ARTICLES DETAIL (2006) PART 2

RULING THE MAT

Alyssa Davison has secured the 103-pound varsity wrestling spot for Brea-Olinda High School.

By LOU PONSI



    Brea Olinda High senior Alyssa Davison isn’t the first girl to be a member of a high school varsity wrestling team.

    But when you add the title of homecoming queen to high school wrestler, the list narrows.

    Davison, 18, has been a member of the Wildcat wrestling team for four years. This season, she’s earned a spot as the varsity 103-pounder. As of Monday, her record was 4-6.

    In the fall, Davison was elected homecoming queen, winning out over four other finalists for the honor.

    Davison,

who wears high heels, jewelry and skirts, describes herself as a “girly girl.”

    But, in the end, she says she’s more comfortable wearing a singlet than a crown.

    “I look at myself as a wrestler more than anything else I’m involved in,” Davison said after practice last week. “Most people don’t believe me at first because I don’t look like a stereotypical wrestler. I think people think of a girl wrestler as big and a brute, but I’m 103 pounds.”

    Davison says she’s a warm-hearted person and uses the wrestling mat to take out her aggressions.

    This point must also be made: Davison is not wrestling to be unique or attract attention. She’s not trying to make a statement that girls can do anything boys can.

    She wrestles because, well, because she wants to wrestle.

    She was a gymnast for 12 years and played competitive softball and volleyball. Davison was introduced to wrestling by her older brother, Justin, who wrestled at 152 pounds for the Wildcats and showed his younger sister some moves.

    Davison became fascinated when she watched her brother’s

matches. Then, her interest was piqued when she saw another girl wrestle, but lose her match.

    “I watched in amazement and I thought, I’m going to do that,” Davison said. “But if I’m going to do it, I’m going to win.”

    It wasn’t going to be easy. Davison had to overcome a major obstacle before she even stepped on the mat.

    She had to gain support from her mother, Joy Thompson, who was vehemently against the idea of her daughter being a grappler.

    Thompson agreed that she and her daughter could at least meet with the coach.

    “I thought for sure he would talk her out of it,” Thompson said.

    They met with Wildcat wrestling coach Fergus McTaggart, who admits now that he was also opposed to a girl participating in the physical, often-violent sport.

    “I explained the dangerous nature of the sport,” McTaggart recalled. “I told her that injury was not only possible, but would likely occur.”

    McTaggart made one statement, however, that Thompson says probably had a reverse effect on her daughter.

    “He told her that he’d had girls try out but they never lasted very long,” said Thompson. “That’s when I said, ‘Uh, oh.’”

    The skepticism motivated Davison all the more.

    Four years later, not only has she lasted, Davison is one of three seniors left on the team from a group of 25 freshmen that started together.

    Michael Ishida, the Wildcats’ varsity 119-pounder, is Davison’s training partner.

    The 15-year-old said he “doesn’t think of her as a girl, but as another wrestler.”

    “She’s good at taking shots and she’ll fight hard when she’s on her back,” Ishida said.

    Ishida added that when they wrestle for real during practice, Davison is able to score on him.

    Some of those injuries McTaggart warned Davison about have occurred.

    She broke her ankle during practice as a sophomore and missed most of the season.

    As a junior, she tore her meniscus. This season, she lacerated her kidney and was briefly hospitalized. She has also broken her nose at least three times.

    “My mom keeps telling me, ‘One more trip to the emergency room, and that’s it,’ but she always says that,” Davison said.

    That she’s been able to rebound from the injuries and persevere on impresses assistant coach Brian Schlueter.

    “You’re just awestruck ...s you think ‘That’s the homecoming queen' I don’t believe it,’ ” said Schlueter, a former Cal State Fullerton wrestler.

    “She is probably one of the toughest girls on this campus. No. She is probably one of the toughest people on this campus. She is definitely gnarly.”

    Her coach' Davison’s won him over too.

