UC Women’s Wrestling Team Hosts Dual Meet

11^th October, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UC Women’s Wrestling Team Hosts Dual Meet

Williamsburg, Kentucky

The University of the Cumberlands Lady Patriots Wrestling Team are having their first dual meet on Saturday, October 12, 2013. They will be facing off with Lindenwood Belleville.

The dual meet will be held in the gym in the Rollins Center on the UC campus. The thirty Lady Patriots have been working hard and watching their weight in preparation for this competition. Lindenwood Belleville is a new team with a new coach. They do not have a large team like UC does. They will be bringing only eight wrestlers to the dual meet.

Since UC has so many wrestlers, many of the girls will not get to wrestle. Despite that drawback, all of the girls are still practicing every morning at 6 a.m. and working on getting their weight down. Even if many of the girls do not get preliminary matches (matches that do not count for their record or for team points), they are still asked to show up, make weight, wear their Patriot Wrestling gear, and support their teammates.

Women’s Wrestling Coach Donald Stephens says, “We are very excited to get out season underway. Hopefully our athletes wrestle well and give us a good start to build on.” As many hours as the wrestlers and the coaches have put into their training, there is bound to be a good show for the fans. Several people have said that they plan to attend to support their Lady Patriots, including many members of other sports teams on campus. Justin Natyzak, a senior on the Swim Team says, “Even though we have a meet tomorrow, I will try hard to make it.”

Since there is a slim chance that all of the UC girls will get to wrestle, Coach Stephens is considering making two teams out of his thirty wrestlers and having them face each other. This will not only benefit the fans, but it will also give the wrestlers extra mat time. Daniel Williams, a member of the Men’s Wrestling Team says, “There will be some awesome matches.” Another wrestler, Andrew Bushbacher says, “It’s great to come out and support them since I know how much hard work they have to put in.”

Even though the girls spend so much time preparing, many of them still feel unprepared. Darby Newman tore a ligament in her foot and Kayla Petit injured her ankle while training earlier in the week, but they are still competing at the dual meet. One wrestler was not quite so lucky. Kristin “Yams” Yamasaki sprained her ankle at the end of practice on Tuesday afternoon. She was only on crutches for two days, but she has still not been released by the athletic trainers to compete. She said, “I’m in pain and I’m sad. I hate not being able to wrestle with the rest of my team.”

Laken Jowers

Ljowers1993@ucumberlands.edu

Room 228 Archer

Williamsburg, Kentucky

336-426-8763

The University of the Cumberlands Lay Patriots Wrestling Team

Small High School’s Wrestling Team Hosts First Ever Home Tournament

Forbush High School’s wrestling team in Yadkinville, North Carolina will be hosting its very first home tournament on Saturday, October 19.

Forbush is a small school. In North Carolina, the schools are characterized as 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A. A 1A school is the biggest and a 4A is the smallest. Forbush is a 2A school. The wrestling team is extremely small in comparison to the amount of students in the school. There are about fifteen wrestlers on the team. Since there are thirteen weight classes, things do not look good for Forbush on Saturday.

One of the captains of the school’s team, Storm Long, said, “We’ve been working pretty hard. If all the guys wrestle their best, I know we’ll do some great things.” Storm is a senior and a second year captain. He and the other senior and second year captain, Dylan Edwards, train during the off season to bring new knowledge and skill to their team. Dylan said, “I’m proud of all the effort and improvement I have seen from my teammates. I have faith in our team.”

The head coach, Jeff Farmer, has been organizing the tournament. He has made arrangements for concessions, seating, transportation for other teams, and fundraising for Forbush’s team. Two of the teams coming to the tournament, McMichael and West Stokes, have female wrestlers on their team. Jeff Farmer has also arranged for female officials so the girls can weigh in comfortably, and he has one of the wrestling locker rooms reserved just for the girls.

Jeff Farmer said, “I know how nervous the guys are about this tournament. This is our chance to represent our school and our team. There is not a doubt in my mind that they will perform flawlessly.”

The Forbush High School 2012-2013 wrestling team

 

University of the Cumberlands Wrestler has a Returning Case of MRSA

Darby Newman, a member of the UC Lady Patriots wrestling team, came in contact with MRSA on Friday, September 6.

MRSA is a skin infection seen fairly regularly in wrestlers. Newman’s case of MRSA is on her right shin. Upon first noticing the abnormality on her leg, she simply said, “It itches and hurts really bad.” She then shrugged it off and went on with her business.

By the next day, it had grown in size and the pain had increased. Newman’s teammates demanded that she go get it looked at by a professional. She visited the athletic trainers on Saturday, September 7, after which, she received medication for her skin infection. She is had been obligated to stay off of the wrestling mat until a professional examined her skin and told her that she was no longer a carrier of the infection, she is no longer contagious, and that it is safe for her to return to practice.

The rest of the Lady Patriots must take special precautions to avoid the disease. As soon as practice is over, the girls are required to shower in the bathroom of the wrestling room. Most of them use antibacterial soap to help fight any infections that might be resting on their skin. Coach Donnie Stephens said, “If you wore it at practice, you don’t wear it again until it had been washed.”

Newman’s MRSA had now returned, and she is off the mat once again. The girls and coaches fear that the infection might spread to the rest of the team.

 

Newman the day of one of her final competitions during her senior year.