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Mastering the mat
Megan Richardson has quickly gone from a beginner to a champion in wrestling

By Rhiannon Potkey, Correspondent
January 7, 2003

James Glover II / Star staff Megan Richardson never considered herself athletic before she hit the mat three years ago. She proved herself wrong by becoming a state champion.

What started off as an attempt to make some friends in a new city has turned into a lifelong ambition for Santa Paula High sophomore wrestler Megan Richardson.

Richardson was only looking for something to keep her busy when she moved from Silver City to Santa Paula three years ago. So when she saw the the chance to sign up for a wrestling program offered at Isbell Middle School she figured she would give it a try.

Since her first day on the mat, the 5-foot-7, 168-pound Richardson, 15, has excelled in the sport. She has been the state girls' freestyle champion the last two years for her age group in the 165-pound weight class.

During the summer, she was picked to represent California on the first Women's Junior National Team. The team competed against other states in a tournament in Fargo, N.D., where Richardson placed fourth.

The success has spawned hopes for a potential 2008 Olympic team spot, a college scholarship and a future job as a wrestling coach.

"A little over three years ago if you had told me I would do this, I would have told you that you were a liar," said Richardson. "I never did sports. I was not athletic. I weighed almost 200 pounds. I was short and not fit."

Richardson's parents were also stunned when informed about their daughter's choice.

"My first reaction was, 'You want to do what?,' " said Richardson's father, Michael. "Then, I pretty much felt that if that is what she wants to do, she should go for it. I am not surprised now when she is successful because I have seen her work ethic."

Santa Paula High wrestling coach Robert Hastie also saw that ethic when he first introduced Richardson to the sport at Isbell.

"She's got great heart and determination. When she comes to practice, she comes to practice," said Hastie, in his second season at Santa Paula. "She likes wrestling the guys and doesn't like taking the easy road. She is part of the team and they take her seriously."

While some girls are hestitant about competing against males in the higher weight classes, Richardson relishes the challenge.

"Guys at the high school level are harder to wrestle at this weight because the chemicals and testosterone kick in, so it makes it a little difficult," said Richardson, who wrestles on the varsity squad this season. "But I think it is better to wrestle against them because it makes you stronger."

Richardson says she rarely encounters any jeering from the guys, but her father actually prefers it when she does.

"I like it when she goes to tournaments and the guys giggle and take her for granted because those are the guys that end up with their backs on the mat staring at the ceiling," said Michael.

Richardson's performances against guys and girls at tournaments has already garnered the attention of college scouts.

"Some scouts saw her last year and they thought she was a senior. They were in shock when I told him she was a freshman," said Hastie. "My goal is to get her as many opportunities and choices as possible."

Richardson also wants an opportunity to wrestle for her country in the 2008 Olympics. Women's wrestling will be making its Olympic debut in 2004.

"She is kind of on the ground floor and we are enjoying watching her break some ground for us," said Michael. "Her goal is the Olympics in 2008 and I think she has the potential to do that."

It was potential that may have gone untapped if not for a change of residence and a little curiosity. Richardson wants to make sure other girls have easier access to the sport, so she plans to impart her knowledge by becoming a teacher and coach.

"That is my burning passion," said Richardson of getting girls involved. "I want people, when they think of wrestling, they think of success. They think of girls who aren't afraid, and are as strong as males are."

Richardson file
January 7, 2003

School: Santa Paula.

Sport: Wrestling.

Year: Sophomore.

Personal information: 5-foot-7, 168 pounds. Age 15. Has a twin sister, Erin.

Mat success: Has been the state girls' freestyle champion the past two years for her age in the 165-pound weight class; represented California last summer as a member of the first Women's Junior National Team.

Academic prowess: Holds a 4.3 GPA; was a member of the winning Geography Bowl team; is a member of CSF and the National Honor Society.

Future goals: Hopes to earn a college scholarship and wrestle for the United States in the 2008 Olympics; wants to become a teacher and a coach.

Favorites: Food -- Cheesecake; Movie -- "Ever After"; Music -- Rock; Book -- Obisidion Butterfly; Subject -- English; Can't live without -- "My twin sister."

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LONE STAR DUALS HIGH SCHOOL WOMEN'S COMPETITION - FINAL

High Schools: Other sports

Lone Star Duals schedule taxes wrestlers
01/05/2003 RANDY JENNINGS / The Dallas Morning News

Competing at home is supposed to be an advantage.

But having the Hilton Arlington Lone Star Duals at Warrior Coliseum
might actually work as a home-court disadvantage for the South Grand Prairie
wrestling team.

