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First Female Qualifier Set For State Mat Tournament

Highlighted by the first female wrestler to qualify, the
37th annual TSSAA state wrestling tournament opens Thursday at 4 p.m. at
UT-Chattanooga's Maclellan Gym.

Warren County's Andi Jones, a 103-pound senior, will
make history the day before Valentine's Day when -- instead of carrying
flowers
and candy -- she will strap on head gear, lace up
wrestling shoes, then toe the mark in the middle of the mat and shake hands
with Baylor's
Shawn Weller for one of 16 first-round matches in the
lightest of 14 weights.

Among those joining Jones and '96 state place winner
Weller in the state meet are four returning champions and 24 other place
winners
from the past two years.

The reigning champions are Red Bank's Brian Provenzano
(189), Knoxville Halls' Shannon Sayne (112), Nashville Overton's Eric Jordan
(152) and Seymour's Nick Breeden (215).

In the team title chase, defending champion Nashville
Overton and 1995 champion Red Bank each qualified 14 wrestlers, the most for
any
schools.

Overton's region champs, all of whom were '96 state
place winners, are Casey Brewster (103), Tim Drinkwine (112), Derrick Jordan
(145) and Eric Jordan (152).

Red Bank's six region kings are Stan Gregory (119), Eric
Collins (130), Gary Paradis (135), Jon Payne (140), Provenzano (189) and
Jimmy Whisman (275).

Jones is not a region champ, finishing fourth in Region
5, but she sports a 17-4 win-loss mark and three varsity letters. A
multi-talented
young lady, Jones is an honor roll student, has been
crowned homecoming queen, and was voted most athletic girl by the senior
class
earlier this year.

She has 11 varsity letters, including soccer (3),
softball (2), cheerleading (1) and track and field (1) as well as her
letters in wrestling.

"Before the region meet last weekend, I told Andi that
one day there would be a girl wrestling in the state meet, and it might as
well be
you," said Warren County coach Steve Fullam. "I also
told her that the girl's coach would be sitting in a chair matside during
her matches
and that coach might as well be me."

READY, SET, GO: The tournament starts with the round of
32 matches in each weight. Friday's sessions are 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., while
Saturday's action starts at 9 a.m. and concludes with
the championship finals at 5 p.m.

FIRST BYE: Region 4 qualified seven wrestlers for the
state tournament before a single region match was wrestled at 119 and 130
due to
lack of athletes in each weight.

The bye is at 119, where only three wrestlers from
Region 4 dotted the bracket. The bye goes to Springfield's Mike Brooks, the
weight's
top seed. Brooks is a two-time region champion and
two-time state place winner.

According to TSSAA executive director Ronnie Carter,
this is the first state wrestling tournament that has had an unintentional
bye.

"I cannot remember any other wrestling tournament having
a bye due to lack of wrestlers in a weight class from regionals," said
Carter.

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

Getting a hold on their sport Science &
Math's female wrestlers have come to grips with success and some failures

The Roanoke Rapids wrestler at 119 pounds cried when his
opponent from Science & Math pinned him.

Why? The winner, Hyonmi Choe, is a girl, one of four on
the Unicorns' team.

The other three, Angela Drakeford, Stacy Jankowski and
Laurel Varnado, were there to cheer for her.

"We went crazy," Varnado said. "It was awesome."

The girls weren't out to make any political statements
by joining the wrestling team. They just thought it would be fun. The fact
they are girls
and the other wrestlers are boys was secondary.

"It's just a sport like any other," Choe said.

Choe is the only one of the four to have earned a
non-forfeit win this season. Varnado wrestles regularly at 103 while
Drakeford and
Jankowski, who both wrestle at 112, are reserves.

Coach Avery Winford said lack of experience, as much as
anything else, has hampered the girls. But they have improved significantly.

"At the beginning of the season, they were getting
pinned a lot, but by the end, they were giving some guys fits," he said.

Science & Math athletic director Branson Brown said at
the lower weights, where all four of the girls wrestle, "there's not a
dime's worth
of difference," between boys and girls of comparable
experience.

Shawn Coakley, wrestling coach at Southern Vance,
doesn't agree.

Coakley, who is also the school's athletic trainer, said
girls have a higher percentage of body fat, and thus "making weight" is more
difficult.
Secondly, boys tend to have greater upper body strength.

"Especially once you get above 103 or 112, that's
probably where there's a big gap," he said.

However, girls can have equal lower body strength and
greater flexibility and could compete equally at the lower weights.

Coakley had to speak hypothetically, since he never had
coached female wrestlers nor seen any in the conference. Neither had Bobby
Shriner, coach of the PAC-6 champions at Hillsborough
Orange. Shriner was unsure what he would do if a girl came out for
wrestling.

