Alex Frazier’s wrestling notebook features Pennsbury sophomore Kaitlin Fitzpatrick. He also hands out his year-end awards.
By Alex Frazier
Meet…Kaitlin Fitzpatrick
They didn’t want her on the high school wrestling team.
But that didn’t deter Kaitlin Fitzpatrick.
She did it her way.
When wrestling wasn’t an option at Pennsbury, Fitzpatrick joined the Apache Wrestling Club.
There, under head coach Brad Silimperi and assistant Pat Warusz, Fitzpatrick blossomed.
Last weekend, she attained one of her highest goals—winning a national championship.
And she’s still only a sophomore.
“I was so excited,” she said. “It was surreal. I couldn’t believe it happened, especially because I knew a lot of the girls in my weight.”
The trip to a national title all started back in seventh grade when a boy in her class dared her to try out for the wrestling team.
“I thought, ‘Hey, why not?’” she said.
The middle school coach welcomed her, having no idea how good she might be.
“I ended up beating everybody my weight and 20 pounds up on the first day,” she said. “It was exciting. I didn’t know anything. I just loved going out there and trying and being able to succeed knowing little.”
Early success motivated her to learn more.
“Ever since I’ve been working my butt off,” she said.
When she arrived in high school, she hoped to become part of the wrestling team. When she began beating most of the boys in the 103-pound weight class, the coach asked her not to come back.
Even though there was a coaching change this year, the damage had been done.
“Because of the prior coach’s influence on the boys on the team, it’s still a pretty hostile environment,” she said.
With no school to wrestle for, she turned to club wrestling, which has suited her because it is more personal. In addition to Apache, she also works out with the Elite Club in New Jersey as well as Women Only Wrestling (WOW).
“I’ve done nothing but improve in a very supportive environment,” she said.
She now wrestles year round. A typical weekly schedule has her wrestling five days a week and cross training two to three. Sundays she trains with WOW.
“She’s unbelievably dedicated,” said Warusz. “She has the heart of a lion.”
At Apache, Fitzpatrick practices mostly with boys.
“It’s to the point now that we have to pull some of these guys aside and tell them, ‘Do not freak out; she is going to beat you. You have to be a man about it. She’s just not an everyday girl,’” said Warusz.
This is her fourth year wrestling and without a doubt her best, a “breakthrough year” as she describes it.
“This is where all the learned technique is starting to be applied,” she said. “I’ve been learning technique since I started, but I don’t have that instinct or muscle memory because I’ve only been doing it for a couple of seasons. But now it’s starting to kick in and I’m really starting to wrestle.”
Fitzpatrick says her strength is on her feet, mainly because she has done a lot of freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.
“I’ve been back and forth between learning and practicing folkstyle and freestyle, so I don’t really have a firm grasp of either,” she said. “My strong suit is taking shots and tying up.”
“She’s so fast,” said Warusz. “She can do things that other guys just dream of.”
And her Jekyll and Hyde personality has also been a big factor in her success.
“She comes off the mat and she’s a perfect lady,” said Warusz. “All of a sudden she gets on the mat and the switch flips and she is an absolute animal. As soon as she walks off the mat, she’s one of the most gracious winners and one of the most gracious losers I’ve ever seen.”
Another strength is her willingness to adapt a move that doesn’t quite fit her style.
When she’s shown a move she doesn’t like, she modifies it.
“I kind of change the setup so that it fits my natural instinct so that I can feel comfortable,” she explained.
Mat wrestling has been her weak area, but not for much longer.
“We’ve gotten her to the point where she’s doing moves that are college level,” said Warusz. “She’s very methodical about everything she does. When she commits to a move, you’re not stopping her.”
The only thing that could potentially give her a problem is her asthma, but as Warusz said, “Her matches sometimes didn’t even last long enough for her to have a breathing problem.”
While some weight classes are thin, Fitzpatrick’s 101-pound weight class has been packed this year, which makes her achievements that much more significant.
She placed third in the state, mainly because she missed weight and had to move up a weight class, but she came back to win New Jersey states, regionals and nationals.
At the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle National Championships at Oklahoma City University, Fitzpatrick opened with a 5-4 overtime victory over Sierra Blasone of Sparta High School (N.J.).
Blasone escaped in the overtime, but Fitzpatrick took her down to win the bout.
Next, she pinned Big Chief Wrestling’s Jirenia Saavedra in 1:06. In the final, she decisioned Minnesota’s Devyn Johnson 3-1 to win the 101-pound title.
Since most of the girls in her bracket knew each other, there was a lot of strategy planning.
“It was more of who wanted it more, because we both knew each other’s style,” she said. “It wasn’t technique at that point. I talked to myself before every single match and said, ‘I’m going to do what I have to (do) to win this.’