    “She’s as tough or tougher than most of the boys on our team,” McTaggart said.

    “My mom used to say the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Well, Alyssa is like that. The girl that wears the crown rules the mat.”

    Davison is hoping to continue wrestling in college. There are no NCAA-sanctioned women’s teams but USA Wrestling sanctions several women’s tournaments.

    Davison’s mother admits that she’s still not all that crazy about the idea but she’s learned to enjoy her matches.

    “Before she goes on the mat, I’m worried to death and then I’m very proud of her when they are over,” Thomson said.

    “I didn’t think she’d last. She really proved herself.”

    At a December tournament in Las Vegas, Davison the only girl in the tournament, pinned her opponent, inciting the packed gym to erupt into applause and give her a standing ovation.

    That was clincher for her mother.

    “It was like a scene out of the movies,” Thompson said. “I’ll never forget it. To see that last match has made it all worth it.”

Women wrestling

In high school: USA Wrestling Director of Communications Gary Abbott estimates there are about 5,000 girls wrestling on high school boys teams and 1,000 of those in California schools. “California has been a leader in the development of high school girls wrestling,” Abbott said. In college: Women’s wrestling is not yet an NCAA sanctioned sport but Abbott said some National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics schools and junior colleges have women’s programs. In California, Menlo College in Atherton and Lassen Community College in Susanville have women’s wrestling teams. In the Olympics: Women’s freestyle wrestling was offered for the first time in the Olympics at the 2004 games in Athens. Competing for the U.S. were Sara McMann (1 58.5 pounds), Patricia Miranda (1 05.5), Toccara Montgomery (1 58.5) and Tela O’Donnell (1 2 1). McMann and Miranda took home silver and bronze medals, respectively. More information: Click on the women’s wrestling link at www.themat.com .

SPRING TOURNAMENT

California USA Wrestling is holding a junior girls freestyle wrestling tournament April 7-9 in Lemoore. The top three winners per weight class can qualify for the Junior Nationals. Information:

www.ca-usaw.org




ALYSSA DAVISON WRESTLES IN THE 1 03-POUND DIVISION on the Brea Olinda High Wrestling Team. Left, Davison, above, competes in wind-sprint conditioning with her team.






Alyssa Davison


 

