM-Morris) in a best-of-three series.
The results from Sunday’s finals series in the three non-Olympic weight classes (51 kg, 59 kg and 67 kg) may not be the final determining factor for the U.S. World team. In a new rule, brought about by the selection of just four weight classes for women in the Olympics, USA Wrestling has passed a rule that may allow for additional wrestle-offs at these classes. The athletes that place second or third at the four Olympic weights will be allowed to challenge the winners of the non-Olympic weights for the final spot on the U.S. Women’s World team. These wrestle-offs, if so determined, would be held later this summer, at a site and date to be determined.
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SENIOR WORLD TEAM TRIALS: Wrestling is her passion
BY SEAN JENSEN
Pioneer Press6/22/02
Her childhood goal seemed as hopeless and misguided as someone trying to learn how to become a doctor by watching "ER."
As a blossoming young athlete, Jenny Wong wasn't obsessed with scoring goals, turning double plays or simply beating other kids. She sought a sport that could give her a special feeling, making her heartbeat quicken and her stomach uneasy.
Cheerleading, softball, soccer, gymnastics and jazz dancing; none of them measured up to her platinum standard.
"There was nothing I was passionate about," Wong said.
Until Wong, as a freshman at Woodbury High School in 1995, overheard wrestlers in one of her classes talking about their sport. She was intrigued and explored the possibility, later comforted by the fact another girl was on the team. Yet Wong didn't have much time to acclimate herself because the team's starting 119-pound wrestler quit, thrusting her into the position.
She lost every match that season, as well as the next. In fact, Wong, facing boys, didn't win until her junior year.
Despite the losses and the pitfalls associated with trying to break the gender barrier in one of the world's oldest sports, Wong thrives on that special feeling, and her enthusiasm for wrestling is as genuine as that of any of her male counterparts.
Why does she wrestle?
"Because you're out there, and it's only you and your opponent, and you're using your entire body," Wong said. "There's no sport quite like it."
During her senior season in high school, Wong, who is from Stillwater, won half her matches and was courted by several college women's programs. After starting her collegiate career at Wisconsin, she transferred to Lock Haven, a wrestling powerhouse in Pennsylvania, and she has become the top-ranked female wrestler in her weight class, 112.5 pounds. In addition to her title as the 2002 U.S. Nationals champion, Wong also won a tournament in Turkey, placed in several other international competitions and joined the Sunkist Kids, a club that, in recent years, is to wrestling what UCLA was to college basketball in the 1960s and 1970s.
But she's still unsatisfied.
Asked to name her greatest wrestling achievement, Wong breaks a moment of silence by finally offering, "I can't say, because I haven't done all I want to yet."
Specifically, she wants to be a world champion, and she wants to compete at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, which will play host to women's freestyle wrestling for the first time.
The next step, however, means winning her weight class at the World Team Trials, which started Friday and conclude Sunday afternoon at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. If she accomplishes that goal, she'll represent the United States at the women's freestyle world championship in Greece, from Nov. 2-3. But after finishing third last year, Wong is in an uncomfortable position this time around: She's the top seed.
"It's a different position then I'm accustomed to because I'm used to going after people," Wong said.
A Lock Haven teammate doesn't expect Wong to have any problems.
"She's going to win on Sunday because she's the best wrestler at her class," said Sara McCann, the reigning national champion at 138.5 pounds. "The other girls work hard. But (Wong's) a hard worker, and she's got a lot of ability."
Dan Chandler, coach of the Minnesota Strom wrestling club, has worked with Wong and has been impressed by her work ethic, eagerness to improve and perseverance.
"She's had a willingness to compete and train hard, and, as a coach, that's what you're looking for," Chandler said. "She's been able to take the losses in stride and learn from her setbacks."
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Jenny Wong wrestles with her sport's major issue
Jay Weiner
Star Tribune Published Jun 21, 2002
As a world-class wrestler, Jenny Wong is adept at dodging throws and avoiding gut wrenches. But when it comes to the sport's gender wars, Wong is constantly fighting to escape unexpected holds.
"No one has a better perspective than Jenny Wong," said USA Wrestling director of special projects Gary Abbott. "She's been in the middle of the issue."
The issue is opportunity, something male and female wrestlers are grappling with these days, something that hovers above the U.S. team trials for the wrestling world championships, which begin today in St. Paul.
Like all women wrestlers, Wong has struggled to find her place in a sport that is particularly masculine and outspoken about the inroads that women athletes have made.
