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2003 GIRLS CALIFORNIA
WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
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GF SERTOMA WRESTLING TOURNAMENT: DL's Sheri Hilliard has passion for sport
By Megan Fossum12/14/02
Herald Staff Writer
Being the only girl on a boys wrestling team can make for some different routines.
Where do you get ready for a dual? In the bathroom with the cheerleaders, of course. That is where Sheri Hilliard, a senior for the Devils Lake wrestling team, gets ready.
"I hurry up and change and get out of there," Hilliard said.
Hilliard, who has been wrestling since she was in second grade, said deciding to wrestle was an easy choice.
"Wrestling runs in the family," said Hilliard, who's in town for the Sertoma wrestling tournament at Grand Forks Central. "When I was young, I wanted to try it, and I really liked it."
Hilliard, who attends Lakota High School, used to play basketball, too. But when basketball was moved to the winter, she decided to stick with wrestling.
"Basketball is a fun sport, but I love wrestling," Hilliard said. "Plus, basketball isn't going to get me anywhere - and wrestling will."
Hilliard plans to wrestle for a college women's team. Her top choices are the University of Minnesota-Morris and Kansas Neosho, a junior college. She has been a three-time All-American at the United States Girls Wrestling Association national high school tournament. She also placed fourth at the Cadet Junior Nationals in Fargo in June.
"I don't think guys go easy on me," Hilliard said. "I actually think that they try harder. They don't want to get beat by a girl."
Her coach agrees. "Guys don't like the idea of being beaten by a girl," Devils Lake's Dennis Flynn said. "They treat her pretty well, though. Wrestling has made her tough. She doesn't put up with much."
Hilliard, who didn't compete in the tournament Friday, is expected to wrestle for one of the Devils Lake teams today.
Grand Forks Red River went 1-1 on Friday, beating Turtle Mountain and losing to Jamestown.
Grand Forks Central Grey also went 1-1. Central Grey defeated Fertile-Beltrami and lost to Thief River Falls.
Central Maroon went 0-2, losing to Jamestown and Turtle Mountain.
"Our intensity level is not what it should be," Red River coach Bruce Moe said.
West Fargo, St. Michael-Albertville Gold, Jamestown and Thief River Falls all went undefeated Friday.
The tournament continues today, with duals starting at 10:30.
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December 15, 2002
The president called it difficult and painful. The athletic director said it was the hardest thing he's had to do in his tenure.
And they only delivered the bad news.
Three coaches lost their programs and 128 athletes lost their opportunity to play when St. John's University announced Thursday it had decided to eliminate six teams.
"Gut-wrenching," football coach Bob Ricca said.
"I'm perplexed and confused," track coach Jim Hurt said.
Cutting sports is never easy, and it is never clean. But it is becoming increasingly commonplace. And college athletic directors bearing shears always point in the same direction: Title IX. Or finances. Or both.
Those were the forces at play at St. John's, which will eliminate football and the entire men's track program (cross country, indoor and outdoor track) after this academic year and men's and women's swimming after 2003-04. One sport will be added: men's lacrosse. Curious, but more on that later.
The primary reason for the cuts, St. John's president Rev. Donald J. Harrington said, was the school's treatment of women. Though 58 percent (and climbing) of the student body are women, only 35 percent of the school's athletes are women, a major problem of proportionality.
"It's very difficult for me to explain to our female students why their tuition dollars are being used to support an athletic program that is approximately 65 percent male," Harrington said.
Sounds like Title IX. Harrington said it was a question of justice for women (the raison d'etre for Title IX in the first place, but never mind), and he successfully split linguistic hairs by pointing out that St. John's acted despite the fact that many observers assume the federal commission examining Title IX will recommend next month that standards for compliance be relaxed.
"Some say, 'Why don't you wait and see what happens?'" Harrington said. "If Title IX changed tomorrow in terms of legislation or terminology, this would not change."
When the makeover is complete (women's golf will tee off this spring), Harrington said 57 to 59 percent of the school's athletes will be women. The rest of the math is more interesting.
Of the 128 slots being cut, 112 are for men and 16 for women - a gain of 96 for women. Add in the 35 future men's lacrosse players and the net gain is 61 - almost exactly the football roster of 62. Which prompts the question: If you are going to seek justice by cutting men's participation slots, why not cut only football and leave the other sports intact?
That's where finances come into play. By dropping from 22 sports to 17 and keeping the same budget, Harrington said St. John's will be able to spend its limited resources on fewer teams and give its survivors a better experience.
Were there alternative options? Athletic director Dave Wegrzyn said coaches were asked for input, a point disputed by Ricca and Hurt.