"I've never had the situation, so I don't know," he
said. "But if she does the workouts aR>nd is tough enough, what can you do?
She's a
part of the team."

Jenny Keul was a junior varsity wres- tler at Riverside
last year. Her family lived in Durham for a year, then moved back to
California.

Riverside coach Mike Merritt said while Keul was on the
team, she was basically "one of the guys."

"She was required to do everything the guys did," he
said. "She couldn't compete on our varsity level at 119. Our guys are just
physically
stronger than she was. But she had pretty good
technique. She obviously had some experience."

The only different treatment Keul got was a separate
weigh-in from the boys.

At least one current high school wrestler supports the
girls.

"If they can take it, they should wrestle," Southern
Vance's Derek Lyons said. "It's a male-dominated sport, but if some woman
can take it
better than the guys and isn't just in [the sport] to be
different, she should do it."

Lyons wasn't quite ready to see the girls as equals,
though. He admitted that if a girl pinned him, "I'd run out of the gym."

The girls and Winford readily admit traditional
wrestling powerhouses like Orange and Southern Vance may not be ready for
girls. In
contrast, Science & Math's staff and faculty are
accustomed to the unusual.

The school is an academically rigorous two-year boarding
school for juniors and seniors. People are encouraged to try new things. And
many of Winford's wrestlers, male or female, are
novices.

"Certain schools, certain reputations . . . [girls]
would make a big difference," Winford said. "Here, no."

In talking about other female wrestlers she's
encountered, Choe said, "They weren't very serious about it. They're in it
for the notoriety.
Over here you really can't do that because it's so much
of your time."

"Everybody here is different anyway," Varnado added.

Shriner, who has a daughter and two sons, said if his
daughter wanted to wrestle, "I'd probably try to talk her out of it."

Most of the parents oR>f the Science & Math girls also
took some convincing. They worried their daughters would be hurt, or that it
simply "wasn't right" for girls to wrestle boys.

Varnado's parents, on the other hand, were totally
supportive. Her father was captain of the wrestling team at St. Olaf College
in
Minnesota.

"My parents love it," she said. "Both my parents were so
excited for me because I was so excited."

Varnado had been a gymnast since she was small and
easily drops down into the splits during a warmup. But she has nothing on
Choe in
terms of flexibility, Winford said.

"Hyonmi is triple-jointed or something," he said. "She
is so loose, it's amazing. She can bend in all kinds of shapes and
everything."

Winford is in his second year coaching at Science & Math
(9-7-1) and built the program up from "maybe 10" wrestlers last season to
about 20 this season.

He had a few girls on the team at various times last
season, but all of them dropped out.

This season's four female wrestlers decided
independently to come out for the team last fall.

"The word got out, and I told them, "Come on in, it's
okay. I've had girls before,' " Winford said.

"We all came in at separate times, but we influenced
each other wanting to come in," Jankowski said.

In addition to gymnastics, Varnado had taken karate in
her hometown of Hickory.

"My roommate said, 'You should wrestle,' " Varnado said.
"She was just joking, but I was like, 'Hmmmm . . . ' "

Choe had been a cheerleader at Jacksonville High. But
when she came to Science & Math, the school was planning to eliminate
cheerleading. Science & Math reinstated cheerleading,
but Choe found she preferred wrestling.

She once played football with the boys in her
neighborhood and said, "I've always been interested in male-dominated
sports."

Drakeford was a runner on her high school track team in
Waxhaw and tried out to see if she liked it.

Jankowski had never participated in any organized sport.

"It was kind of bold," she said. "Once I went to the
first practice, I just loved it from the start."

It hasn't been easy. For every coach or wrestler who has
come up to the girls at meets and told them he supports them, there have
been
others who are less open to the idea.

One opponent asked Varnado, "Why don't you stick to
cheerleading?"

Others have made remarks about the girls' tight
singlets, which are the same as the ones the boys wear. While the girls try
to ignore the fact
that they are wrestling someone of the opposite sex,
their opponents do not always do the same.

"A girl knew one of the guys I wrestled in a match,"
Varnado said. "She went back home, and he said, 'She's really hot. Why don't
you
hook me up with her?' You just have to ignore it."

The girls' teammates at Science & Math are quick to
distinguish themselves from the caveman-like attitude of some opponents.

"One guy came up to one of the guys on our team and
said, 'You let your girls wrestle?' and he said, 'Yeah, we let them wear
clothes and
walk around in shoes too,' " Choe said.

Science & Math's female students also have been
supportive.

"They think it's awesome," Jankowski said.

