Army sweeps Greco-Roman dual action at U.S. Armed Forces Championships
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Josi Carlson (USA Wrestling)
03/31/2005
The U.S. Army swept its dual meets during the Greco-Roman rounds of the Armed Forces Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., March 31. With a record of 2-1, the U.S. Marine Corps took second place, followed by the Air Force with a 1-2 record and the U.S. Navy at fourth at 0-4. The individual champions at the U.S. Armed Forces Championships will go on to represent the United States at the World Armed Forces Championships in August. The Army finished with four individual champions: Neil Rodak at 55 kg/121 lbs., Glen Garrison at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., Jess Hargrave at 74 kg/163 lbs. and Dremiel Byers at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Other individual champions were Jacob Hey of the U.S. Air Force at 60 kg/132 lbs., Jacob Clark of the U.S. Marine Corps at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Philip Johnston of the U.S. Air Force at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. U.S. Army head coach Shon Lewis was impressed by the competition his team faced on its way to the team title. "I thought my guys performed pretty well, I'm not totally satisfied," Lewis said. "We had four champions; I thought we could have had at least six champions." Some of the top competitors in the Greco-Roman rounds were: Byers, the 2002 World Champion; Garrison, who was fourth in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and Keith Sieracki of the Army, who was a 2003 U.S. Nationals champion. Sieracki finished in second place at 84 kg/185 lbs. "This is a tough tournament, with a lot of tough athletes," Lewis said. "It gives us a good look at what we need to work on going into Nationals. I was impressed with their conditioning and their composure and the way they handled themselves during the match." The freestyle competition begins at 9 a.m. on April 1 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The second session will begin 15 minutes after the completion of the first session and the third session will begin at 2:30. Last year's first place Army will face fourth place Air Force and last year's second place Marine Corps will take on the third place Navy in the opening rounds.