"If I would have had the opportunity, I think we could have explored other avenues," Ricca said.
"Bob's been here 33 years and I'm here 20," Hurt said. "We would hope people would consult you and ask you. Unfortunately, in a lot of businesses today, the people on top are people who don't know that much and don't have a feel for what's happening on the field level."
Both were frustrated by the addition of men's lacrosse, which was cut in 1996 to shift money to women's volleyball. Hurt's outdoor track team has 35 athletes, the same number that will comprise the lacrosse team. And his team, he said, does not need to hire a new coaching staff. Hurt also noted that his track team is far more diverse than the typical lacrosse squad.
"They're going to drop minority opportunities for a lot of kids and turn them into a sport that doesn't have quite that many," Hurt said. "That's an issue for a school that prides itself on diversity in its mission statement."
In some respects, St. John's is an atypical battleground in the Title IX war. Many of the usual villains are not present. Football is not a scholarship sport and does not consume huge amounts of the financial pie or generate enormous revenue. Alumni Hall, St. John's principal indoor facility, is small and aging and has little prospect of significant renovation. Yet the former commuter school finds itself in a bind in which administrators say "reformulation" and "reallocation" while coaches and players hear "goodbye."
As word began leaking out Thursday, experts from both sides of the Title IX aisle were pounding away at each other at a conference in a Manhattan hotel.
Critics spoke of men's teams being dropped by athletic directors blaming Title IX. There are other ways of complying, Women's Sports Foundation executive director Donna Lopiano fired back.
"Is dropping a sport the right thing to do?" Lopiano said. "No."
At that exact moment, just a few miles to the east, St. John's offered a different answer
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Women's sports struggle for fan, funding support
Andrea Trujillo, The Arbiter
December 16, 2002
In 1972 Congress passed the Educational Amendment, which, among other provisions, contained Title IX. This amendment prohibited discrimination against girls and women in federally funded educational and athletic programs.
At Boise State women's athletics outnumber men's 8-7, but in dollar amounts and fan turnout, the numbers are lacking.
Marcia Wicklow-Howard, Boise State's NCAA faculty representative, said BSU does meet Title IX requirements.
"There are three ways to comply with Title IX. Boise State is in compliance with Title IX through a continuing history of expanding opportunities in athletics for women," Wicklow-Howard said.
"Boise State is responsive to its plan to remain compliant."
Abby Vaughn, a member of the BSU women's basketball team, said although the lack of fan support can be difficult, BSU provides well for their female athletes. She said that she has always been treated well.
"Females are offered every advantage that men are. Boise State is Title IX compliant and proud of that fact," Vaughn said.
Christina Van Tol, associate athletic director, said while BSU meets Title IX requirements, there is a difference between opportunity and equality in men's and women's athletics.
She said Boise State has not reached equality in sports yet, but the situation has dramatically improved.
Van Tol said BSU has made considerable strides and women in athletics have made progress.
"I think that equality with women in athletics is no different than women in the workplace. No workplace or athletic department provides a perfect environment for all of its employees, but the goal of every manager should be to strive for the best environment the organization can provide," Van Tol said.
Sports Information Director Lori Hays has worked at BSU for over 17 years and Gene Bleymaier has been the athletic director for as long as she has been here.
She said that Bleymaier personally treats both male and female employees fairly and is very active in trying to meet gender equity and Title IX standards.
"In the years I have worked with him we have added women's golf, women's soccer and we will be adding women's skiing in the next couple years," Hays said.
Hays said that as with most public forums, the biggest problem is funding.
"Adding programs costs time, staff, equipment and money," she said.
Hays said that there is considerable ground to be made aside from funding issues. She said female athletic programs do not receive the fan or alumni support automatically given to the major men's programs.
"The athletic department tries to promote all sports. It still comes down to student support. Most students only support football and men's basketball," Hays said.
Hays said that the lack of fan support translates into a lack of media coverage.
"It becomes hard to push the media to cover women's sports when they have limited space and time. This has been an eternal problem in that with the media's help we can get more fans, but until we get more fans, the media doesn't see the need to cover those sports," Hays said.
According to the Women's Sports Foundation, female college athletes receive less than 26% of college sports' operating budgets and less than 28% of college recruiting money.
Kara Walsh, a member of Boise State's gymnastics team, said her team is successful by NCAA standards, yet very little money is available to support the program.
Walsh said that the gymnasts each pay for their own warm-ups. They don't get travel bags and they stay with relatives when they travel to meets.
Vaughn said the lack of fan and alumni support at women's basketball games is frustrating.
