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Boulder high school girl scores upset
By Tim Mimick/The Gazette
February 12, 2000
With five years of wrestling experience, Cathilee Albert knew enough not to wonder about a championship this week.
Now she can dream. The 17-year-old junior from Boulder Fairview High School pinned Tanya Evinger in 2:47 during the women's 137-pound division semifinals Friday night in the second Dave Schultz Memorial International Wrestling Tournament.
As she stood in a corner of the Olympic Sports Center, Albert's face was blank.
"I didn't expect this because she's third in the nation for women (at 150)," Albert said. "I'm first, but in the (137) cadet (15-to-17 years old) division.
"I like to go to bigger tournaments because the better competition will make you better."
She got better Friday. Not bad for someone who has been wrestling with the Fairview junior varsity. She posted a "21-6 or 21-7 record" against boys.
As she walked off the mat, her mother, Barbara, and father, Jon, greeted her with a kiss and a handshake. Barbara Albert spoke of the obvious pride in her daugther, who won a title at the 1999 Cadet National Championship in Rochester, Minn.
"She's fifth in the world for cadet women," Barbara Albert said. "I encourage her to do what she likes. And she has incredible support at school."
Wait until her classmates hear what she did this weekend.
SURPRISE START: Tina George, the top-ranked U.S. women's wrestler at 123, was stunned 10-0 by Malissa Sherwood in a second-round match.
George, who lives in Colorado Springs, missed on an aggressive shoulder move in the opening 12 seconds and fell behind 3-0 in the first half-minute.
Sherwood was wrestling up from her usual 112 class, where she is No. 2 in the United States.
George steadied herself with a 5-3 decision over Aimee McNabb in the consolation bracket.
BIGGEST ROAR: Of course, it was for some heavyweights in a chest-to-chest tussle. The crowd found the Greco-Roman match between Dremel Byers, who is at Fort Carson with the World Class program, against George Tsurtsumia as the best entertainment.
Because they were scoreless after the first 3-minute period, the two men started the second period chest to chest in a stance called the clinch.
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Spaulding wrestling team demise(Kali Riddel?)
Series of incidents led to Spaulding wrestling team’s demise
By AL PIKE Thursday, February 17, 2000
Staff Sports Writer
DOVER — Under normal circumstances, the Spaulding High School wrestling team would be practicing today for Friday’s Class L meet.
And next week, when their friends are living it up during February vacation, the Red Raiders who advanced would continue dieting and trying to make weight for the upcoming state meet.
But these are not typical times for the Spaulding wrestling program, which officially had the plug pulled last week, ending its season. Coach Joel Thone, who attended Wednesday’s Class L seed meeting, held out hope that there was a still a slim chance the team would receive a reprieve in time to compete in the big meets, but that didn’t happen.
"They didn’t have to tell us," said Thone, whose sons Tod and Zach are members of the team. "They didn’t reinstate us (Wednesday) morning, so the seeding meeting went on as planned — without us."
Two wrestlers were charged with sexually harassing a female teammate and suspended from the team in early December. Since then, a series of incidents involving members of the wrestling team ultimately led to the program’s demise last week. The incidents included a spitball fight on a bus, missing sneakers and the renting of an X-rated video.
The team was placed on probation two weeks ago by Spaulding High Principal Elizabeth Mantelli, and the School Board voted during a non-public session last Wednesday to uphold any decision to suspend the entire squad for the remainder of the season if another incident occurred.
"It’s the general feeling of myself and the parents that the athletic director (Timothy Kilroy) has magnified every incident," coach Thone said. "The administration has been coming to me and saying we’re out of control. We’re not out of control, and our academics show it."
"It’s been staring down at us the whole time," Tod Thone said. "Ever since that sexual harassment charge, (the administration) has looked at the program differently. ... They don’t look at what we do or what my father has accomplished."
