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Volunters wrestler impresses at national
tournament
THE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
April 6, 1999, Tuesday
For only her second wrestling meet ever, Bowie junior
Paisha Tims
performed quite well.
At the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association National
Championships on
March 27-28 in Lake Orion, Mich., Tims finished 16th out
of 24
competitors in her 136-pound weight class. The
competition was the
second that Tims had competed in during her wrestling
career. She
finished fourth in regional competition after joining
Bowie's
wrestling team in January.
" I went to state and I really wanted to wrestle," Tims
said. "I
found out that the national event was an open
tournament. I figured
even if I was new, it was more mat experience. So I
just sent my
entry fees in and I was able to wrestle. "
Along with Tims, sophomore Angela Martinez , a two-time
state
champion, represented Bowie at the national meet. Texas
wrestlers
placed fourth nationally, with 22 competitors.
Tims said the competition, which included wrestlers from
Alaska,
Hawaii and Oregon, was very difficult. But she also
plans on using
the experience as incentive to return as a senior.
"I will be there next year," she said.
Individually strong
---------------------------
ONE MORE BOYS-ONLY SPORT TAKEN TO THE MAT
The Record December 11, 1987;
Dawn Ward pinned Tracey Porter in what was believed
to be the first
time two girls faced each other in a high school
wrestling match.
Ward, a freshman at Hollywood Hills High School, pinned
Porter, a
freshman at Nova High, at 3:17 in a 119-pound
junior-varsity match
Wednesday night. A spokesman for the National Federation
of State High
School Associations in Kansas City, Mo., said the match
was likely the
first between two girls at the high school level.
Ward has been wrestling for less than a week, and Porter
has been
practicing with the Nova team for six weeks. The girls
met for the first
time during the weigh-in before the match.
"I thought we'd yell and scream when we saw each other,"
Porter
said. "But we didn't. We just talked like friends. We
talked about
wrestling. What else would we talk about?"
In the match, Ward was leading 11-1 before pinning
Porter.
"I was going for the pin," Ward said. "But if I won on
points, I
wouldn't object. She knows what she's doing. I went out
there planning
to win. And whatever I did came naturally.
"I like challenges. I've always wanted to be on a
wrestling team.
They had a team in middle school, but some kid's bone
came out of his
arm so they canceled the whole thing."
: March 26, 1996
-----------------------------------
Girls' wrestling match believed to be a first
December 19, 1991,
Thursday, BC cycle
In what is believed to be a first in the United
States, two girls wrestled each other in a high school match.
Teresa Ribar of Gateway High School pinned Melissa
Machesky of Thomas Jefferson in the 112-pound match Wednesday night at
Thomas Jefferson in suburban Pittsburgh.
A few girls have been on wrestling teams in the Western
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, but it was the first time in
state
history two girls wrestled each other, officials said.
It is also believed to be the first time two girls have wrestled each other
in the
country.
''The only time I've heard of two females wrestling was
a tag-team match in the World Wrestling Federation, but that's out of our
jurisdiction,'' said Brad Cashman, executive director of
the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Gateway coach Dick Bane said he knew Machesky, a junior,
was wrestling for Thomas Jefferson, and he didn't have a 112-pound
wrestler. Bane's wife, Lynn, suggested he ask Ribar to
wrestle for the match. Ribar, a junior is a four-sport letter winner in
cross country,
girls' soccer, basketball and track.
Despite never having wrestled competively before, Ribar
accepted. Bane telephoned Thomas Jefferson coach Wade Goslicky to see if he
had any objections, which he didn't.
''We wanted to get publicity because wrestling is kind
of the poor sister to basketball,'' Bane said. ''I hope people really
enjoyed Teresa,
but I hope they enjoyed some of the other wrestlers,
too.''
The match drew more than 300 fans.
''It was a bigger crowd thean normal,'' said Goslicky.
Both girls admitted they were nervous.
''Mostly because it was against a girl and I would feel
stupid if I lost,'' said Machesky,'' who has lost by pin in all three of her
matches this
year.
Ribar practiced only four days for the match.
''She was stronger than the two boys I wrestled this
year,'' said Machesky, who also is a cheerleader for Thomas Jeffeson. ''I
just want to
ask their coach why he did it. I came out for wrestling
because I wanted to be on the team. Then they have a girl come out just to
wrestle
against another girl. I thought that was pretty weak, if
you ask me.''
-------------------------------
BAYFIELD FIVE GRAPPLING WITH GENDER EQUITY
Bissen Duluth News-Tribune; 12-25-1993
BAYFIELD - -- The women's movement is more low-key in the 1990s than it
was in the 1960s.
In the '60s, women stood on street corners and burned bras. In the
'90s, they pursue equal
opportunity with acts that aren't quite so fiery.
Such as clipping their fingernails.
Stacy Defoe performed that act last week, having decided she was indeed
serious about
becoming a wrestler for the Bayfield-Washburn high school team.
