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By JESSICA MILLER
Courier Staff Writer

GILBERTVILLE - Girls of all ages dressed in singlets giggled and rolled over mats Saturday in the Don Bosco High School gym.

Hanna Martin, 10, of Oklahoma, in a cute bob and Alex Penka, 7, of Kansas, with twin French braids and rosy cheeks laughed more as they raced wheelbarrow style.

Their smiles faded into creased looks of determination, though, as they were called to wrestle each other in the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association Iowa Open. About 100 competitors were expected to participate in the single-day meet.

Coaches yelled, "Keep your head up" and "Look for her leg," as Martin dragged Penka's rosy cheeks across the mat. A look of desperation crossed Penka's face, and she was pinned.

Competitors starting at the age of 5 came from as far as Oklahoma and New York to wrestle in the hometown of Kathrine Williams, 10, a national USGWA champion.

Williams and her group of friends Martin, Penka and Joey Miller, 14, of Oklahoma, were happily oblivious to the fact that they may be the pioneers of women's wrestling.

"She just thinks everyone should (wrestle)," said Dee Williams, Kathrine Williams' mother.

Kathrine Williams began wrestling at the age of 6. She had practiced judo and her parents thought she needed some ground training. They took her to a boy's wrestling match to study balance. And it was decided.

"Forget judo, I'm doing this," she told her parents.

The Immaculate Conception Grade School student has been allowed to practice along with the boys for the last two years. This year the Archdiocese of Dubuque decided Kathrine Williams could wrestle junior varsity. In her Catholic league she is the first and only girl. Often boys forfeit rather than wrestle the girl, especially in the exhibition games, Tim Williams, her father, said.

"An eighth-grade boy doesn't want to get beat by a fifth-grade girl, bottom line," he said.

During school meets, boys run up to her to find out which weight class she is in.

"She has a reputation. ... Most boys don't want to be in her class," Dee Williams said.

Boys don't have to suffer much humiliation.

Kathrine Williams' matches last an average of 8 to 14 seconds. Her first match Saturday was a little longer. She pinned her opponent in 28 seconds.

It was her first match in an all-girl tournament in her hometown, largely because Iowa is behind in women's wrestling, Tim Williams said.

Girls USGWA championships in wrestling have been held in Spencer and Gilbert for only the last three years.

Slowly, girls have begun to enter the sport.

RICK CHASE / Courier Staff Photographer

When Martin began wrestling there were two other girls on the club team. Her mother, Deanna, picked her up after basketball practice and took her to watch her brother wrestle.

The wrestling coach told Martin to get on the mat.

"He thought I was a boy," Martin said, pointing to her short hair.

Now she provides punishment for the team.

When the boys become unruly they are warned to shape up or wrestle Martin, Deanna said.

At Immaculate Conception, Kathrine Williams has become just another teammate.

When Tim Williams first took her into the practice room, boys were surprised to a see a girl.

"It was a shock, but they got used to it," he said.

Kathrine Williams doesn't plan on leaving the mat anytime soon. She's headed for the Olympics USA wrestling team in 2012.

"She's willing to go all the way," Tim Williams said.

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Don't let the Games buckle under weight of big names
Adding sports only dilutes spirit of Olympics

Dec. 01, 2002 COMMENTARY / LINDA ROBERTSON

lrobertson@herald.com

The International Olympic Committee has spared us, at least temporarily, from the ridiculous scenario of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh scuffing up platforms and being draped with medals as their flags are raised to the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Golf in the Olympics? This prompts the question: Would the caddies get to march in the Opening Ceremony?

We don't want to see Woods in the Olympics any more than we want to see Barry Bonds or Peyton Manning in the Olympics.

While we're on the subject, we don't want to see Venus Williams, Andre Agassi, Kobe Bryant or Mario Lemieux in the Olympics either.

The Olympics don't need them and they don't need the Olympics.

On Friday, the IOC postponed a vote on whether to drop baseball, softball and modern pentathlon from the Olympics until after the 2004 Athens Games. Nor did the IOC vote on a committee recommendation to add golf and rugby.

We can watch golfers year-round as well as the other major sports' pro athletes in the events that represent the pinnacle of their endeavors -- The Masters, the World Series, the Super Bowl, Wimbledon, the Stanley Cup.

Let's reserve those two weeks every two years for athletes who personify the Olympic ideal, or what's left of it. Let's celebrate athletes such as Jennifer Rodríguez, who says she survives on about $15,000 a year in grants and prize money and trains long, lonely and painful hours on the speedskating track. Let's be inspired by Josia Thugwane, a 5-2 coal mine janitor who became the first black South African gold medalist when he out-sprinted two other runners to win the 1996 marathon -- 2 hours 11 minutes ahead of Afghanistan's Abdul Baser Wasigi, who stubbornly limped to the finish line, cheered on by the volunteers who waited in the stadium.

Otherwise, the IOC might as well open boxing to Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and invite World Cup stars David Beckham and Ronaldo. Rulon Gardner gets displaced by Goldberg.

