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Honed by youthful scraps, Sam Houston's Malott a battler
11/10/99

By Rick Kretzschmar

Special Contributor to the Arlington Morning News

With industrial dance music pulsating from a portable stereo, Brenda Malott does jumping jacks to the beat while watching most of her teammates on Sam Houston's wrestling team sparring on mats. Then head coach Roy Shultz blows his whistle for the team to switch drills, which sends teammate Cathy Cotter over next to Malott, joining Malott in synchronized jumping jacks.

When Malott sees Cotter, she alternates shadowboxing jabs with her jumping jacks and slides over next to Cotter. She jabs Cotter in the left shoulder, then again and again.
"Hit me back," says Malott. Cotter just smiles in response. Malott smiles too.

This wasn't how it used to be for the superb senior wrestler. In the past, when she hit somebody, she meant it and she wouldn't be smiling.

"I used to have a short temper when I was a kid. If some little boys in the neighborhood would call me a name, I would fight them," Malott said. "I was bigger than them at the time. I was a bully."

These days, instead of being a street-fighting girl, she's a book-smart, savvy wrestler. And she is one of the best girls wrestler in Texas. Malott is the defending 128-pound state champion and a leader for the defending state champion Sam Houston girls wrestling team.

Malott was 18-0 last year and was untouchable in the state tournament, winning all her matches by pin. But unlike her brawling days in grade school, when she lived in Corpus Christi, her size has little to do with success.

"For my size, I'm stronger and faster than she is," said Cotter, who finished third in the state at 110 pounds. "She has perfect technique. You tell her once to do something and she's got it down, then she'll add her own little touch to a move."

Malott's maneuvering on wrestling mats is a surprise considering she did not pick up the sport until two years ago.

But that's just official training. Unofficially, her scraps on the street may have been an ideal prelude.

"When I got in fights, we would roll around on the ground. They were never serious enough to where we would kill each other," Malott said. "We would never hit each other in the face, but we would hit each other in the body, and it would hurt."

Malott said when her family moved to Arlington before she entered the fifth grade, her fighting stopped, except for one incident in the seventh grade when a girl classmate took a swing at her outside a sandwich shop. Malott said the blow didn't connect and she grabbed the girl's leg to knock her to the ground and the fight was over.

But in her time at Hutcheson Junior High School, there were plenty of verbal fights instead of physical.

"If people got in my face over a boy or something, I would tell them I would kick their butt," Malott said. "If they had any fear, I had to intimidate them.

"Boy . . . I've changed so much since then."

The biggest change came in the fall of 1997, when former Sam Houston wrestling great Melony Monahan convinced Malott to come out for wrestling. While she was active in softball at the time, a sport she still plays, Malott said she was chubby, weighing 150 pounds on her 5-2 frame.

But during the course of the 1997-98 season, Malott lost 30 pounds, on her way to finishing second in the state against heavier girls in the 128-pound weight class.

Malott said her weight will rise to 135 pounds in the off-season, but she will also be constantly active during Sam Houston practices. She will hop from teammate to teammate to see what they are doing, or spar in judo with some of her boys teammates.

"She's like that all the time. She has so much energy that she never slows down," said Niko Atonio, a Sam Houston boys teammate. "She has the adrenaline of 10 to 15 normal girls."

That adrenaline keeps going long after Sam Houston's practice is over. For the past two months, she will work out for another three hours. She said she has a different routine every day, from running and riding a stationary bike, to practicing judo or boxing.

Malott said partial inspiration came from visiting Monahan this summer. Monahan is a sophomore at Minnesota-Morris, one of the premier women's wrestling programs in the nation.

"Melony told me it was another level in college, but I mainly want to do this on my own," Malott said. "It's like an addiction. I didn't do it on Sunday and I felt [bad]."

Malott said she has thought about joining Monahan at Minnesota-Morris and she is a college recruit after finishing 10th in the nation in a national tournament in April. However, Malott said she is leaning toward going to Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo., to pursue a career as a pharmacist.

But Malott said she doesn't like to look too far into the future, preferring to focus on what's happening now.

Like what she'll do the next time she has free time. She said she will probably be working out.

It keeps her from seeing where her pugilistic past might have taken her.

"I think I would have been a party girl if I wouldn't have got in wrestling. I don't think I would be fighting anymore, but in those parties, people who are drunk will," Malott said. "You have no control over that.

"I'd rather wrestle. I have complete control over that."

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Martin boys wrestle away title in Tri-State Classic
12/05/99

By Rick Kretzschmar

Special Contributor to the Arlington Morning News

DALLAS - Martin's boys wrestling team and Sam Houston's girls wrestling squad both had to wait for a while to get official results Saturday. While both teams won championships, only one squad was satisfied with it.

Martin's boys team edged Rockwall, 222-215, to win the boys division of the Dallas Lake Highlands Tri-State Classic. There was no team score for the girls division, but the Sam Houston girls clearly dominated, winning four individual titles in the five weight classes.

Martin's boys also had four individual winners in Alan Starr (140 pounds), Jason Milleur (171), Donnie Worthy (189) and Lawrence Trotter (215). Starr was also named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

While Worthy got a pin in his match, the matches for Starr and Milleur may have been the most critical because they went head-to-head with Rockwall wrestlers. Starr rallied from a 2-0 deficit for his win over Dustin Mock, icing the win with a takedown with 11 seconds left.

"My thinking was to use an up-and-under move, and it worked," Starr said. "I knew the matches for Jason and me were important, but I also wanted to get some respect for us. Before the season, we only got special mention in state rankings, and we're better than that.

"I want people to say, 'Ooh, Martin,' when we go to meets."

Milleur's meet was almost the exact opposite of Starr's. Milleur got Jeremy Biggs in a cradle in the first period, nearly getting a pin in building a 5-0 lead. But Biggs rallied in the third and Milleur had to hold him off late for a 7-5 win. Lamar's Josh Troegle (152) also won an individual title.

Sam Houston's girls didn't have such dramatics. The girls division of the meet was more like an intrasquad scrimmage, with all-Sam Houston finals at 128 and 148 pounds. Cathy Cotter (110), Brenda Malott (128), Ember Brettman (148) and Brandi Killingsworth (165) won individual titles for the defending state champions, while Bowie's Jessica Lopez (119) made it a sweep for Arlington girls winning championships. Cotter defeated Angela Martinez of Bowie for the second time in three days for her title.

But not after a long wait for the Sam Houston girls. They waited around eight hours on Friday, only to find there was not girls weigh-in on Friday. Instead, it was held at 8 a.m. Saturday, then the Sam Houston girls had to wait 12 hours until the completion of the girls division.

"This was the worst-run tournament I've ever been in," Cotter said. "I'm kind of glad we did well, but it seemed like the people running the tournament didn't care about us."

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Texans looking for sponsors

Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1999 at 00:05 CST

The Sam Houston wrestling team is seeking sponsors to support the program this season.

The Texans, who won the first University Interscholastic League-sanctioned state championship last season, are trying to raise money to purchase new equipment, including a mat. They're also seeking assistance with any travel costs that may come with postseason competition this school year.

Four of the returning members of last year's girls state championship team are ranked nationally. Brenda Malott (128 pounds) and Cathy Cotter (110) are ranked third, respectively, while Brandi Killingsworth (165) is ranked fourth and Ember Brettman (148) sixth in their weight divisions.

For more information, call Sam Houston wrestling coach Roy Shultz at (817) 801-4636 or (817) 459-8228.

Donald Emmons, (817) 548-5530
sportszone@star-telegram.com

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