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ANOTHER FIRST FOR PERLMUTTER
The
Record
January 26, 1995;
Manchester's Amy Perlmutter, who has made State
history as a girl
wrestling on the varsity level, had company Wednesday
when she
apparently entered the State record books one more time.
Perlmutter pinned Hawthorne sophomore Catrina Carrizales
in 1:49 in
what is believed to be the first girl vs. girl bout in
New Jersey. The
112-pound Perlmutter recognized the irony, for when she
first began
wrestling, onlookers feared for her safety. This time,
the sneaker was
on the other foot as the aggressive senior was stopped
three times by
referee Bill Paladino while applying potentially
dangerous arm-bar
holds.
"I was pumped up for this match," Perlmutter (9-4) said.
"I didn't
want to lose to a girl."
Hawthorne coach Bob Pasquale said Carrizales was 2-0 on
the junior
varsity level before Wednesday's varsity debut, and the
pairing was
agreed upon with Manchester coach Jules Pellegrino.
"Catrina wrestled
seven years in Ohio where her father's a high school
coach and her
brother is a wrestler," Pasquale said. "She came to
Hawthorne in eighth
grade but didn't wrestle as a freshman. She knows the
sport as well as
anyone in our room. But Amy is much more physical."
Perlmutter also was warned once for excessive roughness
before
running her pin series: a 2-on-1 to a half-nelson and
tight-waist turn,
winning with a head and a half. "I'm wrestling much more
aggressively
this year," she said. When asked what advice she'd give
Carrizales,
Perlmutter added, "I don't know what year she is, but
she's just got to
stick with it."
Hawthorne went on to a 37-36 victory in the
Bergen-Passaic
Scholastic League match, sparked by Pete Reilly, who
scored a 7-4
victory over Manchester's Carmen Pellegrino in the
126-pound bout. Each
is a returning Passaic County champion.
"I never wrestled him but I knew how good he was,"
Reilly said. "I
was ready to go up to 134 pounds but then I saw Monday
he had gone down
to 126."
Reilly spun for a takedown with three seconds left in
the first
period and later escaped three times with running
switches. Pellegrino
reversed in the second period and spun around Reilly's
missed duckunder
in the third.
Many bouts were over quickly. Hawthorne's key wins were
by P.J.
Califiore (a 19-9 decision at 151 pounds on his 18th
birthday) and
sophomore John Convertino (a 1:22 pin at 160 pounds with
a cross-body
cradle). First-period pins by Rick Trace and Alejandro
Narrea had
Manchester up 24-9, but Joe Azzi pinned in 63 seconds
with a half nelson
to start a string of three wins and a Manchester
forfeit.
Brothers Jante and Abe Tsay both pinned for Manchester,
Jante
starting with a spectacular arm drag and throw, and Abe
by popping out
for a reversal and underhooking for a 36-31 lead before
Manchester
forfeited at heavyweight.
January 27, 1995
---------------------------------
PERLMUTTER KEEPS WINNING RESPECT
The Record
February 4, 1995;
It's difficult not to notice Amy Perlmutter at a
Passaic County
wrestling tournament that includes 168 boys.
Most noticeable to wrestling fans is not that
Perlmutter, the
Manchester senior, is a girl, but that she is a
phenomenal wrestler.
That was evident in the opening seconds of the
119-pounder's
preliminary-round bout with Kennedy's Virgilio Soto,
when she turned an
arm drag into a whizzer throw. It went out of bounds,
but it served as a
warning shot. The sixth-seeded Perlmutter pinned in 1:57
with an arm bar
and headlock.
Her second-round opponent, third-seeded John Bennett of
Passaic
Tech, also had caught the eye with his seven-second pin
of Marko Kopic
of Passaic. Bennett said he figured his opponent was a
novice wrestler,
the way he lined up, and so took advantage of the
inexperience. "He was
too low, pretty easy to cradle," said Bennett, who had
more to say once
caught in Perlmutter's clutches in the second round.
"I thought, Oh, my God, I'm gonna lose to a girl! I
didn't expect
her to be that tough, to tell you the truth. I give her
a lot of
credit," he said.
Perlmutter headlocked him in the opening 16 seconds and
whizzered
him down, building a 6-2 lead. But Bennett eliminated
Perlmutter by
head-and-legging her to her back for the pin in 4:00. "I
just tried to
move her around and get her feet tangled up."
Tech needed that win to build its 62-52.5 lead over
Passaic Valley
going into today's semifinals, if weather allows. A few
Tech stalwarts
fell, most noticeably Jerges Cortina.
Clifton's sixth-seeded 126-pounder Joe Illescas, who
pulled out a
9-7 overtime win in the preliminary round over Ted
Rappold of Pompton
Lakes, also used late-second heroics in the
quarterfinals over the
third-seeded Cortina.
Illescas scored a takedown, two backpoints, and, after
being
reversed by Cortina, he escaped to preserve a 7-5 win.
