Smith, wrestling a perfect match

By John Bassetti

Olympic trials await for the Fitch High standout

111Although a wrestling mat may not be the safest place, it does have its rewards.

That’s how Smith, of Austintown, met her boyfriend during the West Geauga tournament in February.

Although the 16-year-old lost to Vinnie Deem of Wellsville High School, she’s been winning enough against her own gender to earn a berth in the Olympic trials in Las Vegas starting Friday.

Smith, who will be a junior at Fitch next school year, competed against boys at 145 pounds and lettered for the Falcons. Her junior varsity record was 22-0 and she was 4-2 in varsity matches.

Since embarking on a mission against U.S. Girls Wrestling Association competition, Jessica is 6-0 in freestyle matches.

Now the daughter of Gina and Dennis Smith is at the doorstep of some steep challenges against Jenna Pavlik of Delaware and Iris Smith of Colorado Springs.

At the U.S. nationals, Pavlik (New York A.C.) placed seventh in the 158.5 pound (72 kilograms) class and Iris Smith (U.S. Army) was third.

Jessica Smith, by contrast, won the college division of the Northern Plains regional trials in Waterloo, Iowa in May as a member of Canfield Team Lennox, a club operated by Boardman High coach Dom Mancini and Canfield coach Chris Canale.

“Just the fact that she qualified is something,” Canale said of Smith, who became the youngest individual ever to reach the U.S. trials in wrestling. “That’s the toughest division in the world because it’s the most stacked.”

Smith doesn’t know any of the women — except that all are older and some have children — but she does know that Pavlik wrestled in Akron when Jessica was sent hundreds of miles.

Yet she holds no grudge.

“I just want to go out there and wrestle,” said Smith, who would have to wrestle as many as seven times on Friday (the 13th).

If successful against Pavlik and Iris Smith in the 11-woman mini-tournament, Dennis Smith believes his daughter would most likely meet Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs/New York A.C.), then the winner of the top bracket, who he suspects will be either Stephany Lee or Katie Downing, both of whom are tied to Colorado Springs and Sunkist Kids.

If successful to that point, Jessica would then face U.S. nationals champion Ali Bernard of New Ulm, Minn. (Gator W.C.) in a best-of-three series.

If Smith places in the top two, she’s going to Beijing, China, for the Summer games Aug. 8-24.

Her journey hasn’t been an easy road — literally.

Because of her age, there was some confusion as to whether the teen could compete in regionals.

“The first answer I got was that she had to be 17 by the pre-qualifier, then I was told that she had to be 17 by the trials, then 17 by the actual Olympic Games,” said her mother.

Although there was a qualifier in Akron, Gina Smith said that Jessica was rejected because her birth year had to be 1990.

“I couldn’t get a straight answer before she started wrestling [USGWA], then Iowa popped up and the birth year changed from 1990 to 1991. So we drove 14 hours to Iowa. She definitely worked for what she got.”

Jessica’s birthdate is Aug. 25, 1991.

Gina Smith doesn’t consider her daughter a tomboy.

“She’s very much a girl except for the wrestling thing,” said her mother, a West Seneca, N.Y. native who played with a girls hockey club team in the Buffalo area as a teen.

Her husband was a wrestler at Fitch from 1974-76.

“He was known as the Tasmanian Devil back then,” Gina Smith said of Dennis Smith, a heavyweight. “He was a pretty outstanding wrestler.

Canale, a 1999 Canfield High graduate who was a fourth-place finisher at state in the 189-pound class his senior year, also competed at Ashland University where he was a three-time national qualifier at 184.

While he coached at Canfield, Canale continued to compete internationally in Greco-Roman matches.

That inspired him to join Mancini in the formation of the Lennox club.

“I wanted to give kids the same opportunity I was enjoying,” said Canale, who took Smith under his wing because he believes she has the potential to be a multiple Olympian.

“She wants to be an Olympic gold medalist and she trains like it,” said Canale, noting Smith’s strong support system at home helps, too.

“I’ve never had an athlete who picked up the technique as fast as she does. She’s got lofty goals, more than most 16-year-olds. She’ll be wrestling full-grown women. Most girls are usually in college before they make a run like this. She’s flying under the radar, but there’s no doubt in my mind that she can’t give them a run for their money.”

Joining Smith and her parents and grandmother, Bernice Smith of Austintown, in Las Vegas, will be Jessica’s twin brother, Brandon and Canale and Deem.

Brandon, who will also be a junior at Fitch in the fall, will be Jessica’s training partner.

“It’ll be incredibly intense, especially for a 16-year-old,” said Gina Smith, who, naturally, harbors concerns when her daughter’s number is called.

“I worry about whether she’ll get hurt. She’s a tough wrestler even against the boys but, no matter how you look at it, she’s a girl and I’m her mom.”

bassetti@vindy.com