News Page

Pinning their hopes

Jan-Christian Sorensen 1/28/04

jsorensen@nsnews.com

IT'S time to hit the mats again - the North Shore Secondary Schools Athletics Association wrestling championships are set for Friday afternoon at West Van's Rockridge.

The action, which gets underway at 2:30 p.m., will see local grapplers crowned in a number of divisions, but the results have no bearing on the seedings as North Shore athletes begin gearing up for the zone finals - set for Balmoral on Feb. 13 - and the provincial championships, which are slated for Feb. 27 and 28 in Abbotsford.

Balmoral coach and local wrestling league chairman Ian McDonald said he's impressed with the quality - and quantity - of local wrestlers on the mats this season. About 150 are expected to take place in the local finals in two days.

If you're looking for local heroes to anoint this season, said McDonald, look no further than Argyle's twin terrors. Grade 12 siblings Adam and Ashley McKilligan are both ranked No. 1 in the province in their weight classes (Adam at 63 kilograms and Ashley at 47 kg.) and are expected to come up big for the North Shore at the B.C.s.

Ashley went to the Pan Am junior games last summer and came home with a silver medal. She's also been taken under the wing of legendary SFU coach Mike Jones and joined the university team to two recent invitational events in Alberta - the Dinosaur in Calgary and the Golden Bear in Edmonton.

"It's great, a Grade 12 kid being coached by a university coach and competing against women at the university level," McDonald said. "Ashley came fifth at the Golden Bear, which is good, but she was frustrated because she could have come third. She's a real fireball, tough and dynamic and quick - the whole bit.

"Adam is nowhere near as technical a wrestler as Ashley but he's just plain tough."

McDonald also is pinning big hopes on Rockridge Grade 11 Zack Mah (57 or 60 kilos) and Carson Graham Grade 11 Pat McDonald (74 kilos) - both are ranked No. 2 in B.C. in their weight classes.

A surprise contender at the B.C.s this season should be multi-sport athlete and Carson Graham Grade 12 Armin Behnam, who only strapped on the singlet this season. He's already ranked No. 2 in B.C. at his 90-kilo weight class, said McDonald.

"He's just a powerhouse and he will go in as one of the top-three seeds in the provincial tournament - he might even win it. He's a big boy, just a force of nature. This is his first year wrestling and that's why he's an unknown. Technically he's kind of raw, but physically he's the most potent force in his weight class. He's surprised a lot of people out there already."

McDonald also expects to see big results from St. Thomas Aquinas' Matt Farrell, a Grade 10 leader at 68 kilograms and likely top-three finisher.

"We have a fair distribution of talent (at the boys level)," he said.

Even more so at the girls.

A trio of Carson Graham wrestlers should make the North Shore a favourite to place top-three in team competitions at the B.C.s - Grade 12 Katharina Spotzl (54 kilos), No. 2 in B.C.; Grade 11 Lauren Boggio (75 kilos), No. 2 in B.C.; and Grade 11 Shannon Lambie (43 kilos), No. 1 in B.C.

"Shannon Lambie and Ashley McKilligan are the two big 'buzzbombs' here on the North Shore," said McDonald. "They just simply dominate, head and shoulders above everybody else, their weight classes."

McDonald also expects strong performances from a number of locals ranked in the top-5 in B.C. - namely, Rockridge's Ben Jones and Kelly Schoultz and Kayla Brolly from Carson Graham.

"There's a whole slew of kids who are in Grade 11 who are just right at the perimeter of doing really well," said McDonald.

"I think Carson Graham has a very good chance to win the women's title (at the B.C. championships) or to come top three in the province for sure. Their big competition will be Reynolds secondary from Victoria and Port Alberni's Alberni District secondary. On the guys side the talent is spread too thinly across the whole North Shore, so we're probably looking at Rockridge finishing No. 4 or 5 in B.C. and Carson Graham ending up fifth or sixth. However, we're looking at individuals placing from Argyle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rockridge and even some from here at Balmoral."

---------------------------------------------------

Future of wrestling could lie with other gender

By Curtis Anderson 2/3/04
The Register-Guard

The sport of wrestling is far from dead, but at the college level it appears to be on life support.

"More than 200 Division I wrestling programs have been cut in the last 15 years," said Brent Walsh, athletic director and wrestling coach at Sheldon High School. "And in high school, when you have to pay to play, most kids don't want to spend $125 for a sport they're not sure about."

