Three Pacific Boxers training in Colorado Springs will compete in Pacific Senior Open
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Blake R. Timm (Pacific Univ.)
11/26/2002
FOREST GROVE, ORE. - Kaci Lyle and Katie Kunimoto called Forest Grove home for only one year, but both are excited to be back. "It's great to be back and see everyone," said Lyle, one of four Univ. of Pacific Boxers training at the United States Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado. "It's exciting to return, and I'm happy we get a chance to come in and wrestle for the week." Lyle and Katie Kunimoto are spending the week training with the Boxer women's wrestling team. Sally Roberts, a third Boxer in Olympic training, will join the group Friday after spending Thanksgiving with her family in Seattle. All three will compete in the Pacific Senior Open, Saturday at the Pacific Athletic Center. "It's a great excuse to come back and see everyone," Kunimoto said, "and I love seeing our old friends, but it's always good to get another competition in." The trip to Forest Grove is the first break the two have had from training since leaving Pacific in May. Both were involved in an extended summer camp in Colorado Springs in June and July before being selected for USA Wrestling's Olympic Development Resident Program in August. Since then, it has been wrestling around the clock. The 18 members of the program train four to six hours per day, both on the mat and the weight room. Competitions, however, have been few in the early going. Both wrestlers competed at the Sunkist/ASU International Tournament in October. Lyle took third at the 158.5-pound class, and Kunimoto placed fifth in the 112-pound bracket. It was their first competition since the U.S. World Team Trials in May. Earlier this month, Kunimoto won the 112-pound bracket at the Clansmen International Tournament, which paired her against some of the best women's wrestlers in the world. She edged Mexico's Magdelena Areilano, 8-7, in the championship final, to earn her first medal at an international competition. Both women credit the intensity of the USOTC program for their success in international events. More intense, in fact, than they ever saw in high school or even in the Pacific mat room. "We're still getting used to it because we're taking our wrestling to the next level," Lyle said. "It's pretty demanding. We have to stay real focused." "The training is amazing," Kunimoto adds. "It is very intense and can be really tough at times, but it is very beneficial for me." The intensity, however, rubs off on other athletes and other programs at the USOTC. Lyle and Kunimoto have both taken in other sports practices, hung out with and received some pointers form the men's team as well. "The freestyle men help us a ton," Lyle said. "They come in all of the time, and give us a chance to work with a lot of the elite Olympic guys. It's a great opportunity." Kunimoto likes the focused, all-sports atmosphere. "Its neat that we can live on the complex and be around athletes all of the time," she said. "The men wrestlers that are there for freestyle are really nice and have been real helpful." The unity between men and women help add legitimacy to women's wrestling, which will be a medal sport for the first time at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The sport is growing in the United States, but still rates as minor by fans compared to their male counterparts, and that of other sports also sharing the USOTC facility. "We're the newest sport there, so we're under the microscope," Lyle said. "We have to be good on and off the mat. We have to show that we want to be there." After the tournament, Lyle and Kunimoto will return to Colorado Springs for two weeks, and then fly to New York for the New York Athletic Club's Championships, Dec. 21-22. Training will continue in January, with a number of international competitions in Europe and Asia. While they're at Pacific, however, both are Boxers once again. Lyle hopes to be both a training partner and an instructor for her former teammates this week. "I've got some new moves I've learned on both offense and defense," she said. ÒI want to be able to share that with the girls." The Pacific Senior Open's women's bracket will feature the USA Olympic Development Team members, in addition to wrestlers from Pacific, Menlo College (Calif.), Simon Fraser and Douglas University from Canada. Competition begins at 9:00 a.m. Saturday at the Pacific Athletic Center.