USA Greco

WE WANT ‘EM ALL: 108 US Age-Groupers Participated In Greco This Week Overseas

By Timothy Hands

Posted on April 5, 2018

us age groupers compete overseas in record-breaking week

Photos: left -- Ivan Delchev; right -- Gary Mayabb & Tallinn Open

If you listen closely, you can hear the drumbeat growing louder and louder.

108 United States age-group athletes in four different countries have been getting their Greco on this week. As previously covered in the latest Monday Roundup, Legends of Gold/IDA came away with four gold medalists and 22 overall placewinners at the enormous Easter Tournament in Utrecht, Holland on Sunday, and that considerably large group of 41 wrestlers is currently staying put in the Netherlands to finish up their training camp. Meanwhile in Estonia, another 48 youths battled it out over the weekend at the Tallinn Open, another huge, highly-competitive event with Americans drumming up three champs across three age divisions. And yes, just like the bunch in Holland, everyone stuck around to get some additional on-the-mat education the rest of the trip, which wrapped up today.

It doesn’t end there. At the same time in Bulgaria, Ivan Delchev, who helped out with the Cadets at last year’s World Championships, had a group of eight Delchev Trained Academy athletes who competed in the Dinko Petrov Tournament. There, his wrestlers walked away with a gold, a silver, and a respectable fifth. Finally, well-known US Greco-Roman coach Ahad Javansalehi brought 11 of his Finger Lakes Wrestling Club kids over to Malmo, Sweden where they have been training alongside a collection of high-speed foreign partners presided over by accomplished instructors.

The math is easy. 41 in Holland + 48 in Estonia + 8 in Bulgaria + 11 in Sweden = 108 US youth athletes participating in Greco-Roman overseas. A productive if not downright crazy week if there ever was one.

Regular readers of the Coach Lindland’s Report know that creating opportunities for developmental competitors is of a high priority for the American program. It is also a concept that Lindland has been extremely vocal about ever since he took over as the National Team head coach in 2014, and it is where he sees the premier benefit for age-group wrestlers who have their eyes on graduating to serious international competition. But in order for that directive to be met, coaches across the country have to step up, which is exactly how this record-breaking week came into fruition to begin with.

“I love the opportunity Jared Lewis has provided for our US athletes,” says Lindland, who along with Gary Mayabb was in Estonia with Lewis’ group. “We need more and more coaches getting their athletes opportunities, whether they send their athletes on a tour like this, or they take their own trip with their club. We do have a few incredible volunteer coaches who do both and we are grateful. We also have a coach (Mark Halvorson) who every year provides opportunities for our US athletes to compete internationally on our own turf, the Junior Greco Duals in Concord, California. That is the only annual tournament that brings the world to us. We need to increase our international presence in all age groups if we want to become the best in the world. We just need to grow our Greco coaches and supporters, and it’s happening. That’s why we’ve had over 100 athletes in Europe this week.”

QUITE A GROUP: A look at all of the athletes participating in the Tallinn training camp in Estonia. (Photo: Gary Mayabb)

Lindland is one piece of the puzzle, and considering the plethora of responsibilities continuously staring him in the face regarding the Senior program, it is equally mind-boggling and admirable he’s done as much as he has in a relatively short amount of time. It’s a testament to his energy. Of course when it comes to energy, Mayabb is nearly unmatched and stands as the other puzzle piece intended to render the big picture.

As the US Greco-Roman Operations Manager, Mayabb is tasked with providing resources to everyone — athletes, coaches, volunteers, and even parents. While he is dedicated to putting plans together centered around instruction and developmental concerns at home, Mayabb is just as passionate about giving age-groupers healthy doses of foreign experience whenever such trips are available. Unsurprisingly, he kept a grateful and encouraged tone when speaking about what has transpired this week on the other side of the Atlantic.

“Thank you to the 108 student-athletes who are getting a tremendous European wrestling experience due to the efforts of their dedicated tour organizers, coaches, Greco supporters, and parents who have made a focused commitment towards advancing Greco-Roman Wrestling in our country,” Mayabb said Wednesday. “Jared Lewis has provided a training experience that all of our American Greco-Roman Wrestlers need if they intend to level up to UWW (United World Wrestling) competition. It has been a true joy to work with this group of talented young athletes from across our nation and we are very excited to track their future growth as they advance the wrestling careers they are creating.”

