USA Greco

THOR MASTERS DAY 1: Savvy & Fisher Collect Early Wins

By 5PM Staff

Posted on September 30, 2022

Thor Masters 2022 -- Photo: Josh Sasfy/Barbarian Apparel

Logan Savvy (63 kg, NYAC) and two-time World Team member Jake Fisher (Curby 3-Style) both earned opening round victories on Friday at the 2022 Thor Masters Invitational in Nykobing Falster, Denmark while their three American teammates will head into Day 2 looking for a course correction.

Savvy, operating in Pool A of his weight division, employed crisp, darting movements that helped dictate the early exchanges against Brian Kurt Santiago (DEN). Savvy’s tactics paid off with a shot from top par terre, of which he took advantage by gutting Santiago for two points. Down 3-0 to begin the second, Santiago closed the gap with a correct-throw arm-throw. After the reset, Savvy was soon dinged for passivity, which provided Denmark with a temporary 3-3 criteria lead.

With just a minute remaining in the match, Santiago was credited with a step-out point. Needing a score, of any variety, Savvy dug in for the last-gasp sprint and hotly pursued workable tie-ups. Not many were availed initially, requiring Savvy to further press the issue. Less than :20 hung on the clock when he managed to clamp head-and-arm around Santiago, essentially forging a snapdown position. Santiago responded by trying to submarine inside near the boundary, and Savvy in a flash matador’d his foe off the edge to score a step-out point that effectively secured him the match. Savvy will next face Tino Ojala of Finland in the second round of Pool A on Saturday.

Fisher

Friday marked Fisher’s first bout at an overseas tournament in seven years. He appeared very comfortable with the circumstances.

Back up at 82 kilos, Fisher stared down Arsenas Stankevicius (LTU) and let loose from par terre top in the first period. Upon the whistle, Fisher sought a reverse lift but, as Stankevicius defended, the former Northern Michigan USOEC athlete slickly slid his lock from around the waist to head-and-arm. He then rolled Stankevicius over for two, and proceeded to add two more in the follow-up scramble. Stankevicius did escape to compel a reset, with the first period seeing Fisher enjoy a 5-0 margin.

Passivity flipped to begin the second. Stankevicius came up empty from top PT, and a restart was ordered. Shortly thereafter, Fisher used a front headlock to amble behind for a takedown. Once in control, he went back to the front headlock and waterfalled Stankevicius to log the four match-ending points. Young Marcel Hein (DEN) will serve as Fisher’s first opponent Saturday morning.

Hartshorn, Williams, Bockert, & Parduhn

’22 U23 World Team member Mason Hartshorn (CYC/West Coast Greco RTC) surrendered two first-period takedowns to Tim Bergfalk (SWE), which proved the difference in what was a 4-1 decision loss. Defense from bottom par terre was the key in aiding Hartshorn to stay in the match as the second period got underway. Passivity on Bergfalk provided Hartshorn a point along with the space to potentially claim the lead. Bergfalk stymied the gutwrench attempts — and managed to ward off Hartshorn through the remainder.

’18 US Open runner-up Jessy Williams (67 kg, NYAC/Spartan RTC) was all over Frederik Mathiesen (DEN) and appeared well on his way to a VSU until a miscue changed the complexion of the contest. Williams had received the first passivity/par terre chance and experienced little difficulty in thrice cranking Mathiesen via gutwrench, thus jumping ahead 7-0. But amid his fourth attempt, Williams lost his lock on the re-grip, allowing Mathiesen to step over and land in headlock position before posturing in place for the fall.

In his second match, Williams had an early 1-0 lead (step-out) against Havard Jorgensen (NOR), but Jorgensen eventually accumulated nine unanswered points, five of which were the result of a booming throw. Jorgensen followed Williams to the tarp and raked a pair of gutwrenches to force the stoppage.

Jeremy Bockert (67 kg, IGA) brought an appropriate amount of chutzpah to the forefront opposite Piotr Stolarczyk (POL) but was on the wrong-end of an offensive blitz. Following some preamble, Stolarczyk bumped Bockert off the line for a point, and before long unfurled an arm throw that piled on an additional four. Two turns later, Stolarczyk had the match secured in his favor. Bockert — a Junior Fargo champ in ’21 as well as one of the nation’s most formidable prospects — is participating in his first Senior international tournament.

So too is his stablemate Colton Parduhn, who is also competing in the same pool. Parduhn scratched and clawed throughout an entertaining dustup with Sweden’s Andre Jonsson, and had leveraged the second period passivity/PT into a 3-3 criteria advantage. But with time a factor, Jonsson struck back with a four-point throw towards the boundary. Parduhn, who impressed earlier this year domestically, charged forth in the latter stages, but Jonsson managed to keep upright to the whistle.