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By Steve Green -- London Free Press
March 4, 2000
The best she could have won yesterday was a bronze, but Tara Rutherford's presence at the Ontario high school wrestling championships was in itself a podium finish in determination.
The 17-year-old Grade 11 student at Lucas had transferred from Montcalm to take a biology co-op course she needed to pursue post-secondary marine biology studies. But she was ruled ineligible under the OFSAA transfer rule and told she would have to reapply under the "exceptional case" clause.
"I had to go through that process all over again and had to go over all my reasons again," she said yesterday between matches at the Woodstock Community Complex. "Mr. (Tim) Orr (the Lucas athletic director) said I probably wouldn't be made eligible but my mom gave me this speech about not giving up, so I called OFSAA.
"This was on a Friday and the woman there told me I was too late, that the (eligibility meeting) was on the Monday. But I faxed my stuff anyway and on the Monday our vice-principal (Dave Thomas) called me into the office for a telephone conference."
The next day, she found out her perseverance had paid off.
"I didn't believe it at first," she said. "I thought my coach (Greg Howard) was lying."
He wasn't.
But getting to OFSAA has been no reprieve from expectations, she said.
"The pressure's still there," she said, "because people say, 'She wanted it badly enough she'd better be good.' "
Although gold and silver were out of her reach, "just being here is great," she enthused. "A couple of months ago I was saying to myself, 'I won't be able to compete at OFSAA. I'll only be able to watch. That sucks.'
"I just hate it when people say no."
Would that some of that determination found its way onto the mat. Rutherford admitted she sometimes lacks aggression.
"Sometimes I start wrestling too late," said Rutherford, who was fourth at 45 kilograms last year and seventh at 45 kilograms in 1998. The fact her weight class has more than doubled in size in one year diminishes her chances but she's happy with that.
"Last year I had 10 people in my weight class. This year there were 26. I'm so happy I've got more people to wrestle."
That participation boom -- and Rutherford's desire to compete -- shows just how far girls' wrestling has come in the last decade, said Huron Park coach and OFSAA convener Al Huras.
Long gone are the days when it was considered a sideshow.
"I remember 10 years ago being at a meet in Sandwich and they were using mats in two different rooms," he said. "All of a sudden the one room emptied like someone had tuned on a vacuum cleaner. Everyone was three-deep around the other mat because a girl was wrestling a boy.
"People were laughing and tittering and while the girl lost that bout, she beat a boy later in the day and he quit wrestling on the spot.
"But thankfully we got away from that. Seven years ago I had 12 girls come out for my team and six finished the season."
Huras said the level of ability among the girls is growing much faster than among the boys.
"To watch the improvement in their sport over the last six years is phenomenal," he said. "Some of those girls wrestling (in the finals) will end up on the national team."
GOING OUT IN STYLE
Meanwhile, the East Lambton girls' team, with the Watford school closing this summer, bid adieu in fine form, winning ???? medals.
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Sullivan(coach) recives leadership award for Girls wrestling
The Vancouver Sun
March 4, 2000, Saturday, FINAL
High school wrestling coach Joe Sullivan was recognized for his lifetime
contribution to women's wrestling Thursday night at the
annual Promotion Plus Leadership Awards at Heritage Hall in Vancouver.
Sullivan, an assistant coach with the Hazelton secondary wrestling team, was
a driving force in the early development of women's
wrestling in B.C. and has been an energetic advocate for girls taking up the
sport despite a public perception that it is still a
male-only activity.
He has worked to ensure high school girls' matches are treated on par with
the boys' bouts and has advocated the development of
female officials in the sport.
The Promotion Plus awards recognize individuals and groups who work to
increase opportunities for girls and women in sport.
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DUFFY TAKES SECOND IN WRESTLING
Press Journal (Vero Beach, FL)
March 3, 2000, Friday
Vero Beach Highlands
Highlands resident Erika Duffy, 16, daughter of Jodi Duffy, took second
place in her weight class at the state girls' wrestling
competition, according to Mary Christy.
Erika, who attends Vero Beach High School, is sponsored by the high school's
ROTC program. Next stop is Michigan for the
national matches March 24.
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