2003 TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team named; Six repeat on First Team

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
07/09/2003


The nation's best girls high school wrestlers are being honored with the announcement of the Third Annual TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team.    Brandy Rosenbrock, a senior from Montrose High in Michigan, made the First Team of TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team for the third straight year.     Those making the First Team for the second straight year included Ali Bernard of New Ulm High in Minnesota, Laura DiCesare of Monroe High in Michigan, Sara Fulp-Allen of Half Moon Bay High in California, Samantha Lang of Tualatin High in Oregon and Shawn Swarzlender of Burns High in Oregon.    TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team is selected by a nationwide panel of wrestling experts. It is the only national all-star team for which female high school wrestlers competing on all four grade levels are eligible. Athletes from across the nation were considered for their achievements in high school wrestling, as well as the major post-season freestyle and folkstyle competitions.     TheMat.com is the official web page of the Amateur Wrestling Alliance, and is one of the leading sports web pages on the internet. ASICS is a national sponsor of USA Wrestling and a major supporter of wrestling at all levels. ASICS has sponsored the nationally respected Asics Tiger High School All-American Team for boys wrestlers for 18 years.    "The ASICS Tiger Corporation is proud to be a sponsor of the All-American wrestling team for girls," said Neil Duncan, Vice President of TW Promotions which represents ASICS. "We see this sport having a huge potential for growth, and look forward to the day when many high schools and colleges across the country offer wrestling programs for the female athlete. These are our future Olympians in women's wrestling."    Members of the First Team, as well as TheMat.com/ASICS Wrestler of the Year, will be honored prior to the finals of the ASICS/Vaughan Junior National Championships July 26 at Fargo, N.D.     Oregon led the First Team selections with three athletes: Lang, Swarzlender and Na'Tasha Umemoto of David Douglas High.    Three states had two First Team selections, Minnesota, Michigan and Hawaii. Minnesota boasted Bernard, plus Chelynne Pringle of Forest Lake High. Michigan featured DiCesare and Rosenbrock. Hawaii was led by Debbi Sakai of Mililani High and Caylene Valdez of Moanaloa High.    Many of the First Team members are nationally ranked on the Senior level in freestyle wrestling, competing against the best women wrestlers of all ages.    Lang placed second at the U.S. Nationals this season, and Rosenbrock finished in third place. Claiming fourth place at the U.S. Nationals were Sakai and Bernard, and capturing a fifth-place finish was Heather Martin of Keystone High in Ohio.    The First Team featured 10 wrestlers who won national scholastic-style titles this year, by claiming gold medals at the 2003 USGWA National Championships in Michigan. The USGWA National champions on the First Team were Bernard, DiCesare, Fulp-Allen, Lang, Martin, Rosenbrock, Sakai, Umemoto and Valdez plus Deanna Rix of Marshfield High in Maine.    Rounding out the First Team were Caitlyn Chase of Glenbard North High in Illinois and Jen Chu of Germantown Friends School in Pennsylvania.    Eight First Team members won USA Wrestling age-group national freestyle titles this year. Winning FILA Junior National titles were Lang, Rosenbrock, Bernard and Sakai, all who will represent the United States at the Junior World Championships in Turkey this summer. Winning FILA Cadet National titles this year were Lang, Bernard, Martin, Umemoto, Chase and Pringle. Last summer, at the first ASICS Junior Nationals for women, champions from the First Team included Lang and Martin.    The First Team featured seven seniors, three juniors and three sophomores and one freshman. In total, nine states were represented on the First Team.     The Second Team was also star-studded, led by USGWA National Champions Madeline Briones of San Leandro High in California, Iris Mucha of West Anchorage High in Alaska, Stephanie Shaw of Waterford High in Connecticut, and Damaris Barrios of University City High in California. Also on the Second Team were 2002 Junior National champion Rachel Holthaus of Little Falls High in Minnesota, as well as 2003 U.S. Senior Nationals All-American Othella Lucas of Crawford High in California.    The Third Team featured 2003 FILA Junior Nationals champion Juanita Russell of Galway Central High in New York, 2002 Junior Nationals champion and Outstanding Wrestler Amberle Montgomery of Tahoma High in Washington, plus USGWA Nationals runners-up Jessica Hseih of Vintage High in California and Nicole Fonda of Kakuku High in Hawaii.    As the National Federation of State High Schools has yet to determine specific weight classes for girls wrestling, the athletes were selected based solely on achievement and ability. The top 14 athletes were named to the First Team, the second 14 athletes were named to the Second Team and the third 14 athletes were selected to the Third Team. Thirty athletes were named as Honorable Mention. An effort was made to make a reasonable spread of weights on each team. If the National Federation sets specific girls weight classes in the future, the selection committee will consider using those weight classes for the selection criteria at that time.    For the TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team, athletes were identified in three weight ranges: Light (100-121 pounds); Middle (122-140 pounds); Upper (141 pounds and above).    In total, 72 wrestlers were selected to TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team. California led all states with 11 selections, followed by Michigan with eight, Hawaii with seven, Minnesota with six and Texas with five.    A total of 22 states were represented on the All-American Team. The team included 32 seniors, 13 juniors, 19 sophomores and eight freshmen.    Women's wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports among youth sports for women. Women's wrestling has been added to the program of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Ga. There are an estimated 5,000 girls competing on the high school level in the United States today, and the number has grown each year for the last dozen years. A number of colleges have begun to add women's wrestling on the varsity and club level across the nation.    TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team will be prominently featured on TheMat.com web page, as well as in USA Wrestler, the official publication of USA Wrestling.    2003 TheMat.com/ASICS Girls High School All-American Wrestling Team     First Team (alphabetically)  Ali Bernard, junior, New Ulm, Minn., New Ulm High School, upper*  Caitlyn Chase, freshman, Naperville, Illinois, Glenbard North High School, light  Jen Chu, senior, Philadelphia, Pa., Germantown Friends School, middle*  Laura DiCesare, senior, Monroe, Mich., Monroe High School, upper*  Sara Fulp Allen, senior, El Granada, Calif., Half Moon Bay High School, light*  Samantha Lang, junior, Tualatin, Ore., Tualatin High School, upper*  Heather Martin, senior, Wellington, Ohio, Keystone High School, upper*  Chelynne Pringle, sophomore, Hugo, Minn., Forest Lake High School, middle*  Deanna Rix, sophomore, South Berwick, Maine, Marshfield High School, light*  Brandy Rosenbrock, senior, Montrose, Mich, Montrose High School, middle*  Debbie Sakai, senior, Mililani, Hawaii, Mililani High School, light*  Shawn Swarzlender, junior, Burns, Ore., Burns High School, upper*  Na'Tasha Umemoto, sophomore, Portland, Ore., David Douglas High School, middle*  Caylene Valdez, senior, Honolulu, Hawaii, Moanalua High School, light*    Second Team   Damaris Barrios, senior, San Diego, Calif., University City High School, light  Madeline Briones, senior, San Leandro, Calif., San Leandro High School, middle*  Wendy Casey, senior, Binghamton, N.Y., Binghamton High School, upper*  Claire DuPont, junior, Leadville, Colo., Lake County High School, light  Rachel Groft, junior, Abbottstown, Pa., New Oxford High School, light*  Rachel Holthaus,