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2 girls wrestle with tradition
The Des Moines Register
February 3, 1993,
Davenport, Ia. -- Atina Bibbs of Davenport Central and
Stacy
Light of Lisbon said their meeting Tuesday night was
just another
wrestling match.
History alleges it wasn't.
Bibbs scored a 14-4 victory against Light in a 112-pound
match that was believed to be the first varsity match in
Iowa
involving two girls.
Records are hazy. The Iowa High School Athletic Union
has
said it does not keep records of such matches.
National records are equally hazy as far as whether
there has
been a varsity wrestling match between two girls
anywhere else.
"We don't track that type of information. I can't
confirm how
unusual that is," said Fred Mares, record book editor
for the
National Federation of State High School Associations.
The victory helped Central, a Class 3-A school, to a
34-31
victory against Lisbon, the top-ranked team in Class
1-A.
"I know it will be remembered because it's what a lot of
people were talking about," Bibbs, a junior, said after
improving
her record to 6-13. "In the eyes of other people, it's
just another
match."
Bibbs said she was nervous just prior to the meet.
"I did feel a little bit nervous, but it's all part of
the
game," she said.
Light's experience with freestyle wrestling since her
last
meeting against Bibbs five years ago made Bibbs wrestle
a smarter
match.
"She was tougher," Bibbs said of Light. "I was thinking
about
her having the two years of freestyle and not to mess
around with
throwing or anything like that."
Bibbs, who scored most of her points on single-leg
takedowns,
said her energy began waning near the end of the match.
It was a typical end of the night for Bibbs. She helped
her
teammates roll the wrestling mat back to its holding
area
underneath the stage.
Light, a sophomore whose record is 1-24, also said it
was
nothing more than another match.
"I had to go in thinking it was just another match,
otherwise
I'd lose my concentration," Light said.
A crowd estimated at just fewer than 100 watched the
bout. At
the end, several people gave the wrestlers a standing
ovation.
Bibbs and Light last wrestled each other at a youth
tournament when Bibbs was in sixth grade and Light was
in fifth.
Bibbs won that match with a pin.
Tuesday, Bibbs took control of the match with two
takedowns
and a three-point near-fall for a 7-1 lead after the
first period.
Light gained two escapes and then scored a takedown with
1
minute 48 seconds left in the match.
"I wrestled all right but I didn't wrestle up to my
potential
I didn't think," Light said.
Light said there was no attempt to make a statement that
girls can compete in a traditionally male-only sport.
"I don't think it's really a statement," Light said. "I
think
it's just that we both like the sport and we want to go
out for it.
Just because we happen to be girls doesn't really make
any
difference.
"It's just showing how sports are evolving to include
more
than just one gender."
Lisbon Coach Chris Lembeck said it wasn't hard to coach
during the Light-Bibbs match.
"It was just another one of my wrestlers going out for
just
another match," Lembeck said.
"Atina is obviously a tough wrestler with a lot of good
technique, quickness and strength," he said. "She just
happens to
be a female."
Bibbs said she was glad the hype about the match was
behind
her.
"It made me think about the match (Tuesday) whenever
somebody
brought it up," Bibbs said. "It's all over now."
April 9, 1996
------------------------------------
BATTLE OF WAYNE SELECTED YEAR'S TOP STORY
The Record
June 28, 1992;
For decades, football players at the two public high
schools in
Wayne dreamed of facing each other in the State
playoffs. It didn't
happen until last December, and it was an event, for the
Group 3,
Section 1 championship.
The game was as exciting as had been hoped, and the
field was
ringed by alumni, visitors from other towns, and in-town
people who
never before had considered football to be such a big
deal.
The game has been voted the top event of the high school
season in
Passaic/Morris by the local sports staff of The Record.
Finishing close
on its heels was the story of Manchester's Amy
Perlmutter, the first
girl to wrestle a varsity match in Passaic County.
1. All-Wayne football
While Wayne Valley kept its end of the deal by annually
qualifying
for the Group 3 playoffs, Wayne Hills, though improved,
kept falling
short. Finally, it happened, and Hills qualified for the
fourth and last
playoff spot with a week to spare. Still, the game
wasn't a certainty
because both teams had to survive difficult
opening-round games. Hills
downed previously unbeaten and top-seeded Hoboken, and
second-seeded
Wayne Valley outscored explosive Indian Hills to set up
the long-awaited
Battle of Wayne.
Spectators who arrived at the Wayne Valley field two
hours before
kickoff found the stands packed and fans chanting across
the field at
each other. The paid crowd of 5,351 made the noise of
10,000.
