A Girl wrestler .
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Girls' Wrestling Match Packs a Crowd
By STEPHEN HARGIS
Staff Writer Dec 1 1999
Several weeks ago Amber Bull stood at the 50-yard line at Red Bank Community Stadium, having just been crowned homecoming queen.
This would be a dream come true for most girls, but not Amber.
Tuesday night, inside a stuffy Soddy-Daisy wrestling arena, her blonde hair in a frayed ponytail, Bull got her dream by pinning an opponent to the mat.
"I have to admit, this is a lot more exciting than winning homecoming queen," said Bull, who had just pinned Soddy-Daisy's Sarah Eldridge in two minutes as part of a 57-28 team win for the Lionettes.
But the score wasn't the story.
For the first time ever in Tennessee prep sports history, two full girls' teams wrestled each other. The event was not sanctioned by the TSSAA, since girls' wrestling is not a varsity sport, but judging by the packed crowd and the intensity of the matches, perhaps it should be.
The idea for girls' wrestling came when Red Bank coach Richard Brown and Soddy-Daisy coach Steve Henry began trying to think of ways to raise money for their programs.
"Steve and I hang out a lot and we were kicking around ideas," said Brown, who added that proceeds from Tuesday would be split by the two schools. "They have a few college girls' teams, so we decided to see if there was any interest.
"I put a signup sheet on my door about a month ago and 30 girls signed up. We've got 21 who stuck it out, but only 17 are here tonight because four others are basketball cheerleaders."
As Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls" blared over the speakers, the mood was set. The Lionettes got pins from their first two wrestlers and went on to win handily.
There were a few noticeable differences from boys' wrestling. For instance, the girls took hair timeouts to adjust ponytails, and girls on both sides requested their weights not be announced.
Otherwise, they were every bit as intent on winning, perhaps even more so.
"It seems to me the girls take it a lot more personally. They wear their feelings on their sleeve," said Brown. "Some of them got downright mad, but they're all smiles after it's over, so I guess they had a good time."
One of the most emotional matches came from perhaps the smallest competitor, as Soddy-Daisy's Kelly Wene outpointed Jenna Hawkins, 10-2.
Wene is the younger sister of Trojans junior 140-pounder James Wene. As the buzzer sounded to end her match, she raced into the waiting arms of her older brother, who had shown her a few pointers in the weeks leading up to the event.
"I could barely hear anything," said Kelly, still trembling with emotion. "I couldn't believe it when I looked up and had won. All I could do is cry.
"This was the most exciting thing I've ever done. It was great."
Their mother, Joni, paid for a seat she never used, instead standing and cheering wildly the entire time.
"It's a little different when it's your daughter out there," Joni said. "I've seen the two of them wrestling around in the house, but this was for real, and that other girl was so much bigger than Kelly.
"I was worried, but then once it started, it wasn't any different than watching James. You just start yelling like crazy."
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|
A Girl wrestler . |
A Girl Wrestler?
By: Carrianne in CA
October 21, 1999
Why is it so insane if a girl wants to participate in a man’s sport; or any sport for that matter? Hi, I am Carrianne Sullivan and I am a female wrestler and weightlifter. Why not? What is the big deal about a girl wanting to roll around with the guys? The only thing that I can think of is that most guys won’t and don’t enjoy loosing to a girl, especially by a girl that knows that she is the best. I don’t care what anyone says, girls are just as good, if not better than boys in sports.
Having a girl on any male sport team can be beneficial. A girl who can lift more, run faster, or just superior altogether, can be intimidating to a guy; especially a girl with a big ego. For some reason guys can’t be hurt and don’t want to be hurt. Guys fear that their wondrous reputations will be ruined and they’ll be seen as “sissies”. I beg to differ. Guys need to be put down and beaten by a girl. In a way it makes them want to do better and work harder to win. It should make them feel powerful instead of powerless, which in-turn should boost their self-esteem.
I’m not out there to take down guy’s self-worth. I’m out there to build up my self-worth and to have fun.
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Davison rolls in wrestling opener
Friday, December 3, 1999
Davison High has a special wrestling team this season, and the Cardinals started the season in a special way.
The Cardinals held a school-wide assembly to feature their 1:30 match with traditional state power Detroit Catholic Central Thursday afternoon. In front of that rollicking crowd, Davison rolled over the Shamrocks 60-24.
"We used to do this when I wrestled here," said Davison coach Roy Hall. "It's a great rivalry and a great way to start the season, with an assembly match. Next year we'll go down to CC and start the season in front of their student body.
"It was just great. We went all out. We wanted to grab some attention and I think we did. The excitement and intensity were just great. I think this might carry over into the rest of the season."
