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Western Open Wrestling Tournament - Mustang Women grab the team title , men place second
London, Ontario , Saturday January 26, 2004
The Western Open which was held at Thames Hall at University of Western Ontario in London was highly contested this year by the University teams from across Ontario. In addition to Ontario teams the competition was also attended by University of New Brunswick, McGill University, Montreal Wrestling Club as well as a team from Saskatchewan and two College teams from Michigan, USA.
The Western Mustang women grabbed the overall team title at the 2004 Western Open. Women’s captain, Terri McNutt took the gold at 53 kg making her the overwhelming favorite entering the Ontario University Association championships held back at Western on February 21, 2004. Jennifer Kryszak at women’s 70 kg also won a gold medal ( her first) by beating her more experienced opponents from Queen’s University and Guelph University. "Kryszak keeps improving in her wrestling technique and tactics from competition to competition" said coach Josip Mrkoci and Harry Geris . Mr. Geris is Canada’s - 3 time Olympian and is assisting in coaching Mustangs this year.
At 48 kg Katie Wilson pleasantly surprised the coaches Takahashi and Mrkoci by beating her opponents from Saskatchewan and Queen’s University to win a silver medal. Sarah Gil of Western wrestling at 61 kg won her early matches against her opponents from Queens University and Brock University and met in the final Katie Patroch, a London native ( Saunders Secondary School - grad) now attending Lakehead University. Patroch who is also 2003 Commonwealth Champion with lots of international experience overpowered Sarah in the finals. Sarah had to settle for the Silver medal. Other mustang women’s silver medalists was Jen Scheid (80 kg) Ali Huether at 57 kg had to settle for a bronze medal losing to her more experienced wrestlers.
The Mustang Women by winning 2 - gold, 3- silver and 1 - bronze medal won the team title with 42 points. Brock University placed second with 29 points and Lakehead University placed third with 20 points.
"It was a great tournament for us," said head coach, Ray Takahashi. "We ended off on a strong note and it was nice to do well at home". We’ll use that momentum as we prepare for the Ontario University Championships on February 21 , hosted by Western Mustangs.
Women
University Team Standings
1. Western (46) points
2. Brock (29)
3. Lakehead (20)
3. McGill (20)
4. Guelph (15)
5. Queen’s (13)
48 kg
1. Hana Askren (McGill)
2. Katie Wilson (Western)
3. Ashley Goertz (Salisbury)
4. Steph Bell (Queen’s)
53 kg
1. Terri McNutt (Western)
2. Laurel Dunn (McGill)
3. Ashely Barr (Guelph)
4. Heather Gallager (UNB)
57 kg
1. Melody McCague (LU)
2. Jenn Aitken (Brock)
3. Ali Huether (Western)
4. Cassie Lee (McGill)
61 kg
1. Katie Patroch (LU)
2. Sarah Gil (Western)
3. Kelly Krahn (Brock)
4. Amy Lond (Queen’s)
65 kg
1. Tamara Medwidsky (Montreal)
2. Golda Parahoo (Brock)
3. Lindsay Veltman (Guelph)
70 kg
1. Jen Kryszak (Western)
2. Rachel Shaw (Queen’s)
3. Sarah Hrabi (Guelph)
80 kg
1. Jen Hanson (Brock)
2. Jen Scheid (Western)
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HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING REPORT;
Compiled by Paul White
Virginian Pilot (Norfolk) 01-28-2004
Boys are finding out the hard way that this girl can really wrestle
It's usually a simple story in wrestling - boy meets girl, boy pins
girl.That's what makes what Smithfield's Warry Woodard did Friday so
unusual. During a match with Highland Springs, Colonial Heights, Monacan and
Prince George, the 119-pound Woodard pinned three boys and claimed a forfeit
in bout No. 4.
It was just the fourth forfeit victory of the year for Woodard, whose
first name is pronounced "WAR-uh". The other seven victories in her 11-4
record are actual on-the-mat triumphs over disbelieving males.
"You see these muscle-bound guys come out there with a smirk on their
face," Smithfield coach Tyler Mosley said. "I'm like, they don't know what
they're getting into. She's legit."
A junior who has been wrestling competitively since the fifth grade,
Woodard indicated that her interest in wrestling came naturally.
"I have seven brothers," she said.
The secret to defeating boys, Woodard said, is to use their natural
aggressiveness against them. Boys typically expend a lot of energy
trying to finish Woodard off early. If she can withstand the initial onslaught,
Woodard's technical superiority often takes over in the latter stages
of the bout.
"I kind of wear them down," she said.
Although Woodard understands the embarrassment boys may feel after
being outdueled by a girl, she said in a lot of cases the boys set themselves
up for defeat by not taking her seriously.
"In one of my matches the other day, the guy didn't even bother to warm
up," Woodard said. "Then he went out there and got pinned. So actually, he
embarrassed himself."
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China to use Athens as platform for Beijing glory
Daily Times 1/30/04
BEIJING: China will use this year’s Athens Olympics as a platform for a big push for glory at Beijing in 2008, a senior sports official said on Thursday.