Two girls take to the mats Young women earn their place on Knox Middle wrestling team   Knox Middle wrestlers Kaitlyn Leonard and Krystol Thomas. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.     Salisbury Post As girls in what is generally considered a male sport, Kaitlyn Leonard and Krystol Thomas, both members of the Knox Middle School wrestling squad, get a kick out of changing people's notions about how strong girls are and whether or not they can compete against boys in a physical sport like wrestling. But the two eighth-graders didn't join the team to prove a point about what girls can do. They just like to wrestle, and they're good at it. *** Last Tuesday, Knox Middle School wrestled China Grove Middle School at home. Competing in the 112-pound division against Anson Phillips, Kaitlyn came away with a pin 51 seconds into the second period. After the match, she was pumped. 'I was ready for it,' she says. 'I got a lot of encouragement from my teammates.'   Satisfaction! Knox Middle School's Kaitlyn Leonard celebrates after taking the win over China Grove Middle's Anson Phillips in the 112-pound division. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. One of those teammates cheering her on was Krystol, who later earned her own win in the 189-pound division by pinning an opponent she'd competed against earlier in the season.   'It felt good,' said Krystol of her victory. 'When I got up (off the mat), it was great. Everybody was like, 'Yeah!' ' Her opponent, Daniel Aldridge, took the defeat gracefully. 'He had respect for me,' Krystol said. 'After the match, he was smiling and said 'Good job; you did it again.' ' Winning the bout put Krystol's conference record at 4-3. Kaitlyn's win boosted her record to 2-1. Although she wrestled last year for Knox, she started out the 2005-2006 school year in Denton, returning to Knox in November. She was required to complete nine practices before being eligible to participate in matches. *** Kaitlyn began wrestling when she was 6. After winning her first match, she was hooked. 'I thought it was awesome,' she said. 'It's very fun.' Kaitlyn's tee ball coach thought she might make a good wrestler.   Her pin, Her win: Kaitlyn Leonard faces Anson Phillips at the start of her match, soon pins him on his back and lets the referee confirm her victory in the second match of the wrestling meet between Knox and China Grove middle schools. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. She got involved in AAU wrestling and was soon traveling all over the state to compete, mostly against boys. In 2001, she won a bronze medal in the 50-pound division of a national AAU La Femme tournament for female wrestlers held in Kingsport, Tenn.   Now at 13 years old, Kaitlyn still enjoys the sport. 'Kaitlyn brings a lot to our team,' Knox coach Leon Gaither says, including enthusiasm and sportsmanship. 'The guys really cheer her on.' In a recent match against North Rowan Middle School, Knox won the match by a single point ' and would have lost if Kaitlyn had allowed herself to be pinned. Even though she lost that match, Kaitlyn is proud she contributed to the team's win. She doesn't think it's any big deal that she's a girl who wrestles. 'It's just cool that you can do something that other girls wouldn't really do,' she says. She has no problem handling what her opponents dish out, and she doesn't want any special treatment. 'I'll take anything,' she says.   Her pin, Her win: Kaitlyn Leonard faces Anson Phillips at the start of her match, soon pins him on his back and lets the referee confirm her victory in the second match of the wrestling meet between Knox and China Grove middle schools. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. Because she and Krystol have long hair, they are required to wear a special hair covering. And since wrestling singlets are not designed with the female body in mind, they wear T-shirts underneath their uniforms.   Kaitlyn admits to getting some pleasure looking at the faces of her opponents as they walk off the mat, especially if she's performed well against them. Kaitlyn's mom, Misty McDaniel, is proud of her daughter, who at 5 feet 7 inches and 107 pounds is 'nothing but muscle,' she says. 'She's spunky, very athletic and not afraid to take a risk,' McDaniel says. 'Kaitlyn's an awesome wrestler, very talented and technically sound,' says Kareem Puranda, the school's resource officer and an assistant coach for the squad. 'She handles herself very well.   Her pin, Her win: Kaitlyn Leonard faces Anson Phillips at the start of her match, soon pins him on his back and lets the referee confirm her victory in the second match of the wrestling meet between Knox and China Grove middle schools. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. 'She should be wrestling in the 103-4 pound class, but she's wrestling at 112,' he says, which means that most of her opponents outweigh her, putting her at a slight disadvantage.   'She's a trooper,' Puranda says. 'I don't think there's anybody in her real weight class to match her.' The boys on the team respect Kaitlyn and are somewhat intimidated, he says. 'They don't want to wrestle her. She can kick some of those boys' butts.' Kaitlyn is also a high jumper on the track team, and she's trying out for the basketball team. She's not sure how far she'll take the wrestling or whether she'll wrestle in high school next year, but for now, she's having fun with it. Kaitlyn was flattered when she found out Krystol saw her as a role model. 'It feels good when you get other people to come out and do something because you did it,' Kaitlyn says. Krystol is fairly new to the sport of wrestling, but she's off to a great start, Puranda says. 'In practice, she's proved her abilities on the mat. She's got some basic techniques down.   They're ready: Knox Middle's Krystol Thomas helps Kaitlyn Leonard stretch before a match with China Grove Middle. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. 'She's put up a good fight in each of her bouts,' he adds.   She's not the first wrestler in her family. Her older brother, Robert, was a champion wrestler when he was in school in Pittsburgh, where her family used to live. The sport helps her cope, she says. 'Wrestling helps me relieve all my stress and stuff. When I'm in a bad mood, I just lay it all down.' She enjoys surprising her opponents. 'They always underestimate me,' she says. 'Her opponents will often say, 'I didn't expect that much strength,' ' Puranda says. Krystol says her friends at school love that she and Kaitlyn are on the wrestling team. 'They just like it when we pin a boy,' she says. Krystol also plays basketball and softball at Knox, where last year she won the All Coaches Award for her athletic achievements. She plans to continue wrestling at Salisbury High.   Pin him: Knox Middle School's Krystol Thomas cheers on her teammates in a match with China Grove . Krystol wrestles in the 189-pound weight class, and teammate Kaitlyn Leonard wrestles in the 112-pound weight division. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post. Krystol's mother, Darlene Williams, is proud of her daughter's achievements.   In the beginning, Williams said, she questioned how a female could safely wrestle a male, but now she doesn't worry so much. Despite her ferocity on the mat, Krystol likes to go to dances and 'pretties up' well, her mom says. 'When she wants to look like a lady, she can.' On the mat, however, 'ladylike' is the last thing that Krystol and Kaitlyn want to be. ***