But Wong of Stillwater has analyzed the plight of men's collegiate wrestling programs nationwide, and she's bothered, too. More than 100 men's college teams have been eliminated in the past 20 years, with administrators often citing Title IX, the federal law intended to ensure sports fairness for women, as the reason. Women's sports, so the story goes, are taking away funding from men's sports.
On the other hand, Title IX, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary Sunday, triggered a global women's sports equity movement in the 1970s. That movement has put Wong and 60 other women in Roy Wilkins Auditorium this weekend.
These women are blessed with the chance to be among the first to wrestle in an Olympics. The 2004 Athens Games will stage the inaugural women's Olympic wrestling tournament.
That should be good news for Wong, 21, a junior at Pennsylvania's Lock Haven University, and the reigning 112-pound national women's champ. But there's an unforeseen headlock holding her back.
In an effort to limit the size of the gigantic Olympics, International Olympic Committee officials granted women only four Olympic weight classes. Guess what? Wong's weight category is not part of the Athens Olympic program.
"Definitely not ideal," said Wong, a Woodbury High grad. "I'm thrilled they've put women's wrestling in the Olympics, finally. But four weight classes does make it a tough road."
Brotherly nudge
Wong is nimble on such bumpy paths. Take the start of her wrestling career, which began informally at home with older brother Wesley.
"We didn't roll around that much, but he did used to beat me up," Wong said. "But that's how I got his attention. I'd pester him until he'd fight with me. He's a really great guy."
By the time she got to high school, Wong had tried gymnastics, softball, soccer and dance. She liked those traditional activities well enough. But in her ninth-grade math class, she heard some boys talking of upcoming wrestling tryouts. She was intrigued.
When she told her parents of her new sporting aspiration, her mother, Florence, a quality compliance director at 3M, wondered aloud: "You mean, mud wrestling?"
"Intuitively, I didn't have a very positive feeling about a girl being in this sport," Florence Wong said.
Then, something peculiar occurred, even as Jenny became one of only two girls on the Woodbury team, even as she repeatedly lost to boys in matches: Jenny Wong's school marks improved as her dedication to wrestling set in.
"The motivation that she applied to wrestling began to apply to everything she did," Florence Wong said. "We saw her personality change and her attitude. She started taking charge more."
A B-plus student became an A-plus student. As time wore on, she started beating boys in high school and dominating girls in national freestyle competitions, winning two junior national titles.
Wrestling became such a key part of her life that she chose the University of Wisconsin over Northwestern University because she was promised she'd be able to train with the Badgers men.
But an unexpected development ruined her Madison experience: Wisconsin officials said that because of Title IX, they had to limit the number of athletes on the wrestling team. In an effort to balance sports slots for men and women, they had to cap the number of male wrestlers. Because the wrestling team was the men's wrestling team, Wong was counted as a male athlete.
"I've seen both sides," said Wong. "It was Title IX that got me the chance to try out for the men's team. It was also Title IX that got me cut by counting me as a guy."
In the end, Wong left Wisconsin after one frustrating and lawyer-filled year and transferred to Lock Haven University, a smaller school but a perennial wrestling power that welcomed women to train with its men's squad.
She has flourished there, just as women's wrestling is steadily blossoming nationwide.
Wrestling vs. Title IX
For USA Wrestling, the national governing body of the sport, embracing women participants while battling aspects of Title IX might seem contradictory. No other Olympic sports body has challenged Title IX and its proportionality clause more than wrestling. USA Wrestling has supported a major federal lawsuit brought by the National Wrestling Coaches Association to undo aspects of Title IX. That proportionality standard, a key test of whether a college or university is in compliance with the law, requires that the percentage of sports opportunities for women mirrors the percentage of women in the student body, in general.
Using that guideline, sports such as wrestling, baseball, men's gymnastics and swimming and diving have been dropped by athletic departments seeking to balance men's and women's sports slots on campus. Since 1982, 138 men's college wrestling programs have been eliminated, from 363 to 225.
Ironically, Abbott, USA Wrestling's special projects chief, heads both the organization's campaign to redo some of the specifics of Title IX and its effort to improve opportunities for women.
"It's easy to reconcile," Abbott said. "We don't want to be in a position where we're denying men opportunities in the name of creating them for women. We're committed to be fair to both genders."
Wong said: "I'm all for women in sports to have the same opportunities as guys, but it's not fair to be cutting men's sports to make room for women. I know there's no easy solution."
Just a steady stream of hurdles, extending now to her -- and others' -- Olympic aspirations. Her 112-pound weight class will be included in the world championships in November. But next year, she'll have some tough choices to make, as will many male and female wrestlers globally.