Valley took its third title in four years, 7-0, on the
strength of
Aaron Hall's 1-yard run early in the second quarter that
capped a
37-yard drive. Justin Riemer, who set up the score with
a 19-yard
reception, kicked the extra point.
In a battle of defenses, Valley gained just 144 yards
and Hills
managed 150. Hills broke a 63-yard touchdown on a Brian
Sek to Ryan Edge
pass in the fourth quarter, but it was nullified by a
motion penalty.
2. Wrestler Amy Perlmutter
Some said it couldn't be done, but the 14-year-old
freshman from
Haledon won, 9-5, against her male opponent from Midland
Park Jan. 31.
The 5-foot-1, 103-pounder filled in for an injured
teammate and was
not surprised by what she accomplished. Perlmutter was a
district and
regional champion on the recreation level and was 6-3-1
with five pins
for the junior varsity prior to making her varsity
debut. In the opening
bout, she recorded a takedown in 19 seconds and scored a
reversal near
the end of the second period for a 4-0 lead. She put her
opponent on his
back in the third as the home crowd roared.
"The crowd was rooting for me to do well and I didn't
want to let
them down," she said. "I couldn't quit, no matter how
tired I got."
----------------------------------
MANCHESTER MAKES A NAME FOR ITSELF
The
Record
December 21, 1992;
Manchester arrived at the Mahwah Holiday Wrestling
Tournament known
chiefly as a no-name team that includes a girl. When the
Falcons left,
they were known as champions.
Last year, when Amy Perlmutter filled in on the varsity,
she became
the first girl in Passaic County history to do so.
Saturday, as the low
seed in her weight class, she drew regional standout
Josh Weil of
Ridgewood and lost by technical fall (15 points).
"She really went after Josh," says Manchester coach
Butch
Pellegrino. "Josh is a true gentleman, and came over
after the match and
said Amy's one of the strongest people he's ever
wrestled."
The Falcons made their imprint and edged Northern Valley
at
Demarest by half a point for the team title. They were
sparked by
119-pound Chris Gorga, who, down 10-6 with 10 seconds
left in the
preliminaries, reversed and pinned. Gorga went on to win
Manchester's
lone championship.
The Falcons advanced eight wrestlers to the semis. They
had only
one champion, but they won all seven consolation-round
matches.
Hawthorne's Rusty Read was voted Outstanding Wrestler,
and Demarest
had four champions. In a well-wrestled bout, Demarest's
Matt Lake edged
Jeff McLaughlin of Hawthorne, 2-1, for a title, on a
controversial
stalling call, to prevent McLaughlin from winning his
fourth Mahwah
championship.
-------------------------------------
STATE NEEDS TO GIVE GIRLS A FAIR SHAKE
The Record
February 18, 1993;
When Haledon's Amy Perlmutter joined Manchester's
wrestling team,
it became headline news. Especially when she started
winning matches.
High school bowling, on the other hand, inconspicuously
crosses the
gender barrier. When a girl competes against boys, it
receives little
attention. Even when she wins.
Since only two bowling leagues have girls divisions, the
Northern
New Jersey Interscholastic League and the Northern
Bergen
Interscholastic League, many boys teams rely on girls to
fill a void,
or in some cases, carry the load.
Garfield's Heather Spaanstra and River Dell's April
Millian are
prime examples. Each has played a significant role in
helping her team
clinch a third straight league title.
"In the past we've needed the girls to fill out the
smaller
programs," River Dell coach Rob Stevenson said. "But
they've modified
the way we think. Girls who bowl against boys really
have to push their
game to a higher level."
Another case in point is DePaul junior Lauren Zieja.
Zieja finished
the regular season with a 180 average, second on the
team to junior
Shawn Aiello (201), as the Spartans won the Northern
Hills Conference
North championship for the first time.
"I've always had one girl who's my first-, second-, or
third- highest bowler on the boys team," DePaul coach
Chip O'Connor
said. "Then I've had other girls who were stuck with the
boys teams.
None of them were good enough to have their averages
comparable."
Last season Spaanstra and Millian were named to the
All-Bergen
girls team, as was Elmwood Park's Kathy Geller, while
Zieja was named to
the All-Passaic boys team with a 188 average.
Because Passaic County does not have enough girls teams,
Zieja's
statistics must be measured against boys again this year
for awards
purposes.
"Without a doubt, it's become a coed sport," said
O'Connor, who
recalled the 1983-84 seasons when Terry Tamaroglio and
Donna Muir were
named to the All-Passaic girls bowling teams, even
though, like
Spaanstra and Millian, they had bowled for the boys. At
that time,
Passaic County had the required number of girls teams
(six or more) to
cast a separate vote.
"Today It would be very difficult for Passaic County to
get six
girls teams," O'Connor said.
