USA Greco

Black Silver, DeSanto Bronze at 2024 Haparanda Cup

By 5PM Staff

Posted on November 30, 2024

black silver, desanto bronze, 2024 haparanda cup

Image: BrottningPlay

The United States has exited the Haparanda Cup with two medalists thanks to the work of Otto Black (63 kg, Hawkeye WC) and Austin DeSanto (63 kg, TMWC/Hawkeye WC).

The 2024 Haparanda Cup began at 10:00am local time from Haparanda, Sweden (4:00am ET) and streamed live on BrottningPlay.

not all roads lead to gold, parent edition, jim gruenwald

It was a debut of sorts for both wrestlers. For ’24 U20 World silver Black, Haparanda was his first time competing in a Senior tournament, period. When it comes to DeSanto — who was a four-time NCAA Division I All-American prior to forging a freestyle career — Sweden’s annual fall event served as his first international Greco-Roman endeavor overall. In the end, the American duo both made the podium with Black earning silver and DeSanto walking away with bronze.

Black started off against Arseni Paschenko of Ukraine by garnering the bout’s first passivity/par terre chance. From top, Black ran a gutwrench for two and stepped for a lift after the rotation; he then had appeared to execute for a multi-point score, but the officials awarded one point instead. Black tacked onto his 4-0 lead with a step-out before the break. In the second period, Paschenko got on the board with two points of his own but Black was in firm command. With time a factor, the Ukrainian opted for a last-gasp throw attempt, which Black countered to land on top en-route to the 7-2 decision victory.

Next up for Black was Ruslan Stamat (SWE). An early scramble resulted in Black hustling for a step-out point and, before long, the officials deemed Stamat to be passive. Black took advantage of par terre by hulking a cascading lift for four points. Later in the frame, a front headlock provided another scoring opportunity. Stamat offered brief resistance in the hold and fought to flip positions. But, in an instant, Black had ambled behind for two more points, thus ending the bout prematurely in his favor.

Round 3 delivered another exhibition of dominance on the part of Black. Facing Jonatan Jedell (SWE), Black was deadly-efficient in scoring a takedown ahead of lifting Jedell for four and immediately transitioning to a gut on the back-end. Just like that, the score was 8-0 and Black had punched his ticket to the bracket final.

His antagonist with gold on the line was William Ekeroth, one of Sweden’s top lightweight prospects (and to whom DeSanto lost in his first match on Saturday). As he had throughout the day, Black was moving well when checking into the ties. Ekeroth did not seem to demonstrate as much of an insistence to advance position, but he was also doing his best to halt Black from gaining a handle off of his allotment of pressure-release tactics. Passivity eventually rang on Ekeroth, but Black could not negotiate a turn from top par terre.

Since Black had received the passivity point from the first period, it was natural to wonder if the officials would simply flip the call, as they so often do, entering the second stanza. In a match that is tightly-contested, the second-period passive looms large, thus the onus was on Black to try and score from the feet. He certainly did try, too, but the problem was that Ekeroth is the one who executed.

An arm throw from the Swedish competitor soon into the period put Ekeroth ahead 4-1. Black — who had already been working to open up on-the-feet — increased his sense of urgency all the more. Ekeroth had been relegated to virtual survival mode. He was busying up the ties and in on Black’s hands in an effort to ward off the onslaught of attempts. As time raced off the clock, Black was able to wrangle Ekeroth’s arms for a salto near the boundary and came close to that maneuver translating to a match-altering points yield; but Ekeroth had scrambled upon the arch attempt, and confusion arose with regards to the scoring. Following the review, Black was awarded a step-out point whilst Ekeroth was gifted two from exposure. The score was 6-2 for Sweden by then and Black was forced to settle for silver — still, an impressive feat considering that Haparanda ’24 was his first Senior international competition.

DeSanto Bronze in Debut

Learning as he is going. DeSanto displayed terrific conditioning on Saturday as well as an eagerness to create plenty of motion as he battled his way through four matches. His feet placement, hip distance, tendency to reach, and head position are all in need of addressing going forward. But — DeSanto’s sheer wrestling ability and competitive drive were certainly more than enough to help him navigate the various nuances with which he contended in Haparanda, and it is quite likely those same attributes will also aid him in his development as this chapter of his career continues.

It did not take long for DeSanto to have to adjust. In Round 1, Ekeroth, right away, lasered an arm throw to put DeSanto in a 4-0 hole. The American had begun the match in a square stance, Ekeroth felt for the limb soon after meaningful contact, and DeSanto’s positioning was easily compromised. However, the tenor of the match would change in the second period. DeSanto — who was warned for his head by the official — began generating pressure in the hand-fight and eventually coaxed Ekeroth off the boundary. He would do so again after a reset. Down by two points, DeSanto was working up a lather in search of a score. But, as the match was mere seconds away from concluding, the officials cited him for a caution due to head contact. Two more points went to Ekeroth, who prevailed by a score of 6-2.

Round 2 brought forth a meaningful adjustment for DeSanto, who chugged away in the ties against Algot Gamelius (SWE) by operating from a staggered stance. A 2-0 lead was DeSanto’s in the early going, but Gamelius got on the board himself via step-out. DeSanto answered back with his own step-out and walked into intermission leading 3-1. The second period had just gotten underway when DeSanto was caution’ed for coming in with his head, thus making the score 3-3. But the former collegiate star went on a tear from then on. Two takedowns — the second of which derived from a big snap-down — delivered to DeSanto a 7-3 margin. And as the match ebbed towards its conclusion, DeSanto closed the show with a takedown-gut combo and in the process had secured his first Senior Greco-Roman match win by way of an 11-3 technical fall. The triumph also meant that DeSanto had a shot at bronze.

And he made good on it.

In what was his most efficient outing of the day, DeSanto physically overwhelmed Stamat (who had fallen to Black in Round 2 of their pool). His initial points came from a brief exposure thanks to a front headlock position. After the reset, DeSanto then had appeared to throw Stamat at the boundary but, curiously, two points were instead distributed to Stamat. ’06 World Champion Joe Warren, who is in Sweden as the USA coach, gestured to challenge — but DeSanto calmly waved him off and the match resumed. Yet another front headlock from DeSanto gave way to a step-out point; in short order, the native of Pennsylvania used the hold to amble behind for a takedown, and the sequence repeated itself once more. Following the next restart, DeSanto was there with additional offense in the form of Stamat essentially flopping prior to stepping out. The curtains were beginning to fall. Finally, after one last reset — and still in the opening period — DeSanto converted his second solid takedown-gut combination of the tournament to collect a bronze medal from his first-ever international Greco-Roman appearance.

2024 Haparanda Cup

November 30 — Haparanda, SWE

TEAM USA RESULTS

63 kg

Otto Black (Hawkeye WC) — SILVER
WON Arseni Paschenko (UKR) 7-2
WON Ruslan Stamat (SWE) 8-0, TF
WON Jonatan Jedell (SWE) 8-0, TF
LOSS William Ekeroth (SWE) 6-2

Austin DeSanto (TMWC/Hawkeye WC) — BRONZE
LOSS William Ekeroth (SWE) 6-2
WON Algot Gamelius (SWE) 11-3, TF
WON Ruslan Stamat (SWE) 10-2, TF