Proving herself on the mat
Chuck Slater
Special to The Journal News
The Journal News

Chuck Slater

For The Patent Trader

It is a first for Dennis DiSanto, the knowledgeable, well-respected coach at
Somers High School. In his 21st season, with more than 200 varsity victories
under his belt, he has a girl wrestler on his squad.

"We've wrestled against girls quite a few times," DiSanto said, "but not one
had ever been on my team."

Meghan Raniolo has changed that. The junior competes regularly on the
Tuskers' junior varsity, wrestling at either 130 or 135 pounds. Shortly
before the holiday break, she registered her first victory on the mat,
beating a male opponent.

"A couple of guys on the squad said she'd spoken to them about trying out,"
DiSanto said of his first inkling that things were going to be a little
different this year. "Then there she was."

Raniolo is 5-foot-5, brown-haired and athletic looking but far richer in
determination than experience.

"She had never really wrestled before," DiSanto said. "She said she had done
it in junior high school and liked it."

Junior high school and junior year in high school are countless hours of
training removed from each other. So why now?

"It was a fun idea," said Raniolo, an A-minus student taking advanced
placement courses. "I thought I'd go for it. I really like it."

Said DiSanto: "The first few days were awkward. But after she toughed out
the first week and was still there, the guys started helping her. Now,
really, it's not like having a girl on the team. She just fits in.

"She's got a good work ethic, and if anyone comes into the room willing to
work, I'll coach them."

Awkward is also a good word for Raniolo's revelation of the new sport she
had chosen to her parents.

"I said `You must be kidding,'" her mother, Debbie, said. "I asked if she
was serious. When she said `yes,' well, I trust her judgment. We supported
her."

"We" includes her husband, Robert, a surgeon at Phelps Memorial Hospital who
also serves as a team doctor for Sleepy Hollow High School.

"I wasn't an athlete, that comes from her mother," he said. "I was a grease
monkey, into hot rods. I asked Meghan why she wanted to wrestle. Did she
feel she had something to prove? Was there some ulterior motive? She said,
`Dad, why would you question me? Just because I'm a girl?'

"So we said OK. And there's no question wrestling has been good for her."

Said Meghan: "I have lost a few pounds. I was 138 when I went out for the
team. But more than losing weight, I've gained muscle."

"She's trying real hard to get better," said Anthony Mancini, a 119-pound
freshman who is Raniolo's practice partner. "In workouts, she'll run faster
than anyone else. She's strong-willed; she'll do anything that's fair to
win."

Mancini volunteered to work out with the girl on the team.

"I didn't feel that uncomfortable," he said. "I think we've learned from
each other."

Raniolo, who was a captain of the JV softball team last spring, is a big fan
of the Philadelphia Eagles and Ashley Simpson. But she is so into wrestling
that she hopes to compete again in her senior year.

On the varsity?

"That would really be a challenge," she said. "But I'd love to if I'm good
enough."
 

