The 2024 Bill Farrell Memorial provided a unique opportunity for young American athletes, on home soil, to compete against more than several top international opponents, mainly due to the presence of Ukraine. Although Egypt, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Korea, and Albania had also sent wrestlers to the tournament, Ukraine still stood apart from the rest simply because their roster featured virtually all of their #1 starters. From Viktor Petryk at 63 kg and two-time Olympic silver Parviz Nasibov (who was at 72 in NYC) to ’22 European Championships bronze Vladlen Kozliuk (97 kg) and young heavyweight stud Mykhailo Vyshnyvetskyi, there was not a shortage of accomplished UKR combatants with whom USA competitors could do battle.
Most editions of the pseudo-annual Farrell Memorial avail a collection of foreign wrestlers, but the number of these entrants fluctuates from year-to-year. In a previous era, the New York Athletic Club tournament would bring to bear one or more full foreign rosters and brackets were additionally augmented by one or two other international names. In fact, the event on Friday was not glaringly different from the majority of prior Farrell iterations when it comes to these statistics. Rather, the primary deviation could be witnessed in the dearth of American entrants, which naturally rendered an increased percentage of foreigners.
’24 Bill Farrell Memorial Numbers
There were 74 Greco-Roman entrants into the ’24 Bill Farrell Memorial — 40 of whom represented the United States. This means that nearly half of the field — 45.9% — consisted of international competitors.
Here is the breakdown of each country represented at the Bill Farrell Memorial according to their respective numbers of entrants and placewinners (top-3).
Albania (ALB) — 5 — 1 medal (bronze)
Brazil (BRA) — 2 — 1 medal (gold)
Canada (CAN) — 1
Egypt (EGY) — 4 — 2 medals (1 gold, 1 silver)
Georgia (GEO) — 1 — 1 medal (gold)
Hungary (HUN) — 1 — 1 medal (gold)
Kazakhstan (KAZ) — 3 — 1 medal (silver)
Korea (KOR) — 4 — 1 medal (silver)
Saudi Arabia (KSA) — 1
Tajikistan (TJK) — 1
Ukraine (UKR) — 11 — 11 medals (5 golds, 4 silvers, 2 bronze)
United States (USA) — 40 — 10 medals (1 gold, 3 silvers, 6 bronze)
The United States won the tournament as far as the team standings were concerned but Ukraine, obviously, was the most productive team in the tournament. UKR had eight in the finals (Petryk at 63 kg does not count because his was a two-man bracket) — and two finals matches were contested with both competitors from UKR (67 and 77 kg, respectively).
Ukraine’s presence in the event preceded their involvement in a special camp that begins today at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
’24 Farrell Undercover Stars
A quick look at the American athletes from Friday who made sizable impacts in the tournament — and for whom NYC might have served as an important stepping stone for their progression and careers.
Normally, Undercover Stars sections are reserved for wrestlers who did not win the discussed event, and it is also rare for athletes who advanced to the final at said tournament to be mentioned. But the Bill Farrell Memorial in ’24 was a departure from the norm, in more ways than one, and so this list is in accordance with that narrative.
60 kg: Both Joseph Couch (1st) & runner-up Paxton Creese
Couch (West Point WC) has made noticeable improvements to his Greco-Roman skill-set and competed with assertiveness in each round of the tournament. He had to survive a tough showdown against Rhett Peak (Checkmate) by coming up with crucial second-period points; he was then not only able to score against Creese, he also limited Creese to a mere three points, which is not easy to do. It was a big step for Couch, whose development might be unfolding sooner than expected.
As for Creese (Minnesota Storm), he had downed ’23 Farrell champ Yernar Fidakhmetov (KAZ) in the quarterfinal, and that was one of the bigger USA-vs.-foreigner wins of the tournament. Creese next swam around Ruben Calderon (Paradigm) to make the final. It might not have ended with gold for Creese, but it was certainly a very solid outing.
72 kg: The triumvirate of Peyton Robb, Aliaksandr Kikiniou, & Patrick Brackett
The most entertaining weight category on Friday was 72 kg — and with some distance. U20 World Team member Brackett went toe-to-toe with Olympic silver Nasibov and promptly began trying to beat the brakes off of the Ukrainian. In one instance, Nasibov, frustrated with Brackett’s physicality, gave the Coloradan a little head-bump, and Brackett responded with a little face-slap. Nasibov went on to defeat Brackett (who finished 1-2 after a second loss in the consolation chart, at the hands of Robb) but it was encouraging to see a young American wrestler show no fear when challenging one of the sport’s best athletes.
