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NOTES AND QUOTES for a Tuesday in the Napa Valley:

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

Napa Valley Register Sports Editor Marty James

The 161 entrants in last Saturday's ASICS Napa Valley Girls Classic at Vintage High makes it the second-largest high school girls wrestling tournament in the United States. Fifty-seven high schools were represented at the event from three different states.

Vintage had seven wrestlers place to take the team title: Maika Watanabe placed first at 110 pounds; Jessica Hsieh (105), Kayla Chambers (126) and Nicole Mazzaferro (130) all placed second; Carina Valle-Santana (134) and Diana Douglas (160) placed third; and Ashley Arnold (160) placed fifth.

Wrestling in her first girls tournament, Napa freshman Lauren Philipps earned fifth place at 134 pounds. St. Helena's Natalie Escareno captured fifth place in the 144-pound class.

The tournament director is Carl Murphree, Vintage's head coach who also runs the Napa Valley Wrestling Club.

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ASICS Napa Valley Girls Classic Results

Championship

100 Maribeth Grim, Jesse Bethel Dec Katherine Fulp-Allen, Half Moon Bay, 9-5
105 Sara Fulp-Allen, Half Moon Bay Dec Jessica Hsieh, VINTAGE, 11-2
110 Maika Watanabe, VINTAGE T-Fall Jessica Juack, Ramona, 18-2
114 Silvia Cortez, Hanford Fall Victoria Aiello, Ramona, :51
118 Jamie Sage, VALLEJO Dec Kristen Mattern, Marie Carillo, 11-3
122 Alexis Gonzalez, San Leandro Dec Veronica Holloway, Crane, 5-3
126 Sabrina Valdez, Trinity Dec Kayla Chambers, VINTAGE, 2-1
130 Michelle Ludwig, Patrick Henry Dec Nicole Mazzaferro, VINTAGE, 3-2
134 Madeline Briones, San Leandro M-Dec Othella Lucas, Crawford, 16-3
138 Renee Green, Silver Creek Fall Suzanne Bentley, Mesa Verde, 2:37
144 Anna Jenkins, Lake Orion Fall Stella Brown, San Leandro, 1:44
152 Leah Llach, American Fall Alexandria Duerr, Montgomery, 1:25
165 Jere Summers, Berkeley Fall Juana Juarez, San Leandro
165+ Misty Stalley, Aragon Fall Vanessa Guiterrez, Gilroy

Consolation

100 Yern Chao, UPPER LAKE Fall Valerie Prise, Diamond Bar, 2:06
105 Marissa Gonzales, Hogan Fall Renee Moreland, Roseville, 2:55
110 Christina Fong, South San Francisco T-Fall Tori Crosby, Castro Valley
114 Reenie Belamide, Hogan tie 5 match rule Beth Noyes, Branham
118 Jamie Rayl, Castro Valley Frft Kelly Coplin, Redwood
122 Christina Delgado, South San Francisco Fall Lana Cary, Wilcox, :40
126 Adrianna Cervantes, Casa Grande Dec Lily Dorman, Berkeley
130 Estella Pino, San Leandro Dec Griselda Mata, Pleasant Valley
134 Carina Valle-Santana, VINTAGE T-Fall Summer Scott, Castro Valley
138 Frances Lee, Lowell tie 5 match rule Kim Mansfield, Wilcox
144 Diana Martinez, YGNACIO VALLEY Fall Khira Thomas, Deer Valley, 3:00
152 La'Esha Cooper, UPPER LAKE Fall Rachel Knight, Etna, 2:09
165 Diana Douglas, VINTAGE Fall Soledad Ramirez, Pittsburg, 1:33
165+ Vanessa Garcia, Pittsburg M-Dec Mary Hanley, Thousand Oaks

