|
|
News Page
By NATE CROSSMAN, Staff Writer
Monday, February 14, 2000
"A woman who wants to be like a man is a woman who lacks ambition."
This is the quote that eighth-grade wrestler Christina Stone carries in her wallet and has hanging on her bedroom wall. It is also the philosophy of a girl who is unintentionally changing the shape of high school sports in the Bay State.
"It (the quote) means so much to me," Stone said. "I just want to be me and go out there and wrestle."
A lot of people are using words like "trailblazer" and "role model" to describe Frontier Regional's Stone these days. At Saturday's Division 3 Western Massachusetts wrestling tournament at Mount Greylock, she became the first girl ever to advance to a state final meet in Massachusetts.
Stone, wrestling in the 119-pound class, upset second-seeded Evan Hart of Southwick, before falling to top-seeded Leroy Johnson of Drury.
Even Stone was in awe of her performance.
"I knew I had a good chance to come in third, but I didn't think I'd make it to the finals," she said Sunday. "I'm still in shock. I can't believe it."
In a sport dominated by boys, Stone tends to stand out, not only because she is a girl, but because she is a very good wrestler.
Stone, however, tries to avoid the attention, instead letting her skills grab the headlines.
"I'm not crazy about the attention. It's weird. I'd rather have it on my team," Stone said. "My coach is amazing, and the team is great. If they were easy on me because I was a girl, I wouldn't be where I am now."
She does, however, know that people look up to her and her accomplishments, and she gladly accepts this responsibility.
"I'm proud that I can be a good example," Stone said. "I like it when kids come up to me and say, 'what you're doing is so cool.' "
Coach Don Gordon credits Stone's success to simple, hard work.
"Like any successful wrestler, she has a great work ethic at practice," Gordon said.
Stone, who went 13-2 this season, now will try to become the first girl ever to win a state title next weekend at the Division 3 state finals at Wayland High School.
-----------------------------------------
Frontier's Stone rock-solid
By NATE CROSSMAN, Staff Writer
Thursday, February 17, 2000
Christina Stone's father, Tom Stone, still remembers the first time he dropped his youngest daughter off at wrestling practice.
Frontier Regional coach Don Gordon was running four one-hour practice sessions for junior high wrestlers, and Christina Stone, a sixth-grader, had expressed interest in attending.
"I called Don and told him she wanted to come to practice," the elder Stone said. "Don thought I should try and talk her out of it.
"But I told him, you don't know Christina, she's going to do what she wants."
Gordon relented, and the slight grade-schooler showed up to practice in the passenger seat of her father's car.
"I dropped her off, but I didn't stay," Stone said. "I figured she would go for an hour, not like it, and that would be it.
"When I picked her up, Don met me at the door, and asked me if she could wrestle at a tournament at Monument Mountain. He said, 'she's throwing my other seventh-and eighth-graders around!' "
Since that day two years ago, Christina Stone has done a lot of convincing among the Hampshire County wrestling circuit.
Now an eighth-grader, and already one of the best 103-pound wrestlers in the state, she has shrugged off a lot of surprised stares, and even some snickers, instead letting her superior skills do the talking.
Just weeks after her first practice, Stone did indeed accompany Gordon to Monument Mountain High School for an open tournament for wrestlers between sixth-and eighth grades.
As could be expected, there were some unenlightened participants who felt a girl had no business taking it to the mat with boys.
"There was this red-headed kid, and he was wearing a gold cross around his neck," Christina recalled. "He had some pretty bad things to say."
Stone, even then a confident teen-ager, had some sound advice for the young man. "I told him he'd better hold on to his cross a little bit tighter."
Stone beat the red-head, and everybody else in her weight class. She won the tournament, and the respect of many people that day, including coach Gordon.
"After I won the tournament, Coach said I had to wrestle next year," Stone said. "I tried out for varsity, made varsity, and just took it from there."
