CREDIT: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald
Stephanie Buchan, who had a bye Tuesday, will wrestle today.
News Page
Prep sports: Holthaus pins down her wrestling goals
Tom Fenton 2/11/03
Staff Writer
Rachael Holthaus is growing tired of being called a "girl wrestler." If the Royalton sophomore had it her way, she would drop any reference to her gender from that monicker and would be known only as a wrestler.
And a good one, at that.
Competing in a sport normally reserved for boys, Holthaus takes a 16-2 record into tonight's Section 6A quarterfinal match against Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa at Royalton. The fact that some coaches scoff at her presence on a boys team is no more than a nuisance.
Despite her gaudy record in the 103-pound weight class, there are still male opponents who cannot accept losing "to a girl" and react to losses like the world is going to end tomorrow.
All that is fine with Holthaus, who realizes the only way she can change the perception that she doesn't belong is to keep working hard.
And winning.
"It seems like some of the coaches are more against me being out here than the wrestlers," said Holthaus, who has received three forfeits this season from opponents who chose not to compete against her. "I try not to think about it, because it's not going to matter. I don't care if they don't think I should be there."
After watching Holthaus practice and talk about wrestling, it is obvious the sport is a passion and not a way to pass the time until spring. In fact, the high school season is only a small part of her wrestling schedule.
She comes from a family with an impressive wrestling pedigree. Her father, John, was raised in a family with four wrestling brothers. Rachael's cousin, Jason Foss, won a state championship at Royalton. She also is a distant cousin with Ryan Holthaus of Foley, who is ranked No. 1 in the state in his weight class.
Holthaus admits to a shy personality before trying wrestling. Those days are long gone.
More than qualified
Holthaus is serious about wrestling, and her credentials prove it.
The 16-year-old started wrestling in fourth grade and has been competing ever since. The competitions started with Little Falls Jaycees tournaments and eventually evolved into national-level tournaments. She learned a few of tricks with a freestyle club called the Bobcats in Little Falls before eventually making the varsity team there as an eighth-grader.
Last season, Holthaus competed in about half of Little Falls' varsity meets as a freshman. She transferred to Royalton when her father, John, who comes from a wrestling-rich family, was named head coach of the Royals about two weeks before the high school season began.
For the past three seasons, Holthaus has been the only female member of the 120-wrestler Highflyers Wrestling Club in Wayzata. There, her skills improved dramatically while being coached by Brandon Paulson, an Olympic silver-medalist in Greco in the 1996 Summer Olympics, former University of Minnesota national champion Brandon Eggum and All-American Chad Erikson, who was a four-time state high school champion at Apple Valley.
"They've done a great job with her," Rachael's high school coach and father, John, said. "They've accepted her, and I'm very happy with that. She's learned a lot there."
All that instruction and hard work have paid big dividends. Holthaus is ranked No. 1 in the nation in her weight class among females in both freestyle and folkstyle (which is similar to high school).
At the Junior Nationals last July in Fargo, a girls competition was added for the first time. Holthaus won the 95-pound weight class in that tournament, where 47 states were respresented. She also placed third at a national girls folkstyle tournament in Detroit last March and will return to that tournament again this year. In the first week of March, Holthaous will compete in a prestigious freestyle event in Sweden where 30 countries will be represented.
"As a father, I was a bit apprehensive about her being in wrestling at first," said John, a 1979 Royalton graduate who wrestled for the Royals. "I didn't know how to deal with it or how people would react. But I realized quickly she enjoyed it, and she's my daughter, so I'm going to do what I can to help her. She's got a lot of natural ability, and once she started winning, I figured I'd really grab onto this and help her.
"The opposition (to her wrestling) has been far less than we expected. The school has been great, and so has our team and fans. They figured out she's not just a girl out there taking up space. She goes out on the mat, works hard and wins. When she's out there, it's not a boy or a girl thing. They're all wrestlers. The biggest problem we've had is parents who don't want their son to get beat by a little girl"
In the early stages of tournaments against boys, Holthaus was simply overpowered. That forced her to learn the many intracacies of the sport, and her father said that knowledge has made her a technician on the mat.