"I've had problems cutting weight lately, but I just
pushed it
through tonight. The crowd gets into it and I try to
pump it up," the
Mustangs senior said. "Using legs helps a lot because I
can put weight
on him and tire him a little."
The biggest win belonged to Wayne Valley 142-pounder Ken
Schroeder,
who scored a 6-3 decision over DePaul's second-seeded
Kevin Wieme at 142
pounds. Schroeder frustrated his opponent with frontal
headlock spins
that led to single-leg takedowns.
"I was tying up with him and I guess it frustrated him,"
said
Schroeder, relieved to get that far considering that he
felt ill. "The
flu has been going right through our team," he said.
"Ommeed Shahrokh
Valley's 160-pound semifinalist won, and he was so sick,
it was
doubtful that he would wrestle."
The grit of Sharokh and Schroeder, plus Crew Schielke,
led Wayne
Valley into third place, a half point behind Passaic
Valley.
"My guys are feeling the squeeze a little bit because
people were
expecting them to win," said PCT coach John Manning.
"But PV is a tough
team and I'm not selling them short. They seem to like
this tournament
stuff."
Both Tech and Passaic Valley have seven wrestlers still
competing.
PV really came on.
"We got our last seven in," said coach Anthony Minnella,
pleased to
have the heavier people carrying the team. Jason Caruso,
seeking his
fourth County title, pinned in one minute of his
142-pound bout.
February 7, 1995
------------------------------
A YOUNG GIRL GRAPPLES WITH SUCCESS;
WRESTLING'S A BOY'S WORLD? DON'T TELL AMY PERLMUTTER
The Record
March 12, 1989;
You're an 11-year-old boy, and pumped up more than
usual for your
wrestling bout. The cheers for your rival make the
situation clear: "C'mon, Amy."
"Go for the legs, Amy."
"Atta girl, Amy."
You know you're competing against an opponent unlike any
other.
You're going head-to-head with Amy Perlmutter, a
70-pounder in the
junior class for the Manchester junior wrestling
program.
And she's very good.
"Everybody that wrestles against Manchester knows they
have the
girl," Manchester assistant coach Bill Magna said. "It
freaks guys
out."
Amy, 11, began competing three years ago. In her first
match, she
admitted to being nervous.
Then, as if in a hurry to get off the mat, she pinned
her opponent.
In 10 seconds.
Surprised? "Yeah," Amy said. "I thought I'd do it in
three
periods."
She recorded four more falls en route to a district
title that
season. A year later, she captured the districts before
winning a
regional title.
Despite a rib injury, she placed fourth in the districts
this year.
"It was too bad," said Magna, "because she would've
placed
higher."
"Everybody I know who wrestles against her says she's
good," says
Billy Magna, the coach's son and a 100-pound
intermediate in the
Manchester program. Billy says he has several friends
who've lost to Amy
in the past.
Amy doesn't compete to make any grand statement about
equality. She
doesn't wish to be a pioneer in the sport.
She simply loves wrestling.
Her appreciation of it came by accident. One afternoon
three years
ago, she was with a friend who happened to be on his way
to sign up for
Manchester's wrestling program. She accompanied him and
decided to join.
If her friend hadn't gone that day, Amy says she would
not be
wrestling today.
In the beginning, there were skeptics. One of the
biggest was Jeff
Zona, her coach.
"Yeah, three years ago I was," Zona said. "Having a girl
on the
team made me frown. But after three weeks of working
with her, she
totally changed my attitude.
"She's really a coach's dream. No matter what it takes
to improve,
she does it. She's a quick learner. She gives 100
percent in practice.
She's a very good competitor. The word losing doesn't
seem to be in her
vocabulary."
How far does she intend to advance in the sport? "A
couple more
years," said Amy, a sixth-grader at Haledon Public
School.
High school wrestling? "Maybe," she said. "I don't know.
I think
about it."
"If she wants to.. I just don't know if that's
possible," said
Paula Perlmutter, Amy's mother. "I hear that girls are
discouraged. But
if that's the way she wants it..."
"I'll be honest with you," said Manchester Regional
varsity coach
Jules Pelligrino. "I wouldn't stop her. There are
coaches who say that a
girl doesn't belong. But if she came out, I wouldn't
stop her.
"I'm telling you, she's an athlete; she's an extremely
talented
wrestler. I know that girls are more mature at that age,
but as a
wrestler she's physical and aggressive. She's a joy to
watch.
"If she was a guy, she'd have a heckuva career ahead of
her. She
has the ability. But I think the boys' maturity will
eventually catch up
with her."
Amy can bench-press 95 pounds, according to her mother.
"Whenever I need furniture moved, I rely on her," she
said. "She
can pick up furniture with no trouble; it's amazing."
Amy also fared well when she took karate classes as a
6-year-old.
"I felt so sorry for the little boys," her mother said.
"It was no
contest. Some boys were crying."
She gave up karate because her friends abandoned the
sport and
began playing in the Haledon PAL baseball league. She
joined soon
afterward.
