2004 Olympian Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) placed fifth at 84 kg/185 lbs., the top U.S. finish at the respected Pytlasinski Tournament in Raciborz, Poland, August 21-22.

TheMat.com reported on Vering's performance at:
http://www.themat.com/pressbox/pressdetail.asp?aid=13175

Two U.S. wrestlers competed on the final day of competition and were eliminated with 1-1 records in their weight class: Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs Colo./New York AC) at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. 

In the final individual standings, Durlacher was 10th and Ruiz placed ninth.

Durlacher opened the tournament with a victory over Anders Ronningen of Norway in the first round, but was eliminated in his second match, a loss to Akesiej Shaipak of Belarus.

Ruiz also won his first match, beating Andrei Batura of Belarus. In the second round, he was defeated by Vosta Kacmarcik of the Czech Republic.

Neither U.S. wrestler was able to enter the wrestle-back rounds because the athletes who beat them did not advance to the gold-medal match under the new FILA bracketing system.

A number of members of the U.S. World Team competed in this event, which is one of the top tune-up competitions prior to the World Championships. It was the first major international tournament that the U.S. athletes have entered since FILA changed the rules and procedures for Greco-Roman wrestling in June.

The United States placed 16th in the tournament with nine points, which featured 28 national teams. Ukraine was the team champion with 56 points, followed by 

Coaching the U.S. squad at the Pytlasinski Tournament is USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 2005 U.S. World Team Coaches Jay Antonelli (Dumfries, Va.), Rich Estrella (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Dale Oliver (Stanley, N.Y.), plus coaches Dan Hicks (Quantico, Va.) and Shon Lewis (Colorado Springs Colo.)

The U.S. athletes participated in a training camp with the Polish National Team for more than a week prior to the start of the competition in Raciborz.

The official webpage of the Pytlasinski Tournament is:
 http://www.zapasy.org.pl/pytlasinski/