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Wrestler is determined to make states
BY ALAN DELL CORRESPONDENT 12/28/03
Zach Winch doesn't expect to let anything stand in the way of his making the state wrestling tournament this year.
The Lemon Bay High junior appears to be on a mission. He has won 16 of his first 17 matches, recording 15 pins in the 119-pound class.
It's quite a turnaround from last year, when Winch finished with a 13-20 record and pulled out of the district tournament after being matched up against a female.
"My goal is to win districts and regions and at least make it to states," Winch said. "I am a better wrestler this year because I have more experience and I know what to do now in certain situations. Last year, I was just getting back into wrestling, and I was a lot sloppier. My technique is a lot better."
After losing his first match in last year's district tournament, Winch could have wrestled his way back into a third-place finish and qualified for regions. His first-round loss came to a wrestler who wound up finishing second at states.
But Winch was matched up against a female wrestler from Immokalee High and withdrew.
"My dad (Greg) told me how he felt about it, and I didn't argue with him because I could see where he was coming from," Winch said. "He just didn't feel it was right for a girl to be on the mats with the guys and thinks girls should wrestle girls. I mostly agreed with him because there are girl tournaments. The physical contact is part of it, and I was thinking he wouldn't want me to hurt a girl."
Winch says if the same situation occurs this year, he wants to wrestle, and he believes his father will support him.
It doesn't seem there are enough wrestlers out there to prevent the 16-year-old from reaching the state tournament this year. He has worked hard during the off-season, wrestling in freestyle events and improving his strength to where the 5-foot-6-inch grappler is now benching 170 pounds, compared to 140 last year.
Winch has surprised himself somewhat. One match this year, against Sherwin Ferraro of Sebring High, boosted his confidence dramatically. The Sebring wrestler, a fifth-place finisher in states, defeated Winch three times last year, but in their only meeting this season, Winch turned the tables with a 6-5 victory.
"I have a lot more mat awareness and through improved techniques know a lot more moves. Last year, he pinned me every time we wrestled," Winch said.
Winch got into wrestling when he was about 7 years old and stayed with it until he was 11. He stopped competing and played basketball in grades eight through 10, when he attended Heritage Christian Academy.
Winch transferred to Lemon Bay High in October of last year and got back into the sport. After the long layoff, it took him nearly the entire season remove the rust.
Winch has worked hard to improve his skills and spent 11 days at Ohio State University's intensive wrestling camp.
"Zach is more aggressive and has more confidence. He is attacking and controlling the tempo of his matches," Lemon Bay head wrestling coach Greg Rivera said.
Rivera and other knowledgeable wrestling people believe Winch has a lot of untapped potential. For his part, the youngster just wants to keep getting better.
"I enjoy wrestling because I like contact sports. My dad was a wrestler in high school, so I was basically raised on the sport," Winch said. "It appeals to me because it is an individual thing, and you can't blame it (a loss) on other people."
The way things have gone this year, Winch hasn't had anything to blame on anyone, himself included. His only loss came at the Charlotte High Captain Archer Tournament, where he finished third.
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Wrestler pierces tradition
A-P-W's Jessica Pierce has had her share of success competing against males.
December 24, 2003
By Neil Kerr
Staff writer
Having competed in wrestling for half her life, 18-year-old Jessica Pierce of Altmar-Parish-Williamstown High is off to a strong 3-1 start to her junior season.
Pierce, competing at 140 pounds, has won two matches by pin and another by technical fall. Her only loss was a decision to Mike Wildenstein of Unadilla Valley in the finals of the Richfield Springs Tournament on Dec. 13.
"I've been wrestling since I was 9 years old," said Pierce, who is hopeful of winning a majority of her matches after compiling an 8-11 record as a sophomore. "I'd like to compete in sectionals at the end of the season if I can make it that far."
Back on Dec. 9, Pierce started her season for first-year coach Mike Engst's A-P-W team (1-0) with a 17-2 technical fall win over Port Byron junior Brandon Pugh during an Onondaga League dual meet victory over Port Byron, 45-30. She then pinned her first two foes at the Richfield Springs Tournament before losing for the first time this winter in the final.
Port Byron coach Dan Henner was impressed with Pierce's performance during their dual meet.
"She's strong for her size, and she's got a nasty headlock," recalled Henner. "I told my wrestler before the match to ignore the fact that his opponent was a girl. Just go out there and go after her like you would if a guy stepped on the mat. But Brandon is just a second-year wrestler and he was pretty nervous, which is understandable."
Though Pugh declined to comment about his loss to Pierce, Port Byron coach Henner is among a number of Central New York coaches who aren't thrilled to see a female competing in varsity wrestling.
"The thing is, it's a no-win situation when a boy has to wrestle a girl," said Henner. "It can be embarrassing for a guy.
Even though a coach can tell his wrestler that he's supposed to be every bit as aggressive against a girl as he would be against a male opponent, it's not that easy to do in reality. No matter what I say as a coach, it goes against a boy's instincts to use all the moves he would use against a male opponent.
"What I would like to see someday is separate wrestling teams for girls. There's going to be wrestling for women in the 2004 Olympic Games, and more colleges are starting wrestling teams for women too.