"Even last year, the men would pull close to 8,000 a game; when our record was better, we'd struggle to pull 1,000," Vaughn said.
She said that if there is any gender inequality present at BSU, it's a full-circle from fans, to players, to alumni.
"When female players have an unsatisfactory experience at BSU they are unlikely to stay in the Boise area or to donate money as alumni years later," she said.
BSU President Charles Ruch said women's athletics don't command the same dollars that men's athletics do at this time. Although gender equality is not seen on all levels, the opportunity is there.
"It might not happen for my generation, but maybe for my grandkids'," Ruch said.
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Women's sports InsiderWomen's sports lack drawing card
By TRACEY MYERS 12/16/02
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Here's a news flash for you: Women's sports don't draw as much revenue, interest or fan support as men's sports. Sad? Absolutely. Surprising? Not really. Since the women's movement and birth of Title IX in the early 1970s, women have made tremendous strides in athletics.
But as far as we've come, we still haven't come far enough. Loosely put, the boys are still winning.
A recent Los Angeles Times article gives some explanations as to why women's sports cannot reach the same level of men's sports. There are numerous reasons. But some are more obvious and harder to get past.
Look at some of the major professional women's leagues. The WNBA has teams either folding or moving, seemingly on a weekly basis. There are many cities out there that want teams, but outside of most of the original eight franchises, WNBA teams cannot keep the fans coming after the first-year novelty wears off. The same thing happens in other women's sports, including soccer and tennis.
What's the problem? In a lot of ways, it's a problem plaguing both women and men's sports: instant gratification. Owners and fans are demanding it more than ever. Struggling? You better get it fixed quickly. Say you can give us a championship in two years? Sorry, that's too long. We want to win now, and we want to keep winning year after year after year.
Here's the problem, folks. That just doesn't happen. It didn't happen for the male and female coaches who are legends now, and it won't happen for the coaches who will never get the chance to be legends because they're run out of town after two mediocre seasons.
What about the excitement factor? Sure, it's there for women's sports. It was there Saturday night when TCU almost upset No. 15 Oklahoma with a shot attempt in the final seconds. That kind of edge-of-your-seat feeling can happen a lot. But how many times do mass audiences see it?
For example, look at the men's and women's NCAA tournaments. What is the men's version known for? The upsets, the shockers, the No. 12 seed making it to the Elite Eight when no one expected them to go to the Round of 32. We remember the Valparaiso run, Richmond beating someone it shouldn't every year. Gonzaga wrote the Cinderella story so much that now the Bulldogs are expected to go deep in the tournament. In other words, it lives up to the "Madness."
On the women's side, there's great basketball. But it's played by the great teams that get the top seeds and home-court advantage, which is another column topic all on its own. There are few upsets, and they usually take place in the first round. By the second, the top seed is usually the one advancing. Sure, there are always exceptions. But do they live in the memory like those men's teams that knocked off a top seed 20 years ago and haven't done anything since?
Then there's professional All-Star outings. Baseball has the home-run derby. Basketball has the slam-dunk contest. Hockey has the puck-shooting contest. What do they all have in common? They're about power and showtime. Women's pro and college basketball has the 3-point contests, among other things. And while good shooting always draws applause, it doesn't necessarily draw a lot of people to do it.
Will women's sports ever be on par with men's? Talent-wise, maybe. Support-wise, that's the different story. It's hard to predict what will happen in another 20 years. Maybe with some major men's sports more concerned with money and perks than play, fans could be swayed to the women's side. Maybe women will be recognized for their talent, regardless.
If so, let's just hope they get the time to do it.
Tracey Myers Writes About Women's Sports Every Monday.
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December 14, 2002
By OTIS HART Staff Writer
It may have taken 15,000 years, but the oldest sport in the world is finally catching up to the rest of society. Wrestling, often treated as a proclamation of masculinity, is no longer exclusively a test of testosterone.
Just ask the laundry list of opponents who have lost to female wrestlers in the past few years. A select group of pioneering girls has infiltrated wrestling’s ranks, calling into question the sport’s very self-perception while redefining its macho public persona.
Women’s wrestling has been growing and expanding ever since a young girl from San Diego named America Morris pinned a young boy named Russell Cain in 1985. As the first high school female to record a pin at the varsity level, Morris became, if only for a brief moment, a national celebrity, appearing on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and in the pages of Sports Illustrated.
In the 17 years since Morris’ accomplishment, a trend towards gender equity in wrestling has slowly developed momentum. Now, over 5,000 girls wrestle in high school and college, with some states even organizing women’s wrestling leagues. Unarguable legitimacy arrives in 2004 when the first Olympic women’s wrestling match takes place in Athens, Greece.