Is there a solution in sight? Maybe.

According to many in the local wrestling community, the savior to their sport might be found in the growing number of females who are pounding on the door of opportunity for a chance to compete at the high school and college levels.

Cottage Grove's Christina Stanley is one of a growing number of females hoping to compete at a higher level. Photo: Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard

"Coaches are starting to see it as a way to survive," Walsh said. "This is a chance for an entire gender to join us."

But not all coaches have put out the welcome mat.

They point an accusing finger at Title IX legislation which mandated equal opportunity for women in college athletics more than 30 years ago. They contend that men's minor sports, such as wrestling, have paid dearly for many of the gains women have made.

"Those people are still around, and there are lots of them," Pleasant Hill wrestling coach Dahn Nikitins said. "But I don't see Title IX destroying wrestling. ... To me, the battle shouldn't be boys against girls. Let's give everybody an opportunity to wrestle, figure out how to fund it and support it."

One collegiate coach who believes wrestling should be gender blind is Pacific University's Scott Miller. The former head coach at Syracuse came to Forest Grove two years ago after the Orangemen dropped men's wrestling due to Title IX.

"There are a number of coaches out there who don't believe women should be wrestling," Miller said. "But I think wrestling is a great sport and it should be gender blind. ... I also like the idea of dividing men's and women's programs. ... The biggest difference is strength, and because of that strength differential, it's not a fair contest. But when you put them with each gender, it's a fair contest."

Pacific is one of seven colleges in the nation that currently offer varsity women's wrestling programs.

The others are Cumberland College (Williamsburg, Ky.), Missouri Valley College (Marshall, Mo.), University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.), Menlo College (Atherton, Calif.), Lassen Community College (Susanville, Calif.) and MacMurray College (Jacksonville, Ill.).

In addition, several universities have women's club teams or men's varsity teams with female wrestlers. Stanford's Patricia Miranda, for example, is the women's 2000 world silver medalist at 112 pounds.

At this time, there are no full college athletic scholarships available for female wrestlers, but schools can work around those limitations.

"There are no sports scholarships," said Bobo Umemoto, the women's division director for the Oregon Wrestling Association. "However, schools can use their academic programs to sponsor their sports. ... I know there are girls wrestling that are going to school for less than $300 a month."

The match that lights the fuse for women's wrestling could be the 2004 Olympics. The sport will be officially introduced in Athens, Greece, this summer with freestyle competition in four weight classes (105 pounds, 121, 138 1/2 , 158).

"I think it's going to take off," Nikitins said. "For those who watch, it will give them a whole new appreciation for what these ladies are doing, and the amount of desire and dedication they have. When people understand that, they won't look at it as a sideshow."

South Eugene wrestling coach John Scott agreed.

"A number of years ago, I was called to officiate a freestyle tourney in Portland, matching a woman from Canada against a woman from Arizona. They were both world medalists," he said. "That was one of the best matches I've ever officiated in my whole life. They were both intense, well-trained and had superb technique. I had to change my whole opinion about women's wrestling with what I saw that day."

Miller said the growing movement will be fun to watch.

"It's already starting to take off in Oregon. There's a good women's club in Portland, and a couple of those girls have a chance to go to the Olympics," he said. "Right now we're all at the beginning stage. These girls are pioneers and it's going to be a lot of fun trying to build it up and make it even more viable."

--------------------------------

Gender blender: Until they get a league of their own, the girls have to wrestle the boys

By Curtis Anderson 2/3/04
The Register-Guard

Penny Sullivan has always thought of herself as pretty tough.

No sport was too difficult, and no challenge too daunting for the outgoing junior at South Eugene High School.

So when she started joking around with a friend with past wrestling experience on a middle school club team, some good-natured verbal sparring escalated into a grudge match.

"I thought I was pretty tough, so I challenged her to a wrestling match," Sullivan said. "She kicked my butt. I don't like being bad at stuff, and I was really bad. That's how I got started in the sport."

Penny Sullivan, South Eugene High School's only female wrestler, participates in what traditionally has been a male sport. 'It may sound sick, but that's fun for me," she said. 'I like being pushed, and I want to do this for the rest of my life.' Photo: Brian Davies / The Register-Guard

That was two years ago.

Today, Sullivan is a fixture on the South Eugene wrestling team, having gained the respect and admiration of her coach, teammates and opponents through hard work and a serious attitude about her chosen sport.

