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Wrestler and Mother Heads for World Meet

By Jim Powers
Sports Editor

1997 Ahwatukee Foothills News
Phoenix, AZ

The young boy asking Tricia Saunders for her autograph was quick to include a follow-up question.

"Are you any good?" he asked the Ahwatukee Foothills resident.

Saunders laughed at recalling the moment, knowing full well that if the clock had been turned back 20 years, the whole situation would have never happened.

"It never occurred to this boy that 'I don't want a woman's autograph,'" Saunders said. "A little kid 20 years ago would never have thought I could be good at wrestling."

But she is good. Good enough to remain on the women's national wrestling team for the past nine years. Good enough to earn a spot on the U.S. World Team seven times, including this year's unit, which left Phoenix Tuesday en route to the world championships this weekend in Poznan, Poland.

Saunders will be the top American hope to bring home a medal in the 101.25 pound division, after winning the weight class over Julie Gonzales of Vallejo, Calif., at the trials in August. She will be vying for her third world gold medal--she earned one in both 1992 and 1996, along with a silver in 1993.

Saunders missed the 1997 season due to a knee injury, which required full reconstructive surgery, coupled with the birth of her second son, Townsend III. This wasn't her first bout with rehabilitation from an injury, but combined with childbirth made the process a tad longer.

"It was a pretty long road back to get it to a point where you really feel comfortable not to just get around like normal people, but to have someone attacking you in a full contact sport," Saunders said. "You really better have it solid. I worked really hard on that."

She injured her knee, of course, while wrestling.

"I was warming up for a tournament in Phoenix right before the finals of a match," she said. "The trainer there told me the knee was sprained. I had this feeling it wasn't sprained. The sound that it made didn't sound like a little tweak. After the initial shock, it's not as painful as a partial tear. Since I didn't have a lot of swelling, I could actually get out and wrestle on it. Not well; it hurt me.

"It was the longest five minutes of my life. I won the match. I had never lost to another American. If she had been a foreigner, I might not have done it. I don't know why that was important to me at the time, but at that particular moment, I wasn't ready to give up my unbeaten record against Americans. I'm not so attached to that piece of trivia now."

Saunders gained 40 pounds during her pregnancy, but through her rehabilitation routine of running and weight training, she worked her way back down to her training weight of 110. By the time the U.S. Nationals were held in March, Saunders felt ready to put her knee to the test.

"I'm actually in better shape than I was then and I'm in the best shape of my life," Saunders said. "I think I'm wrestling better than I was in 1996. I don't think I'm so fearful of the loss. I'm just going out and have some fun and win. I don't think so negatively. I don't see myself on a tight rope any more, as much as on a launching pad ready to take off."

The challenge will be much different than 1996. In the last year, the women's weight classes have been consolidated from nine to six, in order to bring the sport into line with men's wrestling and become more appealing as an Olympic sport.

"The good wrestlers are not as spread out as they used to be," Saunders said. "The women in my weight class this time include a five-time world gold medalist who also won a silver one year, and another who has gone to worlds three times and won all three.

"Even though my weight class is the smallest, it doesn't have the enormous depth of the others but it will be the hardest to win because of those two in it. It will be a hard gold coming. I will be really happy with my accomplishment. I think it will be easier for me to take sixth than some of the girls on this team, and much harder to win."

Saunders has been accustomed to facing difficult challenges ever since she took up the sport at the age of eight. Her presence in a male-only sport caused quite a commotion back in 1975, and it wasn't until she was older that she was able to look back and realize just what it all meant.

"It was a big issue that people either loved it or hated it," she said. "I did really well competing as a kid against boys. I had a great time and changed a lot of people's minds about what girls should be allowed to do and what they can do."

If the public's reaction wasn't enough to deter her from continuing, the physically-demanding sport itself should have. "It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes you come back," she said. "You have to be able to take your licks and walk out and say I want to do that again tomorrow. Only certain people can do that. There is something inside you that either says I'm not going to do this to myself or that says this is really fun."

