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Caledonia's Lynde Baltrusaitis tries to escape Petoskey's Shawn Clay during her first Division 2 regional match. Baltrusaitis lost, but worked her way back through the bracket and became one of three 103-pound girls to reach the state finals. The others are Davison's Keristen LaBelle and Mason County Central's Sandra Padron. |
Many argue girls should have wrestling teams of their own
March 9, 2000
BILL L. ROOSE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Ludington sophomore Kevin Fitzgerald won't be wrestling in the state high school tournament today because he lost to a girl.
Fitzgerald handled the 4-2 regional loss to Caledonia freshman Lynde Baltrusaitis with grace. But some people don't think Baltrusaitis and two other girls who made the state finals should be wrestling boys. They await the day when girls can wrestle on their own teams, as they do in other parts of the country.
"I know the argument is around," said Fitzgerald, who wrestles at 103 pounds in Division 2, "but I don't see the point. I can see their point if it's a religious thing, but it doesn't faze me. At first I had a problem with girls wrestling, but I got used to it. It's a big commitment sport and if they want to put in the time, then let them."
Today, 896 wrestlers in four divisions will converge on Joe Louis Arena for the three-day individual state meet. Last year was the first time a girl wrestled in the finals, and Saginaw Buena Vista senior Cynthia Harrold lost her opening match in Division 3.
Now Baltrusaitis, Davison sophomore Keristen LaBelle and Scottville Mason County Central senior Sandra Padron hope to make history by becoming the first girls state champions in a boys sport. Baltrusaitis, LaBelle and Padron all wrestle at 103 pounds. LaBelle will compete in Division 1, Baltrusaitis in Division 2 and Padron in Division 4.
Opponents of cross-gender competition in contact sports, like football and hockey, think wrestling holds are too intimate for teenagers to be performing on one another.
"We feel that it's inappropriate involvement," said John Herzog, superintendent of Detroit's Lutheran High School Association. "We don't feel that it's appropriate for females to be involved in male sports. In the non-contact sports we have, boys and girls run together. That's not the problem, and we wouldn't be opposed to having a girls wrestling league. It doesn't take much from the opening hold to see why we have reservations. That's sexual harassment if you touch like that in school."
No girls have tried to wrestle for the four Metro Conference Lutheran schools -- Harper Woods Lutheran East, Macomb Lutheran North, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest and Lutheran Westland. When their teams face female opponents, school policies mandate that the wrestlers forfeit the matches.
"We didn't have girls soccer back in the '80s and faced a lawsuit until we formed our own girls soccer teams," Herzog said. "With more females in male wrestling, this will come down the pike."
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, there are 450 girls wrestling teams around the country. Michigan has none, although the state tournament is among the most popular that the Michigan High School Athletic Association conducts each year.
This year, 293 girls competed among the more than 11,000 wrestlers on freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams in Michigan, MHSAA records show. That's up from 50 girls in 1997.
Tricia McNaughton Saunders was a gymnast at Ann Arbor Huron when she turned her attention to wrestling, an unpopular decision during the early 1980s. The school district wouldn't let her compete, but that didn't prevent Saunders from becoming a four-time world women's champion. Last September, she won the 46-kilogram (101-pound) world title in Boden, Sweden.
Women's wrestling has gained worldwide popularity -- it might become an Olympic sport for the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece -- but not in the United States.
"There's a county next to mine that won't let girls wrestle," said Saunders, who lives in Chandler, Ariz., with her husband, Townsend Saunders, USA Wrestling's heavyweight champion. "You can go to a county 40 miles away and it's totally different. You can go to places in Africa that are predominantly Muslim countries that have woman wrestlers. Then you can come back here and people act as if the sky is falling."
Girls began to invade boys wrestling in greater numbers nationwide about 10 years ago. They ran into skepticism and outrage. For example, a referees association in Texas, faced with a lawsuit from a parents group, disbanded after it refused to instruct its members to officiate boys matches involving girls.
They and other opponents argue: Is it right for young men to put their hands on girls on a wrestling mat, when that might be considered a sexual assault any other place?
"What about the places that girls grab the boys?" Saunders asked. "Or where boys grab boys in football? Context is everything, and people that are offended by this should be appalled with (pairs) figure skating and where they put their hands. If a guy did that to me outside of gymnastics, I think he's going to get slapped."
