BAKU, Azerbaijan - There were probably a few people in Howells, Neb., who didn't get much sleep Monday night/Tuesday morning.

But they probably didn't mind a whole heck of a lot.

It was just before 5 a.m. Tuesday in Howells when word started to drift back into the small community of 640 people that the determined, driven kid who grew up in their hard-working community was on the verge of doing something very special.

Brad Vering, who cultivated an Olympic dream while growing up as a budding young star wrestler in the small farming community of Howells, ripped off five straight wins to reach the finals of the 2007 World Championships Tuesday at the Heydar Aliyev Sport and Exhibition Complex.

Vering, from Howells, Neb., pinned Korea's Jung-Sub Kim in the semifinals Tuesday afternoon at 84 kg/185 lbs. in Greco-Roman. Vering, who competes for the New York AC, will now face 2004 Olympic champion Aleksey Mishin of Russia in Tuesday night's finals. Mishin placed second at the 2001 and 2005 World Championships before taking third in the 2006 Worlds.

"One more to go, one more to go," Vering repeated just minutes after reaching the finals. "There's nothing to celebrate right now. I still have one more match I need to take care of."

It was just before 3 p.m. Tuesday in Baku when Vering made the finals. Baku is 10 time zones ahead of the Central Time Zone that Vering grew up in.

Vering, a past NCAA champion for Nebraska, is competing in his fourth World Championships. He placed fifth in 2002 and 2003 before failing to place in 2005. He also qualified for the 2004 Olympics, but did not place. Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) finished third at the 2006 U.S. World Team Trials before coming back with a vengeance this year as he rolled to titles at the 2007 U.S. Nationals and U.S. World Team Trials.

Vering scored on a one-point turn in the first period against Kim before being given an additional point after a leg foul was called on Kim. The Korean was unable to turn Vering in the final 30 seconds to give Vering a 3-0 period win.

The second period was tied 1-1 entering the final 30 seconds. With Vering down, the Korean needed to turn Vering. But Vering instead turned the tables on Kim, catching him on his back for a fall with one second left in the bout.

U.S. wrestler Justin Ruiz dropped a 1-1, 3-0 second-round decision to Geogia's Ramaz Nozadze, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) received a chance to wrestle back for a bronze medal after Nozadze qualified for the finals. But Ruiz, who won a World bronze medal in 2005, lost in his first wrestleback against the Czech Republic's Marek Svec and fell short of a medal. He was unable to finish in the top eight spots need to qualify the weight class for the 2008 Olympics. The U.S. have three more events where they can still qualify that class for the Olympics.

American T.C. Dantzler knocked off 2006 World champion Volodimir Shatskykh of Ukraine in the first round Tuesday morning at 74 kg/163 lbs., but fell to France's Christofhe Guenot in the second round in yet another match where questionable calls went against a U.S. wrestler Guenot's brother, Steve, placed second at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. on Monday.

Guenot did not reach the finals, preventing Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) from having a chance to wrestle back for a bronze medal. Dantzler was unable to finish in the top eight spots he needed to qualify the weight for the Olympics.

The final Greco-Roman weight class will be contested Wednesday when past World champion Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) takes the mat at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

The men's freestyle competition also opens with Henry Cejudo (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) and 2006 World silver medalist Mike Zadick (Solon, Iowa/Gator WC) scheduled to wrestle for the U.S.