Friday's opening day, consisting of five dual matches, is as taxing as
any single tournament day can be for a high school wrestler. Five matches
is the absolute maximum allowed by the rules. Every participating team faces
that challenge. But not every team was up late on Thursday night setting up
mats for the tournament. The chore ran later than normal because the boys
basketball game Thursday between South Grand Prairie and Irving Nimitz
didn't end until almost 10 p.m.

For the Warriors, Friday didn't end with the final match. They stuck
around to help clean up.

"We're more tired than most teams," South Grand Prairie coach Mike
Eaton said, admitting he, too was a little weary – and he hadn't wrestled.

The coach was frustrated with a lineup missing four starters: one
because of injury and the others no-shows.

Eaton still saw a lot of things he liked, even though his team
struggled in the dual competition.

"Some of our young guys are starting to turn the corner," he said.

The coach praised some of his wrestlers with winning records Friday:
Billy Parsons, Daryn Nelson, Darren DeLaCruz and Conan DeLaRosa.

South Grand Prairie did well in the girls division, sending two (senior
Daisy Callado and sophomore Crystal Molinar) to Saturday's finals in
the individual format. Molinar remained unbeaten in 22 matches by making it
to the finals of the 104-pound division, and Callado improved to 19-4 at
112. South Grand Prairie's Deseree Cazares advanced to Saturday's
third-place match at 121 pounds.

Girls coach Erica Goulding said the tournament is valuable because her
wrestlers get to see Amarillo teams such as Caprock and Tascosa.

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Titan Games in San Jose an intriguing concept

John Crumpacker1//6/03

ALTHOUGH THE U.S. Olympic Committee has of late been marked by leadership problems at the top of the organization, in particular executive director and CEO Lloyd Ward, Ward did come up with a winner when he devised the Titan Games.

Scheduled for San Jose State's Event Center Feb. 13-15, the Titan Games features the "combative" sports of boxing, fencing, wrestling, judo, tae kwon do and karate, plus weightlifting and the shot put, held concurrently in a "USA vs. the World" format.

In an attempt to highlight a group of related sports that don't get much attention individually, the USOC and the San Jose Sports Authority rounded up some appealing opponents for America's aspiring Olympic athletes: boxers from Cuba (making a rare U.S. appearance), wrestlers from Russia, weightlifters from Hungary and martial artists from China and Vietnam.

Four platforms will be arranged in the Event Center, and competition will be held concurrently on three of them. Don't like one sport? Move on to another.

Some of the top U.S. athletes scheduled to compete (perform might be a better word, given the format of the Titan Games) include weightlifters Cheryl Haworth and Shane Hamman, wrestlers Eric Guerrero of San Jose and the legendary Cael Sanderson, who had a 159-0 record at Iowa State.

Just outside the Event Center, a shot put competition will be held featuring the three top throwers in the world: Adam Nelson, John Godina and Kevin Toth, schedules permitting. Organizers considered putting the put indoors, but the thought of 16-pound cannonballs crashing through the hardwood compelled them to go outdoors.

"This type of exposure for our athletes is a welcomed addition," said Wes Barnett, executive director of USA Weightlifting. "I think fans will enjoy the format devised for this event."

The 19-year-old Haworth is utterly charming, if a weightlifter can be said to be charming. Two years ago, still in high school in Savannah, Ga., she won the bronze medal in the women's heavyweight division at the Sydney Olympics. She's also an accomplished artist and can whip up clever sketches at the drop of a barbell.

Athletes will compete for $80,000 in prize money and the title of "Ultimate Titan."

The concept of boxers, wrestlers and weightlifters competing simultaneously just might appeal to fans with short attention spans.

IS IT SAFE? That's a question to ask of Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis, who sustained only minor injuries from shattered glass when a gunman fired on her car in a recent attack in Greece. Had Madam Mayor not bent forward to retrieve something on the floorboard at the moment the gunman fired, the consequences could have been dire.

Since she had eight security people around the car at the time of the attack, it's fair to ask how a lone gunman slipped through. Moreover, security precautions for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, now less than 600 days away, are open to question. Athens Olympics organizers will reportedly spend $600 million on security.

SITTING PRETTY: A USOC inspection team will visit Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, site of this year's Pan American Games, to make sure American athletes have everything they need. On a similar trip to Havana in 1991, USOC officials identified a clear and present need and imported toilet seats for America's pampered athletes.

-- The Santo Domingo Games are beset by financial problems. If some venues are not completed by May, competition will not be held there and could even be moved out of the country.

THE WORLD AT LARGE: England's House of Lords, those partying parliamentarians, lent their support to London's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. One of them, Lord Faulkener of Worcester, noted the rare convergence of unanimity among the mayor of London, Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, four major newspapers and the London Business Bureau toward the bid. "There cannot be many matters on which . . . all are agreed," he said, "but this is one of them." . . . The U.S. Olympic Committee's International Relations Committee will meet Saturday to begin planning strategy for New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympics. . . . The official report on the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics makes for heavy reading. Heavy lifting, too. It weighs more than 20 pounds. Strap two of 'em together and they could be used as sliding stones in a curling match.

