In 2002, a young wrestler named Brad Vering representing the New York AC rode through the World Team Trials and earned a spot on the U.S. World Team at 84 kg/185 lbs. Vering has not looked back since, dominating U.S. competition.    He placed fifth at the 2002 and 2003 World Championships and was on last year's Olympic Team. His mentor is Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland. In other words, with Rulon Gardner gone, Vering may be the golden boy of Greco-Roman wrestling in the U.S.    Vering suffered a minor injury in January, but he has since fully recovered and has competed in three international events since that time. He placed in the top five in two of those.    Over the past two years, Vering's stiffest competition has come from Jake Clark of the U.S. Marine Corps. A couple of months ago, Clark was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, but he has been allowed to return to the U.S. for various wrestling competitions, including the recent Armed Forces Championships.    Vering and Clark have met in the last two Trials championship series, with Vering winning all four matches. Clark has continued to improve, but without full training heading into this year's nationals, it may be tough for him to pull out a victory this year.    Last year, many wrote off 2000 Olympian Quincey Clark of the Minnesota Storm. That was, at least, until he placed third at the Olympic Trials. Clark hasn't competed at all this year, leading some to speculate that he has retired, but he has made no official announcement yet either. Clark has battled injuries for the past four years, and he may just be resting his body.    In 2002, Ethan Bosch of the New York AC was the wrestler that Vering had to beat to get on the World Team. Bosch has been steady every year since. He is nothing flashy, but he is sound in every area of Greco-Roman wrestling. Bosch has lost matches to both Vering and Clark this year, so there is a strong chance that he would get a third seed in the nationals, pitting him against Clark in a possible semifinal.    Justin Millard, who has bounced around some, is now in the U.S. Air Force. He recently won a University Nationals title that included a win over Aaron Boone of the U.S. Olympic Education Center. Millard was ranked nationally in Greco-Roman two years ago, but has since moved around some and not competed much.    Boone has defeated some tough wrestlers this year, and went three periods before losing to John Wechter of the Michigan WC. He has wrestled in four Greco-Roman tournaments this year, three of them international, and placed in the top five of all four.    Wechter also has been solid, winning bronze medals at the Sunkist Kids International Open and New York AC Christmas International. His only losses are to Clark and Vering. In the match against Vering, it was a two-period loss, both by 1-0 scores.    Last year, Ken Cook of the Sunkist Kids began to make his mark in the U.S., but at 74 kg. He has since grown quite a bit and is now competing at this weight class. With a host of veterans ahead of him, he most likely would have needed more competitions than just the Sunkist Kids International Open to prepare him for the nationals.    Tom Ciezki of the Wildcat WC has also sat out all of this season. He has been a tough opponent for any top wrestler at this weight class, but sometimes lacks consistency of staying out of the big move in major tournaments.    Jeff Funicello of the Sunkist Kids is a veteran who can also make an impact at this weight. He has not wrestled as well under the new style as he would have liked to, but he has gained some valuable experience against good competition so far this year.      2004 U.S. NATIONALS RESULTS  1st - Brad Vering, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC) dec. Jake Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Marine Corps), 3-1  3rd - Aaron Sieracki, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force) dec. Ethan Bosch, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 6-2  5th - Keith Sieracki, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) by med. forf. over Tom Ciezki, Evergreen Park, Ill. (Wildcat WC)  7th - Quincey Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Minnesota Storm) by med. forf. over Brad Ahern, Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (Central Michigan)    THEMAT.COM RANKINGS FOR APRIL 1, 2005  1. Brad Vering, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)  2. Jake Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Marine Corps)  3. Quincey Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Minnesota Storm)  4. Ethan Bosch, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)  5. Tom Ciezki, Evergreen Park, Ill. (Wildcat WC)  6. John Wechter, East Lansing, Mich. (Unattached)  7. Aaron Boone, Marquette, Mich. (USOEC)  8. Jeff Funicello, Mesa, Ariz. (Sunkist Kids)  9. Ken Cook, Fremont, Calif. (Sunkist Kids)  10. Justin Millard, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force)