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South Salem next stop for wrestlers

It wasn't that long ago that the Lebanon wrestling team had to forfeit all its lighter weights when entering a Valley League match.

By JESS REED
Lebanon Express Writer

: Wednesday January 26, 2000

Those days are long gone as the Warrior wrestlers won the 103 to 125-pound matches en route to a 38-22 team victory over Corvallis.

Next up for Lebanon will be South Salem on Friday. JV matches will begin at 6 p.m., followed by varsity wrestling. Districts will begin in less than a month and Lebanon appears to be getting better as the season progresses.

"They're doing real good," Lebanon coach Jim Vandehey said. "We've had good practices and grades are going good. This is a good team and a fun group to coach."

Alan Plagmann at 103 had an 8-3 lead over Corvallis' Jacob Eaccles before recording the pin with 1 minute 15 seconds remaining in the second period, giving his team a 6-0 advantage.

Shoni Plagmann then used two near falls and a reversal to score an 8-0 win over the Spartans Chris Jones at 112 pounds. Jason Burr, who actually wrestles at 112, moved up a weight to beat Tyler Billings, 14-11, at 119 pounds. A three-point near fall gave him a 9-8 lead at the end of the second period and led to the win.

Ryan Drummond also scored a near fall to take a 10-0 win over Adam Lang at 125 pounds. Only four matches in and Lebanon held a 17-0 team lead.

"This could have went either way," Vandehey said. "We could have lost by 16, but we didn't."

Corvallis took the next two weights and cut the lead to 17-7. Lebanon senior Justin McFetridge scored a forfeit win at 140 before Corvallis won the 145 and 152-pound classes.

J.D. Gillis battled hard at 152 with the Spartans Sean Babcock. Leads went back and forth and Gillis held a 12-11 lead before a two-point takedown gave Babcock the 13-12 win.

Matt Mustoe got Thomas Gulledge down early and ever let up as he scored the pin in one minute at 160 pounds, giving his team a 29-13 lead. Chris Ensley then made the score insurmountable at 171 with a 13-9 win over Mike Muravez.

Eric Mustoe, ranked second in the state at 275, scored a 7-0 lead in the first period before earning the pin with 1:25 in the second period.

"It's obvious they're getting better," Vandehey said.

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WRESTLING WOMEN TAKE HOLD FEMALE COACH LEARNING, COACHING SPORT AFTER TAKING OVER STRUGGLING,
SHORT-STAFFED MUSKETEERS' PROGRAM

Tim Morse; Staff Writer

The Augusta (Ga.)Chronicle January 22, 2000, Saturday,

Richmond Academy senior Brandon Porter remembers the day he found out the
Musketeer wrestling team would be coached by a woman.

''I didn't believe it,'' Porter said when he heard the news that Nina
Creech, believed to be the first female wrestling coach in the state, would
coach the wrestling
team this year. ''I thought the guys were just kidding.''

Porter's friends weren't joking. A few weeks later, Creech began her stint
as Richmond Academy's wrestling coach.

''I didn't really know what to expect,'' junior Carl Tyson said. ''I was
just getting used to coach Galen Phillips.''

Before the season started, Phillips took a job at Burke County High School,
and because of a shortage of coaches at ARC, the wrestling team's season was
in jeopardy.

Creech, who had coached various sports in her 10 seasons at Spirit Creek
Middle School, left for ARC earlier this year. She was approached by
athletic director Pat Rivers about taking over the wrestling program three weeks into the
school year.

''I didn't want to see them not have a (wrestling) program,'' she said. ''In
order for the guys to have a season, I told them I'd do it.''

She went to the Internet and researched everything about the sport, then
went to a local bookstore and bought the book Wrestling for Dummies. Several
of the team's seniors told her about different wrestling techniques and Steve King,
a wrestling official, performed a couple of wrestling workshops at the
school. Two volunteers with wrestling experience pitched in to help out.

Suddenly, Creech wasn't a stranger to the sport anymore.

Today, she leads the Musketeers into the Augusta City Championship at Cross
Creek High School, joining host Cross Creek, Butler, Glenn Hills, Hephzibah,
Josey,Laney, Westside, Evans and Lakeside in the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m.