“The Athens battle plays an important foreshadowing role for China to achieve great things in 2008 in Beijing,” the China Sports Daily newspaper quoted Xiao Tian, assistant director of the State General Administration of Sports, as saying. China expects gold medals in Athens in its traditional areas of strength. “The State General Administration of Sports has set the following items for the gold medal rush – table tennis, badminton, diving, weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics and women’s judo,” China Sports Daily said. Other potential successful sports for the Chinese are taekwondo, fencing, women’s wrestling, woman’s cycling, women’s archery and swimming as they seek to repeat their second-place finish behind the United States in the medals standings at the 2000 Sydney Games. China won 28 gold medals in Australia, including five each in diving and weightlifting and four each in table tennis and badminton. —Reuters
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Benton girl enjoys Wrestlemania victory
Mike Pizzolato / Special to The Times
Posted on January 30, 2004
Sometimes the victory does not always go to the strong, but to the swift.
The 112-pounder wrestled against Bossier's Robbie Hamilton at the Byrd Wrestlemania on Thursday night, but it was not easy.
It has never been easy for this wrestler, who, by necessity, relies on speed and cunning. She pinned Hamilton with moves, not strength.
Sharon McDonald is a girl in a boys sport, holding her own against stronger opponents and following in the footsteps of an older sister who also wrestled for Benton.
"It's hard for a girl to wrestle, but I like the competition," McDonald said. "I wish there were more girls wrestling, but I'm content to wrestle the guys.'
Eleven teams competed at the event Thursday, which is an informal competition with no official results. Airline, Northwood, Bossier, Haughton, Benton, Parkway, Evangel, and Captain Shreve were some of the teams competing.
Last week, Hamilton pinned McDonald at the Bossier Tri-Meet, but Thursday night was her night. She leaves no doubt about what she likes best about the sport.
"Mainly, that I can compete against the guys," she said, "that I can actually win."
And the lessons of competition that she has taken from the mat will probably last her a lifetime.
"It's given me a lot of confidence in everything I do," she said, "because I have to have a lot of confidence to go out there and wrestle guys."
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Girls wrestling tourney brings chance to debate
By Emily Badger | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 30, 2004
There are so many issues lingering in the background at the girls state wrestling tournament this weekend that the actual matches may seem like an afterthought to all the broader questions about the sport's future.
Should the unsanctioned sport -- in its bid to be recognized by the Florida High School Athletic Association -- change seasons, from winter to spring? Should it change styles, from folk to freestyle? Should it change the number of weight classes, from 14 to 12?
The coaches don't even agree on whether tonight is the appropriate time to discuss it all, when they gather for the seeding meeting before Saturday's all-day tournament at Osceola High School.
"I'm not going to debate this [tonight], I'm going to be getting ready for a state championship," said Jim Bird, whose Osceola team will attempt to defend the title it won last year.
Oviedo Coach Marge Carver, however, is hoping to take advantage of the quorum -- the tournament will draw 35 schools and 122 wrestlers from across the state -- to start establishing a unified position on where the sport is headed.
The first proposal would shift the style of wrestling from folk, which is practiced by the boys in Florida, to freestyle, which is wrestled by the few women's college programs that offer scholarships.
"It's the most logical and practical; it's what they wrestle in college," Carver said of freestyle. "There's no reason not to."
But Bird said the more aggressive freestyle brand would only make it harder to attract girls to the sport.
The more contentious issue is changing seasons, which Carver advocates to separate the boys and girls teams as well as the resources many schools split between the two during the winter.
Some coaches worry, however, that they would lose girls to other spring sports, and they consider their shared season with the boys an advantage, not a distraction.
University assistant Lisa Dowman wants girls wrestling to remain in the winter but hopes to reduce the number of weight classes. Even this weekend at the state tournament, there likely won't be enough girls competing to assure six placers at each weight.
"The problem is that there are so many people with different ideas, and so many people who've never wrestled before but who have ideas," Bird said. "I hope it gets sanctioned, I'm all for it, but with people pulling in different directions that's going to be hard for us to do."
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McMann named TheMat.com Athlete of the Week
1/29/2004
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) was named TheMat.com Athlete of the Week for the week of January 20-26.
Each week, TheMat.com will select an Athlete of the Week, based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling, from youth programs through the Senior level. The announcement will be made each week on Wednesday.
McMann claimed the individual gold medal at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. at the Olympic Testing Event in Athens, Greece, January 23-24.
The event was being held to test the venue which will house the Olympic wrestling competition this summer at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games. The competition featured many of the greatest women wrestlers in the world.
McMann was dominant in her performance, winning all of her matches by technical fall or pin. In the semifinals, she defeated Aurora Fajardo of Spain by a 12-2 margin. In the gold-medal finals, McMann dominated Alena Kartashova of Russia, 12-1.
McMann advanced from a pool of four athletes. She pinned 2003 World silver medallist Ewelina Pruszko of Poland in the opening match, then scored a 10-0 technical fall over Nadia Valkova of Bulgaria. Her final pool victory was a 13-3 technical fall over Eri Sakamoto of Japan.
"Sara wrestled almost a perfect match in the finals," said National Women's Coach Steiner. "That woman is dangerous. Sara controlled the tie-ups. The girls at that weight don't know how to deal with Sara's strength."
McMann was a 2003 World silver medalist at her weight class, and has competed for the United States at the last four World Championships.
She won a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games, and was a silver medalist at the 2003 Women*s World Cup. McMann also participated in the 2003 Titan Games. She has won four straight U.S. Nationals titles.
McMann is a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete. She competed on the men*s varsity team at Lock Haven Univ. for number of years, and spent a season on the women*s team at the Univ. of Minnesota-Morris. She attended McDowell High School in North Carolina.
THEMAT.COM ATHLETES OF THE WEEK FOR 2004
January 20-26 - Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
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