She's taken it farther than anyone could have imagined. Stone, by virtue of a second-place finish at last weekend's Division 3 Western Mass sectional tournament, became the first girl ever to qualify for the state wrestling tournament, regardless of weight class or division.
Despite the added attention, which has included a short profile on TV's evening news, Stone views herself as just another scholastic wrestler.
"I'm just a regular person," Stone said. "I still have to make weight and go to practice just like everybody else."
No slack from teammates
Since her first day as a Frontier Red Hawk, Stone has enjoyed an unusual relationship with her male teammates.
The close-knit group has been the driving force behind her success, she says. They've also, however, been her toughest opponents, never cutting her any slack in practice.
"For the first three weeks of my seventh-grade year, their (Stone's teammates) goal was to knock the wind out of me," Stone said. "They pretty much tried to beat me up."
In her first year on varsity, Tyler Caron served as her practice partner. Caron, a freshman, is a success in his own right, making a return trip this year to the state finals as the No. 2 seed in the 119-pound C Division.
"I knew her outside of wrestling, so I thought, 'Why not, give it a shot,' " Caron said. "I've never thought of her any different on the mat."
On the mat, Stone is a tactician. She approaches every match with a plan, and tries not to lose her cool.
"She doesn't have a lot of strength," Caron said. "But she has much better technique than most of the wrestlers she goes against. She thinks her matches through before she makes any stupid moves."
Stone added, "I'm strong, but if you put me in a head-lock, you're probably going to overpower me. I can reverse it (the headlock), though, because I'm good with moves."
There is still more wrestling in Stone's future, regardless of how she fares at this weekend's state meet.
Stone has been invited to the United States Girls Wrestling Association's Colonial States, an all-girls tournament that will be held in Brookline on March 1. If she can qualify, and raise enough money, she will travel to Lake Orion, Mich., for the USGWA National Championship.
Some feel, however, that wrestling isn't even Stone's best sport. A talented soccer player, Stone will take to the pitch in the fall, when she is officially a student at Frontier Regional.
Whatever happens, it seems all right with Stone. A person who friends call "relaxed," and "laid-back," she exudes a charm that is more disarming than any figure-four leg lock.
"I never meant for any of this to happen this way," Stone said. "I got interested because no other girls did it, and I needed an outlet."
------------------------------------------
Ana Ginorio: White Plains Middle School's First Female Wrestler
by Cathleen Barnhart
Monday, March 27, 2000
Last summer, Ana Ginorio read "There's a Girl in My Hammerlock," by Jerry
Spinelli, the fictional story of an eighth-grade girl who joins her school's
all-boys wrestling team over nearly everyone's objections. The book, says
Ginorio, "made wrestling sound horrible. No one on the team would talk to
her, and she would come home every day throwing up." Enough to scare any
levelheaded girl away from boys' wrestling, right?
Wrong. "I thought, 'I could beat her. I could do this,'" recalls Ginorio.
What's more, wrestling is a winter sport, and Ginorio, who runs cross
country in the fall and plays soccer in the spring, didn't have a winter
sport. So she decided to go out for the wrestling team at Eastview Middle
School, the first girl in White Plains history to play a crossover sport in
middle school. For boys who want to wrestle, the process is simple: join the
team. As a girl playing a crossover sport, however, Ginorio had to
demonstrate that she could run one and one-half miles in 12 minutes, do a
6-foot standing long jump, complete 42 sit-ups in less than a minute,
maintain an overhand hang for 22 seconds, and complete a 2-block shuttle run
in less than 10.5 seconds.
"You just keep trying [each part of the test] until you make it," says
Ginorio. Coach Lee Francisco gave her lots of encouragement and even lent
his shoes to serve as blocks for the shuttle run. For Ginorio, the hardest
part of the test was the one and one-half mile run. But she had some help
and encouragement from the captain of the wrestling team, Ramon DeSouza.