Wrestling provides its competitors a unique challenge, not because the
combatants love their sport more than other athletes, but because of the
specific challenge they face, and the no-hiding arena in which they compete.

Liz Yori ascribes to that belief, and clearly has a passion for the sport.

"Wrestling is one sport that really challenges you individually," she said,
"because when you're wrestling you're out there all by yourself, and not
only are you alone, but everybody's watching you."

Yori knows because she wrestled for Mount View High in Thorndike in 1997 and
1998, shortly after girls were first allowed to participate in the sport in
Maine.

"Before that I played basketball, but I got in a lot of foul trouble," she
said.

These days, she fulfills her wrestling passion from a different perspective
- as the interim varsity wrestling coach at her alma mater.

Yori is believed to be the first woman ever to be a high school wrestling
head coach in Maine, yet she doesn't get bogged down in trailblazer talk.

"As soon as I started wrestling, I fell in love with it," she said, "and
after I graduated I just thought I might want to get back into it at some
point."

Yori doesn't come to her current job without experience. She moved back to
central Maine after graduating from Saint Joseph's College of Standish in
2002 and became a volunteer coach at Mount View Junior High. A year later
she was the junior high assistant coach, and she moved up to head coach last
winter.

Yori planned to resume those duties again this year and help out at the high
school until recently, when head coach Hamilton Richards' Air National Guard
unit was activated. Richards' unit is likely to be deployed in early 2006
for up to 18 months, so given that uncertainty Yori was named the Mustangs'
interim head coach.

"I was just interested in being an assistant coach at the high school, for
continuity purposes from the junior high and for some personal coaching
growth," she said. "Then Ham's unit got activated, and everything changed."

Yori and Richards currently both work with the varsity squad. "I defer to
him, he's been with the team for more than a decade," said Yori, an
educational technician with the special education program at Mount View
High.

Yori describes herself as a hands-on coach, willing to mix it up with her
wrestlers to help them learn and refine their moves. She admits coaching at
the high school level is different than at the junior high, in part because
the older wrestlers use techniques she hasn't had to learn or teach since
her own grappling days.

"I'm sort of learning on my feet," said Yori, whose team has its first home
meet at 10 a.m. Saturday against Skowhegan and Mount Ararat of Topsham.

The fact she coached most of the high school wrestlers in junior high has
helped. That group is led by senior co-captains Walter Harding at 189 pounds
and Thom Yori - Liz's brother - at 160. Two girls also dot the 11-wrestler
roster.

"I'm looking for a lot of individual growth from all the wrestlers this
year," said Yori.

Once Richards returns from his military obligations, Yori hopes to remain on
the high school staff as well as continue coaching at the junior high. It's
all about fulfilling a passion.

"I just love it," she said. "I loved wrestling, and I love coaching it.
Wrestling's one of those things that if you love it, you love it, and if you
don't love it, you're just not there."

 

Girls in wrestling are grappling for respect

All-girls tournament in Sitka shows growing impact of women in sport

By KEVIN KLOTT
Anchorage Daily News

Published: January 19, 2006
Last Modified: January 19, 2006 at 02:29 AM

Every year students at Sitka High are required to create senior projects before graduating.

But this year, Abby Gillaspie's project means more to her than just a routine senior assignment -- it's a call-out to all Alaska girls who wear singlets, thrive for mat respect and compete in the only high school sport where girls physically battle one-on-one against boys.

Gillaspie, who wrestles at 119 pounds for Sitka, dubbed the project, "How to create an all-girls wrestling tournament."

She has logged more than 50 hours since taking on the task in November 2004.

And now Gillaspie will determine her project's success by how many girls visit Sitka, a Southeast town of 8,835, next month.

"This has been really hard," Gillaspie said. "How do you get girls to show up on an island out in the middle of nowhere?"

That's easy. Invite two 2004 Olympians -- Tela O'Donnell and Sara McMann -- and provide classic Southeast entertainment, such as wildlife boat cruises in Sitka Sound and tours at the Alaska Raptor Center.