As an 8-year-old, she played football for the Manchester
Junior
Falcons. But she quit after two games because "she hated
wearing the
uniforms in the summer," according to her mother, who
was never
athletically inclined.
"I didn't encourage it, but if she was interested, I
wasn't going
to stop her," she said of her daughter. "She was always
very athletic
and into sports."
Now, three years after becoming a wrestler, Amy has even
begun
instructing her less-experienced teammates.
"The kids seem to look up to Amy," said Zona. "There's
no
animosity. She even teaches the young kids moves. There
are no feelings
like, Oh no! She's a girl!' They cheer for her loudly
when she's
competing."
GRAPHIC: 1 - <(Passaic-Morris Your Town Record section)
PHOTO - DANIELLE P. RICHARDS / THE RECORD - In her first
match, three years ago, it took Amy Perlmutter, now 11, just 10
seconds to pin her opponent.
2 - (With story in Southeast Your Town Record section,
alone in South Bergen Your Town Record section)
April 22, 1996
-----------------------------
A CONNECTICUT GIRL, 15, MAKES WRESTLING
HISTORY
The New York Times
December 21, 1986,
The end came quickly for Randa Marie Lago, a
15-year-old high school sophomore from Mystic who today became the first
girl to
wrestle on a boys team in Connecticut.
Miss Lago's first match - against Kenneth D. Plouffe, a
16-year-old junior from Coventry, R.I. - was over in seconds when Mr.
Plouffe
threw her to the mat and, after a moment or two of
tangled limbs and taut muscles, pinned her shoulders.
But Mr. Plouffe, who last year placed second in a
32-state regional competition in his 98-pound weight class, praised his
opponent, who
many officials believe to be the first girl to wrestle
on a boys team in New England.
'She's Really Good'
''She's really good, she knows the moves,'' he said, ''I
think she should have the right to wrestle. She'll do really well.''
Miss Lago, short and wiry, said she knew she would not
win the match. ''I knew it before I went in,'' she said with a shrug.
That knowledge did not appear to bother her as she
warmed up, jogging in place and joking with a teammate from Fitch High
School as
she waited for her match to be called.
The coach of the Fitch Falcons, Glen P. Graham, said he
also knew Miss Lago's opponent would be too tough for her.
''I could have pulled her,'' he said. ''But she wanted
to go out there. She made a decision to go out and take her lumps.''
For about two years, girls have been widely permitted to
join formerly all-male high school teams in contact sports, and officials of
the
Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference said
they had no legal right to bar Miss Lago. She tried out for the team this
year and was
immediately accepted, Mr. Graham said.
Miss Lago, a member of the varsity squad, weighs 89
pounds, and she could have wrestled in the 91-pound weight class in which a
teammate competes, Mr. Graham said. ''But that would
have meant us forfeiting at 98 pounds,'' he explained. ''And she wants to do
what
is best for the team.''
On Thursday, Miss Lago won her first match after her
opponent, a Ledyard High School junior, Cory Riffer, forfeited because he
refused
to wrestle her. But Mr. Plouffe said he never thought of
not wrestling.
''I don't think what that kid did was right,'' he said.
''I think it was kind of ignorant - she should have the chance to wrestle.''
Yesterday's tournament in New London brought together 12
schools and about 140 wrestlers.
Many of the hundreds of spectators in the crowded high
school gymnasium, with its yellow walls, varnished wood floors, exposed
rafters
and rows of bleachers, said they felt Miss Lago should
be free to wrestle.
''If she is going to try and go out for it, I think she
deserves to be treated as a regular person,'' said a 15-year-old sophomore
from
Meriden, Conn., Scott A. Tavegia.
''I don't know if I'd want to wrestle her, though,''
continued Mr. Tavegia, who is a member of the junior varsity team at Maloney
High
School. ''I wouldn't want to lose.''
Mr. Graham said many wrestlers and their coaches appear
to feel that way. ''Opposing coaches don't like the idea of wrestling a
girl,'' he
said, adding that he knew of one coach who hoped all
teams would forfeit against Miss Lago so she would feel unwanted.
''But we don't treat her any differently,'' the coach
said. ''She's just another wrestler.''
She lost her second match of the day to a freshman,
Ralph Greene, of Montville High School, who pinned her a minute and 41
seconds
into the seven-minute consolation-round bout.
Miss Lago, who is permitted to supplement the skimpy
wrestling uniform with a T-shirt, fits in well with the rest of the team,
Mr. Graham
said. As the tournament wound through a seemingly
endless series of matches, she sat with the team, warily watching potential
opponents,
making an occasional comment to teammates.
Miss Lago is not the first child in her family to
wrestle. Her brother Steven was the state champion in the 126-pound class
last year when
he was a senior at Fitch.
''She wanted to try it,'' said Miss Lago's father,
Daniel Gaddis. ''And I never hold my kids back from what they want to do.''
As for Miss Lago, the controversy, the whispered
comments and the stares appear to have little effect. Ask her how she feels
about the
attention, and all she says is that it ''doesn't bother
me.''
''I'll take it as it comes.''
