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Girls have a firm grip on wrestling
By Tom Shanahan
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 13, 2000
The second annual Girls County Wrestling Championship was held yesterday at Mt. Carmel High. Before you spit up your morning coffee or laugh at the thought of girls high school wrestling, you should know this:
FILA, wrestling's world governing body, has conducted Women's World Championships since 1989. USA Wrestling, the national governing body, expects women's wrestling to be added to the 2004 Olympics.
"We were hoping for the 2000 Olympics," said Afsoon Johnston, a four-time women's national champion and two-time World Championships medalist. "Today's high school girls wrestlers are the ones who will be competing in the 2004 Olympics."
Johnston, 27, recently moved to San Diego from Phoenix. She is considering starting a girls freestyle wrestling club and says she received more encouragement at yesterday's meet from male coaches and girl wrestlers.
That's what yesterday's tournament at Mt. Carmel was about -- a chance for girls to compete against girls. Otherwise they practice against boys on their high school team and compete against them in JV matches or, in the case of the more talented girls, in varsity matches.
"We're getting more interest from girls each year," said Mt. Carmel coach Jose Campo, who conducted the girls county championship and boys county freshman championship concurrently in Sundevil Arena. "Next year I think we're going to have to move the girls meet to a different day."
The tournament drew 39 girls from 17 schools. Once the girls weighed in, the field was split up evenly into seven weight classes.
"That's one of the growing pains of girls wrestling," Campo said. "We want them concentrating on competing instead of losing weight. Once we see who entered and what their weights are, then we determined the weight classes."
Santana junior Alicia Wilson, who competes with the boys on the varsity level, was one of two returning girls county champions. She said this year's level of competition was much improved.
Wilson was trailing Lincoln sophomore Sherri Foster 2-0 in the final of the 148-to-164-pound class before Wilson finished off Foster with a pin in 2:45.
"She was tough," Wilson said. "She has a bright future. I'm glad I got some competition this year and had to earn it. I pinned her, but it wasn't easy."
The other returning champion was Ramona's Stacia Anderson. She was pinned by Granite Hills freshman Yesenia Delamora in 4:23 at 114-122.
Delamora has a martial arts background in jujitsu and used some slick moves on Anderson. Delamora was competing in her first meet since breaking her collarbone early in the season.
"My goal before I graduate is to win a boys varsity tournament," Delamora said. "Not too many girls can say they did that."
Crawford sophomore Myloan Banh, who pinned a boy earlier in the year in a Harbor League varsity dual meet, is in her first year of wrestling. She won the 110-113 division, when she pinned Helix's Amber Schisfert in 1:31.
"I'm prouder of beating a boy because it's harder to do, but I'm still happy I won the a girls county title," Banh said.
In the other finals, Mt. Carmel sophomore Aimee Santos decisioned El Capitan junior Dawn Newbegin 4-2 (90-105); Hoover junior Berenice Valenzuela beat Patrick Henry freshman Michelle Ludwig 7-5 in overtime (124-130); Cynthia Reyes of Central High in El Centro defeated El Capitan junior Natalie Prieto 9-4 (131-139); and Lincoln sophomore Michelle Washington pinned Helix's Jennifer Bolt in 4:05 (heavyweight).
Campo, San Diego's representative on the CIF state coaches committee, says girls wrestling as a CIF sport has been discussed.
"My guess is it's five years away," Campo said. "Unless there is a girl whose father is a lawyer and he raises questions about the lack of girls wrestling now. Or maybe a mother who is a lawyer."
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Wrestling runs in the family for Kivis
SPECIAL TO THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
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February 11th, 2000
With 18 years experience between them and a combined season record of 62-11, you could say the brother-sister duo of Reno High wrestlers Josh and Suzanne Kivi is a force to be reckoned with on the wrestling mat.
Josh, the defending state champion at 119 pounds, heads into today's zone tournament with a 34-3 record and is ranked 11th in the nation at 125 pounds by Wrestling USA magazine.
