Wrestling for acceptance

Sunday, January 23, 2005

BY TERRY DEVEREAUX
Correspondent

WALES -- Early in her wrestling career Oak Hill's Nikole Lemay struggled for acceptance.

This year the two-time runner-up at the Western B regional is not only a part of the team -- she's a captain. The senior came up big scoring two wins for the Raiders, who went on to tie both Gardiner and Cony 42-42 in a tri meet on Wednesday. But due to the tiebreaker system the Raiders lost both contests.

Lemay began wrestling as a freshman and has been hooked ever since. Although females are allowed to compete against males in Maine high school wrestling, few have chosen to compete on more than a short-term basis.

"When I was a freshman, some of my friends talked me into joining the team," Lemay said. "They said it was fun."

Even though Lemay was a varsity starter at 103 pounds that season, she wasn't immediately accepted by her male teammates.

"They were kind of rude to me," she said. "I'm not sure if it was because I was a girl, or just because I was a freshman."

This season, competing at 112 pounds, Lemay sports a 17-6 record with 15 pins. She narrowly missed going to the finals at the Gardiner Tiger tournament, losing 11-8 in the semifinals to Bucksport's Booky Nesin.

Oak Hill's Ric Swett has coached Lemay throughout her high school career.

"She has good skills and works hard," Swett said. "She has earned every match she has won."

Lemay doesn't often feel outmuscled in a match against a male opponent either.

"I lift weights a lot in the off-season, and do light lifting during the season," she said. "The guys at 112 are definitely a lot stronger than the 103-pounders I wrestled my first two seasons, but it usually isn't a problem."

On Saturday, Lemay picked up a forfeit against Cony before facing Gardiner's female wrestler, Ashley Bernard. Lemay ran up points early on before pinning Bernard in the second period.

"I don't think I would like it if there were all-female teams," Lemay said. "I like the challenge of wrestling boys, and losing only makes me work harder."

Oak Hill's dual meet record fell to 5-14.

Cony won both matches on the day with a 45-30 victory over Gardiner and an official 43-42 win over Oak Hill. Cony got a key performance from first-year wrestler Bryan Pratt (135).

"Bryan won both matches by pin with inside cradles," Rams coach John Martin said. "He pulled out a big win for us while he was behind on points against Oak Hill."

Shawn Irish (119), Cody Myers (171) and Joey McInnis (275) also had two pins for the Rams. Tyler Robinson (215) scored three pins for the day, including a pin of Hall-Dale's Cameron Swett. Swett competes as an independent for Hall-Dale and practices with the Oak Hill team.

Gardiner split the days matches gaining an official 43-42 win against Oak Hill. Keith Sleeper (135 and 140) scored two pins. Mike Curry (160) and Sean Kozma (189) each won two matches by pin and forfeit.