''At first, (coaching guys) was little bit uncomfortable,'' Creech said.
''Like when they weigh-in, they weigh in before school in their underwear. I
mean, the principal weighs them in but I weigh them in if I have to. I've learned to overcome
that kind of stuff.''

It is rare for women to coach high school wrestling, but it isn't uncommon
to see females participating in matches.

According to statistics compiled by the National Federation of State High
School Associations (NFSHSA), the number of female wrestlers around the
country has increased steadily since 1989-90.

''There certainly has been an increase (in numbers) over the last couple of
years,'' said Bruce Howard, Director of Publications and Communications for
the NFSHSA.

''In the past, girls were denied and several of those cases were taken to
court. From the open courts, a lot of females began to win those cases and
state schools allow them to participate because of that procedure.''

''There are two ways to go about females participating and not
participating,'' said Dr. Ralph Swearngin, GHSA Commissioner of Officials.
''If there is a comparable sport (such as baseball for boys and softball for girls), girls may not
participate. But if there is not a comparable sport, they can participate.

''We don't have sports comparable to football or wrestling.''

Midway through the wrestling season at ARC, team members don't see a coach
of the opposite sex. They see a coach who wants to win and is interested in
helping promote the sport as well as helping wrestlers get better and take their
abilities to a higher level.

''She's just like any other coach,'' Tyson said. ''She's there to support us
and she's done a lot for us this year. She's almost like having a mom on the
sidelines.''

It also seems that opposing wrestling teams have gotten used to seeing a
woman wrestling coach on the opposing side of the mat.

''One of the most uncomfortable things when I started was after a match,
it's a tradition for wrestlers to shake the opposing coach's hand,'' Creech
said. ''They (wrestlers) would come up and look at me kind of funny. But I've gotten used
to that.''

As for Porter, he's enjoyed his senior season under Creech, but said he'd
would have liked to change one thing.

''The only difference between coach Creech and coach Phillips is coach
Phillips was kind of a bigger guy,'' said Porter, who is undefeated in the
heavyweight class.''We don't have any coaches now that can help me out. Most of the coaches
are small and work with guys in the light weight classes. But coach Creech
has done a good job with us.''

Creech's enthusiasm for the sport has gotten the word around the school, and
it seems a handful of coaches are interested in coaching the team next
season. She says she doesn't know if she'll be the wrestling coach next season but won't
turn down the opportunity.

''If the guys wanted me to stay on, I'd stay on,'' she said.

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GIRLS FINALLY ABLE TO HIT MATS WITH THEIR OWN TOURNAMENTS

Girl wrestlers had the spotlight to themselves on Saturday at the Napa
Valley Girls Classic at Vintage High School in Napa.

01/27/2000, CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Separate girls tournaments are a growing phenomenon in the high school
ranks. In the past, girls
often had to wrestle boys in tournaments. But on Dec. 21, Del Mar-San Jose
hosted a girls
tournament. The Napa Valley Girls Classic offered a chance for 150 female
wrestlers from 60 high schools to compete.

Two Berkeley wrestlers were among the individual champions at Napa Valley. Christie Ravera, a sophomore, won the 145-pound championship. Yellowjackets junior Toshia Cristal was the champion at 160.

Five area high school girls who wrestle for the Concord Youth Center's program placed at the event.

Clayton Valley's Rachel Salazar took third in the 104-pound division after a double-overtime victory. Two other CYC members placed in that division. Las Lomas' Jessica Dougherty was fifth and Alhambra's Poonam Walia was sixth. Alhambra's Reeah Winkle was third at 145 and Clayton Valley Emily Sisson took fifth at 112.

Ygnacio Valley had four wrestlers place at the tournament. Freshman Stacy Carta finished third at 127. Ophelia Pickard was sixth at 104. Kimmy Vanderbuilt was seventh at 112. Adelina Asan finished eighth at 127.

Girls will have another chance to wrestle each other on Feb. 5 at Livermore High School. The Jim Miltner Memorial tournament has a separate girls division along with frosh-soph and junior varsity levels

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Wrestling with convention

Friday, January 28, 2000

Elizabeth Grice won her first high school wrestling match by default when she was slammed to the mat in December.Then the real pain started.

As Dreher coach Paul Watson rushed to help the injured Grice, he said the crowd in the gym began taunting them.