While Holthaus' major focus continues to be the girls-only national-level compeitions, she has enjoyed her success and experience competing at the high school level. Which raises an interesting possibility.
With her record, Holthaus likely will receive a No. 2 or 3 seed in the Section 6A individual tournament Feb. 21-22 in Rush City. Should she win or place second there, Holthaus would become the first girl to compete at the state high school wrestling tournament, which was started in 1938.
That could create quite a stir at the already frenzied three-day event. The media spotlight would likely be on her, but she doesn't see that as pressure.
"The goal is definitely to make it to state," Rachael Holthaus said. "I really want to go there. I think it would be neat. But I don't want to go there as the first girl to make it. I'd rather just go as a wrestler. It's nice and flattering to be recognized, but I don't want to be singled out."
With no time to rest after the high school season ‹ with or without the state tournament ‹ Holthaus said she already is prepared for the national and international events. Tournaments such as those, she hopes, will lead her to even bigger things, like the Olympics, which will have women's wrestling for the first time at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
"That's my goal," Holthaus said.
And she doesn't care who doubts her.
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Aberhart ace pins hopes on grappling
Buchan helped start program at Branton Junior High
Lauren MacGillivray
Calgary Herald Wednesday, February 12, 2003
|
CREDIT: Ted Jacob, Calgary Herald |
High school student Stephanie Buchan has always pushed the barriers that girls face in the sport of wrestling.
When she arrived a confident kid for her first year at Branton Junior High School, she was baffled to find no wrestling program existed for girls.
"I was really upset because it was supposed to be my first year wrestling," she says.
So with the help of her dad, former high school wrestler Ed Buchan, she convinced the school to start a program.
Ed coached his daughter and about seven other girls through Grades 7 to 9, then moved on with his daughter to William Aberhart High School, where he's assistant wrestling coach. He also coached again at Branton Junior High last season, when his younger daughter entered the program. Stephanie also helped coach.
The program at Branton continues today.
"The first year we had it there, I thought there'd be no girls, but quite a few came out," says Stephanie.
The now 16-year-old student is one of the most talented local female wrestlers. Last season, she won the city high school championship and was second in the open national championship at New Brunswick in the 70-kilogram weight class for cadet (Grade 10).
This year, she's only had two points scored on her -- at a club tournament in Ontario -- and is gearing up to win the national championship for juvenile (Grade 11) in April in Calgary.
"A lot of girls I know are in their first year of wrestling," she says. "I've been learning to wrestle since I was four years old."
Because of her record, she was given a bye on Tuesday, the first of the two-day city high school championships at William Aberhart. She'll wrestle today in the 70-kilogram class.
While she has helped create a legacy at Branton Junior High, Stephanie says she'd like to see the competition for girls wrestling improve nation-wide.
"People need to get over the image of the stereotypical wrestler; they're not all huge," she says. "It turns girls off."
As for her own future, Stephanie plans to attend the University of Calgary, where she's already training with world champion wrestler Christine Nordhagen-Vierling.
In the meantime, she'll continue high school wrestling.
There are five other girls in her weight class for the city championships, which resume today at 3:30 p.m. at Aberhart.
The order of the more than 200 competitors will be decided in today's draw. Finals start at about 7 p.m.
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BCI wrestler rebounds from off year
By Brian Smiley, Expositor Staff
brantford Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Lindsay MacDonald wasn't healthy or happy last year but now she's both.
The Grade 12 student at Brantford Collegiate Institute was all smiles Wednesday after capturing a Brant County wrestling title in the 61-kilogram girls' division at the W. Ross Macdonald School.
What MacDonald was feeling after winning her two matches Wednesday differed greatly from the way she felt last year.
"I got a bad case of mono," the five-foot-nine grappler said, "and I lost about 20 pounds because I didn't eat. There was 2 1/2 weeks of not eating solids."
However, like many athletes dedicated to their sports, MacDonald tried to rush her recovery.
"I came back a couple of times to practice but I was so weak," she said, noting she pulled a chest tendon and suffered several sprains. "Finally my coaches told me they wouldn't let me practice without a doctor's note."
So, first she was sick and second she wasn't able to do one of the things she likes best ? wrestle.
