Williams vs. Heskett is the new “Bout of the Week” on USA Wrestling Members-Only website; Sanderson
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
07/07/2004
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 Joe Williams vs. Joe Heskett series at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 74 kg/163 lbs. in freestyle wrestling. The series was held in Indianapolis, Ind. Posted is the second match of the Championship Series. Williams won the first match of the series by a 4-0 margin. An athlete needed two victories to earn the spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, so Williams had to win a second time to advance to the Athens Olympic Games. Williams has been a dominant wrestler for the United States in recent seasons, earning the No. 1 spot in his weight class for five of the last six years. The only year in that streak that he did not take the top position was in 2000, when Brandon Slay battled through the division to claim the Olympic spot, then went on to claim a gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games. Williams won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships and was fourth at the 1999 World Championships. He, along with his U.S. teammates, were unable to compete at the 2002 World Championships in Iran due to a threat of violence to the team. In 2003, Williams was defeated in his pool competition and did not place at the World Championships in New York. He has won most of the major wrestling events in the world, including two Pan American Games gold medals and four World Cup gold medals. He has also claimed international tournament titles in Ukraine, Iran, Canada and the United States. Williams boasts five U.S. Nationals gold medals. Williams was a spectacular college wrestler, winning three NCAA titles for the Univ. of Iowa (1996-98), competing for the legendary Dan Gable. He was the nation's top high school wrestler, winning the 1993 Asics Tiger High School Wrestler of the Year award, after claiming four state high school titles for Mt. Carmel High School in Illinois. He was also a Junior National double champion that year. Williams combines strength, speed, technical skill and experience, a tough combination to beat at any level. In making the Olympic team, he will get a chance to go after a gold medal, his dream since he was young. He is currently a USOTC resident athlete in Colorado Springs, and has also been a coach on the college level for many seasons. Heskett has emerged as the primary challenger to Williams the last two seasons. He placed second to Williams at both the 2003 and 2004 U.S. Nationals, along with the 2003 World Team Trials. Heskett has defeated a number of quality challengers in earning the right to face Williams in these key tournament finals. Heskett showed his freestyle skills by winning the Dave Schultz Memorial International in 2004, as well as the Sunkist Kids International three times. His freestyle prominence goes back to high school days, when he was a bronze medalist at the 1994 Cadet World Championships. He competed at Iowa State Univ., where he was a four-time All-American, three-time finalist and the NCAA champion as a senior in 2002. Twice he lost in the NCAA finals to Wisconsin star Donny Pritzlaff. Both are now competing on the international freestyle circuit, and Heskett has defeated Pritzlaff a number of times in recent seasons. Heskett hailed from wrestling powerhouse Walsh Jesuit High School in Ohio, where he was a two-time state champion, as well as a Junior Nationals freestyle champion. He currently serves as an assistant wrestling coach at Cal Poly-SLO, a Div. I team in California that is creating a nationally respected program. Heskett has strong wrestling skills in all positions, but is well known for an ability to pop a big move and often secure a fall. His cradle, very effective in folkstyle wrestling, has also proven to be a deadly weapon in his freestyle career. Although unable to beat Williams to this point, many expect Heskett to have a bright future competing for the United States in upcoming seasons. This popular feature will be changed on a regular basis, allowing members to enjoy many of the greatest matches in wrestling history. Two other 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials finals matches in men's freestyle have recently been posted in the archive section of the Members Only webpage. The third match of the Championship Series finals between Cael Sanderson and Lee Fullhart at 84 kg/185 lbs. in men's freestyle wrestling has been posted. Their battle in Indianapolis has already secured its place in American wrestling history. Fullhart upset Sanderson at the 2004 U.S. Nationals and had the first seed at the Olympic Trials. Sanderson won the first bout, 3-1, but Fullhart came back to win bout No. 2 in a 2-2 overtime referee's decision. The winner of the third bout would earn the Olympic Team berth. Also recently posted in the archives is the 60 kg/132 lbs. Championship Series final match between Eric Guerrero and Mike Zadick in men's freestyle. Guerrero, a member of a number of U.S. World Teams, was seeking his first Olympic team berth. Zadick has quickly developed into an international freestyle star after emerging from the Univ. of Iowa college program. Guerrero won the first match of the series, 3-1, and needed a second win to make the U.S. team. 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 2004 Eric Guerrero vs. Mike Zadick freestyle match 2004 Cael Sanderson vs. Lee Fullhart men's freestyle match 2004 Dennis Hall vs. Brandon Paulson men's Greco-Roman match 1996 Townsend Saunders vs. Pat Santoro men's freestyle match 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