“When it worked out the way I planned it in my head, it was just unbelievable.”
Besides working for herself, Fitzpatrick is also giving back to the sport.
Warusz often takes her to his practices at the Neshaminy Youth Club.
“She would come with me to my private lesson and be my partner,” he said. “She was in there helping out girls that are just starting the sport. She’s unbelievable with those kids. I trust her. I say, ‘Take this girl and show her some stuff tonight.’ These little girls get done working out with Kait have the biggest smile on their face and are excited about the sport. Kait gives them the reassurance that it’s something they can do.”
Now that she has reached the top rung in the U.S. in folkstyle, she’s set her goals even higher.
“For women, it’s really freestyle that takes you far, up to the Olympics,” she said. “If I win the freestyle tournament (next month in Florida), it’s a qualifier for Worlds. I would really like to go to Worlds and compete.”
Long term, she wants to qualify for the Olympics and earn a college scholarship.
There are 21 colleges that offer women’s wrestling.
“I’m actually starting to meet with coaches in a few schools now because I’m not sure what I want to do education-wise, so I’m just looking at them wrestling-wise right now and then I’ll be able to narrow it down once I decide what I want to do,” she said.
With college still three years away, she could well stamp her admission to anywhere she wants to go.
“She’s an unbelievable athlete,” said Warusz. “She’s probably 10 times a better person than she is a wrestler. If I had a team full of boys with her mindset and dedication, I would have the best team in the state, bar none. I feel honored to coach her.”
Pa.’s the Best —Once again Pennsylvania wrestlers showed the nation just how good they are in the recent NCAA Championships. The following stats are compliments of former Council Rock South State Champion Rick Rappo.
1. Qualifiers – Pennsylvania had 61 NCAA Division 1 qualifiers. Ohio was the next closest with 30, followed by New York with 26 and New Jersey with 20.
2. By conference – The Eastern Wrestling League had 15, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association had 14, and the Atlantic Coast Conference had 13 qualifiers.
3. All Americans – Pennsylvania had 14 All-Americans, including nine semifinalists, five finalists, one champion and 13 wrestlers in the round of 12.
Ohio was next with eight All-Americans, followed by California and New York with six.
Last year Pennsylvania produced 10 All-Americans. In the last six years, the most AA's by Pa. was 11. Since 1987, 14 All-Americans is tied for 4th most (15 in 1991; 16 in '89; 18 in ‘87.)
Year-end awards –
Wrestler of the Year
There was little doubt about this award. Council Rock South’s Billy Rappo won his second straight PIAA state title. He finished his senior year at 42-2 and his career at 137-37.
His high school career ended on a bittersweet note at the prestigious Dapper Dan Tournament in Pittsburgh that pits the best Pa. seniors against the best of the rest of the country.
Rappo’s opponent was Jarred Brooks from Warsaw, Indiana. He lost to Brooks, who entered the tournament 98-6 (not including his senior year), 2-0 and 1-0 in freestyle competition last summer. Brooks has been ranked No. 1 in the country in at least one poll.
Both wrestlers took each other down twice, but Brooks had one more escape and led 6-5 late in the match. Rappo started pushing the action and Brooks was called for stalling. Finally when no points were thrown, Rappo made a desperation shot that Brooks turned into a takedown.
“It was a great match,” said his coach Brad Silimperi. “It was a great opportunity for Billy. There were a lot of D-1 coaches there.”
Coach of the Year
Norristown’s Mark Harner didn’t have the best dual-meet team in the area—Owen J. Roberts proved that, but he did have some of the best individuals, and he was strategically able to move them around to produce the best results.
Harner’s philosophy of wrestling the best competition and scheduling tournaments as opposed to dual meets has paid huge dividends.
The Eagles arguably had the toughest schedule in the area.
Team of the Year
Norristownwas the best in the Suburban One League. The Eagles handily won the American Conference and in the post season, garnered sectional, district and regional titles before placing fifth in the state.
Norristown finished 6-0 in the American Conference and 12-3 overall.
The Eagles placed four wrestlers on the podium in Hershey. Zack Fuentes (106) was fifth, Mike Springer (138) was eighth, Brett Harner (160) finished third and Shane Springer (170) was second. Only the latter is a senior.
Most Improved Wrestler
Central Bucks West’s Chris Jastrzebski made up for a disappointing ending to his 2011 campaign by winning all three local post-season tournaments—being named Outstanding Wrestler at districts—and finished fifth in the state.
Thanks and adios –I don’t know about you, but this wrestling season just seemed to fly by. I’d like to thank all the coaches for their time, patience and support. Without them my notebooks and wraps would have been impossible. If anyone has any suggestions to improve coverage next year, I would greatly appreciate it.
Good luck to all you wrestlers moving on to college and to those of you returning next year, have a great off-season.
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