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Looks deceiving for Oak Hill wrestler

By Bob McPhee , Staff Writer 1.14.04

WALES — The Oak Hill senior may not look imposing, but it would be a mistake for opponents to think of Nicole Lemay as an easy victim.

Encased in that stature is a feisty competitor who is determined to set the record straight.

Lemay, whose record is 13-5 with three pins in the 112-pound division, has helped show that gender isn’t a factor on a wrestling mat.

“When I was a freshmen, I was thinking about continuing cheering,” Lemay said. “Then I realized that I didn’t have the same love for the sport as I used to, but I didn’t want to become out of shape, so a few friends that joined wrestling told me I would be tough, so I said why not. They thought I would never win a match, and they ended up quitting the team.”

Lemay went on to surprise her friends, but even she was uncertain of what she could accomplish. Now, she is even more focused on her craft.

“Nicole has inspired many Oak Hill girls to join and stick with wrestling.” Oak Hill coach Ric Swett said. “Deanna Rix gets much publicity due her National title, but Mainers need to know that Deanna isn’t the only girl wrestler with a shot at a State medal.”

Since females were granted the right to wrestle in the 1990s, there have been several success stories. Rix, a senior at Marshwood, won the United States Girls’ national crown last year and Jen Wormwood of Oxford Hills won titles in 2001 and 2002.

“I have a few set goals that I have been striving for since the end of last season,” Lemay said. “I think my first goal is to return to the finals at regional. I have to take it one day at a time and not get too ahead of myself.”

Lemay was a regional finalist as a freshman, but was second fiddle to Ian Venskus of Mountain Valley. Still, the Raiders wrestler made history as the first female to qualify for the Class B state meet.

“Making it to the finals, as a freshmen, was a surprise to me,” Lemay said. “Going into regional, I hadn’t beaten many wrestlers. So I couldn’t say I was good, even though I was the first female in Class B to make it states.”

Lemay’s path back to the podium has been a long hard road. There have been countless sacrifices along the way — competing in tournaments last summer and attending a pair of camps. She believes these experiences have provided her with the competitive edge needed.

The rest of the Raiders team recognized this and voted her a tri-captain this season.

“Her workout partner (Joe Wysocki at 119) is what makes Nicole better,” Swett said. “They work extremely hard together. Nicole works as hard any wrestler could to improve.

“Her summer wrestling greatly improved her stamina and technique. It’s that kind of dedication to the sport that makes good winter wrestlers. Her moves are solid. In practice, she is perfect with her moves against fellow teammates. Yet, in a match, she pressures herself.”

Lemay admits that her repertoire lacked that take-no-prisoners mindset. If an opponent got rough during a match, she’d tend to back off. But, this season her reaction is to push back.

“I continue to wrestle even if I give up the first points,” Lemay said. “My attitude has improved beyond what I would have expected out of myself, I want to work hard, I want to get beat up out on the mat, and I want a challenge, win or lose.”

A major disappointment was losing to Brooks Dow of Erskine. Lemay had secured the initial takedown and earned near-fall points, but Dow rallied back. The pin was the first pin against Lemay since last season.

The pair are potential regional finalists.

“My next goal is one that may never come,” Lemay said. “But, I still want it more then a lot of guy wrestlers that I know and that is to place in the state championships. Right now I see myself as the fourth best in Class B, but I could be wrong. It seems to be more then just metal to me this year. There is more competition then there was my freshmen year.”

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9-year-old wrestles her way to victory

By Ed Graczyk
Staff Writer 1/16/04

KIERRA NEWTON, 9, hangs onto her opponnent Jesse Wheeler during a recent wrestling match at Sidney High School. Kierra is the only girl wrestler in the five to 12 age group for the Sidney Youth Wrestling Team. Ty Wright/SDN photo

The bleachers in the Sidney High School gymnasium are filled with enthusiastic fans. More than 300 first through sixth-graders from seven area wrestling teams are practicing or warming up on the two large mats spread out on the floor. Coaches, referees and scorekeepers from the Miami Valley Kids Wrestling Association mingle about with clipboards and whistles in what appears to be organized chaos.