Robb and Kikiniou put on two terrific matches — first in the quarterfinal and again in their 3rd-place affair. Kikiniou, who is still but a young age-grouper, was felled by Nasibov but rebounded with a sparkling decision over Abunassyr Omirzak (KAZ) before being edged by Robb with bronze on the line. As for Robb, he ran the table on the consolation side of the bracket and would score a match-changing step-out point against Kikiniou (right after being gutted, no less) to make the podium. Robb’s tenacity, balance, and intuitiveness were put on clearer display in this tournament than they were at the non-Olympic Trials in September. Quite a career in Greco he could have following glimpses of immense promise on the age-group level prior to college.
82 kg: Patrick Curran (NMU/NTS, 4th)
Curran began the day with a loss to tournament winner Peter Nagy (HUN), which meant a long road on the backside of the bracket. He bounced right back with a win over young Drew Allgeyer (MI) — and then surged past ’22 U20 World Team member Adrian Artsisheuskyi (NYAC). Curran’s bout versus Artsisheuskyi saw the former refuse to yield favorable position to the latter. Each fleeting tie-up was an exercise in contention, and Curran capitalized with a flourish down the stretch. A tight 3-1 decision loss to well-known Jesse Porter (NYAC) capped Curran’s run. His showing overall could, and should, act as a building block for the future. He is certainly in the right room to take much bigger steps sooner than most might realize.
87 kg: Mike Altomer (Curby 3-Style, bronze)
Hard to ignore a performance, at a Senior Greco-Roman tournament, in which all of an athlete’s victories were recorded by way of fall. Such was the case for “Muscle Mike”, who pinned Boris Frrokaj (ALB), NMU frosh Mason Parsons, and Frrokaj again for bronze. Altomer was defeated by bracket winner Artur Ovsepyan (UKR) in the semifinal. Ovsepyan delivered to Altomer a clinic on-the-feet by generating off-balances and pressure-releases which caused the New Yorker to play off of his heels before surrendering a front headlock position that Ovsepyan used to score a takedown and the subsequent follow-up offense necessary to end the match prematurely. That is a good thing. Although Altomer does have by now a substantial amount of international experience (age-group World Teams, Bulgaria, bronze at Druskinikai Cup in August, etc.), he is indeed still in the developmental phase and that is precisely why his appearing in this tournament held importance.
130 kg: Courtney Denzel Freeman (Marines, silver)
Think of this: currently, the top-3 heavyweights in the US as determined via National Team placing at the Olympic Trials are all occupied with other matters. Adam Coon (NYAC/Cliff Keen) is amid much-needed rest and injury rehab, Cohlton Schultz is at ASU, and now-two-time U20 bronze Aden Attao (Beaver Dam RTC) is both recovering from injury while also preparing for action at Oregon State. That leaves Freeman — who last year was one of three US Seniors to have made the biggest gains along with NMU’s Max Black (60 kg) and Olympian Payton Jacobson (87 kg) — to hold down the fort.
It was at the ’23 Farrell when Freeman served notice as to his viability by advancing to the final against Coon, and a month later he would do so again by making the “challenge final” at the Nationals. On Friday, just about a full year later, Freeman expertly disposed of Tom Foote (NYAC) and Min Seunggyu (KOR) to secure his second-straight spot in a Farrell gold-medal match. Tough sledding. Standing across was three-time Junior World champ/’19 U23 World silver Zviadi Pataridze of Georgia, who logged all six of his points in the first period in what eventually became a 6-0 loss for Freeman. The multi-combat sport participant Freeman dug in and kept the monstrous Pataridze reacting and moving through the second period but the tenor of the proceedings were bogged down, and there was not much stimulation from the officials of which to speak. Nevertheless, the keyword that matters most for any athlete with designs on making Teams is “consistency”. Above everything else in New York that Freeman demonstrated, it was that he is serious about continuing his progress. If he keeps an active profile heading into the spring, who knows what that might translate to at the Trials?
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