To make room for the four women's weight categories, the IOC decided to trim the men's weight classes from eight to seven. Thus, the number of Olympic champions for men will be reduced from eight to seven in freestyle and Greco-Roman. In Athens, there will be 14 gold medals for men and four for women; in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics, there were 20 for men, with 10 weight classes in each style.
Wong is uncertain what she'll do. Below her at 105 pounds is Patricia Miranda, the 2000 world silver medalist. Above her at 121 pounds is Stephanie Murata, the world's second-best last year.
"I'm not really talking about that now," Wong said of her Olympic weight plans. "Either way, I'll have to change my body type."
She's too busy thinking of Sunday. That's when she'll have to take two out of three matches from the winner of the challenge tournament that begins today. Gender politics or administrative whims of international sports bodies won't be on Jenny Wong's mind. Pinning her opponents, her female opponents, that's what it will be all about.
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Jenny Wong facts; women's wrestling timeline
Published Jun 21, 2002
The Jenny Wong file
• Age: 21
• Height: 5-1
• Weight: 112 pounds
• High school: Woodbury (1999 graduate)
• College: Lock Haven (Pa.) University
Women's wrestling timeline
• June 23, 1972: Congress passes Title IX, which eventually leads to explosion in girls' and women's sports in schools and colleges.
• 1987: First women's world championships
• 1989: USA Wrestling sends women to world championships for first time.
• 1990: First U.S. nationals for women
• 1992: USA Wrestling sponsors women's national meet in same place and same time as men's national championships.
• 1993: University of Minnesota-Morris establishes nation's first collegiate women's wrestling club.
• 1997: Texas becomes first state to approve girls' high school wrestling.
• 1998: Hawaii becomes second state to approve girls' high school wrestling.
• 2001: 3,032 girls wrestling in high schools nationally compared to 244,984 boys. . . . About 100 women are wrestling in co-ed and all-women's college teams compared to about 6,000 men wrestling collegiately . . . USA Wrestling estimates 5,000 females are wrestling in the United States, compared to 755,000 boys and men.
• 2001: International Olympic Committee and International Wrestling Federation announce four weight categories for women's wrestling at 2004 Athens Olympics.
• 2002: Michigan announces it's considering adding girls' wrestling to its high school sports menu.
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Title IX Still Stirs College Sports
By HAL BOCK
AP Sports Writer Published Jun 22, 2002
Thirty years after becoming law, Title IX is still stirring the landscape of college sports.
The measure, which mandated gender equity for institutions receiving federal funds, is the subject of widespread debate, applauded on some fronts and attacked on others.
Women' s sports has become big time, with professional leagues in basketball and soccer and scores of scholarships that can be traced directly to the Education Amendments Act that became law on June 23, 1972.
The progress has been painstaking.
According to the Women' s Sports Foundation, fully 80 percent of the nation' s schools and colleges still have not complied with some parts of the law. The 1999-2000 NCAA gender equity report said male athletes receive $133 million more in athletic scholarships than female athletes. Last week, the National Women' s Law Center released a study identifying 30 colleges and universities with a total gap of $6.5 million in athletic scholarships between women and men.
Among those schools was the University of Miami, defending national champions in football and baseball, which, according to the NWLC study, has the largest difference ($6, 545) between average scholarships for men and women, even though it has more women than men involved in sports.
The flip side of those numbers is that since Title IX passed, female high school athletic participation has increased by 847 percent. Where just one in 27 high school girls played varsity sports in 1972, that ratio was one in every 2.5 in 2001.
There are some, however, who claim the law has sounded the death knell for a number of men' s programs, in a sort of reverse discrimination.
The College Sports Council, representing coaches of wrestling, track, diving and gymnastics programs, filed last week for a summary judgment in its suit against the Department of Education. The suit asserts that Title IX has deteriorated into a quota system.
" We are for Title IX, " said Leo Kocher, wrestling coach at the University of Chicago and president of the CSC. " We oppose its quota aspects."
In a 1979 interpretation of Title IX by the Carter administration, one of the measures for showing compliance required that the number of men and women athletes be proportional to the institution' s enrollment. That proportionality test has led to problems, according to Kocher.
" Marquette University wrestling has covered its entire budget for the last 10 years by fund-raising after being threatened with being dropped in 1991, " Kocher said. " Last year, they were told the program was being cut for gender equity. You hear arguments about limited funds and football taking up so much of budgets. Marquette has no football, and wrestling was paying its own way."
Marquette wrestling is not an isolated example. According to CSC, the sport has lost 50 percent of its programs. Only 30 men' s gymnastics programs remain in place. Bowling Green recently cut track, Howard University dropped both baseball and wrestling, and Miami is dropping men' s swimming and diving.
