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SARAH TOLIN EARNS ALL AMERICAN STATUS
CASPER- Sarah Tolin medals and earns All American recognition at the Girl’s National High School Wrestling Championships in Lake Orion, Michigan, near Detroit, held March 24-27.
Tolin, a senior at Kelly Walsh High School, a little disappointed in her ninth place finish, had 4 wins and 2 losses at the 123 pound weight division in the third annual Girl’s National High School Wrestling Championships sponsored by the United States Girl’s Wrestling Association. Tolin was ranked 7th in the nation at 121 pounds, going into the tournament. Although Tolin had come down with tracheitis and an upper respiratory infection at the beginning of last week, she still practiced every day last week with her high school coach, Steve Howery, who also accompanied her and her family to Michigan. Tolin left early Friday morning, still hoping for a top three finish. Sporting a heavy cough, Tolin competed all day Saturday and Sunday through the consolation finals.
Tolin, the first girl to be allowed to wrestle against boys in Wyoming by the Wyoming High School Activities Association since it adopted its non-mixed gender participation rule, is also the first girl in Wyoming to receive All American status as a wrestler. Tolin, the lone Wyoming wrestler at the national wrestling championships, also captured 26th place for Wyoming in team point competition, single handedly placing ahead of 10 other states at the tournament. Michigan won the tournament on team points, while California and Texas also earned top team recognition.
The national wrestling tournament placed 12 finishers in the high school division. Using a blocked weight system, the wrestlers did not know what weight class they would wrestle in until all wrestlers had weighed in. The total was divided by 14, which put about 20 wrestlers in each class.
On her way to All American recognition, Tolin defeated Jessica Degrave of Wisconsin by a fall in 1:13. Degrave medaled just ahead of Tolin in 8th place at the national tournament. Tolin defeated Richelle Buskirk of Michigan, 7-0, and defeated Jacquie Clement of Deleware, the #4 seed of the tournament, 9-1. Tolin earned a victory over Christine Reed, the #3 seed of the tournament, by forfeit. Reed was ranked 2nd at 121 pounds coming into the tournament.
After losing to Samantha Collett of Ohio, 11-0, on the championship side of the bracket, Tolin was hoping to get a rematch against Collett on the consolation side. Collett was ranked just ahead of Tolin at 6th place coming into the tournament, but finished in 4th place. However, Tolin did not get the opportunity for the rematch, as Tolin lost a controversial close match to a Michigan wrestler, officiated by a Michigan referee, on a Michigan mat.
Tolin lost to Rose Wechter of Michigan near the end of the first overtime period, 6-4. The Michigan wrestler was ranked 8th nationally at 124 pounds coming into the tournament. Tolin thought she had won in regulation time, as she put Wechter on her back at the end of the third period with just six seconds remaining. Although Tolin did not get the pin, she and her coaches thought at least a two point near fall was earned by Tolin to give her the victory. However, the official did not score the near fall and declared it to be a 4-4 tie which sent the match into a two minute overtime period. It was one of those matches, that just didn’t go Tolin’s way at any time, although she dominated her opponent. The match ended in a scoreless first period. The official scored a near fall for the Michigan wrestler and awarded her two points, but before the end of the second period, changed it to three points for Wechter after conferring with another Michigan referee. Tolin thought a reversal at the end of the second period was earned, but Tolin received only one point for an escape as the official ruled time had run out. The Michigan official also did not score a one point penalty for Tolin, as Wechter had put an illegal full nelson on Tolin, as she tried to unsuccessfully turn Tolin during the match.
Although the referee is not allowed to use video playback in a match, after a later review of the video tape of the match by the referee and other tournament officials, they conceded that Tolin probably should have won the match by decision in regulation time, but were unwilling to change the match results. Instead of wrestling on for third place, Tolin had to settle on wrestling on for ninth place in the consolation finals.
Tolin’s 123 pound weight class was won by Alaina Berube of Michigan, a 1998 national champion, and seeded #2 in the tournament. The hometown favorite defeated the #1 seed and 1999 national champion, Suzanne Kivi of Nevada, in the finals.
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