Dremiel Byers of the U.S. Army is one of just four U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers to ever win a World Championships gold medal. He captured the World title in 2002 in Moscow, Russia, lifting and throwing all of his opponents in an impressive show of power and skill. Byers has not had another chance for a World-level medal, as he was not able to defeat superstar Rulon Gardner for the No. 1 spot on the national team in either 2003 or 2004. Their rivalry made national news and brought much attention to the sport of wrestling. After Gardner beat Byers in the 2004 Olympic Trials, Byers dedicated his summer to being Gardner's workout partner for the Athens Olympic Games. Gardner won a bronze medal, his second career Olympic medal, and retired from the sport.    Now all of the spotlight is on Byers, as well as great expectations from the entire Greco-Roman program. Byers is embracing this challenge, and has set goals of making the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. He is strong, a great athlete, and has tremendous throwing skills. The rules that were in place prior to this week took his par terre advantage away. However, the new rules announced by FILA for Greco-Roman brings back mat wrestling, and opens up one of Byers' greatest assets. By winning the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas, Byers will need to win two matches in the Championship Series for another chance at a World title.    Numerous heavyweights have not returned to the mats after the 2004 season, and the athlete who has stepped up as the top challenger for Byers has been Russ Davie of the New York AC. Davie is now training fulltime at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and has made rapid progress. He placed second to Byers at the Dave Schultz Memorial as well as at the U.S. Nationals, and is holding an edge over the rest of the U.S. competitors who will be in the Challenge Tournament in Ames. Davie enters the World Team Trials with confidence, after defeating Byers in a match during a tournament in Belarus, which was held after the U.S. Nationals. However, the rules of Greco-Roman wrestling have changed, and it  will be interesting to see how that affects any future Byers vs. Davie matchups.    The athlete with the most experience in the field, except for Byers, is Brian Keck of the New York AC. Keck has been nationally ranked in both freestyle and Greco-Roman during his career, and actually competed in both styles at the 2000 Olympic Trials. Keck made his name in Greco-Roman, but pursued freestyle during the last Olympic cycle. He was injured this fall and is still recovering. He made the U.S. Nationals finals, where he lost to Davie by injury default, then withdrew due to injury and placed sixth. A healthy Brian Keck could do very well in the group of Greco-Roman athletes who showed up to compete in Las Vegas and have qualified for Ames.    The rest of the field that competed at the U.S. Nationalshave neither the experience or achievements that would give them a serious chance to win this weight class. In fact, there were only 13 athletes who entered the event in Vegas, meaning more than half were able to qualify for the World Team Trials. A long list of veterans from last year, such as Paul Devlin, Corey Farkas and     Placing third at the U.S. Nationals for his best performance ever was Josh Feldman of the U.S. Navy. Feldman has been on the national scene for a number of years. Feldman won four matches in Las Vegas, losing only to Byers in the semifinals.    Placing fourth in Las Vegas is Jaimie Rakevich of Orange Crush, who competes at Oregon State. Rakevich has been successful on the age-group levels within USA Wrestling in recent seasons, but this was his best performance on the Senior level, as well.    Gabe Beauperthuy, who lives in Colorado Springs and has often trained with the U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athletes, became a USA Wrestling All-American with his fifth-place finish in Las Vegas. He has worked hard to reach this level of success.    The final qualifier from the U.S. Nationals this year was Travis Clark of the U.S. Marines, who placed seventh in Las Vegas. He is a newcomer to Senior-level wrestling, and like so many of the athletes who will be in Ames, Clark is still learning the sport and gaining experience.     Veterans Dan Hicks of the U.S. Marines and Al Sankey of the U.S. Army qualified at this division in the Regional events, but both are former 96 kg wrestlers. Hicks is the coach of the U.S. Marines team, so he is not expected to seriously pursue a World Team spot. Sankey has been a National Team member in the past, when he competed for the Marines. If Sankey remains up at this weight class, he has a chance to place, but his best option for success would be down a weight division.    Dremiel Byers is the dominant athlete in this weight class, not only in experience and performance, but also in confidence. The recent changes in Greco-Roman wrestling favors him, because he is one of the top lifters and throwers of all Greco-Roman big men. Davie has made great progress and is training with Byers as his main focus. They may have a nice rivalry for the next few years. The rest of the field, with the exception of Brian Keck, still is learning the sport and it would be an upset if they could beat Davie. This weight class, which had much depth in recent seasons, is back into a developmental phase once you get past the top few athletes.    2005 U.S. NATIONALS RESULTS AT 120 KG/264.5 LBS.  1st -Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army) dec. Russ Davie, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC), 3-0, 2-0  3rd - Josh Feldman, San Diego, Calif. (U.S. Navy) dec. Jamie Rakevich,  Elma, Wash. (Orange Crush WC), 1-0, 0-3, 2-0  5th - Gabe Beauperthuy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (unattached) inj. dft. over Brian Keck, Cleveland, Ohio (New York AC)  7th - Travis Clark, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marines) dec. Everette McDaniel, Fort Carson, Colo. (Army), 2-1, 1-0    QUALIFIERS FOR 2005 WORLD TEAM TRIALS AT 120 KG/264.5 LBS.  U.S. Nationals Champion - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)  U.S. Nationals, second place - Russ Davie, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)  U.S. Nationals, third place - Josh Feldman, San Diego, Calif. (U.S. Navy)  U.S. Nationals, fourth place - Jamie Rakevich, Elma, Wash. (Orange Crush WC)  U.S. Nationals, fifth place - Gabe Beauperthuy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (unattached)  U.S. Nationals, sixth place - Brian Keck, Cleveland, Ohio (New York AC)  U.S. Nationals, seventh place - Travis Clark, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marine Corps)  Rocky Mountain Regional Champion - Al Sankey, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)   Northern Plains Regional Champion - Dan Hicks, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marines)  Olympic Team member - Rulon Gardner, Afton, Wyo. (Sunkist Kids)  Past World Team member - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)  '04 Sunkist Kids International champion -None, foreign champion  '04 NYAC Christmas Open champion - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)  '05 Dave Schultz Memorial champion - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)  International Tour medalist (within 2 yrs) -   *'03 Vantaa Cup bronze medalist - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)   *'04 Ivan Poddoubny Tournament bronze medalist - Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)  *'04 Pytlasinski Tournament gold medalist - Rulon Gardner, Afton, Wyo. (Sunkist Kids)