5th Place

100 April-Ann Bauzon, Hogan Dec Ashley Bayongan, Jesse Bethel
105 Audrey Cortes, Thousand Oaks Dec Elizabeth Libranda, Hogan
110 Amy Loeun, Edison Dec Lauren Simmonds, Ukiah
114 Sheila Castillo, St.Pats Dec Eunice Tjan, VALLEJO
118 Judy Quan, Lowell tie 5 match rule Sarah Kay, Rodrigues
122 Kristin Lee, Castro Valley Dec Melisa Gonzalez, Etna
126 Sailena Willis, Pittsburg Fall Sheena Philipps, Will C. Wood, :29
130 Kelly Nardiello, WOOLAND Frft Rhonda King, Thousand Oaks
134 Sammi Edwards tie 5 match rule Lauren Philipps, Napa
138 Stacey Troxel, Roseville Fall Ashley Mora, Castro Valley, 4:28
144 Natalie Escareno, St.Helena Dec Jessica Moore, DEL MAR
152 Katie Harris, RIPON Fall Anette Neves, Hogan, 2:25
165 Ashley Arnold, VINTAGE Fall Jessica Fazzio, Castro Valley
165+ Jessica Bohler, Rodriguez Fall Danielle Freitas, Castro Valley, 2:48

7th Place

100 Megan Say, Thousand Oaks Fall Rita Ramirez, Mt.Whitney, :43
105 Angelina Chong, VALLEJO Dec Taylor Webster, Etna
110 Deslerey Dacuycuy, St.Pats Dec Hilary Yip, Lowell
114 Elaine Bartolonge, South San Francisco Dec Camille Kelley, Half Moon Bay
118 Kim Hoang, San Leandro Frft Angela Morrish, Archbishop Mitty
122 Remilla Arcega, Hogan Fall Tori Steeves, Half Moon Bay, :54
126 Brittany Wulfert, El Camino Fall Michelle Spriegel, Thousand Oaks, 1:50
130 Jessica Lau, San Leandro Dec Victoria Spinetti, WINTERS
134 Camille Marzan, St.Pats Dec Kathryn Slama, Thousand Oaks
138 Andrea Santos, Hogan Fall Tesia Blonski, Casa Grande, 5:31
144 Ashlee Evans, Ukiah Dflt Ebony Gomez, Thousand Oaks
152 Natasha Tyree, WINTERS Fall Stephanie Vossekuil, Castro Valley, :23
165 Irania Calero, Pittsburg Fall Michelle Barrett, Hogan, 3:40
165+ Double BYE

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Scholastic Choices 1/2003 Karen Fanning

Last December, 18-year-old Mandy Charboneau stepped onto a mat and faced a huge challenge. Across from her stood the captain of her school's arch rival wrestling team. Mandy was his opponent. As he stared her down, Mandy was nervous. She had once been a cheerleader and now, here she was, about to wrestle a guy. Three minutes later, however, Mandy walked off the mat a winner and her opponent left via a stretch- er. "He kept trying the same move on me, and I kept getting out of it," says Mandy, a senior at Cheboygan High School in Cheboygan, Michigan. "Finally I grabbed his arm and pulled it around his back, and when I did, I ripped his shoulder blade out of the muscle in his back. I wasn't trying to hurt him."

Axing Assumptions

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Mandy is one of thousands of high school girls in the United States who are suiting up to play on boys' sports teams. While competition on the field, court, or mat can be fierce, conquering stereotypes can be even tougher. But Mandy and others like her are shattering the myth that girls can't compete with boys. Rachel Long is proving that point on ice. She plays forward on the boys' ice-hockey team at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "Some teams will talk trash to me, saying I don't belong out there," says Rachel, 17. "But the majority of the guys respect that I'm a girl and I'm out there and can play the sport." But before Rachel was able to convince the competition she could handle the puck, she first had to prove to her teammates she belonged on the ice rink.

