Listen to “5PM24: World Teamers Joe Rau, Pat Smith and Max Nowry discuss Final X” on Spreaker.
We’ve gone a little overboard for the 24th episode of The Five Point Move Podcast but the situation called for it.
Three members of the newly-formed 2019 US Senior Greco-Roman World Team who competed at Final X: Rutgers highlight the program. Joe Rau (87 kg, TMWC/Chicago RTC) fills in as co-host for the first two segments, as he and guest Patrick Smith (77 kg, Minnesota Storm) share their thoughts on the Final X Series, training through the summer, and what it’ll be like to be on the same World-level Team together for the first time since 2014. A slew of personal insights and stories from both athletes are also included.
The third 2019 World Teamer for episode 24 is Max Nowry (55 kg, Army/WCAP, world no. 12), marking his third appearance on the show. As with Rau and Smith, the conversation begins centering around Greco’s debut at Final X, but eventually shifts to a more personal direction. Nowry details some of the struggles he has endured throughout his career, the sacrifices his family made to help propel him to National stardom, and the ongoing prank war going on between he and close friend and former World Teamer himself, Joe Betterman.
A Few Highlights
Rau on his win over Provisor at Final X
“I felt like they promoted mine and Ben’s match as part of the main event of the first session. I even saw a little thing, because I re-watched the Final X’s at home and it had a ‘Matches to Watch For’, and it said me and Ben, and I think Becka Leathers and Jenna Burkert. I thought that was cool. We were wrestling first but I think they did a good job of making it feel like, it might have an undercard and main card sort of thing, but I think they did a good job of it. And I think not having all of the Greco matches in the evening helped us.
“This is a huge moment for me. Obviously, next year is really important, but this is really important to me also because I get more shots at qualifying this weight. I’m staring this in the face. I’m the guy right now.”
Smith on moving up to 77 kilos this season
“Honestly, I didn’t know. I was working through it. I think I landed on the right choice. I chose going up, because if I went up, I could get better at wrestling, for sure, and at the end of the day it’s about being the best wrestler you possibly can be. And hopefully, results will follow that. I guess I kind of had this little realization with myself that I wanted to get as good at the sport as I could in the next couple of years, and that seemed like the best avenue to do it.”
Nowry on what it means to have made the World Team after a decade in the sport
“The biggest goal is I want to win a World title. I feel like I need to. I need to and I want to. And with those ten years and ten tries, to me the biggest relief of accomplishing that small stepping stone to get into the World Championships, is that after all these years I constantly think about when I was younger. I think I was in sixth or seventh grade and both of my parents were working two jobs at the same time to get me to the Nationals and other tournaments. I’m 29-years-old and that was so long ago, but I still hold onto that, how my parents held two jobs at the same time to support me to train and get to where I am. So, it’s a relief and a big accomplishment when I think back to younger Max and what my parents did for that younger Max to get me where I am. I don’t take that stuff for granted. When I compete, I’m not competing for myself. I’m doing it for my family, my coaches, and my teammates. That’s my biggest motivator.”
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