"We had a girl on our team last year - Kim Waterman - who is still in school but isn't competing this year. I think there are as many as 10 girls at our school who would like to wrestle if they could compete against other girls. They just don't want to have to wrestle against guys."
Mexico coach Bill Kays, who has had five girls competing on his junior varsity team during his 16 years of coaching, agrees with Henner about starting separate teams for girls in the Onondaga League.
"I think there may be as many as 10 girls in our school who would try out if wrestling for girls was offered," said Kays. "There's a national high school tournament for girls held in (Pontiac) Michigan in late March. Slowly and steadily, the sport is becoming more popular among women."
Pierce has been to Michigan twice to compete in the nationals. As a freshman, she finished fourth at 118 pounds, before placing third at 125 last spring. She plans to compete there again when the season ends. Her overall record competing against women since 2001 is 47-13.
Though Pierce is the only female on the A-P-W team, she too believes more girls would try the sport if teams for girls were started.
"I think that about 10 to 12 girls in my school would join the sport if they could wrestle only against other girls," said Pierce.
Though her victories have raised eyebrows in the CNY wrestling community, she's not the first female to pin male foes in scholastic wrestling matches. Probably the best female involved in Onondaga League competition was Fulton High graduate Danielle Bennett, whose pin of a Baldwinsville opponent on Jan. 15, 1998, was pictured in The Post-Standard the next day.
That photo set off a storm of controversy, with many of readers sympathizing with the defeated Baldwinsville male wrestler. Some readers insisted that no high school male should be put in such a no-win situation.
Another coach familiar with Pierce's talent is Gene Mills of Phoenix, who coaches the Mohawk Valley Wrestling Club during the off-season.
"Jessica has practiced with us at Mohawk Valley for a long time," says Mills. "She's a tough kid, almost as good as Bennett was when she competed for Fulton. She should win more bouts than she loses and maybe make it to sectionals. I think Jessica is capable of being a good college wrestler in the women's freestyle division someday. Considering that she can beat a number of male wrestlers right now, she should be very good when she competes against other women."
Like so many other CNY coaches, Mills would like to see separate teams for girls.
"If wrestling for girls was offered at Phoenix, I think as many as 30 girls would try out for the sport," said Mills. "There are places now where the sport is popular. For example, I'm taking my team to Hawaii to compete next week. The sport is popular there for girls. When they have a high school dual meet, they have a girls meet first followed by the boys dual meet."
To get better, Pierce practices against A-P-W workout partners such as Mike Phillips (119 pounds), Joe Wheeler (125), Justin Waterman (130), Rob Hopkins (140) and Ron Dupont (145). She's quick to credit those teammates with helping her improve.
Jessica's grandfather, Larry Wormald, has encouraged her to pursue her wrestling career ever since she began peewee wrestling at age 8.
"Jessica is very serious about the sport," says Wormald. "She's been training for the past nine years to get good at it. I think it's time to get away from the sexist stuff you see in some of the newspaper articles about girls in wrestling. The boys she wrestles better take her seriously because she's getting good at the sport."
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By Scott Swyres - Turlock Journal 12/26/03
Jessy Carere is quite a talented athlete, but her recent accomplishment has set her apart from all her competition.
And I do mean all.
The Denair freshman set the world record in two separate events and brought home three gold medals at the AAU World Powerlifting Championships held earlier this month in Laughlin, Nev.
“I was pretty excited when I realized what I had done,” Margot O’Halloran said. “When I was done I was jumping up and down.”
O’Halloran, who competed in the 14-15-year-old middleweight division, bench-pressed 135 pounds to set the new world record in that event and then followed that up with an amazing 225-pound deadlift.
She won her third gold medal as part of her combined score in the bench-press and deadlift called the push and pull.
She had extra incentive to do as well as she did, too. Her arch-rival at most high-profile meets, Amanda Smith of Virginia, was also in Laughlin. Smith came into the event with both world records, but left with neither as O’Halloran now owns both.
“That was a part of it, I think,” O’Halloran said of the motivation to beat her rival. “I was really pumped up to beat her.”
Perhaps the most amazing part of O’Halloran’s world record is the fact that she didn’t even have time to train full time prior to the event. She played on the JV basketball quad at Denair after playing both soccer and volleyball in the fall, meaning she could only train part time.
O’Halloran, who says her favorite sport is basketball, will also be a big part of the Coyote track team this spring when she heaves the shot-put. O’Halloran could have expanded her world record by training full time six days a week, but she likes playing sports too much to give one up to train full time. In fact, she has only been weightlifting for about two years and hasn’t had the chance to give it a full go.
Despite the lack of training time, O’Halloran had plenty of help and support from her extremely active family which includes an older brother and sister who are both serious weightlifters. Mike, 1999 Turlock High graduate, was on the THS wrestling team before taking fifth in the state while wrestling at Modesto Junior College.
Her father, Tom O’Halloran, had been training with weights for more than 20 years and was certainly a big inspiration for Margot, as well.