Spare us the sight of Woods stopping by the Athletes Village to slum with the poor fencers and divers and sign autographs for the Chinese weight-lifters.

We've all gagged on the prospect of having ballroom dancing added to the Olympic menu, but if the greedy IOC keeps going in the wrong direction, it won't be long before we see Formula One racing in the Olympics (most of the members are European, or it would be NASCAR instead). Why not substitute power boats for those pokey old eight-oared shells?

The vote postponement probably means there will be no changes to the Summer Games lineup until 2012.

But procrastination won't solve one of the IOC's biggest problems -- aside from drugs and corruption. It's called gigantism. It's the threat of the Games becoming too cluttered, commercialized and expensive and collapsing under their own weight. It's time for stomach stapling. Not one sport has been cut since polo was sent out to pasture in 1936. The IOC has not hesitated to add, however. Now we've got beach volleyball, tae kwon do, mountain biking, triathlon, freestyle skiing, skeleton, curling and short track speedskating.

The IOC must stay hip to the changing sports scene. That's why croquet and tug-of-war are out and snowboarding and sailboarding are in. But the IOC should be less concerned about the marketability of its brand. The 2002 Salt Lake City Games made a profit of $90 million. The Olympics are not at risk of going broke.

It's the dilution factor, too. You or I will soon be trying out for the web-surfing or power-napping teams. The Iron Chef will someday compete in the kitchen venue.

Far-fetched? Remember, trampoline is a medal event. There were 301 events at the 2000 Sydney Games, too many in equestrian, cycling, canoeing, rowing, shooting and wrestling.

The IOC is in the unenviable position of alienating entire sections of the world. Americans might not have a taste for team handball, but it is popular in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia; Iceland's men finished fourth in 1992. We don't follow weight-lifting, but that will be the hottest ticket among Greeks in 2004.

Should modern pentathlon get the coup de grace? Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the sport in 1912 to mimic the challenge of a soldier delivering a message. It's fascinating, as I learned when I spent a day following the pentathletes to fencing, shooting, swimming, horseback riding and running venues in 1996 and it came down to the last 10 meters. Great drama but few spectators. Cut it or keep it?

The Olympics began in 776 with one event, a 200-meter sprint called the stadion. We needn't downsize that far. Let's keep athletes such as Dot Richardson, who played softball while going to medical school, changing from scrubs to uniform after 36-hour shifts. As for Tiger, a gold medal wouldn't mean as much to him as it did to her.

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Iran volunteers to host world women's wrestling contest

Tehran, Dec 1, IRNA --

Iran responded positively to FILA's
(International Wrestling Federation) proposal to host the 2003 World
Youth Freestyle and Greco-Roman Wrestling Contests and Women's
Wrestling Contest, after Greece turned down the offer.
The Greek wrestling federation announced that in view of its being
engaged in preparing the facilities for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games,
it had to turn down FILA's proposal to host the 2003 contests.
FILA has called on several member states including Iran to
announce their position regarding the proposal to host the 2003
wrestling contests.
Iran's Wrestling Federation announced its agreement with hosting
the upcoming youth and women's wrestling contests after examining the
proposal.

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Cougar wrestlers take fall at SIUE

Intelligencer Staff, The Edwardsville Intelligencer November 29, 2002

Head coach Booker Benford seemd to be just turning the corner with the SIUE wrestling program.
But now the rug has been pulled out from under him.

In response to an unanticipatedbudget shortfall in the intercollegiate athletics program due to revenue acts, recent increases in the cost of health care insurance and an increase in board costs for student-athletes, SIUE will discontinue the sport of wrestling. This action will take effect at the end of the 2002-2003 season.

"This was not an easy decision," SIUE Director of Athletics Brad Hewitt said. "But it is the most prudent financial decision. In keeping with the university's vision statement, Intercollegiate Athletics' prime ambition is to be recognized nationally for the excellence in its programs.

"We considered many options, including across-the-board cuts and the opportunity for additional revenue sources, and decided that discontinuing the wrestling program was the most realistic option, consistant with our guiding principles and strategic plan," continued Hewitt.

Hewitt said SIUE's Intercollegiate Athletic Committee (ICAC), an 11-member advisory panel made up of nine staff and faculty members and two SIUE students, assisted in the identification and analysis of the viability of each of the university's 15 sports. This analysis looked at several facets, including the university's affiliation with the Great Lakes Valley Conference, participation levels at NCAA Dvision II institutions and state of Illinois high schools, overall academic performance of the sport's student-athletes, media interest, community involvement, facility conditions and recent success.

Hewitt, who estimated the annual budget shortfall at $110,000 said other options such as a dramatic increase in student fees or seeking additional recurring state support did not receive constituent support because of these difficult financial times.

Hewitt said each student-athlete on the wrestling team currently receiving athletic aid would have their current level of aid continued through graduation with expectation they make progress toward a degree.

Wrestling had produced SIUE's last national championship when Titus Taylor won the Div. II title in the 165-pound weight class in 2000.

In all, SIUE has produced 19 national championships in wrestling since 1977