When Saunders did reflect on the way people reacted, she both admonished and understood their behavior. She realized it ran the cycle of most issues that gain public attention which reach an apex and then eventually disappear.

"I think it used to be a morality issue," she contended. "How can you want to help one kid and not another? It's like they are saying, 'I don't want you to learn. You make me upset whether you're good or bad. Get out of here.' I thought, 'What an evil person.' A lot of that is just their reaction to change. People who were against girls in wrestling are now great supporters and I thought that was just impossible. I've seen it too much. After a while, nobody cares. With kids, it's not a problem. If a coach comes in and says here is the issue, it's not a big deal, let's go and the kids go along."

Saunders often takes her experiences to youngsters, speaking at schools or wrestling tournaments. She hopes one day to coach wrestling when her children are older. "I like working with younger kids, junior high school age," she said.

At 32, she is not sure how much longer she will remain on the national level as a participant. The Olympics are a long way off, and the most immediate goal would be to appear in the world championships in 2001 when it is held for the first time in the United States.

"I don't ever attach goals to things I don't have control over," Saunders said, of shooting for the 2004 Olympics when women's wrestling will be added. The 2000 Olympics are still a possibility, but nothing solid has been announced.

"So, we'll see about the Olympics," she added. "It would be fun to go, but if not, that's OK."

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Referee Bailo has officiated sport for 30 seasons
By David Goricki / The Detroit News

It would be difficult to find someone more involved in wrestling than referee Kent Bailo of Lake Orion.
This is Bailo's 30th year of officiating, and his love of the sport grows with each season.
"I love the excitement," says Bailo, 47. "There's a lot of down time during tournaments, so you get the opportunity to talk to a lot of people."
Bailo graduated from South Lyon High in 1968, and didn't waste any time. He worked his first meet on Dec. 4, 1968 at Detroit Lutheran West -- West faced faced Melvindale.
"I never did any junior high or junior varsity," said Bailo who works for General Motors in Pontiac. "I just figured I was good enough to do varsity right away. I didn't even register with the (Michigan High School Athletic Association) that first season until November 10, but still did 14 meets."
Bailo officiated his first college meet the following season and has been a fixture at both levels ever since.
"Two years ago, I worked 108 meets," Bailo said. "I plan on working 80 this year."
At 24, Bailo was the youngest official to work the Class A finals in 1975. He will work his sixth MHSAA final -- the Division III Individual State Meet on March 12-13 in Kalamazoo.
Here's a typical week for Bailo during wrestling season:
* Monday, Feb. 9 -- junior high match at Clarkston Sashabaw.
* Feb. 10 -- varsity meet at West Bloomfield.
* Feb. 11 -- varsity meet at Lapeer West.
* Feb. 12 -- Ypsilanti at Willow Run junior high and varsity at Plymouth-Salem.
* Feb. 13 -- Big Ten meet, Penn State at Ohio State
* Feb. 14 -- Flint Metro League meet at Oxford.
Bailo wrestled in high school, but wasn't All-State caliber. He was a three-year varsity starter and finished with an 18-32 record.
"I wasn't a superstar in high school," Bailo said, "but I liked wrestling and wanted to continue in the sport."
Bailo was also a successful high school coach, posting a 10-year record of 242-46-2 at Pontiac Catholic, Bentley, Rochester Adams and Alpena.
Bailo's oldest son, Brent, wrestled at Lake Orion from 1989-91. He then followed in his dad's footsteps as a referee, officiating his first meet at age 18. He is now in his seventh season at the high school level, and also works college meets.
Bailo will be busy in March. He will be working the NCAA Division III National Championship at Waterloo, Iowa, March 6-7; the MHSAA Division III Individual State Finals in Kalamazoo on March 13-14; the Michigan girls wrestling state championships at Ann Arbor Pioneer on March 22, and the U.S. High School Girls Wrestling National Championships at Pioneer on March 28-29.