"Ramon ran with me every time," she says. "He kept saying, 'You can do it.
You can do it.'" Two days before the team's first match, Ginorio finished
the run in under 12 minutes.
Once Ginorio became part of the team, she faced some reluctance from her
teammates, but, she says, "any time one of the guys wouldn't want to wrestle
me, coach would say 'get in there!'"
She also faced reluctance from opposing teams. Observes Francisco, "When you
walk in [to a meet] with a girl, the boys on the other team are sitting
there saying, 'Oh, no. How much does she weigh? Am I going to have to
wrestle her?' Some of the boys would ask, 'Do I grab the same? Do I throw
the same?' The answer was 'yes.'" Despite the reluctance of many opponents,
only one chose to forfeit rather than face Ginorio on the mat.
Ginorio got lots of support from her classmates and from the administration
at Eastview. At a winter pep rally, Student Activities Director Julie
Pastore gave a speech telling Ginorio that she was making all the girls at
Eastview proud. Girls at other middle schools also gave Ginorio support and
encouragement. "I would be at another school, sitting outside the locker
room, waiting for the boys to change," Ginorio recalls, "and the girls would
come by and say, 'We're really proud of you!'"
Ginorio's parents were also supportive. Ginorio's father, who wrestled when
he was in school, "was all for it. He didn't have any problem with me
wrestling." Ginorio's mother was a little more reluctant at first, but "she
said if I really wanted to do it, I should go for it." Ginorio credits all
the support she felt, and her religious faith, for enabling her to keep
going through the rough patches. "If Jesus could be nailed to the cross for
me, the least I could do was make it through one wrestling season," she
says.
Although Ginorio didn't win any of her matches, she is proud to say that she
was never pinned. "I almost tied a match," she says. "In the second round,
the score was 4 to 4. Then he got two points in the third round, and beat me
6 to 4."
Does Ginorio have any plans to try out for the high school wrestling team?
Well, right now, she's busy breaking new ground as the first eighth grade
girl to make it onto the girls' varsity soccer team. But she's thinking
about it. Observing that she put a lot of effort into learning the sport,
she says, "What else am I going to use wrestling techniques for? To flip my
brother
----------------------------------------
Wrestler breaks down barriers, foes
Sarah Williams helps Benzie into tonight's regional
By DENNIS CHASE 2/13/2000
Record-Eagle staff writer
BENZONIA - When Jim Mott wrestled at Mancelona 20 years ago, it was "unheard of" to have a girl on the team.
"At least, no girls showed any interest," he said.
Times have changed.
In fact, Mott's daughter, Sarah Williams, is part of that change.
The 17-year-old junior will be wrestling at 119 pounds tonight when Benzie Central takes on Iron Mountain in a Division IV team regional at Rogers City. The winner of that dual will face either Munising or Rogers City for the regional championship.
Williams, who sports a 14-15 record, helped the Huskies capture a team district at Mancelona last week, winning her two matches by pins. One in 32 seconds. The two victories came in front of a host of family members.
"Most of my family lives in Mancelona," Williams said. "I felt like I had the home crowd advantage. It was nice to put on a good show for them."
Coach Byron Prielipp thought so, too.
"The whole crowd was behind her," he said. "It was great. Good for her."
Williams has been earning praise from her coach, and respect from her opponents, for awhile now.
Although she is in her first full season on varsity, Williams has been wrestling since seventh grade.
"A friend wanted to try it, so I tried out with her," Williams said.
Her friend moved. But Williams elected to stay with the sport.
She enjoyed it so much that she decided to continue wrestling in high school - much to the surprise of her parents and Prielipp.
"There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it with her," Mott said. "This is something she wanted to do. I was hesitant at first, just from an injury standpoint. I know when guys reach 14 and 15, they start filling out and sometimes it (wrestling) can get pretty rough."
Mott was also concerned about how his daughter might be treated by others.
But that concern was alleviated long ago.