All of the girls plan to come back next season, and
Winford welcomes them.

"They don't appear to show any negativism or any
pessimism," he said. "Actually, I think it's helping them to have a stronger
mental frame
of mind." As to their critics, who say it's just not
right for girls to wrestle against boys, Choe said, "If there was a girls'
wrestling team, we'd
be on it."

In the meantime, the girls don't see it any differently
than if they were playing on the boys' golf or soccer team.

When Jankowski's mother objected to co-ed wrestling, the
grappler told her, "He's not a guy, and I'm not a girl.

"We're wrestlers."

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

A FIGHTING FEMALE; Girl makes her mark on school wrestling team

Florida Times-Union
February 3, 1996,
Saturday City Edition, County Line

Stephanie Cole is just like most other high school
girls, except for one thing. She is a member of a high school varsity
wrestling team, a
small but apparently growing fraternity on the First
Coast. Cole wrestles with the Clay High School team, which will be competing
in the
district tournament in Live Oak this weekend. An
informal survey of the First Coast area revealed three other female
wrestlers, all
competing on the Ribault High School team -- LaShonda
Oglesby, Crystal Maddox and Canisha Moses. While Cole, a 103-pound
sophomore, hasn't won many matches, she is serious about
wrestling. 'It's cool,' she said. 'It is more than I expected but I am
dedicated to
making it work. I am not discouraged even though I have
not won many matches.' Her first win came in a junior varsity tournament
last
weekend in Palatka on a pin at the beginning of the
second period. 'When the official's hand went down on the mat, I could not
believe it. I
screamed and starting kicking my feet in the air because
I was so happy,' said Cole, who also wrestles on occasion with the junior
varsity.
She lost two other matches in Palatka but her coach, Jim
Reape, said that she wrestled well. Cole got an emotional lift when she
earned
her first varsity takedown in a Jan. 20 tournament. Even
though she did not win, she received a standing ovation. Team manager Sarah
Callaway said the match was a great moment for Cole, who
is also a cheerleader. 'All the parents were rooting for Stephanie,'
Callaway
said. 'It was neat to see her get an overwhelming
response for not getting pinned.' Moses of Ribault, who also wrestles in the
103-pound
division, has the best record of any of the girls, 10-6.
Oglesby is 6-11 with five forfeits in the 145-pound division and Maddox, 112
pounds, is 2-15. 'Most of the girls think that it is
neat for us to be on the team, although some have said that we shouldn't be
wrestling
boys,' Moses said. 'At first, the boys said they
shouldn't be wrestling girls.' Her advice to any girl who wants to wrestle
is 'work hard.'
Cole got the idea for joining the Clay team after
attending her younger brother's wrestling matches in middle school. 'I went
to my brother's
first match and decided then that I could wrestle. So I
started practicing with him,' she said. The next step was to talk to Reape,
who was
initially wary of the idea. 'I was not crazy about the
idea of a girl wrestler because I anticipated all kinds of morale problems
since this is a
macho sport,' he said. 'We have had girls who wanted to
do it previously but Stephanie was different. She spoke to me quietly,
without
any fanfare and was very serious about trying out.'
Assistant coach Tom Petrucci said there have been no problems with Cole
joining the
team because allowances have been made to have her dress
and weigh in with privacy. Cole said she is often asked about the reaction
of
her family and friends. She was concerned about her
mother's response but after some early worries, her mom is one of her
biggest
supporters. 'My first reaction was to think that she was
wrestling similar to what is on television, then my second concern was that
she
would get hurt, but, I have come around. She is never
afraid to try anything,' said Cole's mother, Terri McCord. The reaction from
her
peers was mixed. Cole thought other Clay students might
ridicule her but she is pleased with the way they've treated her. 'I thought
that
they would make fun of me but the girls, especially,
have been supportive. With the boys there was a lot of talk but now they
come up to
me and cheer me on,' she said. Cole has won the respect
of opponents such as sophomore Billy Johnson at Middleburg. Johnson pinned
Cole in their match on Jan. 24 after Cole re-injured her
ribs. Although Johnson said he did not want to lose the match because he
would
be teased by other team members, she did earn his
compliments. 'She is really pretty good with her technique. She surprised me
with her
opening move. She backed away so I followed her then she
shot in and got me. She also wrestled OK on the mat,' Johnson said. When
asked about the acceptance of her teammates, Cole
laughed and said, 'I've been accepted as one of the guys.' According to
Reape, Cole
is the only girl wrestler in Clay County who wrestles on
the varsity. Records are not kept in the Florida High School Activities
Association
on the number of female wrestlers in high school
athletics. Jack Watford of the FHSAA said that the names of females involved
in
predominantly male sports are not singled out by schools
sending in census information but he is aware that individual cases do
exist.