"Wrestling is the most mentally and physically challenging thing I've ever done," Sullivan said. "It may sound sick, but that's fun for me. I like being pushed, and I want to do this for the rest of my life."

For now - like most of the nearly 100 girls currently competing at the high school level in Oregon - if Sullivan wants to continue wrestling, her only recourse is to compete against the boys.

The same holds true for Dawn Sanders and Christina Stanley of Cottage Grove, Casey Mangnall of Pleasant Hill, Amber Saul and Genelle Simon-King of Lebanon, and other girls from Central Linn and Newport.

Not to mention the growing numbers of young female wrestlers in grade school and middle school all around the state.

"Girls wrestling is growing fast," said Bobo Umemoto, in his third year as the women's division director for the Oregon Wrestling Association. "Right now, there are close to 250 girls wrestling in Oregon at all levels, and my job is to get them together and promote the sport."

The problem, of course, is that girls need to be wrestling girls.

Most wrestling coaches agree that by the age of 15 or so, the strength differential between the two sexes simply becomes too significant, which eliminates any chance of success for the girls. They can continue to train against their male counterparts, but they will always be at a disadvantage.

"I would like to level the playing field, so that people competing in our sport are able to be successful," Cottage Grove wrestling coach Bill Thompson said. "I don't believe women can be successful wrestling against males at this age."

"Girls shouldn't have to measure themselves against boys," South Eugene wrestling coach John Scott added. "When they're younger, girls are every bit and sometimes more competitive than the boys ... but when the boys start to mature and their muscle mass comes on, it's a mismatch. That's why it's so important to have women competing against other women."

Only one girl has ever advanced to the OSAA Class 4A state high school wrestling championships.

Lebanon's Shoni Plagman grabbed the No. 3 seed at 112 pounds after a wrestle-back at the Valley League district meet three years ago, and she was promptly dispatched in two lopsided matches at state.

This year, Tualatin's Samantha Lang has won numerous varsity matches, and Umemoto predicts she will not only qualify for state, but become the first Oregon girl to ever win a match at the OSAA championships.

Lang is one of four high school girls from Oregon currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in their respective weight classes by the United States Girls Wrestling Association. Although they have achieved that status by competing and training against boys, everyone agrees they will eventually need a separate women's program if they want to continue wrestling at the collegiate and Olympic levels.

At present, seven colleges in the United States offer women's wrestling programs - including Pacific University in Forest Grove - and the sport will be officially introduced at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, this summer.

Only Texas and Hawaii offer officially sanctioned state championships in high school girls wrestling. Most local coaches believe Oregon should try to emulate that example.

"We need a high school girls wrestling league in Oregon," Umemoto said. "Once we do that, it will increase the numbers enormously ... and I see it coming."

Pleasant Hill's Mangnall, a sophomore in her second year of wrestling, believes the goal of establishing a girls wrestling program is both worthy and possible, although it could take some time.

Cottage Grove's Christina Stanley is one of a growing number of females hoping to compete at a higher level. Photo: Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard

"Once it was started, I think more and more girls would come out for wrestling," she said. "When I talk to girls about wrestling, they tell me they just don't want to wrestle guys, so it does have the potential for exponential growth."

Like Sullivan, Mangnall discovered wrestling by accident, and while she was drawn to the cerebral aspects of the sport, she also likes the feeling of being pushed hard in training and competition.

"My first match was at a rookie tournament, and it was humbling to say the least," she said. "I got pinned in the first round, and they had barely started the clock. But I wasn't upset. I was ready for the next match."

The Oregon Wrestling Classic in Redmond is one of the few high school tournaments that offers a competitive division for girls. This year, Mangnall won her weight class with a close decision over Cottage Grove's Sanders.

Sanders and Stanley have both been wrestling for about six years, getting their starts with youth clubs.

They are well-known on the high school circuit, and both were among the hundreds of participants at the sixth annual Girls High School Wrestling Championships in Lake Orion, Mich., this past summer.

"Everyone treats me just like one of the guys," Sanders said. "I used to get harassed a bit, but not so much now, and not to my face. Most of it comes from my own teammates in the form of good-natured teasing."

"I like beating up on the guys," Stanley said. "But it would be cool if more girls got involved."

A moral dilemma does exist when boys are matched against girls on the wrestling mat, and for the boys, it will always be a "lose-lose proposition." Because of that fact, boys often forfeit rather than face the prospect of defeat.

