This Friday in Zagreb, Croatia, ten US age-groupers will attempt to become World Champions. That is their mission, either individually or collectively, regardless of whatever other narratives are out there currently. Without a doubt, a running theme for American Greco-Roman athletes — practically irrespective of age-level at this juncture — is the acquisition of experience and subsequent improvement pertaining to elite international competition. And surely, that is one constant, vital component to all-around US participation in Greco-Roman in a developmental context, and yes, Cadet is, by definition, a developmental age group. The athletes in Croatia are hoping to take the experience they gain competing and apply it elsewhere throughout the rest of their careers. But once the whistle blows, it all gets shuffled to the background. Because when an American athlete gets his hands on a foreign competitor at the World Championships, he will not be thinking of development, but destruction.
You’ve really got to love that.
The US has produced its fair share of champs and medalists at the Cadet Greco-Roman World Championships, although a giant chunk of that success came about during what was a very different era in the sport both globally and domestically. An extremely brief, non-detailed summary of why medal achievement among US age-groupers has fallen off might look like this:
- Folkstyle was always the prevalent discipline in America. The difference is that over the years, folkstyle tournaments have increased exponentially during what used to be its “offseason.” In turn, that means more folkstyle clubs, more folkstyle camps, and a much higher emphasis placed on attaining folkstyle/collegiate goals than ever before. When the NCAA finals are the most-watched wrestling event in the country it’s probably time to re-evaluate things a little bit.
- Foreign programs have upped the ante in a major way since the late-1980’s. The dissolution of the Soviet empire — and Middle Eastern nations like Iran and Turkey bolstering their youth programs to new heights — resulted in an even more pronounced competitive field on a year-to-year basis. This effect has obviously carried over to Junior, Senior, and really, every and any age group you can come up with. To that point, skip to the list of US Cadet World medalists below, as various editions of the tournament saw limited nations send athlete delegations, including the USSR/Russia for various geopolitical/financial reasons (thus essentially leaving room for everybody else).
- Aside from women, wrestling participation in the United States is declining with plenty of examples as to why that’s the case. Title IX didn’t help scholastically. But youths also have more combative options at their disposal with Brazilian jiu-jitsu leading that charge. Then again, kids play video games all the livelong day, as well, so who knows what the main culprits really are? What we do know is that the well is not as full as it used to be — and that’s a problem for every wrestling style stateside.
Thankfully, Greco is enjoying an upswing in the US. There are more and more opportunities for youth competitors to travel internationally, and events/training camps are increasing on the domestic front. Just take a look at the American Cadet and Junior World Teams for 2018. Of the 20 total athletes, only a small few do not possess significant overseas experience. This country has sent far-less seasoned wrestlers to World Championships before (and recently), and these young men still managed to perform admirably. So if you happen to be carrying a lot of optimism towards this year’s squad and its overall chances for success in Croatia, it is well-founded.
As a nod to days gone by and in the hopes for a brighter future starting now, here is a breakdown of all of the US medal performances at the Cadet Greco-Roman World Championships (as according to the UWW/Foeldeak database).
US Performances at the Cadet Greco-Roman World Championships
1980
GOLD: Paul Kasprzyk (67 kg)
SILVER: Chris Lembeck (41 kg), Tony Hanson (62 kg)
BRONZE: Scott Bates (28 kg), Erin Millsap (30 kg)
1981
SILVER: Jeff Clark (52 kg), Richard Howell (56 kg), David Klopovitz (+87 kg)
BRONZE: Angelo Cuzalina (70 kg), Tony Kourmoulus (80 kg), Brad Steward (87 kg)
1983
GOLD: Scott Davis (28 kg), Brian Benbenek (32 kg), Tony Kitchen (35 kg), Haig Brown (38 kg), Todd Layton (45 kg), Jay Simon (53 kg), Brian Benjamin (57 kg), Gavin Green (67 kg), Eric Smith (+67 kg)
SILVER: Tony Rotundo (30 kg), Jimmy Sconce (49 kg), Todd Stone (62 kg)
1987
GOLD: Dusty Mauldin (40 kg), Steve King (76 kg), Adam Mariano (83 kg)
SILVER: Travis Carpenter (43 kg), Rob Prebish (47 kg), Eric Akin (55 kg), Gregory Gent (95 kg)
BRONZE: Rick Williams (51 kg), Joe Block (60 kg), Pat Lynch (70 kg)
1989
GOLD: Chris MacAurele (47 kg), Kevin Brinkworth (95 kg)
SILVER: Jason Kutz (40 kg), Jeff Rosenbaum (43 kg), Zack Taylor (55 kg), Les Gutches (83 kg)
BRONZE: Sean Hanlon (70 kg)
1990
SILVER: Steve Hilas (65 kg)
BRONZE: Troy Spencer (47 kg), Brandon Slay (83 kg)
1991
GOLD: Jeremy Becker (76 kg), Jason Gleasman (95 kg)
SILVER: Jason Goldman (43 kg), Tracy Brown (60 kg), Abel Tivon (65 kg), Brandon Slay (83 kg)
BRONZE: Chad Kime (47 kg), Jason Davids (51 kg), B. Williams (46 kg)
1993
SILVER: Mario Solorio (43 kg), Kasey Gillis (55 kg)
1995
BRONZE: Daniel Cormier (83 kg)
1997
GOLD: Josh Etu (95 kg)
1998
SILVER: Matt Hasbrook (95 kg)
No Cadet World Championships were held between 2000-2010
2013
BRONZE: Cade Olivas (42 kg), Jon Jay Chavez (69 kg)
2017
GOLD: Cohlton Schultz (100 kg)
NMU Open & Trials Performances
There are two items pertaining to the Olympic Training Site program at Northern Michigan and both will be presented in full later on this week. The first bit of information on the docket has to do with NMU’s performance results accumulated during the 2017-18 season. We will be offering a complete list of medals acquired by Northern athletes and where these events took place. In conjunction with that, you can also look forward to the final Northern News with NMU Head Coach Rob Hermann of the season before the week is out.
