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By Len Senecal/Fulton Daily News
May 24, 2000

She comes from a program where the expectations are always high and anything less than first place is a bitter pill to swallow.

Still, Fulton's Danielle Bennett wore the colors of the Fulton Red Raiders proudly and did herself and her community just as proud by placing second at the National Girls High School Wrestling Championships this past weekend in Michigan.

"I'm disappointed, but I know I lost to somebody that had talent. It wasn't just a slouch," Bennett said of her finals opponent. But in the true spirit of 'wait 'til next time' she is already hoping for a rematch, saying, "You end up looking back on it and thinking, if only I had one more shot. Me and my father are going to look for a tournament where we can find her and get that one more shot."

Danielle got plenty of shots in on her way to the title match as she pinned Florida's Megan Armstrong in the opening round in 2:26 and then flattened Jessica Klemm of Ohio in just 59 seconds. She rallied past a 4-2 deficit in the third period to pin Brooke Bogren of Kansas in 4:23 to set the stage for a match against Caylene Valdez of Hawaii that she referred to as, "a match of matches."

An apparent 8-7 winner in regulation time, Danielle had to overcome a 20 minute protest that somehow found a point for her opponent to produce an overtime standoff that neither girl could break. In the second extra session Bennett prevailed on criteria to advance into the championship against LaBell.

As one of the smallest competitors in a weight class that featured three former national champions, Danielle had a decided disadvantage against the 5-foot-6 LaBell. "People said I looked itty bitty in that weight class," the 5-foot-one-half inch, 107 pound wrestler commented. "It looked awkward."

"After I got off the mat I was so mad at myself. I could have beaten her," she went on to say. "But I wrestled a good match...I can be proud of that. I just wish I could have had that little bit extra."

The tournament marked the end of her high school career, but not her days as a wrestler. In fact, this weekend Danielle will be taking part in the Northeast Regionals in nearby Brockport, and she still has her eyes set on the upcoming senior nationals.

In the meantime the offers keep coming in for wrestling scholarships, including one from Cumberland, Kentucky, which is coached by Stephanie Marotta. "She's one of the best woman wrestlers in the world right now," Danielle said enthusiastically. "It would be great to wrestle for a woman coach. She asked me if I would come to her college and wrestle for her. I'm thinking maybe that's where I'm going to end up, either there or Nazareth."

"There's a lot of decisions," she concluded. "I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it, but I know I can pretty much go wherever I want and that's a pretty good feeling."

In a tournament where she was relegated to a higher weight class for the want of a single pound, Danielle battled her way to runner-up honors in a highly competitive field of 19 girls in the 112 pound ring. Because the weights are not decided until just prior to the tournament, she fell victim to a numbers game when the cutoff for the lower weight class was set at 106 pounds.

But rather than complain she charged into the championship round by scoring three pins and a dramatic double overtime win against opponents from Florida, Ohio, Kansas and Hawaii. But in the finals she ran into a 112 pound terror in Keristen LaBell of Michigan, a girl so tough she made the boys state finals this past season. Locked up in a scoreless duel late in the second period, LaBell snared a reversal in the final 0:05 that proved to be the springboard for a 7-0 championship decision.

Click here to go to 1999 - 2000 Fulton Red Raiders (Danielle Bennett's Team)

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Girls and Steroids

“Buff” is hip in the girls locker room. This trend is driving girls into the weight room to pump iron and beef up. Some girls are weighing in on steroids to make the cut. Now subject to the pressures long felt by boys to bulk-up and bulk-up fast, the answer for many girls is anabolic steroids, a synthetic form of the male hormone testosterone.

Patrice Crenshaw, a 16 year-old wrestler, remembered the first time she was approached with steroids, “They didn’t tell me any of the negative stuff, about the facial hair, about the hoarseness in the voice, about not being able to reproduce.”

Patrice declined the offer, but, an estimated 175,000 high school girls have taken anabolic steroids in their lifetime. High schoolers make up seventy-five percent of all steroid users.

The mirror may offer immediate gratification for these girls, but the long term effects can be costly. By pumping testosterone into their bodies, girls are taking chances with breast shrinkage, osteoporosis, sterility, diabetes, premature aging and, if taken in large enough doses, liver tumors.

“Glory today isn’t worth horror tomorrow,” said Lemar Fleming, M.D.

What Parents Should Know

Girls have more opportunities than ever before to become involved and compete athletically. From all-girls soccer leagues to female boxing, the sports arena is wide open. It is an opportunity girls have desired for years. It’s not all fun and games though.

The number of girls using steroids has grown by more than three-hundred percent since 1991. Goals like college scholarships, Olympic dreams and professional sports are powerful incentive for success, but college and professional sports organizations aren’t playing games when it comes to steroids.

An Olympic athlete testing positive for anabolic steroids once is banned from competition for two years and banned for life if convicted again. Steroids are prohibited in college and high school sports as well. So, while she’s trying to be the best, if she tests positive for steroids, she and her biceps will be on the sidelines.

Although development of male characteristics is a key sign of steroid use by females, she doesn’t have to walk in the door with a mustache one day for you to be concerned. A spontaneous increase in muscle mass is enough reason for a parent to look for other warning signs.

The use of steroids can catalyze a feeling of invincibility. Pleased with he looks and hyped with excess energy users can experience manic-like feelings, volatile mood swings and aggressive behavior.

Black-Market Drugs

Stolen prescriptions, in which steroids are made under government regulations and illegally distributed, are no longer the norm. The sky-rocketing demand for these “body buffers” has sent suppliers diving into the cubby holes of underground America concocting the $400 million dollar a year drugs.

Underground steroids are surfacing in gyms, health clubs, via mail and on campuses across the nation through the hands of trainers, fellow athletes, drug dealers and friends. When produced in the black market content isn’t guaranteed and the range of possible side-effects is unlimited. They’re a hot commodity.

They’re easy to get, and they’re dangerous.

Resources
National Institute on Drug Abuse

United States Olympic Committee

For more information on
parenting issues contact us:
Connecting with Kids

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Hometown highlights

Join us in the Front Row on Monday as host, Kara Henderson takes aim at the sport of archery. Kara will be doing her best William Tell impersonation when she travels to the New England School of Archery in New Hampshire. Hide the women and children, there is no telling where Kara's arrows will fly this Monday on Front Row.

Stay with us for Tom Larson's feature on a high school wrestler who grapples with more than her opponents. For as long as anyone can remember, wrestling has been a male dominated sport. However, that fact has not deterred Andrea Giacomozzi from reaching her goals. Andrea is a member of the Scituate (MA) High School wrestling team where she competes under the watchful eye of the head coach, her father Tom Giacomozzi. Tune in to find out how Andrea has dealt with being one of the only females in a very masculine sport.

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Lyman High School

Published in The Orlando Sentinel on May 21, 2000

Enrollment: 2,032

Senior class: 408

Principal: Sam Momary

Senior class president: Dustin Stevens

Mascot: Greyhound

Graduation: 4 p.m. May 25, TD Waterhouse Centre.

Milestones: The school`s JROTC won a national championship, and the girls wrestling team was conference champion as well as state champion. Thirty-five percent of the graduating class had grade-point averages of 3.2 or above, and seniors have been accepted to colleges including West Point, the Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice University and Duke University.