Perhaps even more impressive is sophomore Suzanne. Now 28-8 at 103-pounds, she is the top-ranked female wrestler at her weight in the nation by Wrestling USA magazine.
The siblings have plenty in common, although they won't admit it. Not only do they both list science among their favorite subjects, both also get it done in the classroom with the same cumulative grade point average of 3.96.
Both also have aspirations when it comes to the postseason.
Josh would like a repeat performance of last year and is looking to take home the state title at 125 pounds when the best in the state meet for the state tournament next weekend at Cimarron-Memorial High in Las Vegas. Suzanne, on the other hand, would like to place at zone and earn a ticket to the state tournament.
"I am fifth right now (at her weight)," Suzanne said. "If I am in the top four at zone, I qualify for state."
If both qualify for the state meet, they will likely be the first brother-sister tandem to ever achieve that feat in Nevada.
The Kivis come from a wrestling family. Their older brother, Raymond, is a sophomore 184-pounder at Big-12 power Nebraska. Raymond Kivi finished third at the state tournament as a senior at Reno High in 1998. He won the zone title that year.
Josh and Suzanne say their parents, Ray and Mary Jo, support everything they do and are all for Suzanne wrestling. They say their parents had to put up with a rowdy household when all four of their kids (including sister Augusta) lived at home. So the kids put all that energy into something positive, wrestling.
Josh, who was second at zone last year before making his run to the state title, began wrestling 12 years ago for Northwest Wrestling Club, for whom he still wrestles at national tournaments.
"I saw my brother Ray's work ethic and I just fed off that to become a better wrestler," he said.
Suzanne began wrestling six years ago, for more personal reasons: Her brothers said she couldn't.
"They told me wrestling wasn't a sport for girls," she said.
But her record, combined with a number of pins over male opponents, has proved that she can hang in with anyone at her weight. She has improved her skills over the last year by working with former wrestler Shannon Williams of California.
Both Josh and Suzanne also have their sights set on their lives after high school.
Josh hopes to wrestle in college and go on to a physical therapy school. Suzanne also is looking to wrestle in college but if that doesn't work out, she will be satisfied with attending veterinarian school.
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Manhattan wrestlers claim I-70 championship
JUNCTION CITY - After a one-year absence, Manhattan High reclaimed the I-70 League wrestling crown by beating defending champ Junction City en route to perfect 5-0 record Saturday.
Heading into the meet, Indian coach Lee Woodford projected the Tribe would probably finish third, and a good performance could knock the finish up to second.
"We wrestled lights out all day long," Woodford said. "It was awesome. I was really pleased."
Manhattan and Junction City brought 4-0 meet marks into the final match where the Indians came away with a 35-23 win. Before the meet Woodford had noted that he needed someone to step up big in an important match to take the team to another level. He got those performances Saturday.
Manhattan and Junction City were tied 17-17 after the 152-pound match, but then Ben Coleman (160), Alex Otto (171) and Wes Nason (189) posted consecutive wins to put Manhattan in control.
Josh Connet's win in the 215-pound division sealed the title for Manhattan.
"Josh really stepped up today," Woodford said.
Manhattan owned the I-70 League title from 1994 to 1998 and has won 12 titles since 1985.
"We have it back in our house," said Woodford.
Manhattan mowed through the first four duals beating Topeka High 63-minus-1 (penalty), Salina Central 57-15, Topeka West 66-16 and Salina South 52-13.
Posting perfect 5-0 marks were Richard Gardner (125), Coleman (160), Otto (171) and Connet (215).
Second place marks at 4-1 went to Nason (189), Ranjan Muthukrishnan (112), Ryan Moody (135), Aaron Kaus (140) and James McCorkle (152).
Third place spots went to Kera Pemberton (103), Derek Bunker (130) and Romar Clark (heavyweight).
"We placed 13 out of 14 champions," Woodford said. "We weren't perfect by any measure, but I could probably count the mistakes on one hand."
The I-70 League title runs the Tribe's dual mark to 11-3. Manhattan will host a Class 6A regional meet Saturday starting at 9.
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