Suddenly cheers ring out as family and friends greet the Sidney Youth Wrestling Team making its entrance into the arena for this first meet of the season. Like little gladiators they proudly run a wide circle around the mat, their young bodies filled with pumped-up energy, adrenalin-charged, hopes high, ready to face their half-pint opponents and kick some serious butt...61 boys, ages five to 12, and one nine-year-old girl. GIRL? Hold on! How'd she get in there?

Kierra Newton, daughter of Jenny Montomery of Sidney and Mike Scarbury of Lima, is starting her third season as the only girl on the Sidney Youth Wrestling Team. She became interested in this previously boys-only sport watching the team practice at the Sidney-Shelby County YMCA where her mother taught kickboxing classes. Montgomery, a certified personal trainer working at Power Station Fitness on Wapakoneta Avenue, recently beat the national women's bench press record in her weight class.

"Out of the blue, she asked if she could join the wrestling team," Montgomery said. "I told her it would take a lot of time and hard work and she'd have to stick with it. She's a real determined little girl and not intimidated by much of anything."

Head Coach Joe Spangler, an Upper Valley Joint Vocational School Tech Prep teacher in computer science at Sidney High School, said there are girls on other teams in the league but Kierra is the only girl to be a member of the Sidney team in its 30-plus-year history. In the past, several girls have entered the program but dropped out after only one or two practice sessions.

So far, Kierra has won "about 12 matches." In this, her first meet of the new season, she lost her first match by five points. "I didn't get pinned, though," she quickly explained. "My coach said my intensity was much better and it was the best I'd ever done." With that encouragement she rushes off to buy a couple slices of pizza at the concession stand before the second of her three matches is called.

Nine-year-old Jesse Wheeler, son of Gene and Cathy Wheeler, a member the Elida team who won that match with Kierra, said he had never wrestled a girl before. "She was just like a regular person," he said. "She was a girl, but it didn't matter."

Standing 4 feet 2 inches tall and weighing in at 71 pounds, Kierra says the boys on the team treat her just like "one of them."

"All the kids are told from the beginning that there are no privileges," Spangler said. "Kierra came here to wrestle just like anybody else."

Montgomery said of her daughter, "She takes some pretty good punishment out there sometimes."

Kierra thinks the reason there aren't more girls on the wrestling team is because "they're probably scared they might get hurt or break a nail."

Out there on the mat, face to face with her opponent, she said she's thinking: "I'm going to beat him, but if I don't, he's a really good wrestler and so am I. When he beats me, though, it really gets me mad."

Spangler would like to see Kierra matched with a girl from one of the other teams in the league, but at this point there are none in her weight or age class. "I almost think she's afraid to go out on a limb against the guys," he said. "Put her up against a girl and I think you'd see the real Kierra come out."

A third-grader at Whittier Elementary School, Kierra's favorite subject is math. When she grows up she wants to be a wrestling coach, or a nurse.

She likes hunting for snakes and lizards in the woods behind her house. For Christmas she got a seven-month-old python that she has named Spike. He lives in a cage in the living room. She also has four cats.

Kierra said she doesn't like wearing dresses but enjoys getting together with her girlfriends to put on make-up and paint their nails. She's also looking forward to getting her ears pierced once the wrestling season is over.

The mission of the Sidney Youth Wrestling Association is to promote and build the sport of wrestling in the city, Spangler explained. Children from public, parochial and private schools throughout the area are welcome to join the team. A wrestling camp, which also serves as the first practice session, is held every year the weekend after Thanksgiving to introduce kids and their parents to the program.

Until this season the wrestling program was associated with the YMCA. It is now an independent team with its own volunteer board of trustees, director, head coach and assistant coach.

Parents of the youngsters are required to work in some capacity with the team, whether it be selling 50-50 tickets, manning the concession stand or working the scoring tables.

The wrestling season is from Jan. 4 through Feb. 29 with a meet every other weekend at various locations. Practices are held at the new Sidney Middle School two evenings a week for two hours.