The Cardinals got off to a strong start by starting the meet with the match that usually ends them. Heavyweight Nic LaFear started things off for the Cards by pinning Catholic Central's Aaron Parr 2:26 into the first match of the season.
Keristan LaBelle followed that with a pin of Adam Stacey at 2:30 in her 103-pound match, and John Whitman kept things going with a pin of Chris O'Lara at 112 pounds.
In fact, the Cardinals won the first eight matches of the day to establish control of the meet.
"Nic LaFear is a senior and a great leader," said Hall. "We usually have heavyweights last and a lot of times we've relied on him to win big matches at the end. Today we started with heavyweight to let more people see his match.
"It kind of helped; he got us going. Keristan LaBelle at 103 carried it on, John Whitman followed with an impressive performance at 112 and Shawn Newton, an All-Stater last year, kept it going. It just snowballed."
Catholic Central is usually one of the strongest teams in the state. Coach Mike Rodriguez came into the season with a record of 580-195 in 33 seasons at Catholic Central. In addition, the seven-time Class A state champion Shamrocks have at least two All-State performers on this year's roster. Mitch Hancock, who placed second at 152 pounds last year, was impressive at 160. The Shamrocks also had three other wrestlers record pins.
However, Davison is expecting big things from this year's team.
"I'd be lying if I said we didn't expect to contend for a state championship," said Hall. "Anything less and the kids would be disappointed. We're very talented, but we'll have to work super hard. But we have some serious athletes who have put a lot of work into this.
"Last year we flirted around with it (a state championship run). This year we've jumped in with both feet."
The Cardinals were even without the services of two of their captains for this meet as Jimmy McFall and Jonathan Phillips were both out with injuries.
Those two missed out on the action on the mats Tuesday, but were able to take part in the excitement of the season opener.
"You can't do something like this without the support of our administration," said Hall. "The student body was great. We could not have been happier with how they conducted themselves. Our kids were tested in front of a great crowd. It was definitely a great environment to start our season."
Davison 60, Detroit Cath. Central 24
103 - Keristan LaBelle (D) d. Adam Stacey 2:30; 112 - John Whitman (D) d. Chris O'Hara 3:22; 119 - Shawn Newton (D) d. Tim Mulroy :35; 125 - Chase Metcalf (D) d. Paul Hagan 3:47; 130 - Nick Findley (D) d. Mike Siwicki 1:34; 135 - Joe Whitman (D) d. Nathan Rodriguez 3:31; 140 - Chad Roush (D) d. Jeff Wheeler 1:47; 145 - Jason Abshire (CC) d. Dustin Wells 2:28; 152 - Tim Polidan (D) d. Sean Bell 5:33; 160 - Mitch Hancock (CC) d. David Martinbianco 2:40; 171 - Jason Hilliker (CC) d. Adam Wilmott :22; 185 - Casey Streeter (D) d. Blaic Naysmith 3:52; 215 - Andy Conlin (CC) d. Derek Lehr 4:52; 275 - Nic LaFear (D) d. Aaron Parr 2:26.
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Liberty's wrestlers include 4 grappling girls
One of the last prep sports barriers is falling fast
By SUSAN KINZIE
Published Friday, December 3, 1999
MORGANTON -- Two students tussled on a purple mat at Liberty Middle School, their coach shouting directions and boys cheering from the side.
At the end of the match, the wrestlers stood up, one giggling, one smoothing her wavy hair back into a ponytail.
There are four girls on Liberty's wrestling team, girls who train and compete with the 16 or so boys. More than 25 years after Title IX, the federal law mandating equal opportunities for girls at school, girls continue to break barriers.
But wrestling?
The grabby, in-your-face, roll-around-on-the-mat sport has been one of the last holdouts.
"The growth in women's athletics has been really spectacular over the past decade or so," said Rick Strunk of the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
About 40 girls competed on N.C. high-school wrestling teams last year, Strunk said.
"I'm not surprised that girls would want to wrestle - not anymore I'm not," said Dan Hardee, athletic director at South Caldwell High School, who has seen girls' attitudes about sports change dramatically over the years. "I have girls tell me every year they're going to come out for football."
Crystal Feiteira was sitting in the auditorium of Liberty last year when the principal announced there would be a new wrestling team at the school and encouraged students to participate.
She said someone asked, jokingly, if there would be girls on the team, and a boy sneered, "Oh, there shouldn't be girls."
"And I said, `There you go. I'm going to be one of them.'"
No one thought she'd really do it, she said. Thin and pretty, with long black hair, the 14-year-old doesn't look anything like the stereotype of a stocky male wrestler.