"That's what you get for putting a girl on your team," some in the crowd shouted, according to Watson. "Girls shouldn't be wrestling anyway."

For high school girls, handling the taunts, dealing with gender issues and gaining acceptance in the wrestling community is all part of proving that females can compete in a predominately male sport.

Grice, along with teammates Suzanna Zupan and Laura Wall, are among the handful of girls who wrestle at the high school level in South Carolina. So are Ginny Welch of Lakewood High; Kristen Rollins of Hopkins Middle School, who wrestles at Lower Richland; Alexis Moore of Lower Richland and Janette Ferguson of Crestwood.

"I have to work just as hard as the guys do," said Welch, a second-year varsity wrestler at 119 pounds. "My coach (Max Jameson) doesn't give me a break."

The girls at Dreher all do the same number of pushups, wind sprints and wall squats as the boys.

"One of my teammates once said 'This is a male sport,' " said Wall, a first-year wrestler. "While I know that it is, I just love being with the guys. It is definitely one of the harder sports."

Despite the difficulties, the girls excel.

"They came in and showed me they wanted to be there," Lower Richland coach Robert Hemingway said. "It was hard for the boys to see when the girls first came out. But once they went through the hard work, pushups, situps and all, they showed that they can outlast some of the boys."

Consider a normal wrestling practice: more than two hours in a 100-plus degree room doing more than 300 pushups, constant running in place, hundreds of neck rolls, more running and technical drills.

The girls, just like the boys, leave practice drenched in sweat. Sometimes they are sick to their stomach because of the constant exercise. And still, they all love the sport.

Getting started. The girls at Dreher can thank Watson for planting the idea of wrestling in their heads. In his first year at Dreher, Watson challenged and recruited the girls to join the team.

"The main reason was for publicity for our program," said Watson, who wrestled at Dreher until 1994 and was an assistant coach with the Blue Devils while a student at USC. "I had seen a lot of female wrestlers in my travels around the country. At the beginning of the year, I sought out several girls and told them to give me one week (of practice)."

Seven girls attended Dreher's first practice in October. Four showed up at Lower Richland. The girls learned the moves; they learned what it's really like to sweat. By week's end, the Dreher group was down to three, and the Diamonds were left with two.

"It's a lot of work," Watson said. "Being in that room and getting all sweaty isn't attractive. You get bruises. It's tough, and that turns a lot of girls off."

Not these girls.

"At first I felt out of place," said Grice, a junior who wrestles at 119 pounds. "The guys were all really supportive and encouraging, though. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy it and can't imagine not doing it."

The controversy. Wrestling is a sport of grabbing and holding, which raises questions when boys and girls meet. There are compromising positions.

For a few days, that was a concern at Dreher.

"The guys were shocked," Watson said when he told them he was recruiting girls. "I told them this was for them, to bring more attention here as a whole.

"At first some of the guys were nervous about wrestling the girls in practice. The guys knew it was nothing sexual, but these are girls they go to school with, and that made them nervous."

Those nerves were quickly calmed at Dreher and Lower Richland.

But not at most other schools.

"Outsiders are definitely concerned," Watson said. "When you first wrestle a girl, it's uncomfortable. You say to yourself, 'When I do this move, it might be perceived as a sexual move.'

"Or, 'If I put my arm here to try this move, my hand might go near her crotch.' You get out of that state of mind very quickly and look at it as another match."

The girls say the pairing is a non-issue. They are quick to say when they're on the mat, they are concentrating on wrestling. It isn't a sexual sport. It's a competition.

Among the compromising moves are the ball and chain, the switch and the cradles, which require wrestlers to put their arms between each other's legs or across their chests.

"Guys have a hard time because they don't know where to grab," Wall said.

Welch said touching and grabbing probably are the biggest misconceptions about male-female wrestling.

"It's not touchy-feely," said Welch, who has pinned four opponents this season. "We have a job to do."

Grice agrees.

"It's definitely different," she said. "Since it's all males, it is unusual for females. Once you get out there, though, it's just another opponent. I don't think of it as a guy touching me."

The same wrestling rules apply for both sexes. The only concessions are in attire. The girls wear a swim cap to cover their hair in competition and a sports bra or tank top under the same one-piece spandex tank-top outfit worn by the boys.