"The Sidney School District has been very helpful and flexible in making sure the program has had a place to go," Spangler says. "All the money made during the season goes back into the various Sidney wrestling programs. This year the money will go toward buying a new mat for the junior high team."

Each member pays $60 to wrestle on the team. Of this, $40 goes directly to the league to pay for officials, paperwork and insurance.

"The program gives them the foundation of the sport," Spangler said. "There's nothing fancy. We show them the basic moves they're going to need when they get to high school. Our goal is to teach the kids sportsmanship and give them a step up on the competition."

Spangler, who was a team member himself 30 years ago, has been coaching the kids for the past eight years. He says almost all of the current coaches started out wrestling together in high school.

A lot of youths who started out on the team have gone on to success at the high school level, including two-time Sidney High School state wrestling champion Brandon Luce.

Like the boys currently in the program, Kierra could find success one day at the high school level.

Sidney High School Athletic Director Scott Stemple said the Ohio High School Athletic Association team by-laws state: "Girls may play on a boys team if there is no girls team or if the overall opportunities for inter-scholastic competition are less for girls. A girl that is a member of a boys team shall follow all contest rules and regulations regarding the sport as specified for the boys."

Stemple said several girls have attempted to become members of the Sidney High School wrestling team in past years, but dropped out.

Who knows - if Kierra Newton continues to stick with the sport, she could become the first female state high school wrestling champion. Time will tell, of course, but the opportunity is there for her. And if spunk and determination become a deciding factor....look out boys, here she comes!

The next local meet involving the Sidney Youth Wrestling Team will be Feb. 1 at Sidney High School. The final meet of the season will be Feb. 29 at the Nutter Center at Wright State University in Dayton. All 900 youngsters who make up the 70 teams in the Miami Valley Kids Wrestling Association will be participating.

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Trojans' Haborth wins third-place medal

By staff reports 1/20/04

SANTA ROSA - Though a third-place finish at the Montgomery Invitational is nothing to sneeze at, Lower Lake High School wrestling coach Justin Gaddy said 127-pounder Kevin Harborth was aiming a bit higher during Saturday's competition at Montgomery High School.

Harborth won three of his four matches, but it was the one loss - a second-round pin at the hands of Montgomery's Chris Zimmerman - that derailed Harborth's pursuit of bigger things.

Harborth, who lost to Zimmerman last year, was tied 5-5 in the second round and seemingly in control of the match when he made a mistake.

"Kevin was riding him a bit too high and he (Zimmerman) flipped him over and pinned him," Gaddy said. "Kevin made a mistake and he paid for it."

Harborth bounced right back to pin Petaluma High School's Nick Maddalena in the second round to secure third place.

"Sometimes the best wrestler doesn't always win," Gaddy said. "If he (Harborth) wrestles him (Zimmerman) again, he's going to beat him."

And the two could easily end up facing each other again at the North Coast Section Tournament next month.

"Oh yeah, they will," Gaddy said.

"Kevin was the best wrestler at that tournament, he just didn't win," Gaddy said.

The Trojans added another varsity medal at 215 pounds where Joe Harsha came in sixth.

In the junior varsity division, Lower Lake placed third behind champion Montgomery and runner-up Napa in the team standings.

Six Trojans finished third or better to win medals, led by 135-pound champion Anthony Wolfsmith, who pinned all three of his opponents.

Second-place medals went to Josh Vandenburg at 215 pounds and Jonathan Philpott at 140 pounds, while Lower Lake's lone female wrestler, freshman Tiffany Montiel, came in third at 119 pounds, going 2-2.

"She's a tough girl," Gaddy said. "She had a great day."

Dustin Shellhammer (125) and Randy Reiger (140) also brought home third-place medals.

Just missing a medal was Jack Marage, who finished fourth at 189 pounds.

Lower Lake splits its squad on Saturday. Harborth will compete in the Maria Carrillo Tournament in Santa Rosa while the rest of the Trojans head north to Miranda to participate in the South Fork Tournament.