Kent Bailo, a wrestling referee from Lake Orion, is a big proponent of all-girls leagues. The last three years, Bailo has organized all-girls high school and college tournaments in Ann Arbor. This year, he plans to take them on the road to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and California.
"They shouldn't be wrestling guys," Bailo said. "It's like saying we shouldn't have a women's basketball team in the Olympics. We should just have a basketball team. Then how many opportunities do you think women would have?
"Wrestling is the same way. I mean, with Davison's Keristen LaBelle being the exception, girls wrestling guys limits opportunities for girls. You don't see girls wrestling on ranked teams at Temperance Bedford, Clarkston and Rochester Adams.
"The girls that are wrestling are doing so on teams that either aren't that good or their school is so small that they don't have enough boys on the team. How many are there because they're good?
"The gender issue is the idiot issue. When people say that the girls are being touched in inappropriate places, I would counter by saying that the boys are the ones being touched inappropriately. The idea is to gain control and to maintain a pin. Nobody shakes hands on the mat to get a date for the prom."
Eastpointe East Detroit freshman Brandy Rosenbrock, who wrestled this season at 119 and 125 pounds, noticed considerable differences.
"The guys at 125 are more muscular and not as much at 119," she said. "When I'm wrestling a guy, I don't think if I touch him there that that's not right. I'm not groping them.
"I practice six hours a day, all after school, but you have to have dedication to succeed in wrestling. Girls have to build more muscle strength and be more technical than the guys to beat them."
Rosenbrock is serious about her craft. Last year, she won the 121-pound title in the all-girls state championship sponsored by Bailo at Lake Orion. She will defend that title March 19.
Most successful girls in high school have been at the lowest weight class -- 103 pounds. Wrestling officials say girls have better muscle definition than boys of the same age and weight.
"At the 103-pound class, high school girls aren't so outmatched because of their bodies," said Tricia Saunders, who coaches the all-boys team at Chandler High in Arizona. "There's always that mix, but the higher the weight you get the less crossover there is, because guys begin to build much more muscle mass.
"Eventually the girls will start wanting to wrestle in college and to just wrestle other girls.... I look forward to that announcement."
In the meantime, boys and girls will compete together in Michigan high schools. This means boys must deal with the attitude that it's unacceptable to lose to girls.
During a club match in 1975 in Ann Arbor, Saunders stood and watched a father confront his adolescent son, who had just lost to her.
"That was the worst thing that happened to me, when I watched a kid have his dad hit him," Saunders said. "He hit him hard. My coach, who was a huge guy, went over and got the dad off his son. I'm still bothered by that image."
That kind of behavior hasn't been reported at high school events, but boys still can be objects of ridicule when they lose to girls, said Fitzgerald, the Ludington wrestler, who recalls getting shut out by a girl in a freestyle match last summer.
"Certain guys on the team will make fun of you. The guys were pretty cool with me," he said of his regional loss. "But a guy last year quit the team because everyone teased him. Me, personally, it's not a bother."
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MCC's Padron becomes first area female to reach mat finals
Thursday, March 9, 2000
By Scott Brandenburg
Chronicle correspondent
For Sandra Padron, the individual wrestling state finals has been a long time in coming.
That's not to say that Padron, a senior wrestler at 103 pounds for Mason County Central, hasn't enjoyed the ride.
It's just that there's been a few close calls and obstacles to hurdle in becoming only the third girl in Michigan wrestling history to reach the individual state finals. Cynthia Harrold (Saginaw Buena Vista) qualified last season, while Keristen LaBelle (Davison) became the first girl to win a state regional two weeks ago.
Thanks to a never-say-die attitude, Padron finished third in the regional tourney to qualify for the finals that start today at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
"Sandra's a very strong competitor," said Mason County Central coach Jack Stibitz. "She's got the biggest heart on the team and she never quits."
Last season, Padron just missed out on a trip to the state finals, finishing in fifth place.
Padron would likely have made it to the finals last season if there wasn't such good competition in West Michigan.
The senior's chief competition has come from Hesperia's Kelly Sibley, who took home a regional crown at 103 pounds.
"For a couple years now every time I go up against him I get beat," said Padron. "He's a very good wrestler. Finishing so close to making it to state last season really made me want it and work hard to get there this season."
Padron regrouped to post a 28-8 record and gain a finals berth this season despite hurting her back early in the year.
If Padron hadn't been injured, she figures she could have won at least 10 more matches.
"I was trying to go bridge and I got caught on the mat," said Padron. "I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I felt the muscles in my back pop."