Parental protection. Surprisingly, the girls' mothers were more concerned about them getting involved in the sport than the fathers.

"I tried talking her out of it because of the physical contact with the boys," said Julie Wall, Laura's mother. "I didn't picture someone of her character wanting to wrestle. She was very shy, very introverted. She didn't like people invading her space."

After a mother-daughter heart-to-heart, Julie Wall changed her mind.

"I had to realize that they would have their arms around her," she said. "Anything goes as far as contact. Laura said to me, 'It's not like a guy is making a move on me. You're not thinking about that. You're trying to get out of this move. You're not thinking about them touching you.' "

Don Wall, Laura's father and a Dreher graduate, said his hesitation was short-lived.

"(The boys on the team) treat her well," he said. "I screamed the first time they had her on the mat and they were all tangled up. But she really puts up a fight. She can be feisty. I'm proud of her."

Not always equal treatment. While all the girls say they have the complete support of friends, family and teammates, the same can't be said of their opponents.

They get odd looks from opponents, some of whom don't think girls belong on the mat.

"I think that they should be allowed, but it should be girl-girls," said Derik Strobel, the Lexington High coach. "I have no problems with that. But if you put a young boy in a situation like that, its a lose-lose situation for him. . . . If he loses, he can be psychologically scarred."

Chapin's James Clonts, who recently wrestled Zupan, agrees there is added pressure on the male wrestler.

"You have to win because otherwise your teammates will harass you.

"I feel wrestling is a man's sport. If (girls) think they can handle it, go ahead. But one thing's for sure, you want it over with quickly."

Others realize that the girls are giving the sport needed publicity and a new direction.

Ridge View's Kenny Simpson competed with a girl for the first time at the Blue Devil Tournament.

"I don't treat her any differently," said Simpson, a ninth-grader. "You've just got to go out there and wrestle."

Dreher captain Stephen Sutusky said the girls' presence just adds to the excitement of wrestling.

"They are all very tough," said Sutusky, a senior who has wrestled with the Blue Devils for nine years. "They are part of this team. It's not just a girl, it is our teammate."

But the guys know that this isn't their average opponent.

Strobel has some simple advice for his Lexington High wrestlers when they face a girl.

"If she wants to be out there, there should be no reason to hold back. . . . You just go out there and do what you would normally do and beat the crap out of them," he said.

Strobel suggested that schools establish all-female wrestling teams.

That is the goal of the wrestlers. They want their own team. They want to wrestle each other. They say they are biding time until more girls get involved.

"Title IX is killing wrestling," Watson said. "It is making colleges cut non-revenue sports. Because wrestling is such a blue-collar sport, colleges have an easy time eliminating it. If we can create women's wrestling programs, colleges will be able to keep the sport."

Lower Richland's Hemingway said that once coaches work to have girls join their teams, the controversy will fade.

"Just like basketball has boys and girls, (wrestling) should come to having boys and girls teams," he said. "If the girls can do it, they should do it.

"A lot of people say that it isn't for girls, but let the girls determine that."

Several times during the season Wall, who wrestles at 105 pounds even though she tips the scales at 93 pounds, and Zupan, at 145 pounds, have been unable to find an opponent.

The same can't be said for the girls at Lower Richland, who have quickly adapted to their surroundings and haven't found much controversy.

Moore, who wrestles at 119, has won five junior varsity matches. Rollins, an eighth-grader at Hopkins Middle School who is captain of the Lower Richland middle school team, also has done well in her first season. The 105-pound wrestler finished second in the Hopkins Middle School tournament and placed in the Taco Bell Invitational. She carries a 4-2 record into the Carolina Invitational, the state tournament for junior varsity and middle school wrestlers, in Rock Hill on Saturday.

Welch and Grice have experienced the high of pinning an opponent. Welch did it once last season against A.C. Flora, and she has four pins this season. Grice finished the season with a 3-6 record.

Wall and Zupan haven't won any of their seven matches by pin in their first seasons. But it doesn't seem to matter because they are having fun and showing that the girls can keep up.

National interest. While female wrestlers are rare in this state, that's not the case nationwide.