Reape is pleased with Cole's progress in her first
season. 'She has done as well as many first-year wrestlers. She defends her
legs well on
the mat which is due to her athleticism and flexibility.
Although she can do pull-ups, which is unusual for girls, she lacks power.
Her
inexperience has cost her some matches but her
coachability and toughness compensate for a lot.' Cole says that she is
willing to work with
weights during the off-season in the hopes that she can
get stronger and still stay at 103 pounds. One of Cole's dreams is to create
enough
interest to form a girls' wrestling team. 'If this can't
happen, then I want to see other girls join the boys' team.'

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

SANTALUCES' BARRERIO TAKES COUNTY'S FIRST
FEMALE WRESTLING WIN

Palm Beach Newspaper, Inc.
December 19, 1998,

It was a good night for the Santaluces wrestling team
Friday as competition began at the Chiefs' annual Christmas tournament.

But it was especially meaningful for Leslie Barrerio.
Barrerio, the only female wrestler on the Santaluces team and in the
tournament,
became the first girl to win a match in Palm Beach
County this year.

Santaluces finished second in total points to South Dade
after the first two rounds of competition, with six Chiefs advancing to the
quarterfinal round. Two of the Chiefs, Phil Baker and
Chris Daley, won matches with technical victories and Nick Vigliarolo, also
of
Santaluces, won his first match with a 14-6 major
decision and his second in a 4:25 fall.

But the most exciting win of the night for the Chiefs
was Barrerio's. After losing in the opening round, which was her first ever
competitive
match, Barrerio found herself in a deadlocked 9-9 tie
with Cooper City's Dan Snyder in the first round of consolation matches.

Although three other matches were going on at the same
time, all eyes in the Santaluces gymnasium were on Barrerio. A few seconds
later
she was on the better end of an overtime take-down and
the focus of a Santaluces frenzy.

''She had the whole gym's attention,'' said Chief Coach
Sam Agresti. ''Leslie was the first girl to ever wrestle in this tournament
in its
20-year history.''

Barrerio was ecstatic, hugging teammates and smiling
from ear-to-ear, but she sympathized with Snyder. ''I felt bad for him,''
said Barrerio.
''It was just a lose-lose situation.''

The tournament continues today at 10:00 a.m., with
championship matches scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Barrerio will wrestle again as
the
second round of consolation bouts.

December 23, 1998

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

BREAKTHROUGH ON THE MAT;
Warren Co. senior will be first girl to wrestle at state

Andi Jones isn't an ordinary 103-pound wrestler.

First, she is . . . Wait a moment. She?

Yes, Warren County senior homecoming queen Andi Jones,
winner of 11 varsity letters, will become the first female to wrestle in the
TSSAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament today.

"It's not like I've set out to make this my goal in
life, but once I started wrestling three years ago, I was determined to make
it to the state,"
said Jones, who qualified with an upset victory in last
week's Region 5 Tournament at Franklin.

"I don't think it's hit me yet, but quite a few people
have called. I reckon it's a big deal from what I hear, but I don't feel any
different. I'm
just glad to be able to participate because a lot of
people physically aren't able to wrestle."

Jones has a 17-4 record this year on Coach Steve
Fullam's Pioneer team, and he says her qualifying for the state is not a
fluke.

"She's been our 103 wrestler for three years because she
is our best at 103," Fullam said.

"She's been close to qualifying before, but has not
wrestled well in the region. Last week, I told her this was her last chance.
I explained to
Andi that one day there would be a girl wrestling in the
state tournament and it might as well be her and that there would be a coach
who
had a girl there and it might as well be me."

Jones, also a varsity cheerleader, not only excels in
wrestling. She also has lettered in soccer, softball, and track.

"I didn't do this for the attention. If that was my
purpose, I'd have quit after one season," Jones said. "But I enjoy it and
the competition
that comes with it."

Maintaining weight is perhaps more difficult for a
female wrestler than her male counterparts, Jones said, but she's battled
the bulge
successfully enough to attain her goal.

"It's harder for women to lose weight than men. When a
girl eats the same as a guy, she doesn't lose as quickly. And I don't think
guys
think about food as much as girls do," said Jones with a
laughing.

"It's all been tough for me. There is a lot of hard work
involved, but I like the work and being able to accomplish goals. I don't
know how
I'll do, but I've got the support of my team and quite a
few things driving me.

"If I lose, I lose. If I win, I win. But as long as I go
in and try to wrestle the best match I've ever wrestled, I'll know the work
has been
worth it. I'll be happy."

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