Felix Helps Validate Girls’ Tournament

Laura Felix of Calabasas High has placed no worse than fourth at boys’ wrestling tournaments this year, but Saturday she discovered that other girls are as tough.

Felix combined with Suzanne Kivi of Reno and Sarah FulpAllen of Half Moon Bay in the 104-pound division to highlight the first Thousand Oaks girls’ wrestling tournament at Westlake High.

Each displayed impressive repertoires.

Kivi, a girls’ national champion who has wrestled for five years, pinned FulpAllen in the second round of the championship match and was selected most valuable wrestler.

Felix, a sophomore, was penalized for using an illegal move and was pinned by FulpAllen in the semifinal. She finished third.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m mostly disappointed that I was pinned,” Felix said. “Everything I did she was able to counter.”

There was no disappointments for tournament director Shannon Yancey of Thousand Oaks.

Yancey, a four-time silver medalist at the women’s wrestling world championships, had hoped the tournament would validate girls’ wrestling, which is not yet a sanctioned high school sport.

She was happy with the outcome.

Seventy-nine wrestlers competed in 12 weight classes and medals were awarded to the top three finishers in each class.

“I was hoping for 70 girls and I got exactly that plus a little more,” Yancey said. “I got some good competitors, not just beginners. Each year I want to see [the tournament] get bigger and better.”

Calabasas Coach Andy Falk was impressed.

“It was a real good [tournament],” Falk said. “I think it’s going to take off. If you [organize] more of these things then the momentum will build.”

Yancey’s squad had a fair showing.

Amber Gomez placed second at 160 pounds and Courtney Whitner finished second at 171 pounds. Breanna Rooney (114 pounds), Elyse SchoenWard (123) and Tara Cook (145) each finished third.

Yancey also was pleased with Kivi’s performance. Yancey, who was an assistant at Reno’s Wooster High, coached Kivi three years ago in a youth league.

“She was impressive,” Yancey said.

Felix, a member of the Calabasas tennis team, hopes to compete in other girls’ tournaments, including the Napa Valley tournament at Vintage High on January 22.

She also has tried golf, kick boxing and bowling, but prefers wrestling, which she first tried last year with prompting from Falk.

“Coach Falk was my teacher and he saw I wasn’t doing well in school,” Felix said. “He thought that wrestling would help me.”

In boys’ wrestling:

North Torrance tournament--Simi Valley’s Tyson Hadduck placed fourth at 189 pounds and Dan Kunkes finished sixth in the heavyweight division at North Torrance.

Hadduck was the tournament’s top seed in his class but dropped into the loser’s bracket after a first-round defeat..

Kunkes lost in the semifinals and an ankle injury forced him to forfeit his final two matches.