Saunders vs. Santoro is the new “Bout of the Week” on USA Wrestling Members-Only website

<< Back to Articles
Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
06/03/2004


USA Wrestling has updated its new "Bout of the Week" on USA Wrestling's Members-Only website.    The featured match this week will be the deciding match of the Townsend Saunders vs. Pat Santoro series at the 1996 Olympic Team Trials at 68 kg/149.75 lbs. in men's freestyle wrestling.    The matches were held in Spokane, Wash. This is the third match of the championship series and went into overtime until it was decided. Saunders won the first match, 10-7, and Santoro claimed the second match, 3-2 in overtime to set up this final showdown. These two athletes had a contrast in styles. Saunders could be very explosive and displayed some advanced freestyle technique, while Santoro was considered "slick" and very successful with takedowns from his feet.    When Saunders won this match, he qualified for his second U.S. Olympic team. He competed in his first Olympics in 1992, when he placed seventh at this division in Barcelona, Spain. At the 1996 Olympic Games, Saunders had his best international performance. He qualified for the semifinals, where he defeated World champion Arayik Gevorkian of Armenia, scoring late in a close battle. In the finals, he was edged by Vadim Bogiev of Russia and brought home the Olympic silver medal.    Saunders represented the U.S. in numerous major international events. He placed fourth at the 1993 World Championships in Toronto, Canada, a member of the first U.S. team to win a Senior World Championships. He was also eighth at the 1995 World Championships and competed in the 1991 and 1994 World Championships.     He claimed two Pan American Games gold medals, winning in 1991 and 1995. Saunders also captured a gold medal at the 1994 Goodwill Games, beating Bogiev in the finals. He won a pair of U.S. Nationals titles, as well. Saunders ended his competitive career after the 1997 season, after the emergence of Lincoln McIlravy at his division.    Saunders was second in the 1985 California state high school championships for Torrance High. He went on to Cal-State Bakersfield, where he claimed the 1987 NCAA Div. II national title. Saunders transferred to Arizona State to complete his college career, placing second in the Div. I NCAA meet in 1989 and third in the Div. I NCAA meet in 1990. After his college career, he quickly became a success in international freestyle.    He is half of the most famous wrestling married couple in the nation. His wife Tricia Saunders won four World Championship gold medals in women's freestyle wrestling, the most of any U.S. female athlete. Townsend often helped coach Tricia throughout her career. Now that she is no longer wrestling, they both have become successful women's wrestling coach. Townsend coached the 2003 U.S. Women's World Team to a second place finish at the World Championships in New York, while Tricia coached the 2003 U.S. Pan American Games team to victory, sweeping all four gold medals. Both Townsend and Tricia have been named as Olympic Coaches for the first U.S. women's team, which will compete in the Athens Games this summer.    Santoro also had a successful freestyle wrestling career, although he never made a U.S. Senior World or Olympic Team. He placed at three different U.S. Olympic Team Trials events. His runner-up finish behind Saunders in 1996 in Spokane was his top performance. He placed third in the 1992 Olympic Team Trials and fourth in the 2000 Olympic Team Trials.    He also placed a number of times at the U.S. Nationals, with his top performance a silver medal in 1992. He was also third at the U.S. Nationals two times and fourth two times. He was also a runner-up at the 1999 World Team Trials.    Santoro had a tremendous college wrestling career, winning a pair of NCAA Div. I national titles for  the Univ . of Pittsburgh (1988, 1989). He won four All-American honors, also placing second in 1987 and sixth in 1986. His roots are from "wrestling country" in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. His high school career started as Bethlehem Catholic High, where he was third in the Pennsylvania high school meet. He then enrolled at national power Blair Academy, where he was a Prep School National champion.    Santoro also developed into a tremendous college wrestling coach. He served as an assistant coach at Lehigh Univ. for many years, helping head coach Greg Strobel rebuild the program to national prominence. Lehigh has special meaning to his family, as his father, brother and uncle all wrestled there. He was named the NWCA Assistant Coach of the Year for his tremendous work with the Lehigh program. This past year, he became a Div. I head coach, taking the reigns at the Univ. of Maryland, where he aims to build the Terrapins into a strong team within the ACC and on the national level.    This popular feature will be changed on a regular basis, allowing members to enjoy many of the greatest matches in wrestling history.     Moving into the archived section of Bouts of the Week was last week's 1988 Mark Fuller vs. T.J. Jones men's Greco-Roman match. Many other entertaining and historic matches are in the archive section for the Bout of the Week.     USA Wrestling has done a complete redesign and expansion of its Members-Only website, providing all USA Wrestling members with an impressive new resource stocked with interactive learning tools and entertaining features.     This on-line resource is available free of charge only to current members of USA Wrestling, one of the most exciting benefits of joining the organization.    USA Wrestling members will only need to enter the number from their 2003-04 membership card into an entry form, and the exciting new Members-Only page will become available to them.    RECENT BOUTS OF THE WEEK PLACED IN ARCHIVE  1988 Mark Fuller vs. T.J. Jones men's Greco-Roman match  1988 Nate Carr vs. Andre Metzger men's freestyle match  2004 Jared Frayer vs. Eric Larkin men's freestyle match  1987 Bill Scherr vs. Greg Gibson men's freestyle match  1992 Dennis Koslowski vs. Andrzej Wronski men's Greco-Roman match  1989 Jim Scherr vs. Makharbek Khadartsev men's freestyle match  2003 Sally Roberts vs. Marianna Sastin women's freestyle match  1996 Melvin Douglas vs. Mike Van Arsdale men's freestyle match  1988 Ike Anderson vs. Buddy Lee men's Greco-Roman match  1996 Tom Brands vs. Jang Jae-Sung men's freestyle match  2004 Eric Larkin vs. T.J. Williams men's freestyle match  1992 Rodney Smith vs. Cecilio Rodriguez men's Greco-Roman match  1988 Rico Chiapparelli vs. Lukman Jabrailov men's freestyle match  2003 Kristie Marano vs. Ewelina Pruszko women's freestyle match  1999 Stephen Neal vs. Andrei Shumilin men's freestyle match  2003 Cael Sanderson vs. Sajid Sajidov men's freestyle match