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High School Sports

John Gillooly:
01/06/2003

Its fans are calling it "wiggle room." They say the nation's colleges
and high schools should be given a little flexibility, as much as seven
percent, in their efforts to comply with Title IX requirements regarding the
percentages of male and female athletic participation.

I call it "wangle room," as in wangling out of responsibility.

The "wiggle room" theory has been a major topic of discussion at the
meetings of the national commission that will submit a report to the
secretary of education on the state of Title IX at the end of this
month.

Word is President Bush is leaning toward loosening the strict
interpretation of Title IX.

The proponents of the "wiggle room" plan claim it's the section of
Title IX that requires the percentage of sports participation to equal the
percentage of male and female student enrollment that's forcing some colleges to
drop so-called minor men's sports like wrestling, swimming and baseball.
(Sorry baseball fans, in the world of college sports, baseball is a minor
sport.)

The wiggle fans say Title IX shouldn't be about equality. They say it
should be about equity, and equity means if a school is fulfilling the
athletic needs of its female students, it's in compliance.

Funny, I checked three dictionaries and I didn't find that definition
anywhere, but we all know some college sports people speak a different
language.

Maybe you have to have been around a few years, which I have, to
appreciate the differences in how people have interpreted what "fulfilling a
female's athletic needs" means.

I have no doubt the people running Rhode Island high school sports back
in the 1960s honestly felt they were fulfilling the athletic needs of
their female students when they allowed a few girls from their respective
schools to go to the monthly "Play Days" organized by a group of women physical
education teachers. After all, what more could girls want than to play
a couple of basketball games in the winter and a few volleyball games in
the spring?

Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972, Rhode Island has been one of
national leaders in the percentage of its females students
participating in high school sports, but even here there have been cases of people
having a misconception of what fulfilling the needs of female athletes means.

For a long time, the schools in the R.I. Interscholastic League felt
they were fulfilling the needs of the state's female swimmers by allowing
them to compete against the boys. The fact that some girls might be discouraged
about joining a team because they didn't want to compete against
stronger males didn't seem to matter. It wasn't until the mid-'80s that the
girls got Championship meet and it was only a few years ago that
regular-season, dual-meet competition was divided into boys and girls
categories. Today, there are twice as many girls as boys swimming on
Rhode Island high school teams.

It wasn't just swimming, however. Throughout the state, there are
public schools that only in the last decade formed girls teams in sports where
they had boys teams for several decades.

And remember that Rhode Island is one of the best states for girls
sports participation. Participation has been much slower to advance in other
states. Only a few years ago, the Atlanta Constitution ran a series
about how thousands of Georgia high school girls still were being deprived of
an opportunity to compete in high school sports.

The reality is that unless some people are pushed to fulfill the needs
of female athletes by a law of equality, they will be slow, at best, to
address the issue.

Maybe it's because I live in Rhode Island, where what once was said to
be a temporary sales tax increase has now become a fact of life, that I'm
skeptical about creating any "wiggle room" in Title IX regulations. I
can't help but think if the people running the nation's college athletic
programs get a six or seven percent "wiggle" rate this year, in a few years they
will be looking for an eight or nine percent rate. The last time I checked,
the cost of running college athletic programs, especially football and
men's basketball, wasn't decreasing. Girls and women's sports are never going
to revert to the days of the '60s, but they still haven't reached total
maturity. Any watering-down of Title IX will hinder their development.

While all the talk about having some leeway in fulfilling Title IX
rules is being generated by the people in college sports, it's naive to think it
will not trickle-down to the nation's high school sports scene.

What makes the "wiggle" proposal so disturbing is that in most cases
it's not about colleges being unable to have proportional representation of
its student body on its athletic teams. It's about the unwillingness to pay
for it.

It's strange that some colleges with big-time football and basketball
programs meet Title IX requirements without affecting their men's
programs, while others say they can't do it without cutting some minor men's
sports. What they're really saying is they don't want to pay to add the extra
women's teams.

It's fine if colleges want to pay their football and basketball coaches
high six-figure salaries, sometimes even millions, because that's what the
market demands and the programs help the college's image and alumni
contributions. But don't then say you can't afford to put a few hundred thousand
dollars into new women's programs without cutting some non-revenue producing
men's sports.

Despite all the talk-show verbiage and SportsCenter highlights, the
bottom line of college sports is about education. The education of
student/athletes both on the field and in the classroom. If it isn't, cut the pretense
and pay the football and basketball players who are making millions for
their schools.