COLORADO  SPRINGS,  COLO. - The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) today named Women's  wrestler Patricia Miranda as the October Female Athlete of the Month.     Miranda  (Saratoga,  Calif.)  had a perfect 6-0 record, won a gold medal at 48kg/105.5  lbs.  and  was  named  Outstanding Wrestler at the 2003 Women's World  Cup  of  Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 11-12.  Miranda helped lead the  U.S.  to  the  team  title, as Team USA swept all six dual meets.      Her sixth  and  final win was a 4-3 victory over Japan's Makiko Sakamoto, which got  the  U.S.  squad  started  on  its way to a 14-13 upset of host Japan. Miranda  controlled her other five matches, defeating Fani Psatha of Greece by  pin,  then  stopped two-time World medalist Carol Huyhn of Canada, 7-1. She  then  overpowered  Loriza  Oorzak  of  Russia, 6-1, and Zuying Yang of China,  10-7.   Her  other victim was Sigrun Dobner of Germany, who Miranda defeated with a 12-1 technical fall.    Sixteen-year-old  judo athlete Ronda  Rousey  (Santa Monica, Calif.) was runner-up among the  female candidates for the honor. Rousey took over Judo's No. 1 spot in the  women's 63kg Olympic weight category from 39-year-old veteran and 1992 Olympian  Grace Jividen.  Rousey shined in October, winning a gold medal at the  Rendez Vous Championships in Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 18 and a silver medal  at  the U.S. Open International Championships in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct.  11.     Third  in  the  voting  among  the  women  was  elite USA triathlete Shelia Taormina  (Minneola,  Fla.).  Taormina  won  the  ITU World Cup in Madeira,Portugal,  on Oct. 19, beating U.S. teammate and world No. 1 Barb Lindquist in a sprint to the finish. It was Taormina's first World Cup victory of the season and it moved her up in the world rankings to No. 2.    The USOC Team of the Month honor was awarded to beach volleyball duo Misty May and Kerri Walsh. Misty  May  (Costa  Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) became the  first team from the U.S. to claim a title at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships by defeating two-time World champions Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in the finals at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct.  12.   Combined  with  their  domestic  play  on  the  Association  of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) tour, where they became the first team to go through  a  season  undefeated  (39-0),  May  and Walsh won 13 titles at 16 events  with  a  90-4  match mark.  The pair won their last 52 matches this season, including 28-straight internationally.    Finishing  second in the Team of the Month voting was the 2003 U.S. Women's Wrestling World  Cup Team, which claimed the team title at the 3rd Women's World  Cup  in  Tokyo,  Japan, Oct. 11-12.  With the meet going down to the final  match,  the United States edged host Japan, 14-13, for the win.  The victory over Japan in the World Cup could be considered one of the greatest achievements for Team USA in women's wrestling history.  Both teams entered the  gold-medal  round with perfect 5-0 records.      At 48 kg/105.5 lbs., 2003 World  silver  medalist Patricia Miranda stopped Makiko Sakamoto, 4-3. 2003 World  bronze  medalist  Jenny Wong upset 2003 World Champion Chiharu Icho, 4-2,  at 51kg/112.25 lbs. Japan responded by winning the next three matchesand taking over the team lead at 12-7. The U.S. then put itself in positionto  win  with  a  big  victory by two-time World champion Kristie Marano at 67kg/147.5  lbs.   Marano  pinned  Norie  Salto, giving Team USA four match points.   With  Japan  leading  12-11  going  into the final match, Tocarra Montgomery  scored  a  5-3  decision  over  five-time  World champion Kyoko Hamaguchi  at  72kg/158.5  lbs.  That  gave the U.S. three team points, and Japan  received  one  point  for  Hamaguchi  scoring at least one technical point,   giving  the  U.S.  the  razor-thin  14-13  win.   Earlier  in  the competition  the  U.S. swept through the rest of the field, opening with an impressive  28-0  victory over Greece, then stopped Canada, 18-9.  The U.S. women  defeated  two very powerful teams, stopping Russia, 19-9, and edging China,  16-12.   Team USA hammered Germany, 23-3, to set up the team finals showdown  with  Japan.   Four  U.S.  women  claimed individual gold medals: Miranda, Sally Roberts, Marano and Montgomery.    Rounding  out  the team of the month ballot in third place was the U.S. Ice Dance  Team  of Tanith Belbin (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Benjamin Agosto (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.). Belbin and Agosto won their first ISU Grand Prix of  Figure  Skating  title at the 2003 Smart Ones Skate America, Oct. 25 in Reading, Pa.  It was also the first Grand Prix title for a U.S. ice dancing team  since  Elizabeth  Punsian and Jerod Swallow captured Skate America in 1997.    The Male Athlete of the Month was speed skating sensation Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle, Wash.), who set three American short track speedskating records during the month of October.  At the Conematic Heating short track event in Calgary,  Oct. 10-12, Ohno's 500-meters time of 41.518 seconds bettered his previous record of 41.628.  The following weekend (Oct. 17-19) at the first World  Cup  event  of the season in Calgary, Ohno won a bronze medal in the 1500-meters and placed sixth overall.  He finished the month in a flurry by setting  two  American  records  at  the  Oct.  24-26  World  Cup  event in Marquette,  Mich.   His  time  of  1:25.83  in  the 1000-meters lowered the previous  record of 1:26.67, and his clocking of 2:11.28 in the 1500-meters shattered  the mark of 2:13.34.  Ohno won gold in the 500-meters, bronze in the 1500-meters and placed third overall at the Marquette World Cup.    Finishing  second  among the men nominated for October achievements was USA Judo's Chuck Jefferson (San Jose, Calif.).  Jefferson successfully defended his  U.S.  Open  title  on  Oct. 12 in Las Vegas, Nev., by winning the gold medal  at  73kg  in  spectacular  fashion.   Jefferson  went 5-0, defeating athletes from Canada, the USA and Australina. In the final  and  most  exciting match of the event, Jefferson upset No. 1-ranked and  1999  World  Champion  Jimmy  Pedro.    U.S.  men's water ski racer Martie Wells (Colton, Calif.) finished in third place  on  the  men's  ballot  after  he  became  the first U.S. Men's Open division  water  ski  racing athlete in a decade to win the world water ski racing  title.   He  knocked  off two-time defending World Champion Stephen Robertson  of  Australia  to  win  his first career World title at the 2003 Water  Ski  Racing  World  Championships,  Oct. 11-18 in Long Beach, Calif. Wells won three of the event's four races, including the finale.    Results (first place votes in parentheses)    WOMEN  1.  Patricia Miranda, wrestling, 36 (9)  2.  Ronda Rousey, judo, 18 (2)  3.  Sheila Taormina, triathlon, 15 (1)  Also  receiving  first  place  votes: Caitlin Benyi (Softball), Sasha Cohen (Figure Skating)    MEN  1.  Apolo Anton Ohno, speedskating,  24 (4)  2.  Chuck Jefferson, judo,  16 (4)  3.  Martie Wells, waterskiing, 12 (2)  Also  receiving  first  place  votes:  Darren  Chiacchia  (Equestrian), Jim Gruenwald  (Wrestling),  Mike  Peters  (Paralympic  Soccer), Soren Thompson (Fencing), Michael Weiss (Figure Skating)    TEAM  1. Misty May/Kerri Walsh, Beach Volleyball Team   32 (8)  2. Women's Wrestling World Cup Team   28 (6)  3. Tanith Belbin/Benjamin Agosto, Ice Dance Team   11 (2)