"A lot," she answered when asked how much she missed competing. "I went to CWOSSA (Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships) just to watch and I was almost in tears."
Then came the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association finals and it was nearly as bad as her CWOSSA experience as her schoolmates called to let her know how they were making out.
"My friends called me from OFSAA and they said they wanted me to be there," said MacDonald, who is coached jointly by John Howe at WRMS and Mark Harvey of the Matmen United Wrestling Club.
"The next day I started running and kept on running a little bit more each day."
And poof, she started to feel better.
Now MacDonald, who began wrestling in Grade 6 at James Hillier school, will try to qualify for CWOSSA at the Brant/Norfolk county finals at WRMS on Feb. 13.
Although she won Brant County titles in Grade 9, 10 and now this year, MacDonald has only been to CWOSSA once. That was in Grade 10 when she captured the title and went on to place sixth at OFSAA.
If she makes it to the provincials, her goal will be lofty but maybe not lofty enough.
"I'm saying I'm going to shoot for top-four at OFSAA," said MacDonald, who will also represent the Matmen at nationals in April in Calgary.
"My coach is going to kill me for saying that. He'd say I should go for first."
The following are the results for the girls' divisions, in order of finish:
Team title (in order of finish) ? BCI, 84 points; North Park Collegiate, 76; St. John's College, 32; Paris District High School, 28; and Pauline Johnson Collegiate, 16.
41 kg. ? Caitie Wyckoff, PJC.
51 kg. ? Shelby Tremblay, BCI; Allison Hyodo, SJC; and Samantha Black, PDHS.
54 kg. ? Michelle King, PDHS and Velika Kitchen, BCI.
57.5 kg. ? Melissa Scottie, BCI; Nikki Newhook, NPC; and Rachel Galloway, SJC.
61 kg. ? MacDonald; Jordan Bisaillon, SJC; and Zoe Langton, BCI.
64 kg. ? Kim Noakes, NPC.
67.5 kg. ? Jessie Taylor, NPC.
72 kg. ? Amanda Rockery, NPC.
77 kg. ? Samantha Robson, NPC.
84 kg. ? Tiffany Nelson, BCI
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Hambrick Returns To Pasco County Scene;
TOM FORD tford@tampatrib.com
The Tampa Tribune 02-08-2003
STATE GIRLS WRESTLING: Seven girls high school wrestlers from Pasco
County compete today in the girls state wrestling meet at Kissimmee Gateway
High. The event is not sanctioned by the Florida High School Activities
Association.
Representing Land O' Lakes High are Jessica Worthington, Elizabeth
Lewis, Dana Kearney and Vanessa Tyson. Hudson High wrestlers competing are
Patrica Conner, Tania Trentacosta and Star Verosic.
Worthington and Kearney are defending state champions. Worthington
hopes to wrestle in college. She has received interest from Cumberland (Ky.)
College.
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VICKI SCHEELER, NEW BERLIN WEST
Js online 2/10/03
|
The senior became the first girl to win a Woodland Conference wrestling championship on Saturday when she defeated Cudahy's Charlie Wiza, 22-9, at 103 pounds. "That's something I've been working at for a long time," Scheeler said. Scheeler (15-11), who took fourth place last season, pinned her New Berlin Eisenhower opponent in the semifinals. She has been on the team all four years and has more than 60 victories.
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By Elliott Almond
Mercury News 2/13/03
Sanaz Shahbazi wants to be a martial arts film star after winning an Olympic gold medal.
Or a model.
Or a professional kickboxer.
Or a wrestler.
``I just want to do so much but there just is no time for it,'' said Shahbazi, a third-degree tae kwon do black belt from San Jose.
Shahbazi, 21, will compete at the Titan Games opening at San Jose State today, one step on what she hopes will be a path to the Athens Games in 2004. There, she would be completing a voyage that began 34 years ago when her father broke a hand in practice just before wrestling for Iran at the 1968 Olympics.
She wants to win as much for her father as herself. She wants this even though she once accused him of abusing her physically -- a charge she later said she fabricated.
``I live his dream,'' she said. ``Now I feel I have to prove to him that I can do it.''
But how far will she go to make the point?
