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News Page
By JERRY SCHAEFFER 3/12/2000
News-Journal Correspondent
PORT ORANGE - Twenty-one teams, including one from Atlantic High School, participated in Florida's first girls state wrestling championships recently in Longwood.
The one is significant in that the Atlantic squad consisted of only one participant - junior Marisa Abbaleo. And she, a one-person team, placed the Sharks eighth in a meet among teams averaging 14 wrestlers.
"I'm the only girl wrestler now at Atlantic," said 16-year-old Marisa, a honors student who won the individual competition in the 119-pound classification at the Longwood state meet. "I competed hard and everything went my way."
She won all four of her matches - three on pins - in winning the state title.
"That's obviously been one of my wrestling highlights," said Marisa, who quit the cheerleading squad to join the wrestling team. "I love it, so I'm gonna keep trying to improve and just see if there are any future benefits to it."
Marisa's wrestling future, she said, hopefully includes a college scholarship and perhaps an opportunity to compete in the 2004 Olympic Games, when women's wrestling is being talked about to be added as a sport.
More immediately, she's accepted an invitation to be part of Team Florida, which will represent the state at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association's national championships March 25 in Lake Orion, Mich.
Marisa, who holds a 12-1 record in competition against other females, also is a member of the boys junior varsity team.
"Since there are no other female wrestlers at Atlantic, I practice with the guys' team and even compete against guys from other teams - if the team has no females," she said.
"I usually lose to the guys because they are stronger, but I have beaten a couple and taken another into overtime," she said. "I prefer to compete against other girls, but I'd rather practice against the guys because it makes me a better wrestler."
What do her parents, Vinnie and Kathryn, think about her competing in such a male-dominated sport - and against boys?
"At first, I didn't like it," said Vinnie, a high school basketball referee who is an avid tennis player. "In that first match, when she went against a boy, the coach had to hold me back. It was tough seeing my little girl being thrown around out there.
"But Marisa has kept herself in such good physical shape - as good as the boys - that she can compete with them."
Kathryn, who during her schoolgirl days kept score for the wrestling team, said she also enjoys it.
"I've encouraged Marisa from the start," Kathryn said. "Her dad was a little apprehensive at first, wondering about boys possibly grabbing Marisa in the wrong places, but none of that has happened. Wrestlers are dedicated to technique and seeking advantages, so they stick to that.
"Other girls at Atlantic who have considered wrestling say it's not very feminine to have your face stuck in some smelly guy's armpit. But none of that has deterred Marisa. She sets a goal and heads toward it."
In fact, Steve Schwartz, the Atlantic wrestling coach, says Marisa is his one of his top students.
"She has an endurance factor that sets the pace for the boys on the team," Schwartz said. "She listens, she follows through, she runs like she's supposed to, she trains properly, she watches her weight, she has great heart, she is a great self-disciplinarian."
Marisa, who stands 5-foot-4, also is the No. 1 singles player on the Atlantic girls tennis team and is a regular on the volleyball squad.
To be able to compete for Team Florida next month, Marisa will have to raise her own expense money, including that for transportation, lodging and meals.
Anyone interested in assisting may contact her dad, Vinnie, at 756-9093.
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March 13, 2000
Marisa Abbaleo/Atlantic HighWrestling
The lone girls’ wrestler at Atlantic High, Marisa Abbaleo not only won her weight class but also lifted her school into eighth place out of 21 teams at Florida’s recent first state wrestling championships.
Abbaleo won the 119-pound weight class, winning three of her four matches by pinfall.
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WRESTLING TEAM Alvarez polishes off gold- medal season
Fort Worth Star - Telegram; Mar 9, 2000
Alejandro Alvarez said he left business unfinished last year.
Alvarez was then a Grapevine High School junior and already a state
103-pound wrestling champion. But he
lost in last season's 112- pound UIL state final to an opponent he had
beaten three times that season.
He stepped on the floor for this season's 119-pound state final two weeks
ago having learned not to take any
opponent for granted. And by the time the championship match was over, he
proved he had learned the lesson well.
He defeated another familiar opponent, The Colony's Sale Lilly, by technical
fall in the second period to cap his senior season with a 50-0 record. For those accomplishments, he is the Boys Wrestler of the Year on the 1999-2000 All Star-Telegram Wrestling Team.
"Losing last year helped me work harder for this year," said Alvarez, who
said he has been accepted to
Cornell University and expects to wrestle for the Big Red next season. "I'll
never forget last year. But
maybe that will help me in the long run."
Another senior, Sam Houston's Brenda Malott, is the Girls Wrestler of the
Year for the second consecutive
year. This season Malott went 28-1 and repeated as the girls state 128-pound
champion and led Sam
Houston to a second-place team finish at state.
Malott, who would like to continue her career on the national and
international level, said girls wrestling in
Texas has come a long way in a short amount of time.
