posted February 2, 2008
At 11 a.m. (central) this morning, one wrestler from Soddy Daisy and South Doyle will walk to center mat, shake hands and make history with the first girls match in the girls state duals at Clarksville High School.
In a round robin format, South Doyle also faces Science Hill at 3 p.m., while Soddy Daisy comes back to take on Science Hill at 5 p.m. If the three teams are tied with 1-1 records, then a tie-breaker system will establish the state champ.
Ten weight classes with each match consisting of three, one-minute periods.
The weight classes: 105, 112, 119, 125, 130, 138, 148, 155, 165 and 185.
“If fans have not seen good high school girls wrestling, then they are in for a treat on Saturday,’’ said Soddy Daisy coach Steve Henry. “It’s good, exciting, fast-paced wrestling.’’
“These three schools are making history and the Trojans are glad to be here.’’
“This is a great opportunity for the girls from these three teams and hopefully this tournament will create interest for next year and bring in more schools,’’ said South Doyle coach Weldon Smith.
Smith is running a junior varsity region tournament this weekend so Yvette Jaquish-Krase, the girls team coordinator and her husband, Alexander Reed-Krase, are handling the coaching duties in Clarksville. Yvette wrestled in high school and college in Michigan.
Science Hill coach Jeff Price has a busy weekend as he is the only coach at the Division I duals with both boys and girls teams in the tournament.
“I have talked with more newspaper reporters this week than I have maybe all season,’’ said Price, whose Hilltopper boys start off his day at 11 a.m. in a consolation match against Tullahoma.
The boys could wrestle three other times, including the consolation final at 5 p.m. The Science Hill girls face South Doyle at 3 p.m., and then wrestle Soddy Daisy at 5 p.m., giving coach Price the potential for a hectic, and possibly rewarding afternoon.
Team Notes:
* Science Hill: The Hilltoppers are led by twin sisters, Sarah (165) and Hannah (185) Austin … Price notes that the Austin sisters are sweet in kind in AP English class, but just the opposite on the mat … He got the idea to recruit soccer players for his team from Soddy Daisy coach Steve Henry … Hilltopper 130-pounder Janie Goldstein has a brother, Steven (103), on the boys team …Steven won both of his matches on Friday night … Scorekeepers for the boys team, Deanna Persons (155) and Danielle Mirada (148), also are on the girls team.
* Soddy Daisy: Eight of the Trojans also play soccer … Many of the wrestlers are also part of the Little Sisters, working as scorekeepers and handling the video for the boys matches … The only senior is captain Taylor Lewis … She plans to attend Tennessee at Chattanooga in the fall and study physical therapy … Soddy defeated Red Bank, 69-23, in a match on November 15 ... Soddy and Red Bank have wrestled once a season since 1998 as a successful fund raiser for the boys wrestling program.
“We are making history this weekend,’’ said Lewis. “We have trained hard and this tournament is very important to us.’’
* South Doyle: This is a co-op team with “three warriors’’ from South Doyle and a girl from Tullahoma (Emily Gessler who wrestled twice on Friday for the Tullahoma boys), Hendersonville and West Greene ... South Doyle 103-pounder is senior Brittany Heatherly who also wrestles for the boys team ... Her teammates comprising the ‘‘three warriors’’ are Chelsea Love (130) and Blakley Graves (138) … Heatherly’s brother, Andrew, is a former tqwo-time region runner-up for South Doyle … She also hopes to wrestle for the College of the Cumberlands (Ky.) girls team next year and possibly some national girls tournaments later this semester.
Other wrestling coverage:
Division II:
Baylor, Father Ryan Advance in D-II State Duals
D-II Wrestling Breaks New Ground With Invitational
Baylor, Bailey Whitaker Look to Duals Title
Class AAA
Bradley Rolls in AAA State Duals Wrestling
Bradley Ready For State Duals Challenge
Class A/AA
Notre Dame Looking For Wrestling’s Three-Peat
Girls Invitational:
Girls Wrestling Title On The Line In Round Robin Format
Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
| Dining Out | Business | Movies | Focus | About Us |
| Church | Living Well | Memories | Outdoors | Real Estate | Student Scene | Travel |