Quick assimilation
In 1984, Ahmad Shahbazi had to go around the world to find a new home. A supporter of the shah, he fled Iran five years after the Islamic revolution of '79.
``They start killing people, kill everybody,'' he said in halting English. ``We are not safe in the country.''
Shahbazi took his family to China, then Turkey. They eventually immigrated to the United States, joining California's growing Iranian community.
Assimilation came quickly for Sanaz. She joined a martial arts gym at age 6 because she loved Ninja Turtle movies. Shahbazi trained under Ernie Reyes Sr., a South Bay martial arts master, who wasn't immediately impressed.
``To be honest with you, I never thought she would make it to the top,'' he said.
Reyes underestimated her determination to fulfill the family destiny. Shahbazi took three martial arts classes and private lessons every day. Her expertise also includes karate, kickboxing and wrestling.
``There was no limit to how far you could push her because she was all for it,'' Reyes recalled. ``A lot of times I would have her spar the guys. She would tear them up.''
Shahbazi ate in the car as her father, a hotel chef, shuttled her from gym to gym. She finished her homework on gymnasium floors. Ahmad attended most practices and tournaments. Some parents characterized him as a stage father.
``But I can guarantee she was not forced to do it,'' Reyes said. ``You have to want it yourself.''
Tension at home
There were moments when Shahbazi wanted nothing but to escape the overwhelming pressures of the family legacy. She said her father, steeped in his old-world traditions, didn't allow her to develop friendships. She wasn't able to talk on the phone or surf the Internet. He controlled her food because tae kwon do -- a Korean martial art -- involves weight divisions.
``I couldn't handle it,'' said Shahbazi, who was 16 when she began living at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1998.
During a visit home that year, she and father got into a row over a $1,700 credit card expense. Sanaz Shahbazi alleged that he slapped and punched her, and struck her with a metal cane.
She told authorities that her father tried to force her to vomit by shoving her head in a toilet bowl. She said she had angered him after sneaking a bowl of cereal when she was supposed to lose 10 pounds for competition.
Shahbazi recanted everything and did not testify against her father, who pleaded no contest to two felony counts of child abuse. He said he wanted to spare the family from a scandalous trial.
``I regret what happened,'' she said recently. ``I wasn't getting abused. I just wanted some freedom. So, I made it up. All my life I had been home and never had time to talk to people.''
The family moved to Sacramento because of embarrassment over the criminal case. Shahbazi's mother, Sherry, a beautician, supported her husband's account.
Two years ago, Sacramento county officials filed a legal petition on behalf of Shahbazi's two brothers, now aged 15 and 9. Child Protective Service records are confidential.
Ahmad, 62, said his oldest son rebelled like his sister and county officials placed him with foster parents for 15 days. He lives at home now.
``Everything is fine,'' Ahmad said. ``You can't tell kids not to do something. Some kids talk to teacher, `My dad pushed me,' and that's it, they take you to court.''
Said Sanaz: ``In our culture, getting spanked is different. These kids today need some discipline. I am glad my dad hit me to make me disciplined.''
Sattar Deldar, who runs a Persian television network in Santa Clara and has followed Shahbazi's career, said it's not unusual for Iranian emigrants to have cultural clashes with their Americanized children. The situation can be particularly difficult for women.
``In our culture it is expected not to do sports and not be exposed as much as I am,'' Shahbazi said.
Many Olympic options
After hearing about Ahmad's Olympic misfortune for much of her life, Shahbazi won't take any chances when it comes to reaching the 2004 Games and wants to qualify in two sports in case something happens. Her latest endeavor is freestyle wrestling, which will make its Olympic debut for women in Athens. Ahmad will coach Shahbazi, who briefly wrestled on the Leigh High boys team.
Still, she has a strong chance in the martial arts. Shahbazi won national titles in the middleweight and lightweight tae kwon do divisions last year.
``When I start kicking them in the head, that's when it is over,'' she said. ``They just lose it. When I hit them, it feels good. It makes me know that there is still a chance.''
Shahbazi wants to enter an unprecedented three weight categories in tae kwan do after the Titan Games, an international event featuring eight ``combative'' sports today through Saturday. The idea of competing in three weight classes in one tournament is almost absurd, but she prides herself on being able to fight from 130 pounds to 150 in any competition by adding water weight.