Apparently, the last straw came last Wednesday when a team member was confronted by several local youths outside the school, according to Thone, following a match that was ultimately canceled because Manchester Memorial failed to show up.
The Red Raiders are not only prohibited from competing in Friday’s Class L meet, but they are also out of the following week’s state meet, which, in an ironic twist, Spaulding is scheduled to host.
"I feel we’ve been mistreated," Tod Thone said. "We’ve gone through all this work, now we’re not even going to get varsity letters. We’re supposed to host the state meet, and we’re not even wrestling in it."
"This is a precedent," coach Thone said. "I can’t think of another instance where a team has been pulled before a big tournament. It would never happen to the basketball team or the football team. But nobody knows about wrestling, they just read about it."
The Raiders finished with a 14-4 record and were considered an up-and-coming program, though still a notch below powers Salem, Concord and Timberlane. Coach Thone said he’ll meet with the team to see if they still want to help host the state meet.
"They’re talking about having a program next year," coach Thone said. "From what the administration has told me, they’re looking at having a team next year, hopefully with a clean slate. That sexual harassment charge has been hanging over the team. The School Board has been befuddled, and they haven’t wanted to deal with us. We’ll cut our losses and prepare for the future. I want this program to survive, but the kids are devastated at this point."
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Rockin’ Robin
By Lee Diekemper
Sun, 20 Feb 2000
The first thoughts of amateur wrestling are big, sweaty, burly boys, sometimes moonlighting between football seasons, grappling intensely for a good position. It hardly seems the place for a feminine character.
Don’t tell that to Robin Stafford. A senior at Tampa’s Armwood High, Stafford decided to
join the school’s wrestling team for the first time this year. All 5-foot-7 and 97 pounds of her.
“Everyone asks me about why I went out for wrestling, and it gets annoying,” says Stafford, displaying some of the spunk that helped her in the sport. “It’s something I wanted to do. It had nothing to do with proving that girls can do something that guys can do. It was just something that I wanted to do.”
Which is rather surprising, since Stafford did not go out for the wrestling team in any of her first three years at Armwood. But Stafford became intrigued by the sport while she was dating a former boyfriend, who just happened to be a wrestler. When Stafford decided to go out for the team, it was something of a shock to Armwood wrestling coach Don Hill.
“It was the first time for me,” says Hill about having a girl on his wrestling team.
Female wrestlers are not unusual for schools in Hillsborough County, but Stafford was the first for both Hill and Armwood. However, Hill’s friends in the coaching community and his experiences having his team face girls helped him handle the situation.
“I have had had guys wrestle against girls,” says Hill. “So I knew it wasn’t anything new. I just went through the proper channels. No problem.”
One thing that helped was the attitude of Stafford’s family.
“Her parents were very supportive,” says Hill. “And the school administration was very supportive as well.’’
Aside from the obvious problems of having a girl on his team, Hill also had to deal with a small wrestler competing for her first time against usually seasoned grapplers.
“Trying to make sure she didn’t get hurt was a concern,” says Hill. “That was the most difficult part. But practice wasn’t much of a problem for her.”
“Experience is a main thing,” says Stafford. “If I would have started sooner, I would have been better now. My last match, I wrestled really well. I held him and I did good for most of the match. I learned so much right before districts. If I was able to keep going, I would have learned and been able to do so much. I learned different moves that worked for me.”
Another obstacle for Stafford was her weight class. Weighing less than 100 pounds, she was usually battling wrestlers in the 119-pound class.
“I was always wrestling in the 119 class, because that was the lowest. I didn’t want to wrestle some guy that was 130 and happened to drop down.”
Stafford enjoyed her time on the wrestling team so much, she would like to continue at the University of South Florida, where she plans to major in education. But she has one simple condition.
“That [the NCAA] has a 103-pound class.”
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Davison sends 14 to wrestling regionals
Sunday, February 20, 2000
By Keith Morris
JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER
Keristen LaBelle didn't become the first girl in state history to win a district wrestling championship Saturday.
