Minetta Norrie, top, of Milton Williams school defeats Jen Kennett of Lorne Akins junior high school on Wednesday at Canada's only all-girls junior high wrestling tournament, held at Hillcrest junior high school.
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Cumberland College retains No. 1 spot in TheMat.com U.S. Women’s Poll with Missouri Valley at No. 2, heading into their showdown at the NWCA National Duals
1/15/2004
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
The January 15, 2004 TheMat.com U.S. Women’s College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals have been released.
Cumberland College, a NAIA school in Kentucky, remained as the top U.S. women’s college team, receiving two of the three first-place votes.The team, coached by Kip Flanik, competed in many major events in the United States and Canada this season.
Missouri Valley College, a NAIA team coached by Carl Murphree, placed second in the poll, with one first-place vote. Missouri Valley started its college schedule in January, with a trip to the West Coast.
The No. 1 and No. 2 teams will have their first showdown of the year as Cumberland and Missouri Valley will meet on Friday, Jan. 16 at NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, presented by Ice Breakers, which is held at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Taking over the No. 3 spot in the polls is NAIA school Menlo College in California, coached by Lee Allen. At No. 4 is Pacific University, an NCAA Div. III team in Oregon, coached by Scott Miller. Climbing up to No. 5 is the Univ. of Minnesota-Morris, an NCAA Div. II school coached by Doug Reese.
Rounding out the Top 10 are No. 6 Lassen College, No. 7 MacMurray College, No. 8 Univ. of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine WC, No. 9 Cal-State Bakersfield and No. 10 Princeton Univ.
The poll can be found at:
http://www.themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=631
The team ranking poll is elected by a panel of three U.S. women’s college coaches. Eligible for ranking are college varsity and club women’s wrestling programs.
Top-ranked athletes in the individual rankings was spread among many of the teams in the rankings.
Both Cumberland College and Missouri Valley College have three top-ranked invidual athletes.
Retaining their No. 1 individual rankings for Cumberland College are Suekoiyla Shelly at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Alaina Berube at 59 kg/130 lbs. and two-time World silver medalist Toccara Montgomery at 72 kg/158.5 lbs.
The Missouri Valley College athletes with No. 1 rankings are Debbi Sakai at 51 kg/112.25 lbs., Mollie Keith at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and Kelly Branham at 67 kg/147.5 lbs.
The other top-ranked wrestlers in the nation are Mary Kelly of MacMurray College at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. and Megan Goldsmith of UM-Morris at 80 kg/176 lbs.
The January 15, 2004 TheMat.com U.S. Women’s College Individual rankings can be found at:
http://www.themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=632
The individual rankings are selected by TheMat.com. Athletes who are considered for ranking are eligible full-time college students, and are members of their college women’s varsity or club program, or a member of their college men’s wrestling team.
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Girls to compete in wrestling meet
SHERRY MOMBOURQUETTE. The Press - Enterprise. Riverside, Calif.: Jan 13,
In just a couple weeks, the Eisenhower High School Gym in Rialto will
have more than a hundred high school girls competing intensely on mats.
They won't be involved in a gymnastics or cheerleading competition, but
rather a wrestling meet.
Eisenhower wrestling coach Joe Paluba is hosting the second annual
Inland Empire Girls' Wrestling Championship on Jan. 24.
"Girls' wrestling is really on the bubble of taking off," Paluba said.
"Not a lot of male coaches appreciate it, but they need to get over that
because it's going to be an Olympic sport."
Paluba said his tournament last year drew 100 girls from as far away as
Vallejo, San Leandro and San Diego.
A few high schools have one or two female wrestlers who train with the
boys but often don't get to take part in the high school dual meets, he
said.
Any girl above 112 pounds isn't able to match a boy's strength, Paluba
said, and without enough girls to compete against, the girls have to look
elsewhere for competition.
But Paluba and other wrestling coaches around the state recognize the
importance of girls being able to wrestle.
There are numerous girls wrestling tournaments throughout the state,
including a state championship Feb. 6-8 in Vallejo.
Eisenhower has two female wrestlers: Titi Lawani in the 138-pound
weight class and Trish Bernard in the 144-pound class.
