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Road to Olympics via Vegas for Lyle

For The Times-Standard

EUREKA -- Confident that she's in the best shape of her life, Kaci Lyle travels to Las Vegas this weekend for the Women's Open Senior National Wrestling Championships, the first of two tournaments that will determine if the Eureka High senior will compete on the U.S. squad this summer.

Held this Friday and Saturday, the National Open will pare the field of wrestlers down to eight, all of whom will advance to the World Wrestling Team Trials in Battle Creek, Mich., June 2 and 3. The top finisher there will qualify to travel to the World Championships in Bulgaria and the top three will likely travel to Sydney, Australia for exhibition matches at the Olympics Games.

Winning this weekend's tournament would be huge for Lyle. A win would earn her a berth in the finals at the world trials, a spot of the team and a $1,000 training stipend.

Lyle is confident about her chances this weekend and feels that she is up to the challenge.

"I've never felt this good before," Lyle said. "I'm in great condition and I don't care who gets in my way."

Currently ranked third in the nation, Lyle is familiar with most of the field, including defending champion Sandra Bacher. Bacher, a 32-year old San Jose resident, goes in ranked No. 1 in the 149-pound weight class.

"Kaci was the only woman to take her down at the National Open last year," coach Ron Perry said. "(Bacher) is coming off an injury, so it will be interesting to see what happens."

Lyle looks forward to a rematch with Bacher, whose aura of invincibility was stripped last year when she only won by two points.

"Last year everybody was talking about how great she was going in," Lyle said. "When I took her down it said a lot, because I knew I could beat her."

Bacher earned a berth into the finals of the world trials with the win and Lyle failed to advance far enough to earn a rematch.

"I didn't get to wrestle her and I'll be dissapointed if I don't get to see her this year. Either way I'll get good competition," Lyle said.

Lyle placed fourth at the open last year, but finished fifth at the world trials when another wrestler dropped down to her weight class.

"I was nervous last year and I felt that 'whatever happened, happened.'"

Lyle has toyed with the idea of moving up a weight class, but will likely stay at 149 pounds.

"We've talked about moving up, and there is a vacancy there, but we feel she can beat just about anybody," Perry said.

Though she wasn't the first girl to wrestle in the Humboldt-Del Norte League, Lyle has certainly set the standard for success. Lyle training regime includes a daily distance run, several hours of practice and a few more hours in the gym.

"She's unique in how hard she works," Perry said. "Last week she ran seven and a half miles before practice. She is hungry and wants to be the best."

Her success came as a surprise two years ago when Lyle wrestled on the varsity team at Eureka and entered the state championships after the high school season was over.

"She won a few matches that year for us, but we sent her to the girls state championships and she killed everybody," Perry said.

The wins kept piling up for Lyle, who went on to win the junior national trials and finished second at an international tournament in Norway.

Perry disputes the claim that Lyle is so successful because a perceived lack of competition.

"People may dismiss it because of the apparent lack of competition, but it's pretty big on the East Coast and people were surprised when someone from the West did so well," Perry said.