Morningstar wins top honors at the Western Junior Regional Greco-Roman Championships

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
04/27/2005


Sweeping the major awards at the Western Junior Regional Greco-Roman Championships this year was Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, the 152-pound champion. The competition was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., April 27.    Morningstar was named Outstanding Wrestler, winning a very competitive weight division. He edged Jonathan Reader of Michigan in a 2-2 referee's decision.     Morningstar also won the Most Falls award for the tournament with five falls in 14:23.    The only champion to repeat from last year was Marty Eng of Oregon, who captured the title at 112-pound title. Eng scored a 10-0 technical fall over Brian Owen of Washington in 5:42. He was the Western Greco-Roman champion at 98 pounds last year.    Three Western Junior Greco-Roman runners-up from last season were able to claim titles this year.    Tony Mustari of Colorado was the champion at 119 pounds, defeating Dak Adamson of New Mexico by pin in 35 seconds. Mustari was a Greco-Roman runnerup last year at 112 pounds.    Rocky Cozart of Florida was the winner at 160 pounds, with an impressive 11-0 technical fall over Dylan Gagni of California in 2:14. Cozart was the Greco-Roman runner-up at the Western Juniors last year at this weight class.    Louis Caputo of Missouri defeated Taylor Moore of Missouri, 6-0 in the finals at 189 pounds. Caputo was a runnerup at the Western Junior Regionals in Greco-Roman last year at this division.    In an All-Florida finals, the 171-pound winner was David Craig, who defeated in-state rival Jesse Robbins, 7-0.    Perhaps the wildest finals match came at 145 pounds, where George Bancoft of Florida edged Josh Stalcup of Oregon in an 18-13 shootout for the title.    Claiming the 98-pound title was Borislav Novachkov of California, with a 12-0 technical fall in just 38 seconds over Andrew Long of Iowa.    Kyel Wirkuty of Oregon was the 105-pound champion, with a 10-4 victory over Tyler Gateman of Washington.    Josh Strait of Idaho won the 125-pound title with an injury default over Christopher Iorio of New York in 0:22.    The 130-pound champion was Jake Swenson of Utah, who earned an 8-5 win over Vincente Varela of New Mexico in the finals.     Winning the 135-pound title was Mitch Mueller of Iowa, who scored a 12-2 technical fall over Brad Netenbach of Colorado in 4:43.     The 140-pound Greco-Roman champion was Trevor Hall of Washington, who edged Florida's Cesar Grajales in the finals, 8-7.    The champion at 215 was Daniel Erekson of Idaho, who scored a 10-0 technical fall over Tyrell Fortune of Oregon, in 2:05    Kenny Lester of Florida was the 275-pound champion, with a 4-0 decision over Jake Mallonee of Missouri.    The Western Junior Freestyle Regional Championships begins on Thursday, and will completed on Friday.    Also held this weekend are the U.S. Senior National Championships, as well as the FILA Junior National Championships.     The FILA Junior Nationals begin with Greco-Roman matches on Thursday. The U.S. Senior Nationals will be held on Friday and Saturday.