"I'll tell you right now, the kids that are forfeiting (to girls) are the ones that are going to lose. They use it as a crutch, and you know what, it might be the right decision," Umemoto said. "I've coached guys for the past 14 years, and I would never put a guy up against a girl if I knew they would lose. ... We don't want to retire these kids to basketball."

Sullivan understands those sentiments.

"If we had women's competitions, I wouldn't have to wrestle guys," she said. "It's not fun for me when I see some guy honestly hurt and embarrassed (because I won). It's not like I feel good about it."

Unless a girl grew up in a wrestling family, such as Stanley, most parents have a difficult time dealing with the fact that their daughter wants to go out for the wrestling team.

When Mangnall first floated the idea to her father, she was met by a resounding, "No way!"

"He finally told me if I could come up with a list of good reasons and convince him, it would be OK," she said. "I told him it would be a challenge, a good opportunity to get in shape, help with my self-defense and build confidence."

There were no more family arguments.

"You don't have to be around the sport for very long before you see the integrity of the coaches and young men that participate (in wrestling)," said Donna Terzenbach, Sullivan's mother. "I was very impressed and gained a lot of respect for them. That was the only way I was able to come to grips with it, because Penny will tell you that I watched the first few matches with my hands covering my face."

Today, the challenge for all wrestling coaches and athletes is to keep opening eyes as they embrace the prospect of a new gender entering their sport.

---------------------------------------------------

Two Women in Wrestling First

February 4, 2004

Hunter's Jennie Rosenblum and Maritime's Lylette Ozimek made history by becoming the first women in New York City to wrestle each other as members of the starting lineup on the college level yesterday. Ozimek won the 125-pound bout, 18-4. Hunter won the match, 27-23. Hunter's Lamar Brown, who is blind, won 10-9.

-----------------------------------------------------

51 pounds of grit in a cap with a fin

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

By Beth Hope-Cushey, Tri-State Sports & News Service

Christine Bruno, 8, a petite 51 pounds dressed in pink leggings and a Britney Spears T-shirt, looked out of place on the wrestling mat with the rough and tumble boys. That is, until, with a flip of her waist-long blond ponytail and a blur of pink, she pinned her opponent.

When sign-ups for the Elizabeth Forward Wrestling team were announced at school, this Elizabeth Township resident decided to write in her name after the boys in her class said girls couldn't wrestle.

"I wanted to prove them wrong," she said. "I showed them girls could wrestle, too."

As the only girl on the 40-member youth community wrestling team, Christine has attended four meets and won eight matches. She is the only girl to finish the season in many years, said her mother, Tina Bruno.

Twice a week, the team meets at Elizabeth Forward Middle School, where they learn new wrestling moves for weekend meets and tournaments.

Her favorite new move is "The Sprawl," which involves stiffening the legs to keep from being flipped and pinned.

Christine's parents said their daughter had learned much at the weekly practices. They are happy with the progress and fun she has had this season.

"I think it is great she is involved in this sport. I just want her to go as far as she can with it," said her father, Joe Bruno.

Wrestling coach Mike Belardia said it's not common to see girls in wrestling, but it's not uncommon, either.

"At the tournaments and matches, you may see a girl here and there. In our group, we haven't had many girls that have stuck with it the last several years. Many times, the girls who participated were the coaches' daughters."

Christine isn't a stranger to sports. She and her sister, Lauren, 10, have black belts in karate. Their father is a lead instructor at C.S. Kim's Karate in Bethel Park.

"I think the karate has helped her in wrestling," he said. "She has competed in karate and I think that has given her the confidence to tackle something different and not be afraid."

Christine has nicknamed herself "The Shark" when she wrestles, not because of her technique but because of the fin on the blue swim cap she wears to protect herself and opponents from her long hair.

The cap was a last minute addition to her uniform the night before a match.

Her mother wanted to turn the cap inside out to hide the fin, but Christine wouldn't have it. "I like the fin. I can be 'The Shark,' " she said.

Coach Mike Fournier said Christine was the only wrestler he had who, when he revs up his team to warm up, starts to dance.

"She is usually dancing or doing cartwheels before a match. I think that throws her opponents off. They see this girl dancing and they think they are going to beat her. But when she hits the mat, she becomes a ferocious wrestler," her mother said.

By winning all of her matches, Christine has qualified for the Keystone Wrestling Tournament.

The tournament will be held later this month at Yough High School.