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Faces in the Crowd;

Edited by Hank Hersch and Mark Bechtel
Sports Illustrated 09-01-2003

Deanna Rix, SOUTH BERWICK, MAINE Wrestling Deanna, a junior at
Marshwood High, won the 119-pound title at the Asica/Vaughan Girls Junior
National Wrestling Championships, her third national girls' title this year.
Wrestling for the Hawks boys' team this season, she had a 26-5 record.

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Wrestling events boast intrigue

ISRAEL GUTIERREZ
igutierrez@herald.com 8/31/03

Consider Laila Ali's work in the boxing ring impressive? Think women don't have enough means to let out their aggression? Find those catfight Miller Lite commercials, um, captivating?

Then the Olympics in Athens next year will feature a new event that might be pretty entertaining.

Women's freestyle wrestling is one of the new sports for the 2004 Olympics, and it will award four sets of medals for different weight classes. The event to qualify men and women freestyle wrestlers takes place Sept. 12-14 in New York's Madison Square Garden, with 10 men and five women qualifying in each weight class.

The U.S. women are considered a strong team, but it is the Japanese women who are the defending team world champion, winning last year in Iran and continuing the country's dominance in the sport since its first World Championships in 1987.

Besides the intrigue that should come with the women wrestling competition, there are also some good story lines concerning the men's side, too.

The U.S. men will return to the World Championships after missing last year's meet in Iran because of terror threats.

Last fall, the U.S. men's world freestyle wrestling team was one day away from departing for last-minute training in Germany followed by the trip to Iran. USA Wrestling, however, received a call from the U.S. government with information about a threat of violence to the team if it attended the world meet.

After a series of meetings, USA Wrestling decided not to attend, which was disappointing to a team that expected to challenge for a title. Without the U.S. team present, the Iranian national team walked away with the title.

Five of the seven wrestlers on last year's team qualified for this year's championships, including Cael Sanderson, a four-time NCAA champion from Iowa State who completed his college career undefeated (159-0).

Sanderson also missed the 2001 World Championships, which were delayed after the Sept. 11 attacks and conflicted with his college schedule.

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