Winning "was a lot harder this year," Malott said. "The competition has
gotten so much better. I can look
back and see everything I accomplished."
Malott wasn't the area's only girls state champion. Angela Martinez won her
third state crown at 102 pounds
for Bowie, and Arlington's Geanie Jaffe took the 165-pound title for her
second crown.
On the boys side, other Fort Worth-area state champions were Eric Lane of
Marcus (130), Josh Troegle of
Lamar (152), Keith Clifton of Colleyville Heritage (171) and Nick Leckey of
Grapevine (275).
While Martin coach Tony Warren said he had expected the Warriors to do
better at state than their
16th-place team finish, he was pleased with the Warriors' regular season.
Martin went 24-5 in duals, losing
none to area teams, and won four tournaments, including the District 15 boys
title. The Warriors also finished
second behind Highland Park in Region II.
For those performances by his team, Warren is Coach of the Year.
"Last year the guys learned how to compete. This year they learned how to
win, and that was the big
difference," said Warren, who expects to have 14 starters back next season.
"There were some
disappointing things, like at state, but it was a tremendous season."
Two new faces made big impressions on the Fort Worth-area scene. Sam Houston
junior LaTosha Gillon,
the Girls Newcomer of the Year, joined the Texans wrestling team in January
and placed second at state at 215 pounds. Azle freshman Chas Skelly, representing a first- year program, reached the 103-pound state
final to earn the Boys Newcomer of the Year honors.
"He was disappointed he didn't win, but I think now that he's had a little
time away he has to be proud of
what he's done," Azle coach Don Morland said. "It's huge for Azle, and for
him too. He'll get his first state championship before he's done."
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Going National
By Jeremy Drown
March 10, 2000
Growing up, there weren’t too many girls who messed with Holly Haritan. Heck, there weren’t many boys that did, either.
“I hung out with mostly guys, and I grew up playing football and basketball, so I was pretty tough,” says Haritan, now a senior at Lyman
High. “And my guy friends started asking me, ‘Why don’t you come out for wrestling?’”
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Haritan decided to give the girls’ wrestling team a try her sophomore year. Her first match was against a girl who was 20 pounds heavier than she was.
“My coach didn’t tell me that at the time,” says Haritan. “But I ended up beating that girl. He told me afterward. But I started thinking to myself, if I can beat her I can beat anybody.”
And Haritan has done exactly that over the course of her high school career.
The senior, regarded as perhaps the best girls’ wrestler in Central Florida, never lost an in-state wrestling match in her high school career, finishing 54-0 over the course of three seasons. A three-time state champion at 126 pounds, Haritan is currently ranked fifth in the country by the U.S. Girls’ Wrestling Association for her weight class.
Last season, the 5-foot-6 Haritan, part of Florida’s first-ever national team, earned All-American status by finishing seventh at the national tournament in Michigan.
“That was a big accomplishment for me,” says Haritan, voted Florida’s Most Outstanding Wrestler this season. “There was a lot of pressure at nationals. It was a great experience.”
This time, Haritan will have experience on her side at the national tournament. Last year that wasn’t the case. In the quarterfinals against Kansas’ Kristy Ferguson, Haritan led Ferguson by one point with 15 seconds left in the match. While the better strategy would have been to ri
de out the win, Haritan, being an aggressive wrestler, instead decided to continue her offensive attack.
Ferguson, who had wrestled at the national tournament before, scored a takedown on Haritan and got the victory. Haritan then lost her next match and finished seventh in her weight class. This season, Ferguson is rated as the top wrestler in Haritan’s weight class.
“That was one of the most heart-breaking matches I ever saw her in,” says Team Florida coach Eric Tolland, who is also the boys’ wrestling coach at Oviedo High and has coached against Haritan. “[Ferguson] went on to the national finals and that’s how close Holly is.”
Haritan, who was known mostly as a head-and-arm wrestler, spent this past season working on developing a more all-around wrestling style. She has added several new moves, including shooting the legs and tilting her opponents.
“She’s expanded her arsenal to include everything,” says Tolland. “She realized she couldn’t just use the head and arm. She had to resort to other things, and it’s that which has impressed me the most about Holly.
“She completely adapted to improve herself as a wrestler. I’ll always think of her highly because of that.”
With the high school season now over, Haritan has been training with other members of Team Florida in preparation for the tournament in Michigan March 25-26.
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“My day has been filled with wrestling and conditioning,” says Haritan. “But that’s what’s good about this sport, it keeps you in very, very good shape.”
“We’re going up there with the intentions of taking a shot at the national championship,” says Tolland, who will take 25 girl wrestlers with him to the tournament. “Holly is one of the two or three girls that has the best shot at getting (an individual) championship. And out of the two or three she’s the only one with experience.”