Michigan has a high school state tournament for girls, as do Texas and Hawaii. In California, it's not uncommon for programs to have more than 10 girls on a team.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 112 girls participated in 1990. Today there are more than 2,300 nationwide.

There are even all-female wrestling programs at Southwest Missouri State University and Missouri Valley College.

Support system. At Dreher, more than 100 girls have become involved in the wrestling program though the extra-curricular club Watson formed, the Grappalettes.

Zupan says the girls are not only a support system but also a recruiting device for the wrestling team. The goal, Watson said, was to get students involved in the program.

The Grappalettes, "the angels behind the Devils" as the sign in the gymnasium reads, seem to do their job. Last season, the Blue Devils averaged about 30 fans a game and relatively few students, Watson said.

This season, Dreher averages between 80 and 100 fans. And more boys, and girls, are talking about participating next year.

The girls all say they have improved their muscle tone and have sparked an interest in the sport.

But the bottom line is that they are the same as their classmates. They talk about make-up. They love to shop for clothes. And they love to hang out with boys.

But for them, hanging out with the boys is just being part of the team.

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Wrestling: Hyatt captures girls tournament

(Published Jan. 27, 2000)

El Camino's Kierstin Hyatt won the 127-pound division of the second annual Brute Napa Valley girls tournament over the weekend. More than 90 girls competed. Teresa Dal Ben (119) and Tammy Morris (114) of Laguna Creek placed second, Lauren Mancuso (109) of St. Francis third, Julie Johnson (131) of Mesa Verde fourth and Valley's Janielle Hicks (131) fifth after being injured in the semifinals.
The Vallejo-Napa area did even better. Vallejo had two champions in Sheila Lerit (142) and Michelle Domagas (119), a third in Elizabeth Domagas (123) and fourth in Lenci Landaker (104). Vintage had seconds in Maika Watanabe (99), Danielle Presley (109) and Emilee Murphee (136), Bethel a fifth in Melanie Grim (99), Hogan a third in Carinna Azevedo (114) and fifth indCharlene Alberto (109) and Napa a second in Ani Melvin (160).

Nevada Union's Lindsay Torrance (105) won one before being eliminated at the Asics Foothill Invitational.

Roberto Martinez (103) of Natomas, Brett Del Balso (152) of Del Oro, Charlie Corrasa (171) of Casa Roble, Lawrence Turner (189) of Sheldon and Mitch Quist (275) of Elk Grove earned silver medals in the 50-team Asics.

Clovis won the team title, with Rocklin's sixth-place finish topping area schools.

The expected tussle at 215 pounds between No. 2 Brian Holtorf of Natomas and No. 3 Adam Miller of Johnson at the Asics didn't quite develop. Just 15 seconds into the match, both big bodies plowed into a wall and Holtorf was knocked unconscious.

Sean Van der Wende of Oak Ridge pulled off the big upset of tournament, decisioning previously No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Travis Chittock of Nevada Union.

A couple of coaches are scratching their heads and wondering why wrestlers have left their teams so late in the season.

Woodland lost 215-pound John Newell and 130-pound Matt Acosta and Laguna Creek lost 189-pound Richard Lloyd and 145-pound Philip Comer. All four were ranked. The reasonsranged from "the team let me down" to "I want to get ready for track."

Having brothers on a team can create fun, problems and plenty of surprises. In addition to the Martin triplets at Elk Grove, Lincoln has a threesome of its own. However, at Lincoln the ages are spread out a bit with freshman Brady Bowden at 135, sophomore Lee Bowden at 171 and senior Austin Bowden at 145.

A coach who could still hold his own and make his point in practice is Woodland's Chris Mollkoy. He was state champion at 154 pounds in 1989 at Katella of the Southern Section.

Vacaville freshman heavyweight Kyle DeVan, who has the Bulldogs' fastest pin of 14 seconds, joins Galt's Gabe Flores on the sidelines with a broken leg. DeVan was the California eighth-grade schoolboy champion.

Two former Sacramento area state champions now in the collegiate ranks have been invited to compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic at Michigan State University Feb. 7. Adam Tirapelle, who won a title for Johnson at 130 pounds in 1995, will represent Illinois at 149 pounds and Mark Munoz, who prepped at Vintage and was state champ at 189 pounds in 1995, will wear the colors of Oklahoma State at 197.

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