"It's not all about coming to Sitka to wrestle," said Sitka athletic director Steve Gillaspie, Abby's father. "It's about coming to visit Southeast Alaska."

O'Donnell and McMann, who are scheduled to host a wrestling clinic Feb. 10 at Sitka High, inspired America and many of its female wrestlers at the Summer Games in Athens, where women's wrestling made its Olympic debut.

McMann of Chicago became the first woman to record an Olympic pin for Team USA.

And O'Donnell of Homer was one of the first girls to break the girls high school wrestling barrier in Alaska.

When O'Donnell reached the Olympics, she inadvertently encouraged girls, like Gillaspie, Audri Pleas of Eagle River and phenom Michaela Hutchison of Skyview, to strive for their best.

"We're starting to see more girls wrestling," said Skyview head wrestling coach Neldon Gardner. "Especially when you have an Olympic team."

The Alaska School Activities Association is not sponsoring the Feb. 10-11 event, but the United States Girls Wrestling Association is, Gillaspie said.

The organization is calling it the USGWA Alaska Girls State Championship Open.

"I wasn't in charge of the name," Gillaspie said, laughing. "Otherwise I would have tried to come up with something a little cooler and easier to say."

GIRLS WRESTLE TOO

Gillaspie expects 50 to 60 girl wrestlers, from kindergarten to college, to make the trip to Sitka. Last year, 19 showed up at Homer's all-girls tournament.

The wrestler Gillaspie most wants to make the trip is Hutchison, the 103-pounder who as a freshman was the first girl in Alaska to make it to the final round in the Class 4A state championship.

Hutchison's impressive finish and O'Donnell's Olympic appearance have helped put girls wrestling on the map. They give girls hope that they can compete in a sport that has been dominated by boys.

"It's naturally a guys sport," Gillaspie said. "The majority are boys, but it's slowly beginning to turn into a girls sport."

These days, females go toe-to-toe more often against their counterparts.

Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie have golfed on the men's PGA Tour, Danica Patrick races cars in the male-dominated Indy Racing League, and Giuliana Mendiola plays basketball against men in the American Basketball Association.

But no other coed sport matches the physical contact and pain of wrestling.

Hutchison, a sophomore who's ranked No. 1 in the state at 103 pounds, said wrestling against boys is no big deal anymore.

"Whatever," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I just try to go hard."

She will get tips from her older brother, Eli Hutchison, who's ranked No. 1 at 135 in Alaska, and older sister Melina Hutchison, who took third in 2000 at the 4A state championships.

Her father once wrestled too, and he is now the assistant coach at Skyview.

"My dad usually does the pointing," Hutchison said. "He's like, 'Michaela, it's 120 percent or nothin'.' "

Though she was runner-up at state, Hutchison knew she had a lot to learn after the season.

"Last year I would cry (after losing)," she said. "But this year it's different. Maybe it's because I'm a sophomore and because I have more experience."

Or maybe it's her brother's hand-me-down shoes.

"This is the only pair I've ever worn," she said about her dirty-white Adidas. "They're hand-me-downs from Eli, but I don't care. They were already broken in."

Hutchison broke into the sport when she was 11. With five brothers and four sisters in her family who either wrestled in high school or who hope to, it's hard for her to stay away from the mat. Growing up in a wrestling family is a big reason why she's becoming one of the top wrestlers in Alaska.

Gardner, Hutchison's coach, said she makes boys realize that girls can wrestle too.

"With Michaela, boys know they better wrestle or they will get pinned," Gardner said. "The girls have gained a lot of respect.

"And when they place in the state tournament, that really says something."

Hutchison said she plans to attend the Alaska Girls State Championship Open along with her eighth-grade sister, Monica.

Eli, who has never wrestled a girl in high school, will be cheering for his sister and the other girls at home.

Eli said if he were to wrestle a girl, he would "look at it the same as facing a guy."