Added Stibitz, "She got her head stuck on the mat and her butt touched her head. It's a good thing she's flexible. If that had been you or I, we would probably be in a wheelchair."
Padron fell in love with wrestling as an eighth-grader just by watching her classmates take to the mat. The following year, Stibitz mentioned that the team needed a 103-pound wrestler and that Padron would do well stepping into the opening.
Talk about prophetic.
Padron has earned close to 90 career wins. If it wasn't for hurting her back this season and a two-week absence due to an injury in her junior year, Padron could have reached 100 wins for her high school career.
Wrestling came naturally to Padron, the first girl to compete for the Spartans under Stibitz.
"I love it," Padron said about the sport. "I love the competition and the physical conditioning that comes with wrestling."
She has more than held her own physically.
"We have never given her breaks or let her slide by just because she was a girl," said Stibitz. "And really, it was never a problem. She came in here as a freshman and was doing more push-ups than some of the boys were. She's got a fire and a competitive desire to succeed."
The hardest part of wrestling for Padron may have been gaining acceptance as a female wrestler in a boys' sport.
According to Padron, that acceptance finally came this season.
"There has never been a problem or anything, but I think I've gotten everyone's respect on the team now," said Padron. "This has been the best year by far."
Padron also wrestles in the girls' state tournament, which takes place the weekend after the boys' tournament.
This season Padron will be shooting for her second state title. She finished first as a sophomore and runner-up in her freshman and junior seasons.
"Making it to the boys state finals means a lot more, though,"said Padron.
Padron will likely attend Missouri Valley College, which has a women's wrestling team.
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Wrestlers are coming! Joe makes more room
March 9, 2000
BY TOM LANG
FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER
The road to Joe Louis Arena culminates this afternoon for 896 wrestlers from across Michigan as they converge to start the state individual wrestling finals. The tournament runs through Saturday evening.
INDIVIDUAL
STATE FINALS
What: Lower Peninsula individual wrestling state championships.
When: Today-Saturday.
Where: Joe Louis Arena.
Schedule: Today -- grand march and round 1, 2:45 p.m.; Friday -- rounds 2-4, 9 a.m.; semifinals, 8 p.m.; Saturday -- rounds 6-8, 9 a.m.; grand march and finals, 5 p.m.
Tickets: All-tournament $30; single-session reserved $6; single-session general admission $5.
It's the largest wrestling tournament in the country, bringing all four divisions under one roof. Last year was the first time all the wrestling took place at one venue, and some of the problems at the Joe prompted the Michigan High School Athletic Association to try new things this weekend.
The biggest change is more space -- for wrestlers to warm up and in the areas of scoring and media services. No spectators will sit in the arena's lower bowl, allowing easier mobility around the 12 wrestling mats.
Spectators still should be able to get reasonably close to the divisions in which they're most interested. Each division has three mats, grouped together at either end or along a side.
Also new: Fans or wrestlers may purchase videotapes of their favorite matches.
"The folks at the Joe will set up at least one stationary camera per mat," said Ron Nagy, local tournament director. "They'll be able to use their television production room to record and compile tapes of every match."
Selected matches also will appear on a video wall above the floor and on monitors along the concourse and in the Olympia Room restaurant.
"Lots of great suggestions came in from the wrestling community that we think will improve the tournament from last year," Nagy said. "The adjustments should have a positive impact.
"Coaches and wrestlers love having everyone in the same facility -- that is the foundation we're building on."
More than 47,000 fans attended last year's tournament, and more are likely to attend this weekend. The arena is set up to hold about 16,500 fans.
Previously, the tournament was split between Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek and University Arena at Western Michigan University.
"Most people realized there would be a big learning curve involved to bring this event to a huge venue in a new city," Nagy said. "Coming to an arena the size of the Joe means making some adjustments -- some give and take is needed."
Some tournament facts:
Davison, the Division 1 team champion, has 12 qualifiers. Division 4 champion Whittemore-Prescott is next with 11.
Twenty champions return to defend titles.
Manchester's Jeremiah Tobias (145 pounds) is trying to become the sixth wrestler to win four state titles. Scott Pushman (125) of Fenton, junior Nick Simmons (119) of Williamston, Brad Anderson (160) of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Rick Mena (135) of Martin are going for their third titles.
Thirty wrestlers are undefeated this season.
The match total is 1,620, among wrestlers from 317 high schools.
125 tournament staff workers are used.
Twenty-four referees will officiate the action.
