More Hawai'i wrestlers train at Olympic center
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Four young women from Hawai'i are at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this week and three others will fly there next month to train for the Team USA Trials for the World Wrestling Championships.
Hawai'i has one of the largest contingents of female wrestlers contending for positions on the U.S. National Team and for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where women's wrestling will make its Olympic debut.
Clarissa Chun (Roosevelt '99 of Kapolei) and Katie Kunimoto (Castle '99 of 'Ahuimanu) have been among 20 invited permanent residents at the Training Center since last August.
Debbi Saiki (Mililani '03) and Cathy Migita (Castle '01) are already training with the permanent residents at the center.
Stephany Lee (Moana-lua '02) will train with head Olympic coach Terry Steiner and his staff June 3-12.
Jill Remiticado (Iolani '99) and Donell Bradley (Radford '99), both of 'Aiea, also are expected early next month.
Saiki, Migita, Lee, Remiticado and Bradley earned "training opportunities," as USA Wrestling calls them, at the Olympic Center and opportunities to compete in the World Team Trials June 20-22 in Indianapolis by finishing in the top eight at the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in Las Vegas May 10.
Winners at the World Team Trials will represent the U.S. in the World Championships Sept. 12-14 in New York City. Additionally, winners in the Olympic weight classes (105, 121, 138 and 158 pounds) will make history in the first women's wrestling competition at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republican, in August.
For Lee, who returned to competition in April a year after shoulder surgery, it is all a little overwhelming.
"The amazing thing," she said, "is that after four years wrestling, and only 2 1/2 years in freestyle (the Olympic style), and all the injuries I've had, I am still doing this and competing with the best in the nation."
Lee won three state championships (Hawai'i and Texas are the only states that have sanctioned high school championships) and marked her comeback from surgery by winning the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association Can-Am (Canadian-American) folkstyle and freestyle championships in Michigan March 29-30.
Two weeks later she finished second at USA Wrestling's Women's University National Championships and a month after that she placed third in the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in Las Vegas.
She has qualified for the Junior World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, Aug. 22-29.
Last week Lee announced she had accepted a wrestling scholarship to attend Missouri Valley College. She wants to study sports training or physical therapy.
Lee is one of Saiki's heroes. And they will be teammates at Missouri Valley next year.
Saiki, who will graduate from Mililani High on June 1 at Aloha Stadium, said she was "kind of surprised" that she got the same scholarship to Missouri Valley as Lee did. "I got a $10,000 wrestling scholarship, and some work study. The total cost is $18,000," Saiki said. "My dad said it will be cheaper than going to UH."
Saiki said "I choked" at the state championships March 1 when she lost in the semifinals of the 114-pound bracket and missed an opportunity to go against Caylene Valdez for the championship (Valdez pinned Timitha Hufana in 44 seconds to win her fourth state title). "I wrestled more not to lose than wrestling my match," she said.
Later in March, at the U.S. Girls national championships, she was relaxed. "I was not expected to win. I was a nobody," she said. "It was like, 'It doesn't really matter, I can't wrestle as bad as I did at states.'
"After I got into the finals, it was 'Wow!' "
Saiki fell behind 8-3 in the first round, but pancaked her opponent and pinned her in 20 seconds of the second round.
She finished fourth at the Senior Nationals earlier this month. "Every girl I wrestled was in college. It felt good to make it that far," Saiki said.
Training at the Olympic Center has been another eye-opener, Saiki said. She had a practice match with Patricia Miranda, perhaps the highest-regarded U.S. wrestler.
"I'm getting warped trying to grab her," Saiki said. "I didn't score one point. She's the whole package — fast and strong."
Miranda has taken time to help her, Saiki said. "She's teaching me good stuff, like my base is too wide."
Saiki started wrestling when her mother made her stop playing football four years ago.
Since last fall, wrestling has taken her to Arizona, upper Michigan, Minnesota, Las Vegas and Colorado Springs. "I made gold member for Hawaiian Airlines," she said.
Wonder what the frequent flier mileage to Athens is?
