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Davison, Fenton go unbeaten in wrestling tourneys
Sunday, January 23, 2000
Davison won its sixth wrestling tournament of the season, going 5-0 at the Brighton team tournament Saturday. The Cardinals, ranked No. 1 in Division I, beat No. 4 Charlotte 67-9 in the championship match.
It is the sixth tournament title of the season for Davison (26-1). The Cardinals won their pool in the 10-team tournament by beating Grand Blanc 76-0, Northville 63-12, Lansing Sexton 60-9 and Jenison 36-25.
Six Cardinals went 5-0, including Joe Whitman, who improved to 36-0 at 135 pounds. Chase Metcalf (125) is 36-1, Chad Roush (140) 37-2 and sophomore Keristen LaBelle (103) 35-4. Jimmy McFall (145) and Nic LaFear (275) also won five matches. Shaun Newton (119) won both his contests.
Going 4-1 were: John Whitman (112), Tim Polidan (152), Casey Streeter (160), John Phillips (171) and Derek Lehr (215).
Fenton went 4-0 in winning the eight-team tournament it hosted.
Millington was second, going 3-1. Fenton beat the Cardinals 57-18. Millington (10-6) beat Oge PREP WRESTLING
maw Heights 38-25, Pontiac Notre Dame 59-24 and Byron 52-15.
Mike Hamlin (103) and Scott Darley (135) went 4-0 for Millington, while Joe Prusha (189) was 3-0. Adam Herzog (119), Josh Bussinger (125), Justin Shinabarger (130), Mark Roberts (160) and Casey Hendricks (171) were all 3-1.
Three Mt. Morris wrestlers went 5-0 at the Brandon team tournament, where the Panthers were 1-4. Steve Mosley improved to 27-0 for Mt. Morris, while teammates Brad Gardner and William Wolverton were also 5-0. Nik Pipitone posted a 4-1 mark.
New Lothrop finished fifth with 1241/2 points and Bendle (46) 13th at the 18-team Ithaca Invitational. Carson City (233) won.
Brent Weisenberger won at 103 for New Lothrop. Adam Yaklin (189) was second, Chad Edwards (135) and Mark Gross (275) placed third and Adam Gaspar (130) fourth. Bendle's Chad Abbey (145) was third.
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A rare day on the mat: Girls wrestling making an impact
Napa News 01/23/00
By VINCE D'ADAMO
Register Sports Writer
NAPA
Napa Valley female wrestlers did not have the success they hoped in their
finals round of the Brute Napa Valley Girls Classic at Vintage High School
Saturday.
However, their participation contributed for what they hope can some day
establish an all-girls wrestling team in the Napa Valley.
Girls currently wrestle against males. Vintage's Maika Watanabe (99-pound
weight class), Danni Presley (109), Emilee Murphree (136), and Napa's Ani
Melvin advanced to the finals, only to lose.
Del Mar's Melissa Moore defeated Watanabe 6-0. Suzanne Kivi of Reno defeated
Presley by pin. Danielle Bebaut of Yosemite upended Murphree by pin. Toshie
Christal defeated Melvin by pin.
The tournament pitted roughly 150 wrestlers from 60 different high schools
in California, Oregon and Nevada.
"I'd hoped for bigger numbers but as the day wore on it turned out to be a
real competitive event," Vintage High head coach and tournament director
Carl Murphree said. "It was bigger (than last year) by 25 percent. We were
looking for 50 percent and we didn't get it. I'd say it's a good indicator.
More than just the numbers, I thought the quality was much higher."
Adding to Murphree's happiness was having four local girls in the finals.
"Ani wrestled just a tough girl," Murphree said "The Vintage girls went up
against really stacked competition. I wasn't so sure about them winning. I
thought Ani might have had a chance but Christal was real good."
The day's event offered a different challenge from the standpoint of
wrestling fellow females instead of males. The females, as a whole, seemed
more flexible than the males might be.
"Against the guys I'm not as nervous because if you lose, you lose to a guy
and it's an excuse so to speak," Presley said. "If you lose to a girl,
you're supposed to be even. We don't get to wrestle only girls very often.
There was a lot of girls here which included a lot of the best wrestlers. We
all had very tough matches in the finals."
Melvin hoped for a measure of redemption. Vintage's Megan Andrews pinned
Melvin in last year's finals. However, Melvin didn't let that dampen her
day.
"I'm really proud to be a part of it, even if I didn't win -- again," Melvin
said with a sarcastic sneer. "Wrestling against the guys you have a bigger
bracket. Here I only wrestled two matches. The guys are usually a little
tougher. I had a couple of matches today that could have been up to a guy's
standards. The gap is starting to close with the girls that are sort of
wimpy and the guys that aren't."
The participants hope this day was another stepping stone toward
establishing an all-girls wrestling team.
TOURNAMENT NOTES -- Other winners included Sarah Fulp (Half Moon Bay) in the
103 class; Sheila Lerit (Vallejo) at 114; Michelle Domagas (Vallejo) at 119;
Nikole Bebaut (Yosemite) in the 123 division; Kierstin Hyat (El Camino) at
127; Helaina Day (San Mateo) in the 131 class and Christine Rivera
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Girls wrestling tourney draws talented field
By Steve Dempsey, Times-Herald Sports Editor
If you go by the numbers, girls wrestling is starting to pick up among local high schools.
The judging numbers today pertain to the area's largest girls wrestling tournament, the Brute Napa Valley Girls Classic, which takes place today at Vintage High School starting at 9:30 a.m. The championship finals begin approximately 3 p.m.
Tournament director Carl Murphree said last year there were 70 teams with 35 participants, the majority were entered on tournament day. This year, there are about 150 participants from 60 schools. And that's not counting who will walk up today.
"I think people heard this is a really good tournament,'' Murphree said.
"A lot of people missed it last year, and I don't think they wanted to miss it this year.''
Among those will be four wrestlers from Vallejo High School and three from Hogan. Michelle Domanges of Vallejo will be one of the tournament favorites.
She is joined by Apache teammates and sister Elizabeth Domanges along with Lanci Lendeker and Sheila Lerit.
Entered for Hogan are Aster Sana, Charlene Alberto, and Carina Azevedo.
"Honestly, our girls from around here tend to be better,'' Murphree said. "I think we got a head start on everybody (in girls wrestling). The Vallejo girls in L.A. beat up on everybody and, by and large, so did the Vintage girls, even though they're pretty young.
"I would think just about all of them will place (in today's tournament). Michelle is one of the better wrestlers around.''
The field isn't going to be a breeze, however. Michelle Domanges is one of 20 nationally-ranked girl wrestlers in the field.
Joining Vallejo and Hogan from the North Bay are host Vintage, Napa, Justin-Siena, Fairfield, Wood, Terra Linda, Mt. Tamalpias, Novato, Rancho Cotate, Montgomery, and Healdsburg.
Moreau, Tennyson, Clayton Valley, Las Lomas and Berkeley are entered from the East Bay while San Mateo, Silver Creek, Del Mar, Half Moon Bay, Aptos, and Live Oak arrive from the South Bay. Jesuit/St. Francis, Laguna Creek, Valley, El Camino, and Nevada Union join the field from the Sacramento area.
Teams are even traveling quite far to be at Vintage. Try Reed of Reno, Nev., Thousand Oaks and Torrance from Southern California, Yosemite, Bonanza of Klamath Falls, Ore. and Gilchrist of Oregon.
Murphree mentioned this could become the largest girls wrestling tournament in the Western United States. Again, if you go by the numbers, he's well on his way.
