Roberts vs. O’Donnell is the new “Bout of the Week” on USA Wrestling Members-Only website

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
02/10/2005


USA Wrestling has updated its new "Bout of the Week" on USA Wrestling's Members-Only website    The featured match this week is the Sally Roberts vs. Tela O'Donnell women's freestyle match from gold-medal finals at 59 kg/130 lbs. at the 2005 Dave Schultz Memorial International Open in Colorado Springs, Colo. this past weekend.    This match paired off two No. 1 ranked wrestlers in the nation. O'Donnell, a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team at 55 kg/121 lbs., moved up in weight to compete at this tournament. Roberts, a 2003 World bronze medalist, earned the No. 1 spot at this non-Olympic weight class in a World Team Trials event over the summer.    These athletes know each other very well, both on and off the mat. They are former teammates at Pacific Univ. on its women's wrestling team. They are both U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athletes. They have been roommates. They practice together, and at many competitions, they drill with each other for warm-ups prior to their matches. Roberts and O'Donnell are friends, but when they faced each other in the finals of the Dave Schultz International, they really went hard after it.    Sally Roberts has developed into one of the nation's best women wrestlers. She attended Federal Way High School in Washington state, and was on the boy's wrestling team. She was also a very talented swimmer in her youth. However, Roberts chose wrestling for college, and initially attended the Univ. of Minnesota-Morris and its women's varsity team. She transferred to Pacific Univ. in Oregon to continue her college career, where she continued her progress on the national level.    While a college student, Roberts was a placewinner at the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials, and did well at the age-group competitions. Based upon that success, Roberts was included in the first group of women wrestlers who became resident-athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Since joining the program, she has improved and her achievements have expanded.    Roberts earned a spot on the 2003 U.S. World Team that competed in the Freestyle World Championships in Madison Square Garden in New York City. She wrestled with dominance, losing just one match in the semifinals, and captured a bronze medal. Her victory in the third place match against Mariana Sastin of Hungary included an exciting throw that appeared in newspapers across the nation.    Roberts competes at a non-Olympic division, and moved up to 63 kg/138.75 pounds for the 2004 Olympic Trials, where she placed fifth. She dropped back to her regular division and earned a spot as the No. 1 athlete at 59 kg for the year. Her achievements include a gold medal at the 2003 World Cup, as well as a gold medal at the respected Ivan Yarygin Memorial in Russia just a few weeks ago.    O'Donnell is a native of Homer, Alaska, and grew up in a log cabin in the woods. She wrestled in junior high school and high school, and won the USGWA National folkstyle event. She also wrestled on the national age-group levels while still in high school, placing in a few major freestyle competitions.    Her college career started at Pacific Univ., where she was a teammate with Roberts. She made a big name for herself that first year there, including an impressive win over veteran Tonya Evinger of Missouri Valley at the NAIA National event. After placing fifth in the U.S. Nationals and the World Team Trials, O'Donnell was accepted into the U.S. Olympic Training Center resident program, along with Roberts and other teammates from Pacific.    In 2003, O'Donnell won the U.S. National Championships at her division, but lost to veteran World medalist Tina George in the 2003 World Team Trials. In 2004, George defeated O'Donnell in the U.S. Nationals finals. However, at the Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis, O'Donnell had a spectacular effort. She won the Challenge Tournament then defeated George in two straight matches to make the Olympic Team. She was one of the four women to compete on the historic first U.S. Olympic Team in women's wrestling in Athens, Greece.    O'Donnell placed sixth at the Olympic Games in Athens, losing a match to the eventual silver medalist Tonya Verbeek of Canada in her pool, then was eliminated in the wrestlebacks. After returning from the Olympics, she had a strong showing at the 2004 World Cup, winning a silver medal. She chose to compete up one weight class at the Dave Schultz Memorial, after a busy fall season competing in a number of tournaments both in the USA and abroad.    The Roberts vs. O'Donnell match was very wide open and exciting, and was a crowd-favorite during the championship finals. The bout was extended to three periods, and both athletes opened up their offense. This will be a match that any wrestling fan can enjoy, especially with the effort and skill shown by the competitors.    This popular feature will be changed on a regular basis, allowing members to enjoy many of the greatest matches in wrestling history.     Posted in the archive section of the Members Only web page was a 1999 Stephen Neal vs. Aydin Polatci men's freestyle match from the World Championships in Ankara, Turkey. Many other entertaining and historic matches are in the archive section for the Bout of the Week.     USA Wrestling has done a complete redesign and expansion of its Members-Only website, providing all USA Wrestling members with an impressive new resource stocked with interactive learning tools and entertaining features.     The web page is still available for all to view and sample for a short time. This will allow those not familiar with the site to enjoy the contents and become familiar with the features.    Once the sampling period ends, this on-line resource is available free of charge only to current members of USA Wrestling, one of the most exciting benefits of joining the organization. At that time, USA Wrestling members will need to enter the number from their 2004-05 membership card into an entry form, and the exciting new Members-Only page will become available to them.    RECENT BOUTS OF THE WEEK PLACED IN ARCHIVE  1999 Stephen Neal vs. Aydin Polatci men's freestyle match  1992 highlight video of U.S. Olympic Wrestling team in Barcelona, Spain  1988 Andy Seras vs. Mike Mann men's Greco-Roman match   1992 Kevin Jackson vs. Rasul Khadem men's freestyle match  1992 Chris Campbell vs. Puntsag Sukhbat men's freestyle match  2000 Garrett Lowney vs. Gogi Koguachvili men's Greco-Roman match  1988 Randy Lewis vs. Stepan Sarkissian men's freestyle match  1996 Kurt Angle vs. Abbas Jadidi men's freestyle match  1990 Chris Wilson vs. Arsen Fadzeav men's freestyle match  1990 John Smith vs. Stepan Sarkissian men's freestyle match  2004 Sunkist Kids International Open men's Greco-Roman gold-medal matches  2004 Sunkist Kids International Open men's freestyle gold-medal matches  1990 Bill Scherr vs. Alexei Golovko men's freestyle match  2004 Cael Sanderson vs. Moon Eui Jae men's freestyle match  2004 Rulon Gardner Olympic semifinals and finals men's Greco-Roman feature  2004 Sara McMann vs. Stavroula Zygouri women's freestyle match  2004 Toccara Montgomery vs. Kristie Marano women's freestyle match  2004 Joe Williams vs. Joe Heskett men's freestyle match  2004 Eric Guerrero vs. Mike Zadick men's freestyle match  2004 Cael Sanderson vs. Lee Fullhart men's freestyle match  2004 Dennis Hall vs. Brandon Paulson men's Greco-Roman match  1996 Townsend Saunders vs. Pat Santoro men's freestyle match  1988 Mark Fuller vs. T.J. Jones men's Greco-Roman match  1988 Nate Carr vs. Andre Metzger men's freestyle match  2004 Jared Frayer vs. Eric Larkin men's freestyle match  1987 Bill Scherr vs. Greg Gibson men's freestyle match  1992 Dennis Koslowski vs. Andrzej Wronski men's Greco-Roman match  1989 Jim Scherr vs. Makharbek Khadartsev men's freestyle match  2003 Sally Roberts vs. Marianna Sastin women's freestyle match  1996 Melvin Douglas vs. Mike Van Arsdale men's freestyle match  1988 Ike Anderson vs. Buddy Lee men's Greco-Roman match  1996 Tom Brands vs. Jang Jae-Sung men's freestyle match  2004 Eric Larkin vs. T.J. Wi