``I'm making a commitment,'' she said. Trimming the three-quarter- inch
nails down below
fingertips meant Defoe could become a participant; she could step onto
the mat and just become
one of the boys.
And girls.
Defoe isn't alone as a female wrestler for Bayfield-Washburn. Four
other girls are wrestling this
season for the Trollers, making them the most unique group of female
athletes in Wisconsin - and
maybe in the entire nation.
Randy Allen, an official with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic
Association, says he had
heard of girls participating on boys teams, but never of this many
girls crossing the gender line.
And Ron Peckham, the girls' coach, says much the same thing.
``In 20 years around the sport, I've heard of one girl on a team, but
not five.'' said Peckham.
``It's the 1990s. That's all I can say.''
Jeci Booth, Stephanie Compton, Angela Defoe, Stacy Defoe and Theresa
Johnson all have made
the commitment to Bayfield-Washburn wrestling this season.
It wasn't an organized movement, an attempt to make some high-voltage
statement about
women's rights. Compton and Johnson, who are from Washburn, didn't even
know at the start of
the season that the other three girls, who are from Bayfield, planned
to wrestle.
Compton had hoped to be a Bayfield-Washburn wrestling cheerleader, but
because Washburn
offered cheerleading (for boys basketball), that school ruled she
couldn't become a cheerleader
for a Bayfield- Washburn program. So she became a Bayfield-Washburn
wrestler instead.
And Stacy Defoe didn't become a full-fledged member of the group until
last week. A former
football and basketball cheerleader, she had taken the mandatory
wrestler's skin caliper test
before the season but didn't decide to start practicing until just days
ago.
She doesn't see herself as a trailblazer; she simply sees herself as a
high school wrestler.
``I don't know,'' the sophomore said when asked why she went out for
the sport. ``Pretty much
because it looked interesting; it looked a lot more exciting than
basketball.''
Her long-term goal would be to eventually win a match, but more than
that, she says she wants to
``just stay with it, to be able to say that I didn't chicken out.''
Said Johnson: ``Last year I went to a wrestling meet, and it just
looked interesting. It was pretty
much a matter of deciding I wanted to and telling my parents I wanted
to do it.''
That news wasn't greeted with handsprings in the Johnson household.
``Neither one was too happy about it, about my wrestling with guys, ''
Johnson said of her
parents. ``But they're pretty much supportive of it now, because they
don't want me to drop out
of something.''
This season, none of the girls will become the first female to win a
Wisconsin state championship.
Only Johnson, a sophomore, and Angela Defoe, a junior, have actually
wrestled in a varsity meet,
and neither has won a match. Angela Defoe had the misfortune of meeting
a two-time sectional
qualifier in one match and was pinned in the first period.
Booth, however, has made history as the first Bayfield-Washburn female
wrestler to earn points
for her school. A junior, she won by forfeit when Minong didn't have a
wrestler in her weight
class, giving the Trollers six points.
In the past, boys from opposing schools often have forfeited, refusing
to wrestle girls. The boys
who have met any of the Bayfield Five this season seem to accept their
fate with either reluctance
or resignation.
``I was just kind of nervous about it,'' said Tim Rusk, a Superior
sophomore 112-pounder who
pinned Johnson last Tuesday. ``I was thinking if I lost, how would it
be, if people would make fun
of me.''
Rusk said he wasn't sure whether girls should be wrestling boys, but he
conceded that denying
girls a chance to participate ``wouldn' t be fair to them.''
Bayfield-Washburn's male wrestlers accepted the girls quite quickly,
according to Peckham.
``After the first two nights of practice, they were just another
body,'' he said. ``There's two arms
and two legs, and you've got to go out and do what you've got to do.''
Still, girls and boys have different anatomy.
``As far as inappropriate touching or anything, there isn't any, ''
Peckham said.
``I think the girls have gotten the respect of the guys, and when
they're wrestling, a lot of the guys
just don't give them any slack.' '
Not everyone, though, thinks girls should be wrestling boys.
``There are some people who don't want a girl to be on the team, ''
said Stacy Defoe. ``I heard
some people were going to try to stop us from going out.''
They wouldn't have gotten far. Federal Title IX laws protect athletes
such as the Bayfield Five,
stating that girls are entitled to participate in boys sports when
their schools do not offer
comparable girls sports.
``Ten years ago, I might have thought I wasn't sure about it,'' Peckham
said. ``Five years ago?
With all the changes and equity and things, I've come to change with
it. I just don't have any
problem with it.''
Pointing to the fact that international women's wrestling tournaments
are now springing up,
Peckham said the sport is taking a toe-hold with the female population.
``They're here to stay,'' Peckham said of his female wrestlers.
``There's no doubt in my mind,'' he
said. ``The practices are tough and the matches are easy, and all they
have to do is stick around.'
'