Two years ago, she needed to gain 21 pounds in 90 minutes to reach the middleweight division at the tae kwon do world championships in South Korea. With teammates yelling encouragement, Shahbazi, 5-foot-9, chugged water until called to the scale. She was five pounds under the 148-pound minimum. Officials gave Shahbazi 30 more minutes. She kept drinking. She also poured water on her hair to add weight.
``I was so heavy it looked like I had triplets,'' she said.
Shahbazi made weight but lost in the first round the next day. She says she felt fine. Authorities say drastic weight changes are unhealthy. Shahbazi says she fully understands the dangers of eating disorders. She has five to six meals a day, she said.
As a teenager, she used to lose weight for competition by taking diet pills and forcing herself to throw up -- against her parents' will. Since she has gained prominence, Shahbazi says she has stopped the practice.
Last week, she learned she has anemia.
No biggie, she insisted.
She's fine, she said.
She just has to win an Olympic gold medal.
Anything to do it, she said.
Anything to prove that she can.
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Sorenstam can't lose at Colonial
Let's face it, this is 2003 and women still are not allowed, in most cases, to compete with men. And when it does happen, no one wants to face them.
Look at high school wrestling. The few girls who wrestle usually receive more negative attention than positive. In many cases, an opposing team will forfeit a bout against a female. Male athletes will use excuses like "I don't want to hurt her" or "what if touch her or she touches me inappropriately."
Translation: I don't want to lose to a girl and face ridicule from my classmates.
This is taken from the story above
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Bored Annika will challenge the boys
Who wouldn't want to watch this? Somewhere, there's an old high school wrestler who Paterson Kennedy coach Gary Moore remembered Wednesday night. The poor kid, he'll be watching. Two years ago, Kennedy had a 112-pound wrestler, Jasmine Rodriguez, who pinned the Clifton High School boy. Apparently, the humiliated loser thundered into the locker room, smashing his fist into the wall, breaking his hand, and never wrestling again.
"She pinned several boys that year, but it was a no-win for all of them," Moore said. "You win, so what? You beat a girl. But you lose? You just lost to a girl."
This is taken from the story above
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LB's Mason wrestles to state crown
Dennis Maffezzoli — Feb 11, 2003
Lemon Bay High School has its first state champion.
Tiffany Mason pinned both opponents at the 2003 Florida State Girls Wrestling Championships Saturday at Kissimmee Gateway High School to capture the 120-pound weight class.
The event was not sanctioned by the FHSAA.
Mason, who wrestled with the varsity and junior varsity boys teams, flattened Julianna Jiminez of Deltona Pine Ridge in 4 minutes, 29 seconds in the championship. Earlier, Mason pinned Maggie Hlauck of DeLand in 2:47.
It was the first state title for Mason, who received a medal, bracket sheet and T-shirt for finishing first. Mason was 0-3 for the varsity, but 10-4 on the junior varsity level.
Mason is the second female wrestling champion from Lemon Bay. In 2000, Angela Hernandez captured a title. Hernandez won varsity matches.
Also a hurdler on the track and field team, Mason was a district champion in the 300-meter hurdles a year ago as a junior. She just missed qualifying for the state meet by finishing fifth in the regional 35-tenths of a second out of fourth.
Lemon Bay co-coach D.J. Keisling has called Mason "one of the hardest workers in the wrestling room and a team leader."
Mason's high school career is over, as she lost a wrestle-off to Brendan McLaughlin last week for a shot at the districts.
Keisling said Mason is looking at colleges where she can continue her wrestling career. She already has spoken to Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky., which has a women's wrestling team.
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Teen's worth weight in gold
Tiny wrestler gets big results
By TY PILSON, CALGARY SUN 2/13/03
Depending on how you look at it, Sir Winston Churchill wrestler Lucie Cornish had either an easy road or a tough trek to her 44-kg city championship title yesterday.
The diminutive Grade 11 student pinned John Diefenbaker's Annie Nguyen to win the first gold medal of the night at the day-long city high school wrestling championships at William Aberhart high school.
Cornish and Nguyen had a spirited match that lasted a few minutes and went back-and-forth before the ref signalled the pin to the judges.