For the purpose of today’s Roundup, we are sticking to the five major domestic tournaments that have all been decided over the past two months — the Junior Nationals, Senior Open, U23 World Team Trials, Junior World Team Trials, and of course, the Senior World Team Trials that were contested a week ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Junior Nationals (USA) — 4/25/18 (JR)
GOLD: Alston Nutter (63 kg)
RUNNER-UP: Benji Peak (60 kg), Tommy Brackett (82 kg), Anthony Riopelle (97 kg)
BRONZE: Riley Briggs (67 kg)
5TH: Britton Holmes (67 kg), Josh Anderson (77 kg), Spencer Woods (82 kg), Keaton Fanning (87 kg)
US Open (USA) — 4/28/18 (SR)
GOLD: Dalton Roberts (60 kg)
RUNNER-UP: Sammy Jones (63 kg)
BRONZE: Randon Miranda (55 kg)
4TH: Kyndall Rutz (55 kg), Austin Morrow (67 kg)
5TH: Travis Rice (63 kg), Anthonie Linares (67 kg), Logan Kass (72 kg), Jesse Porter (77 kg), Khymba Johnson (87 kg)
U23 World Team Trials (USA) — 6/1/18 (SR)
CHAMP: Dalton Duffield (55 kg), Randon Miranda (60 kg), Travis Rice (63 kg), Logan Kass (72 kg), Jesse Porter (77 kg), Carter Nielsen (82 kg), George Sikes (87 kg)
RUNNER-UP: Dalton Roberts (60 kg), Roy Nash (97 kg)
BRONZE: Britton Holmes (67 kg)
4TH: Erik Spence (63 kg), Spencer Woods (82 kg)
5TH: Tommy Brackett (82 kg)
Junior World Team Trials (USA) — 6/8/18 (JR)
CHAMP: Benji Peak (60 kg), Alston Nutter (63 kg)
RUNNER-UP: Josh Anderson (77 kg)
CHAL. TOUR. CHAMP: Benji Peak (60 kg), Josh Anderson (77 kg), Tommy Brackett (82 kg)
CHAL. TOUR. RUNNER-UP: Mason Hartshorn (63 kg), Britton Holmes (67 kg), George Sikes (87 kg), Anthony Riopelle (97 kg)
BRONZE: Delon Kanari (60 kg), Riley Briggs (67 kg), Spencer Woods (82 kg)
World Team Trials (USA) — 6/22/18 (SR)
CHAMP: Dalton Roberts (60 kg)
CHAL. TOUR. RUNNER-UP: Dalton Duffield (55 kg)
BRONZE: Randon Miranda (60 kg), Travis Rice (63 kg), Jesse Porter (77 kg)
4TH: Kyndall Rutz (55 kg), Colin Schubert (72 kg), Roy Nash (97 kg)
WRESTLERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Your (somewhat) weekly dose of inspiring words, knuckleheaded antics, or thought-provoking questions from your favorite US (and sometimes international) Greco-Roman athletes and coaches.
We begin with Germany’s fashion-conscious World Champ.
Really, the world should heed this advice.
A wise man once said nothin at all
— G’angelo Hancock (@OlympicKidd) June 29, 2018
Cross-training education.
Rare for us to include two international athletes in one week but this one’s too good to pass up.
Smart money says he uses the four months before the U23 Worlds very wisely.
Can’t knock my hustle it’s way too strong.
— Randon (@randontheguy) July 2, 2018
This has already been seen like 100 million times but so be it.
Everyone has different ways in which they prefer to spend their spare time.
Questions? Concerns? Feel like reaching out? Do so on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
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