When she goes onto the floor for a match, she said, "Everybody's looking at you and going, `That's a GIRL!'
"It's scary.But you kind of gotta prove your point to them."
Vanessa Knox, a 13-year-old finishing up one of her first days of practice in track pants and shimmery eye shadow, said her parents are worried she's going to get hurt. "I just want to show them I'm stronger than they think I am."
Crystal convinced a lot of girls to try wrestling - seven came to the information meeting at the beginning of the season. Three dropped out.
One girl told coach Shane Parker she didn't want to wear a spandex uniform in front of a crowd.
"I can't blame her for that," he said. "I wouldn't want to either."
Brittany Pavon, a good friend of Crystal's who was a cheerleader last year, tried wrestling for a few days but didn't like it.
If there were an all-girl team, she said, it would be fun. But she doesn't like the idea of wrestling with boys. "It's not something anybody talked about," she said. "It's something I thought about."
She wasn't the only one.
Several local coaches some of the holds - like the crotch grab - could lead to uncomfortable situations on a mixed team.
Jessy Russell said she's wrestled teammate Dylan Flood a couple of times. It's different than wrestling with girls, she said.
"You have to be careful not to hurt them. You have to be careful of different things."
Boys on the team laughed at that, and she turned red.
"It's not comfortable," Dylan said. "It's two people in the ring going after each other."
The boys said they think it's great competing with girls. They said size, strength, quickness and brains win matches - boys won't have an advantage unless they're better wrestlers.
Dylan said wrestling girls would be awkward at first. "But I could get used to it," he added, grinning.
During practice, as students wrestled on the mat, shirts were flying up and one boy's shorts almost came all the way off.
Parker said the students should wear their spandex uniforms under their clothes from now on. "I don't want to see that," he said.
Parker coaches with Tyson Rodriguez, who said she volunteered in large part because there are girls on the team - she wants them to have a woman to talk with if they have any concerns.
"I would feel different without a woman coach," Parker said. "In this day and time you can't be too careful."
But the kids on the team are mature and responsible, Parker said. The boys respect the girls and are glad to have them on the team.
"I wish there were enough girls so they could be on all-girl teams," Rodriguez said. "Since there aren't, I'm glad they're confident enough to come out and compete." "I wish there were enough girls so they could be on all-girl teams. Since there aren't, I'm glad they're confident enough to come out and compete."
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Persistence pays off for Zephyrhills' Rathburn;
The Tampa Tribune
December 2, 1999, Thursday,
ZEPHYRHILLS - Victory is the sweetest reward as Bulldog wrestler Nicole
Rathburn earns her first win in three seasons.
Nicole Rathburn was tired of hearing people say, "Maybe next time."
Entering her third season on the Zephyrhills wrestling team, Rathburn was
winless in dozens of varsity and junior varsity matches.
She received forfeit victories when there was no one in her weight class or
when coaches refused to let a boy wrestle a girl.
Her winless streak ended Tuesday when Rathburn, wrestling in the JV lineup
at 152 pounds, pinned Central's Michael Sullivan.
Her feat didn't go unnoticed. Wrestlers from Central's rival schools -
Springstead and Hernando - were on one side of the gym cheering and
Zephyrhills fans and
wrestlers were on the other side doing the same.
When Rathburn turned Sullivan onto his back in the third period, the Central
gym erupted with fans stomping their feet and screaming Rathburn's name.
With a tight half nelson applied and Sullivan's shoulders flat, the
referee's hand slapped the mat with 1:01 left in the match.
"It doesn't matter if it's a JV win," Rathburn said with tears in her eyes.
"It's a win."
Rathburn's parents, Mike and Julie, walked into the gym midway through the
first period with their daughter trailing 4-3. They watched her take a 6-4
advantage after
two periods.
"When I walked in I started cheering and she looked up and saw me," Julie
said. "She knew we were there."
Rathburn had a 9-4 lead before pinning Sullivan.
"I've had other girls come out for wrestling and last two weeks,"
Zephyrhills coach Kevin Epifanio said. "I never see them again. She's tough
and stuck with it."
Rathburn's tears flowed as she hugged her mother.
"Finally," Julie said. "She's been working for this for years and it's a
great way to start the season."
Hard cross-face moves from Sullivan left Rathburn with a black eye, but
she'll wear the bruise as a badge of honor.
"After he punched me in the face, I knew I had to win," Rathburn said.
Bruises, scratches and mat burns are all part of wrestling and Rathburn
earns them daily.
"It's all part of being a wrestler," Rathburn said.
Epifanio added: "She works as hard as any kid on this team. It's good to
know hard work pays off."