“He really gave me a lot of confidence at while I was competing,” Margot said of her dad. “He kept saying, ‘Come on, Margot, let’s go. You can do it, come on.’”
Her father was pleased at the way Margot performed.
“I just wanted her to do her best,” Tom O’Halloran said. “She didn’t beat any of her personal records, but she did really well, and I was happy.”
While her father inspires her at competitions and in training, Margot said it is her older sister, Kelly, who she aspires to be like. Kelly O’Halloran was the first-ever female to go through the prestigious Turlock High wrestling program. Margot said her sister’s success was a big reason she started serious lifting.
“My sister is kind of like an idol,” Margot said. “I got into this mostly because I wanted to be more like her.”
And what about the fact that now little sis owns a world record and big sis does not?
“Yeah, I tease her a little bit about that,” Margot said with a smile.
And while the future holds more powerlifting competitions for Margot, she still wants to continue being active in other sports. Even though that likely means no full-time training, Margot thinks she can continue to excel in all she does.
In fact, she hopes to continue playing sports past high school and continue her successful lifting career, as well.
“I like what I’m doing right now,” Margot said. “I’d love to go on to play sports in college and continue to do weightlifting at the same time.”
For now, however, Margot will continue being your typical high school world record holder.
“We are all very proud of her,” Tom O’Halloran said. “She’s so busy with other things and for her to pull this off is really neat.”
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DAVE POLLARD
MERCURY STAFF 12/12/03
GUELPH - Jessy Carere would have preferred to face some tougher opposition.
Instead, the tiny 18-year-old College Heights student had to settle for a gold medal and a little extra competitive training.
Carere finished first in the girls' 44-kilogram weight class in the annual College Heights high school wrestling tournament Thursday, giving her some added motivation as the season inches towards the OFSAA championships in early March.
"Most people I'm wrestling (in the tournament) are rookies," Carere said. "It's good practice for me but it's not really what I want to do. It looks like I'm good now but they're all rookies."
With trips to the OFSAA championships in her first two seasons of high school wrestling, Carere knows what she's doing on the mat. She has already set a third trip to OFSAA as a goal and is planning on doing some extra work with the Guelph High School Wrestling Club at the University of Guelph.
"I want to finish in the top 10 (at OFSAA)," Carere said. "When I started wrestling I did not want to be here. Now I can't get enough. You can fight and it's legal. And you have to work at it and work at it.
"I never thought I'd learn how to do something like this."
Wrestling is one of the few sports College Heights students can compete in under their school banner. Carere also plays basketball and badminton but she heads over to Centennial for those sports.
"It's definitely important to me," Carere said of being able to compete for College Heights. "(In other sports) you feel like you have less of a chance to make it, it wouldn't matter how good I do."
All told, College Heights grapplers won seven gold and 22 medals. Not a bad haul but winning isn't the reason College Heights wrestling coach Doug Wilson puts on the tournament each year.
"I do it so we can bring wrestling into the school," Wilson said. "Our school often gets a bad rap. This is all positive strokes for these kids. You'd be surprised the number of kids who want to come out (for the team) after they see this.
"It's nothing but positive strokes and that's what this school needs."
The tournament attracted 115 wrestlers from eight area schools, including 49 (33 girls) from College Heights alone.
The Lourdes Crusaders brought a smaller team but still had some success, winning four gold and seven other medals. In the boys' 77kg weight class, Kellen Allison of Lourdes knocked off his long-time rival, Mario Gelleny of Centennial, in the final.
"I stuck to what I wanted to do, the basics of wrestling," said Allison, who is considered by coach Albert Tschirhart to be a legitimate OFSAA threat. "I didn't let my opponents pull me around. I sat there and waited until they made mistakes. Mario and I have had a rivalry the last few years and I lost to him at CWOSSA last year. I knew Mario was here and it's always a good match when we meet up.
"I definitely feel I'm on the right track. But CWOSSA is a tough district to get out of so I'm not going to look too far ahead."
In the boys' division, other gold medalists were Centre Wellington's Ryan Amaral (38 kg), Adam Jelly of College Heights (44kg), Westside's Jan Van Dipten (47.5kg), Erin's Jason Maraschiello (51kg), Dustin Green of College Heights (54kg), Gareth Starkey of Centre Wellington (57.5kg) Centennial's Braiden Brousseau (61kg), Josh Pearsall of Lourdes (64kg), Kristian Kasap of Lourdes (67.5kg), Centennial's Adam Rosenboom (72kg), Tommy Wheeler of John F. Ross (84kg) and Centre Wellington's Chris Dalton (heavyweight).
In the girls' division, other gold medalists were Meghan Baron of Centennial (41kg), Bonnie Rabson of Erin (47.5 kg), Jennifer Schneider of College Heights (51kg), Kim Sweeney of Lourdes (54kg), Erin's Ashley Cox (57.5kg), Stephanie Devries of Centre Wellington (64kg), Stacey O'Brien of College Heights (67.5kg), Centre Wellington's Katelyn Wilson (71kg), Emma Brightwell of Centennial (72kg), Jessica Smith of College Heights (77kg) and Meghan Malott of College Heights (84kg).