"I'm not going to try to hurt her, but I'm not going to take it easy on her either.

"My sister is pretty good, so who knows? Maybe one of them could kick my butt?" he said.

NOTHING TO LOSE

Audri Pleas, a wrestler for Eagle River High, never had siblings to drill against or a dad to ask for wrestling pointers. In fact, nobody in Pleas' family has ever wrestled, and nobody but Pleas believed she could.

"I didn't want to do volleyball and I thought it would be new, interesting," she said. "But I knew I could go further in this sport than in any other sport."

Pleas wrestles at 215 -- a rare weight class for girls. Most girls make weight between 103 and 135, she said.

"I've never wrestled a girl," she said. "I don't expect a girl to be as heavy as me because most girls aren't. But I think I'm in pretty good shape for being in my weight class."

Her Eagle River teammate C.J. Jacoby, who wrestled her on the first day of practice, agrees.

"She's pretty good," he said. "She almost beat me."

If Pleas would have beaten Jacoby, he said, it would have messed with his head.

"I wouldn't want to lose to a girl."

Pleas, a junior, has won three times against boys this season. Her athletic inspiration is fueled by O'Donnell.

"To see how hard (O'Donnell) worked to get (to the Olympics) makes me work ten times harder," she said.

Pleas' hard work is apparent in her participation in wrestling and two other sports.

Earlier this year, she played linebacker on Eagle River's junior varsity football team. She also plays on the Wolves' JV basketball team.

"She's got a very aggressive attitude," said Eagle River assistant wrestling coach Sam Phillips. "She likes to take it to them, and that's what we look for."

Scrapping with a 215-pound male sometimes makes Pleas quiver. Boys are naturally stronger than girls, but Pleas' size and attitude helps even the playing field.

"Coming from Chugiak, either you roll with the punches or you get off the team," she said. "What's the worst that can happen to me?

"I could get hurt, but the ref would just call the match. And if I lose, it's either cut weight or try harder. I choose to try harder because the older I get, the more I realize that I have nothing to lose."

Pleas didn't lose when Eagle River needed her most, helping her team record its first dual-meet victory.

"She had to fight this guy off her back in the first period, then in the second, she threw him on his back and pinned him.

"She was our champion of the day," Phillips said.

OLYMPIC SPIRIT

As a sophomore, Abby Gillaspie had a vision for an all-girls wrestling tournament but no money to fund it.

She e-mailed about 30 businesses in Sitka asking to donate airline miles to help bring the 2004 Olympians into town.

The only business that responded was Marsha Howard, the owner of Work and Rugged Gear Store.

Howard hardly knows Gillaspie, but her son wrestled for Sitka years ago, so she donated 20,000 miles -- enough to fly McMann in from Chicago.

"I just think girls wrestling is a great sport that develops character," Howard said. "I don't know Abby real well, but she's real articulate. It was hard to say no."

Gillaspie's next step was finding $600 to pay for O'Donnell and McMann's wrestling clinic.

"I was in a really tough spot," Gillaspie said.

So she wrote a letter to Sitka's booster club and asked for help. The club wrote her check right away for $700.

"I just needed to show them that this tournament was going to happen," she said.

Once the money started flowing, girls from Juneau-Douglas, Colony, Wasilla, Kodiak, Nome, Bethel, Skagway, Mount Edgecumbe, Petersburg, Hoonah, West, Homer and South made commitments.

"I thought maybe 20 people would come," Gillaspie said. "But I guess since the Olympics, girls have goals to strive for.

"They see Tela's success and it gives girls something to look forward to."

If the tournament succeeds, Gillaspie hopes ASAA will give girls their own state championship.

John Andrews, ASAA's director of special events, said creating a separate championship could happen in the future, but the numbers aren't there.

"We don't have enough weight classes for girls to wrestle all year," he said. "But just look at girls hockey. Teams started off with low numbers and it's starting to grow every year.

"Girls wrestling is definitely on the horizon."