Skeptical Teammates

"At first, they really wouldn't talk to me," says Rachel, one of just seven high school girls in Colorado who played on boys' ice-hockey teams last year. "I had to prove my ability to play the game-to pass, to skate, to stickhandle. Once I did that, they began to accept me."Mandy, who is one of 180 girlsto wrestle on boys' teams in Michigan last year, had to fight to earn the respect of her teammates too. At the first day of practice last season, they greeted her with stares and wisecracks "They all came out of the locker room and just looked at me," says Mandy, who stands 5 feet 7 inches tall. weighs 120 pounds, and has wrestled in the 119-pound and 125-pound weight classes. "They gave me grief. They said stuff like, 'The volleyball team
is practicing upstairs. I think you're at the wrong practice.'"

Proving a Point

Mandy shrugged off the comments and went to work. Her teammates came away impressed. "Two weeks later when they couldn't pin me in practice, they realized, 'Hey, she might be good. I should back off.'"
Backing off, however, isn't something Mandy wants her oppo- nents to do. In fact, when she's out on the mat, Mandy wants to be treated like one of the guys."Some guys will go easy on me," says Mandy, whose friends have nicknamed her Xena after TV's famous warrior princess. "I want a guy to give it his all. I don't want to be treated like a girl. I want a challenge."

Dirty Play

Facing stiff competition is one thing, dealing with foul play is another. Rachel says she is often targeted on ice because she's a girl. As a result, she's had to endure her share of dirty play. "There are times when I don't even have the puck and guys on the other team will come after me when the referees aren't looking," Rachel says. "They'll hit me any- where they can. If they do it illegally, it can really hurt." So far, however, the 5-foot-4- inch, 125-pound senior has tough- ened it out. In her first three sea- sons, Rachel has missed only one game, due to a concussion she suffered after being dealt an illegal blow to her head.

Paying a Price

Mandy's had it even worse. Last season, she suffered numerous injuries: a sprained left elbow, a black eye, and two broken noses. Despite her injuries, Mandy won six of her nine matches. Yet even in victory, Mandy has experienced the uglier side of competition poor sportsmanship. "If a girl beats a guy, their team- mates will start making fun of him, saying 'You got beat by a girl, What kind of wrestler are you?'" she says. "They're really ashamed that they lost to a girl, so some- times they barely shake my hand after a match. They won't even look at me." Sore losers, though, don't get Mandy down. They inspire her to keep improving as a wrestler. And while she acknowledges that she faces added pressure as the only girl on her team, Mandy refuses to let it get the best of her. "I do feel that I have to work harder because I am the only girl," she says "When I'm out there, I think, 'I'm the only girl on the team. They're all watching me. motivates me to give it my all.It makes me better."

Bring on the Boys

Rachel has improved as a hockey player, in part, because she also plays a lot with the Colorado Extreme, the state's 19-and-under girls' team. Last year, the Extreme went to a national tournament for the first time. Given the choice, however, Rachel prefers to play with guys."I'll stick with the boys," she says. "The guys' game is faster- paced. With boys, you can check
(hit another player with your body). With girls, checking is against the rules. I like the physical aspect of hockey. It makes you tougher." Spoken like a true hockey player.

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Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) claimed the individual gold medal at 63 kg/138.75 pounds, the lone U.S. athlete in the women’s division at the Guelph Open in Canada, January 21.

In the gold-medal finals, with less than a minute left in the bout, McMann pinned Canadian World Team member and former Junior World champion Tara Hedican. McMann scored a three-point takedown early in the match and was leading 3-0 when Hedican attempted a throw. McMann countered the attempt, putting Hedican on her back for the fall.

McMann has competed in the last three World Championships for the United States, and is a USOTC resident athlete. Hedican, who trains in Guelph, placed ninth in the 2002 World Championships.

McMann also scored an 11-0 technical fall over Brooke Hilditch of Guelph, which qualified her for the gold-medal finals.

“I’m especially excited because some things I have been working on in practice worked well,” said McMann. “I was in (Hedican’s) hometown and I was the only American there. I wasn’t going to give her any positions. I was happy that when I was put down three times that she didn’t turn me.”

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