There will be more weeks like this one, and sooner than you might think. Coming up in the early-summer, 2018 Cadet World Team co-coach Lucas Steldt is taking a delegation of his Go Greco USA athletes to Croatia and Serbia, just like he did a year ago. Other tours for Greco youths are reportedly in the works, as well. This has all been part of a plan that seemed to have its fair share of stops and starts and is now beginning to snowball into something maybe even greater than originally imagined. But that doesn’t mean a break is due, at least not according to Lindland. The way he sees it, the opportunity for US kids to participate in foreign training will remain critical in order to bridge the folkstyle disconnect that Greco constantly contends with stateside.

“This is how we beat the rest of the world in Greco-Roman, we get our athletes competing overseas,” Lindland declares. “We have kids who dream of winning state titles when we need young men who dream of Olympic glory.”

Tallinn Open — Tallinn, Estonia
March 30th-April 1st

USA GRECO-ROMAN RESULTS

(Age group classified by year of birth)

2005-2006

32 kg
Angelo Di Pol — gold

35 kg
Kale Lauridsen — silver
Wylie Stone — 11th

38 kg
Christopher Coates — gold
Tallen Pawlak — 32nd

42 kg
Joel Adams — 20th

47 kg
William Henckel — bronze

2003-2004

38 kg
Kolby Warren — 5th
Hunter Taylor — 12th

41 kg
Greyson Clark — 4th
Christian Forbes — 9th

44 kg
Gavin Linjer — 8th
Peyton Schuelke — 11th
Cael Kahle — 14th
Lucas Johnson — 16th

48 kg
Cael Anderson — silver
Gavin Drexler — 5th
Jordan Blew — 6th
Brandon Fischer — 10th
Cash Stewart — 20th

52 kg
Henry Amborn — 6th
Trenton Myers — 10th

57 kg
Riggin Bo Stone — 10th

62 kg
Nicholas Hamilton — 14th

68 kg
Gavin Nelson — 7th

2001-2002

45 kg
Payton Jacobson — gold
Blaine Brenner — bronze

51 kg
Samuel Lorenz — 5th

55 kg
Preston Martin — bronze
Paul McCrary — 7th

60 kg
Hunter Lewis — 5th

65 kg
Cole Bavery — 5th
Tucker Smith — 17th

1998-2000

55 kg
Zeke Smith — 4th

60 kg
Zackary Licht — 6th

67 kg
Drew Scharenbrock — 13th

Easter Wrestling Tournament — Utrecht, Holland
April 1st

USA GRECO-ROMAN RESULTS

*Athletes listed in order of medal/placing.

Boys — 18-20

Nick Casperson (87 kg) — bronze

Garhett Gibson (67 kg) — 5th
Caden Moore (67 kg) — 6th

Boys — 15-17

Billy Sullivan (50 kg) — gold
Kellyn March (58 kg) — gold
Adam Allard (54 kg) — bronze

Riley Hollingshead (54 kg) — 4th
Owen Warren (76 kg) — 4th
Brandon Cassaro (46 kg) — 5th
Cannon Montoya (50 kg) — 5th
Murphy Menke (50 kg) — 6th
Damion Schunke (69 kg) — 9th
Nixon Dodds (50 kg) — 10th
Leif Schroeder (63 kg) — 10th
Cody Kimball (63 kg) — 12th
Andrew Cox (69 kg) — 12th
Miles Beam (76 kg) — 12th
Damion Smith (85 kg) — 14th
Jack Kitchingham (76 kg) — 16th
Luke Rasmussan (63 kg) — 29th

Boys 12-14

Trason Oehme (38 kg) — gold
Mikey Baker (38 kg) — silver
Tanner Meyers (65 kg) — silver
Teague Granum (32 kg) — bronze

Payton Fridich (53 kg) — 4th
Kasius Graham (47 kg) — 4th
Lucas Slack (59 kg) — 5th
Ayson Rice (38 kg) — 6th
Ashton Keller (42 kg) — 8th
Gavin Chapman (47 kg) — 8th
Bowden White (47 kg) — 19th

Boys 7-11

Carter Kendrick (29 kg) — silver

Kougar Sargisson (38 kg) — 6th