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Player of the Week
March 8, 2000
Jennifer Starnes — MacCarthur High, Girls’ Wrestling
MacArthur High wrestling coach Jerry McHugh tells you all you need to know about the potential of girls’ grappler Jennifer Starnes:
“She is going to be a state champion before it’s all over,” he says. “Actually, she’s probably going to have a couple of state titles.”
This assessment comes just one season into the sophomore’s brief wrestling career. This is the first year that MacArthur offered the sport to girls, and after watching a friend compete at another school, Starnes was anxious to give it a shot.
“It was really entertaining to watch, and my friend and I thought it would be a good idea to try out,” says Starnes, who wrestles at 128 pounds. “We wanted to try something new. I’m really glad I started doing it.”
By the time Starnes had gotten the hang of moves like the underhook and the cradle, she was headed to the state tournament with a 13-3 record.
“As the season went on, I learned from my mistakes, and I built strength and endurance,” says Starnes, who began studying film of her matches midway through the season.
Aside from learning the techniques, Starnes and the other three girls on the team had a gender barrier to break through. Even though they weren’t wrestling on the same mat as the guys, there was still some animosity.
“When we go to meets, I hear a lot of guys saying stuff like, ‘Are we ever going to have a sport that only guys can do.’ I just ignore it and go out there and try to show people what I can do,” says Starnes.
But opposing teams weren’t the only wrestlers who were cold to Starnes and the other girls.
“At the beginning, the guys on our team were hesitant too, but now we’re great friends and we hang out a lot on the weekends,” she says.
The eventual respect given to her and her teammates undoubtedly had something to do with the commitment Starnes showed to the sport.
“She came with no experience, but a desire to learn,” says McHugh. “She’s gotten better because she just keeps going and going and she practices what she learns.”
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Girls' wrestling gaining respect
The Delhi News Record Feb 8,2000
Girls' wrestling is quickly gaining popularity and respect in high schools
across Ontario.
Since becoming a sanctioned high school sport in the mid-1990s, an
increasing number of girls are finding enjoyment and success in the
traditionally male sport.
At Delhi District Secondary School, two girls have taken up the challenge
and are having quite a good season.
"It's going better than expected," said Amanda Graves, a Grade 11 student.
Graves placed second at a tournament at Valley Heights Secondary School this
season
and came home with fourth place finishes from Waterford and Hagersville
tournaments. Carrie Butler, the other female member of the Raiders squad and
also in
Grade 11, is having an impressive season with a first at Valley Heights,
second in Waterford and fourth in Hagersville in her weight class.
Both have been wrestling since Grade 9, although it was Graves who first
showed an interest in the sport.
"I thought it would be neat to try," she said. "I heard there were no other
girls."
Butler has always had an interest in traditional male sports, having played
hockey on a boys' team up until last year.
While they admit they like proving something to the guys, their main reasons
for staying involved are the same as any athlete's.
"I have to be doing something," Graves said.
"It's a way to stay in shaped," said Butler.
With an increasing number of girls involved in the sport at other schools,
it is also a great way to meet other people.
"You meet different people all the time," said Graves. "At the one
(tournament) there was more girls than guys."
Neither of the girls has felt any flack for wrestling, either from the guys
on the team or their friends at school.
"Now most of the girls think it's pretty cool were into it," said Graves.
Coach Mat Menich said some guys were a little leery about having girls on
the team at first, but that has past.
"Once they see what they can do and that they are serious they're fine," he
said. "They're just a member of the team."
The girls credit the boys on the team with helping them get where they are.
"If it weren't for them I wouldn't be able to do it," said Graves.
While the girls go up against girls exclusively at tournaments, they often
wrestle the guys in practice. That hasn't presented any problems.
"They're all gentlemen about it," said Graves.
Graves and Butler haven't had to worry about the guys being too rough on
them, in fact some boys have been caught off guard by them.
"We have a lot of rookies out here this year. A lot of them were surprised
when they wrestle us," said Graves.
Menich said there is a definite difference between the way the girls and
guys wrestle..
"Girls are more flexible," he said, noting the girls are also more
aggressive.
Butler agreed. "The girls get really aggressive," she said. "The girls get
all pumped up."
"Guys go for certain moves but the girls do whatever they can do," said
Graves.
While girls' wrestling is still in its infancy in Norfolk, it has grown
phenomenally in the few years it has been around.
"I'm just amazed how big it is now," said coach Dave Zeldon. He's also
impressed how the technique involved with girls' wrestling has improved.
"The girls are holding their own now," he said.
Menich would like to see more girls out, as he would like to see more
wrestlers out in general.
"I'd like to see the mat full every night," he said.
Wrestling is a great sport to build discipline and motivation.
"There's the goal as well as having to achieve the goal," he said.
Raiders wrestlers are on exam break right now. Action resumes Feb. 9 with a
tournament in Burford.
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