" It is time to restore basic fairness to Title IX, " said Mike Moyer, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. " Nowhere else in American life would we tolerate discrimination or quotas."
So is Title IX to blame for the cutbacks?
Not according to Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women' s Law Center. She is particularly upset by the wrestling coaches who allege that Title IX has forced their sport to shrink.
" From 1984-88, Title IX did not apply to intercollegiate athletics, " she said. " The law prohibits discrimination in any activity receiving federal funds. The Supreme Court bought the argument that the law covered only the parts of schools that got earmarked federal funds, and sports was not included.
" It wasn' t until the Civil Rights Restoration Act passed over President Reagan' s veto in 1988 that sports was covered again. During those four years, from 1984-88, 53 wrestling programs were dropped. Over the next 12 years, when Title IX again covered sports, 56 wrestling programs were dropped.
" That means when Title IX was not in effect, almost three times as many wrestling teams were cut as when it was in effect. So don' t blame that on Title IX, " she said.
As for proportionality, which calls for athletic opportunities for men and women to match male and female enrollment, Greenberger argues the wrestling community is setting up a straw man.
There are three prongs in the Title IX law that test for adherence. Schools can comply by satisfying any of them -- making steady progress to increase participation opportunities for women, accommodating interests of female students, or finally, proportionality.
So, Greenberger said, programs may be cut for any number of reasons, but Title IX isn' t one of them.
" One of the things that is upsetting, " she said, " is that with men' s budgets so much larger and with 72 percent of athletic budgets going to football and basketball, that the wrestlers thought to go after the small slice of the pie we have fought so hard to get."
The Justice Department' s initial response to the wrestlers was a motion to dismiss the suit, saying the ones who ought to be sued are the individual schools dropping the sport.
Pro soccer star Julie Foudy, president of the Women' s Sports Foundation, was disappointed with that, claiming it demonstrated a lack of commitment by the Bush administration to fully support Title IX.
" The administration is not sending a clear message that Title IX is valid and legal and women are entitled to full and equal rights to participate in federally funded education programs and activities, " Foudy said. " We believe that the Wrestling Coaches Association' s legal action has no merit, whether it files against the government or institutions of higher education."
Billie Jean King, a cornerstone in women' s sports, has been one of Title IX' s most vigilant defenders.
" Complying with Title IX does not mean you have to force schools to eliminate men' s sports programs, " King said earlier this month. " It does require schools to exercise fiscal responsibility and support each sport with a piece of the budgetary pie. We talking about financial responsibility, not weakening civil rights laws.
" Whether it' s for math, science, drama or athletics, families expect Title IX legislation to provide protection and equal educational opportunities for their sons and their daughters."
Opponents such as Jessica Gavora, author of " Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex and Title IX, " believe the law has gone too far, especially with its impact on minor men' s sports.
" It is in need of reform to restore its original intent, " she said. " What' s at issue with Title IX is the body count quota. Boys are being penalized."
Olympic gold medal swimmer Nancy Hogshead, now a professor of law, believes schools have ignored a simple solution. " If they had increased women' s budgets 2 or 3 percent a year for 30 years, we' d be fine, " she said. " They can' t run and blame that on Title IX."
Gavora' s criticism of Title IX is a matter of concern for the law' s defenders because she is a policy adviser for Attorney General John Ashcroft. Their concern is misplaced, according to Gavora. " Alas, I don' t work on this issue in any way, " she said.
Barbara Hedges, athletic director at the University of Washington, can offer some perspective on the impact of Title IX. She was hired as associate athletic director at USC in 1973, shortly after the law passed. Her responsibility was USC' s nine women' s sports.
" The entire women' s program budget was $17, 000 and I may be stretching that, " Hedges said. " There were no full-time coaches and no scholarships, which was very typical of women' s programs at that time.
" I remember a young volleyball player at USC who, while playing a match, sprained her ankle. She quickly got off the court and went to the locker room without a trainer because there was no trainer. She put her foot in a toilet bowl, flushed the toilet so that water could run over her ankle and reduce the swelling. She came back to the match and continued playing."
At the time, female athletes were an anomaly. According to the NCAA, there were just under 30, 000 women involved in intercollegiate athletics then, compared with more than 170, 000 men. The numbers today are nearly 151, 000 women and 209, 000 men.
Hedges believes Title IX deserves much of the credit.
" Could we have seen the dramatic change in opportunities for women in athletics over the last 30 years without the passage of Title IX?" she said. " My answer to that question is absolutely not."