But the Davison sophomore is believed to be the first girl in the state to reach a district title match, where she was upset for the 103-pound championship by sophomore teammate Dan Charron in the Division I tournament at Davison.
In addition to LaBelle's achievement, it was a historic day for Davison for other reasons, as well.
The Cardinals qualified a record 14 wrestlers for next week's individual regional by sending 12 Cardinals into championship matches.
There are 14 weight classes and teams can enter no more than 14 wrestlers. The Cardinals are believed to be the first Division I team in state history to qualify the maximum 14 for the regional.
A whopping nine Cardinals won championships.
"We had 10 qualify last year and I thought that was impressive," said Davison coach Roy Hall. "The competition could be down a bit but we thought we'd send 14."
The Cardinals didn't enter anybody at two weights but had two qualify in two weights, including at 103, where Charron edged LaBelle 8-6 with a reversal with 29 seconds remaining.
LaBelle, who last week became the first girl to win a Big Nine Conference championship, went 3-1 to improve to 45-8. Charron (21-7) had been limited to 28 varsity matches in challenge matches with LaBelle. He picked a good time to beat her for the first time.
"I wrestle her every day and she usually beats me pretty bad," said Charron. "This is the first time I've beaten her. This is the best I've ever wrestled."
LaBelle joins Montrose's Jessica Perry as the only area girls to qualify for the regionals. Perry was fourth in the Division III district last year.
Hall said LaBelle's performance this year is all the more impressive in that she's doing it as part of one of the strongest teams this area has ever produced. The Cardinals (33-2) spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in Division I and will wrestle for a team regional championship Wednesday.
"She's a great contributor on our team and she just happens to be a girl," Hall said. "We expected her to be in the (district) finals."
The 14 Cardinals advance to next Saturday's individual regional at Carman-Ainsworth. The top four in each weight there qualify for the state finals.
Saginaw Buena Vista's Cynthia Harrold, in Division III, became the first girl in state history to reach the state finals a year ago. If LaBelle reaches the finals, she'll have the opportunity to become the first girl in state history to place among the top eight.
Also winning titles for the Cardinals were: Shaun Newton (112), Chase Metcalf (125), Joe Whitman (135), Chad Roush (140), Jimmy McFall (145), Casey Streeter (160), Jon Phillips (171), Nic LaFear (275).
Grand Blanc's Nick Neu (215) was third and Jason Coliadis (140) was fourth. Washington Jackson (189) of Southwestern Academy was fourth.
Championship matches103 - Dan Charron (Davison) d. Keristen LaBelle (Davison) 8-6; 112 - Shaun Newton (Davison) d. Justin Cardillo (Waterford Mott) 1:27; 119 - Omar Youssef (Rochester Adams) d. Danny Logan (Pontiac Northern) 21-6; 125 - Chase Metcalf (Davison) d. Dan Siedzik (Romeo) :58; 130 - Mike Holtz (Rochester Adams) d. Ricky Kallis (Lake Orion) 2:36; 135 - Joe Whitman (Davison) d. Jon Barkham (Rochester Adams) 3:37; 140 - Chad Roush (Davison) d. Scott Norton (Romeo) 15-1; 145 - Jimmy McFall (Davison) d. Derek Stabley (Romeo) 3-1; 152 - Clint DeGain (Clarkston) d. Tim Polidan (Davison) 12-3; 160 - Casey Streeter (Davison) d. Jeff Stevenson (Utica Eisenhower) 2:20; 171 - Jon Phillips (Davison) d. Chris Avery (Waterford Mott) 22-18; 189 - Jesse Navarre (Rochester Adams) d. Adam Wilmoth (Davison) 1:27; 215 - Brian Patrick (Lake Orion) d. Chris Jaroneski (Clarkston) 2:57; 275 - Nic LaFear (Davison) d. Aaron Karns (Clarkston) 1:15.
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