Lawani finished just one match out of placing and Bernard finished
sixth at last year's state championship.
Lawani is currently ranked sixth in the state, and Bernard is ranked
second.
"A lot of my family members wrestled, and that's how I got into it,"
Bernard said. "I enjoy the one-on-one competition."
Lawani was looking for something different.
"I tried other sports, but they weren't physical enough for me," Lawani
said. "Last year at a banquet, an old man told me that I should be
ashamed of myself for wrestling. A lot of people say that I look too weak, or
I'm too nice.
"But that just makes me want to prove them wrong. My mom won't watch me
wrestle anymore, because she thinks I'll get hurt."
Both Bernard and Lawani are seniors and plan to continue wrestling in
college.
Bernard is hoping to receive a scholarship to attend Menlo College and
participate on the coed wrestling team. One of her teammates from last
season, Selicia Quezado, is already at Menlo.
Lawani is hoping to receive a scholarship to attend Pacific University
in Oregon, which has one of the few girls wrestling teams in the nation.
The Inland Empire Championships begin at 9:30 a.m. with weigh-in
between 7:30-8:30 a.m. The fee is $20 per wrestler or $175 for teams of nine or
more.
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Junior high girls wrestle another sport from boys' domain
All-female meet one-of-a-kind in Canada, attracts 16 teams
Ryan Cormier 1/15/04
The Edmonton Journal
|
Minetta Norrie, top, of Milton Williams school defeats Jen Kennett of Lorne Akins junior high school on Wednesday at Canada's only all-girls junior high wrestling tournament, held at Hillcrest junior high school. |
EDMONTON - Kat Buyer and Rachel Ascah, both 12, nodded and scrunched up their faces while remembering who told them wrestling is a boys' sport.
"My brother," they said in unison.
On Wednesday evening, along with 160 other junior high girls, they proved their brothers wrong.
The wrestling meet, held at Hillcrest elementary school, attracted 16 teams from schools across Alberta. It is the only all-girl junior high wrestling meet in Canada.
Co-ordinator and Hillcrest coach Nick Riemann said the meet attracted 40 more girls than it did last year and has had increasing numbers every year for the past five. After decades as a male-dominated sport, more teenage girls are wrestling in Alberta than ever before.
At some schools, the incoming girls outnumber the boys.
"Girls can be just as tough as boys, but there is a misconception about wrestling, that you have to be very tough," said Riemann. "It's as much a thinking sport as anything else. It's like a game of chess."
Girls of any size can get involved, because they square off against opponents in their weight classes.
"It's not like basketball or volleyball, where tall girls have an advantage," said Ken LeLacheur, coach of the Highlands school team.
That's good news for Rachel Ascah, who stands just under five feet. "I joined wrestling because I wanted a new experience and a challenge. I feel special that people said I couldn't do it and then I prove I can."
In the packed gymnasium at Hillcrest, there were up to four matches going on simultaneously, with whistles, yells of encouragement and the sound of bodies hitting mats providing a constant soundtrack.
Riemann said the popularity will improve now that women's wrestling is an Olympic sport.
The calibre and style of wrestling is the same for girls and boys, said Riemann, although he has to remind these competitors to remove earrings before a match.
The growing number of girls hitting the mats has surprised some parents, including Lyn Smith, whose 13-year-old daughter, Jamielee, started wrestling this year.
"When we were in school, only guys were allowed to wrestle," said Smith. "They were taken into another room to learn wrestling. Having it usually be a guy sport only makes these girls want to do it all the more."
Jamielee attributes her interest in the sport to the exhilaration of wrestling an opponent down to the mat, but says the strategy and complexity of the sport also appeals to her. Although she only started this year, she already has nearly 50 moves in her arsenal and hopes to add many more.
The sport is popular because it doesn't take much equipment. While some girls have tights and wrestling shoes, most entered their three-minute matches wearing sneakers, shorts and T-shirts.
While the girls just entering the sport say it's fun and challenging, Kat Buyer said it is also a welcome contrast to the other sports she's in -- like figure skating.
"One sport is about grace and looking beautiful, while the other one is about pounding someone into the mat," she said.