Vermont’s first true girls’ wrestling star was Brandy Beayon of Bomoseen. The 132-pound grappler captured the national title in her weight class at the first annual United States Girls’ Wrestling Association national tournament in 1998. Beayon went on to finish second nationally in 1999 before graduating from Fair Haven in 2000. Champlain Valley Union’s Leah Zenaty is another pioneer. Zenaty graduated from CVU in 1998 and was a four-year wrestling manager at Plymouth State College.
Beayon’s success directly links to some of Vermont’s best present-day wrestlers. Harwood junior Ashley Dow was in sixth grade when she first saw Beayon wrestle.
“My cousin (Sean Taft) wrestled Brandy at Harwood,” Dow said. “She almost beat him, and he’s a tough kid, and I was like ‘Oh my God, I want to be like her.’”
Dow has been beating boys ever since. In 2001, Dow, then a freshman, finished third in the states at 112 pounds, defeating Otter Valley’s Adam Bearor in the consolation finals. A month later, Dow took fourth place in the fourth annual USGWA national tournament in Lake Orion, Mich. Dow’s only two losses at the tournament were to seniors, and as the top underclassman, she garnered the top-seed in the 2002 tournament, where she finished seventh.
In Vermont, however, Dow rarely wrestles other females. Most states do not have women’s wrestling leagues, so girls end up wrestling boys during the regular season, then move on to other girls at state and national tournaments. According to the National Federation of State High Schools, Vermont only featured 13 girl wrestlers last year, so even a state tournament is a stretch. Dow, however, would rather beat boys.
“I don’t like wrestling girls,” said Dow, who was ranked third in the nation at 126 pounds before tearing knee ligaments during practice last week. “They’re so hard to beat. When I go to nationals, there are girls there who wrestle all year round — half of them are gymnasts — they are real hard to pin. Guys are just real strong…their muscles are already built in, while we have to build ours up. Strength wise, they’ve got me beat, but I’m smarter than them.”
Courtney Martell echoes Dow’s sentiments. Martell, a junior at Mount Abraham, became the first Vermont girl to win a high school tournament, capturing the Middlebury Holiday tournament as a freshman at 103 pounds.
“If you look at guys during a tournament, there’s a lot more strength,” said Martell, who is ranked fourth in the nation at 114 pounds. “The girls do a lot more technical wrestling. A lot more moves, and they perfect them. Guys just try to muscle everything.”
Martell has proven many times that, pound for pound, brains often tops brawn.
“All through my career guys have said ‘I have to wrestle a girl, this will be easy,’ and then I go out and pin them in the first 20-30 seconds,” said Martell. “They’re stunned, they don’t know what happened.”
Martell, along with her older sister Kayleen, may have been the youngest female wrestler in Vermont history when she took up the sport in 1991 as a first grader. Kayleen finished sixth in Vermont in 1999 at 103 pounds and Courtney is even better. She finished fourth at the Northern Vermont Athletic Conference tournament her freshman year and is a two time runner-up at the Granville, N.Y. tournament.
Martell and Dow’s accomplishments are only the most notable in a recent surge of Vermont female wrestling. Freshman Megan Abentroth of Milton is ranked eighth in the nation at 118 pounds. Randolph and St. Johnsbury each feature two female wrestlers, while Harwood has three. Harwood coach Brian Wagner emphasized that his girls make his squad just like any other wrestler.
“There’s no difference,” Wagner said. “They work as hard as the guys. They’ll probably be angry at me for even saying that. They bust their hump and earn their spot.”
Harwood sophomore Meesha Griffith wrestles at 103 pounds and consistently medals at meets. In 1998, Griffith became the first female youth champion as a sixth-grader, going undefeated against male competition.
Of course, it takes a special kind of girl to walk out onto the mat and beat up a boy.
“There is no a verage girl in wrestling,” Dow said. “We’re all pretty tough and pigheaded. You can’t tell us what to do.”
“It takes someone who’s willing to work very hard,” Martell said. “You have to want to take on challenges — there are so many challenges. Physically, you have to go six minutes flat out. There are also a lot of mental aspects to wrestling. (It takes) a lot of tenacity.”
Both Martell and Abentroth plan on attending this year’s USGWA national tournament in Michigan on March 23-24, which now attracts over 500 girls from across the continental U.S. and Hawaii. Dow hopes to attend if her knee heals in time. In any event, the female wrestlers of Vermont are champions regardless whether they win or lose. They’ve already begun to erode the masculine underpinnings of a sport that has long needed reinvention.
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