"The guys have been fantastic," Mott said. "They treat her just like one of the guys.
"They respect what she's done. That came through loud and clear when they voted her as one of the team's captains."
Williams is the first female wrestler Prielipp has had in his 13 years as Benzie's coach.
"If somebody had said to me a few years ago, 'Prielipp, you're going to have a girl on the team.' I would have said, 'nooooo.'
"But I talked to her mom and dad that freshman year and I told them I was not going to treat her any differently. I said this is the deal. She is going to do what everybody else is doing. They were comfortable with that."
Still, Prielipp admits, he expected Williams to last no more than a year.
So did her father, who knows all about the rigors of wrestling.
"It was hardest, most physically demanding sport I played in high school," Mott said.
But Williams "hung in there" and outlasted several boys who went out for the sport.
"She works just as hard, if not harder, than anybody on the team," said senior C.J. Sierzputowski, who is 45-1 at 160 pounds. "She doesn't complain about anything. She's real dedicated to the sport. You have to hand it to her."
Prielipp does.
"She never quits. She never tells me she can't do this or that," he said. "She's always here. The only time I let her off the hook is for a band event. She's a big band member. The reason she didn't get her 40 matches in this season is because she was in band festivals on a couple weekends."
Williams is first chair clarinet.
When it comes to wrestling, Williams admits "strength" is a problem for her.
"I get overpowered a lot," she said.
To offset that disadvantage, she relies on technique and determination.
And, perhaps, the element of surprise.
"Sometimes, when a match starts, guys are a little less aggressive with me," she said. "But if I slam 'em, then they realize in a hurry I'm for real."
Her opponents in the district found that out.
"The word is out," Prielipp said, "don't take that girl lightly."
Williams said her parents are "proud" that she stuck it out.
"You ought to see my mom," she said. "She really gets excited.
"She's a very non-aggressive person ... until she watches me wrestle."
Benzie has won seven district titles under Prielipp, but the Huskies will be seeking their first regional crown tonight.
"That's one of my goals," he said. "To just win a regional once -and go to the states as a team - would be nice."
Even if Benzie's bows out tonight, the wrestling season will not be over for Williams.
She plans to compete in a girls state wrestling tournament this spring. She took second in her weight class last year
------------------------------------------------
Upward bound
Even when Stacia Anderson tries to look mean, she has a tough time doing it.
The Ramona High 117-pound sophomore athlete, who placed third in the State Girls Wrestling Championships in Stockton last weekend, was scheduled to leave today for a national meet in Lake Orion, Mich. There, some 185 girls in her weight class alone will assemble for two days on the mats.
Anderson wrestled boys on the junior varsity level in most of Ramona High’s tournaments and dual meets.
Coach Steve Koch scheduled her against 124-pound opponents.
That paid off when she wrestled girls only in the San Diego CIF Masters for girls and the state meet.
Anderson, 16, pinned her first foe, from Woodland Hills, at Edison High in Stockton in the third round, then lost her second match to the eventual second-place finisher at 119 pounds, she is a girl from Napa Valley.
The Lady Bulldog defeated her next two opponents, a girl from San Rafael and another from San Diego’s Crawford High, both in the second round. “She’s not just an outstanding girl wrestler, she’s a great wrestler,” says Koch, who, along with her father, Robert, will accompany Stacia to Michigan.
“I was disappointed when I finished 13th in state last year and couldn’t go to the nationals,” Stacia said. “They only took the top 12. I’m going to give it my best shot and it’s nice knowing I’ll be able to go for two more years if I qualify.”
Stacia is in her third year of wrestling since starting in the eighth-grade at Olive Peirce Middle School.
Her mother, Rhonda, was able to go to the state meet, but will stay home this weekend with Stacia’s sisters, Stephanie, 12; Brittinie, 9; and Savhannah, 5.
Stacia says that perhaps her demure looks may be an advantage because she’s a lot tougher than she appears.