The distinct line between boys and girls athletes
becomes vaguer in
the State sectional bowling tournament.
If a girl bowls for her boys team in the State
competition, she is
not eligible to advance as an individual in the girls
category.
Therefore, unlike the Bergen County tournament, a girl
on a boys team
can not qualify for a girls award.
"It might sound like I'm squealing grapes because of
Stephanie, but
that seems discriminatory," Lodi coach Ted Patlen said,
referring to
freshman Stephanie Collins, who averaged a team-high 186
in the Bergen
boys tournament. "She's bowling as if she was a boy. I
can enter her as
a girl, but then you're hurting the team."
Girls also are given a tougher entry average with 180,
compared to
the boys with 190, Stevenson said. "The Bergen County
Woman's Coaches
Association has tried hard to be fair to girls, but that
kind of
fairness is missing on the State level," he said.
GIRLS STATS , Regular-season averages: Passaic Valley's
Nikki
Melissant (152) and Sue Zvalaren (152); DePaul senior
Linda Hafele
(146); and Wayne Valley's Sandy Puzzio (140)... Bergen
boys tournament
averages: Bogota's Gena Buonadies (team-high 141);
Cliffside Park's
Karen D'Arminio (143); Lyndhurst's Gina Stevens (159)
and Colleen
Pastewait (141); North Arlington's Jill Donigian (158)
and Melodie
Roensch (152).
LANGUAGE: English
LOAD-DATE: April 19, 1995
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1993
Bergen Record Corp.
MANCHESTER GIRL PINS HER CRITICS
:The Record
December 30, 1993;
She still attracts a crowd and the scoffs and mumbles
still arise
from the bleachers on occasion. But every time she pins
an opponent, she
quiets the critics.
Manchester junior Amy Perlmutter may have gagged them
for good
Wednesday evening.
"I just try to hit all my moves and do my best,"
Perlmutter said
following her title victory at 112 pounds in the Fred
Sharkey Wrestling
tournament at Wayne Hills.
Perlmutter, who bounced back from 5-0 deficits in both
the
semifinals and final, came off her back to pin Don Bosco
Tech's Jason
Valente in one minute, 29 seconds in the title match.
In danger of losing by fall, the 5-foot-1 Perlmutter
escaped defeat
with a reversal and then immobilized Valente with a
headlock.
"He Valente took me down and cradled me and I just broke
out,"
said Perlmutter, who was named the tournament's Most
Outstanding
Wrestler with Bobby LaPaglia of Wayne Hills, a winner by
technical fall
at 130.
"She is a tough competitor," said Don Bosco coach Jaime
Rodriguez,
whose Rams won the team title with 107.9 points over St.
Peter's (94).
Manchester took third (89.5) and Wayne Hills (83.5)
fourth in an
eight-team field.
The Rams were paced by three victors, Monty Hug at 103,
Hilton
Cruz at 171, and heavyweight Victor Cruz , and four
finalists, Valente,
Pierre Bustos at 125, Mojahed Kandous at 145, and Donnie
Mantilla at
189.
"They're convinced they're better than people think they
are,"
Rodriguez said of his wrestlers, who were motivated by
their surprising
dual victory over Passaic Tech last week.
Perlmutter's inspiring showing, her first triumph in a
high school
tournament, did not overshadow the winning efforts of
her teammates,
namely Chris Gorga at 135, John Vacca at 145, and Jante
Tsay at 160.
Vacca won a hard-fought 16-8 decision over Kandous, who
had
quick-pinned Vacca in a dual meet last season.
"My kids wrestled up to their potential," Manchester
coach Jules
"Butch" Pellegrino said.
Despite the sideshow attraction of Perlmutter.
"I can't say enough about how my guys have always backed
her,"
Pellegrino said. "Not one time has there ever been a
problem."
Perlmutter appears to take all the fuss, be they
compliments or
catcalls, in stride.
"I think everybody's gotten used to it by now," she
said, alluding
to her status as the lone girl wrestler at the varsity
level in Passaic
County. "I've been doing it for three years."
The increase in weight from 103 to 112 has not slowed
her.
"With more weight I'm naturally stronger," said
Perlmutter, who
benches more than 150 pounds and can do a team-high 20
chin-ups. "Last
year I felt weaker because I was losing all that weight.
This year since
I'm not losing weight, I feel just as strong as any of
the guys."
"A lot of skeptics, maybe including myself, wondered
once she got
out of 103 class, if she'd be competitive," Pellegrino
said. "But she's
wrestled better this year than she's ever wrestled.
"You can't think of her as a female. You have to think
of her as an
outstanding wrestler. She can be in every match she's
in. She has to be
considered a threat because she's a pinner."
And a winner.