Cornish and Nguyen were the only two girls in their weight class at the championships after a third girl failed to make weight, said Cornish.
So while most of the other wrestlers had to battle all day for the right to wrestle for a title, Cornish and Nguyen watched from the stands.
While some might see that as an advantage -- being well rested and able all to give it your all in one match -- Cornish said it's quite the opposite.
Trying to stay focused, both mentally and phsycially, while playing the role of spectator for much of the tournament was no easy task.
"You don't get as much practice, you don't get to warm-up -- it's tough," she explained.
"You have to stay in it all day before your match."
However, Cornish is used to a light schedule. Finding practice partners is as difficult as tangling with her tournament opponents.
"That's definitely the hardest thing, not getting enough practice," said the 16-year-old, between sips of water as she caught her breath after her win. "And when you do, it's against bigger (opponents) and you get beat up on. It's discouraging sometimes."
On the bright side, Cornish admitted always wrestling people bigger than her means when it comes time to take to the mat against someone her own size, she's well prepared.
"That is a bit of a bonus," she nodded.
After finishing second at last year's city championship, Cornish was visibly pleased to earn a trip to the top of the podium this time around.
"It's very exciting," she said. "This is great."
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Wrestling meet becomes an organic, unique experience
2/11/03
Projectile vomiting. The pungent smell of sweat. More testosterone than a steroids lab in eastern Germany. Girls ready to rumble. I could only be in one place: the Region IV Wrestling Tournament.
I drew the assignment of covering our local grapplers as they vied for regional gold in the Alamo City last weekend. No, there weren’t any piledrivers, pedigrees or spineroonies in this wrestling.
This was “real” complete with escapes, takedowns and reversals. Instead of a ring, the athletes competed on mats.
A couple of years ago I covered the state wrestling tournament in Pennsylvania. I remembered it being a really big deal because the top finishers there earned scholarships to wrestling powerhouses such as Iowa, Oklahoma State and Penn State.
So when I arrived at San Antonio’s Blossom Athletic Center, I kind of had an idea of what to expect. What I walked in on was organized chaos.
Inside the arena was a veritable wrestling buffet, as matches were held simultaneously on four mats. Wall-to-wall wrestling from morning to night. A grappling fan’s dream come true.
As I made my way down to the mats, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen in Pennsylvania — female wrestlers. There were more lady grapplers at the meet than I ever would have expected.
While many looked ready to rumble, the one’s carrying teddy bears around with them couldn’t have been that tough.
During one girls match, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Memorial coach Joe Clark invited me to sit next to him as one of his female grapplers prepared to show everybody how rugged she was.
As Clark shouted instructions and encouragement, Lady Wolverine Priscilla Gonzalez pinned her opponent in the second round.
Fortunately, that was a close as I came to the action, but there was one scary moment for me down on the floor.
After watching La Joya’s Edgar Rodriguez beat Karl Dzierzanowski of San Antonio Churchill in the 135-pound consolation semifinals, I made the mistake of standing next to a big trash can adjacent to the mats.
I saw that Dzierzanowski was taking the loss hard, then I innocently turned to chat with La Joya coach Joe Lopez. During our conversation, I felt something brush past me.
It was Dzierzanowski. He just finished a mad dash for the trash can I was standing in front of. Everything was happening so fast, and before I knew it, Dzierznowski was literally spilling his guts into the receptacle. Wasn’t he just on the mat?
Fortunately, I escaped unscathed from Dzierzanowski’s spew. I was out of clean clothing on the trip and I really liked the sweater I was wearing. And Eau de barf is not my first choice in cologne for a night on the town.
After successfully sidestepping danger, I enjoyed the rest of the tournament as the championship finals played out. Weslaco High’s Victor Olvera won a tense, hard fought battle for the 171-pound gold medal.
Watching Olvera’s 2-1 victory over Houston Westside’s Joey Bright, I thought about how much these guys train and their constant fight to make weight.
Olvera previously finished second and third at regionals, and I could tell from interviewing how important a moment this victory was for him.
Although I had an idea of what I was walking into, the experience went better than I expected. I’m just glad I’m still quick on my feet.