COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - 2009 World Greco-Roman silver medalist Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) placed third in the voting for the U.S. Olympic Committee Male Athlete of the Month for September 2009.

Byers won a silver medal at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. in Greco-Roman at the World Wrestling Championships in Herning, Denmark, Sept. 27.

Byers, a 2002 World champion and 2007 World bronze medalist, joins past U.S. heavyweight Matt Ghaffari with the most World medals in U.S. Greco-Roman history with three. He also becomes the first American to win a World medal of every kind in Greco-Roman, a gold, silver and bronze.

Byers won four matches in a row to qualify for the World finals. He opened with a 1-0, 2-0 win over Lukasz Banak of Poland. In the second round, he stopped four-time World silver medalist Mihaly Deak-Bardos of Hungary, 2-0, 1-0. Byers had beaten Deak-Bardos in the 2002 World finals.

In the quarterfinals, Byers stopped Jalmar Sjoeberg of Sweden, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0. Byers avenged a loss to Sjoeberg at the 2008 Olympic Games. His semifinal win was over Nico Schmidt of Germany, 3-0, 0-1, 3-0.

In the gold medal finals, Byers fell to three-time World champion and 2008 Olympic champion Mijian Lopez of Cuba. Byers lost the first period, 0-1, then was leading 1-0 when Lopez won a throw position and was able to pin Byers.

Byers was a 2008 U.S. Olympian. He is a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program.

The U.S. Olympic Committee announced USA Cycling's Kristin Armstrong and track athlete Tyson Gay as the September Athletes of the Month, while the USA World Cup Baseball Team was awarded Team of the Month honors.

Performing in her last international competition, Armstrong (Boise, Idaho) rode into retirement in September by earning her second world title in the elite women's time trial at the 2009 UCI Road World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland on Sept. 23. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist recorded a time of 35:26.09 over the 27-kilometer course. Three days later, Armstrong just missed the podium in the elite women's road race, placing fourth in her final race before retirement.

Gay (Clermont, Fla.) wins the USOC Male Athlete of the Month for the second month in a row and the fifth time ever. The 2008 Olympian continues to establish himself as the fastest U.S. sprinter by lowering his own American record in the men's 100 meters. Gay clocked a blistering 9.69 seconds at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in China on Sept. 20. His run was the second-best performance of all time, equaling Usain Bolt's then world record from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

USA Baseball's Professional Team was named USOC Team of the Month after winning the IBAF World Cup for the fourth time. Team USA defeated Cuba 10-5 in the final in Nettuno, Italy on Sept. 27. Comprised of the best minor league players, the team outscored opponents 118-42 and reeled off 14 consecutive victories after dropping the World Cup opener to Venezuela. Team USA was led by first baseman and Justin Smoak (Goose Creak S.C.), who was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament with nine home runs and 22 RBIs. 

Since bursting onto the world tennis scene at the US Open, Melanie Oudin (Marietta, Ga.) took second place in the voting for USOC Female Athlete of the Month. The 18-year-old sensation defeated four higher-ranked players before falling in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows on Sept. 9. Coming in third in the voting, Sanya Richards (Austin, Texas) capped off a successful track season by winning the 400m at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium on Sept. 4. She earned a third of the $1,000,000 jackpot given to athletes who sweep their event in all six Golden League meets. 

Jarrod Shoemaker (Maynard, Mass.) placed first on Twitter and second overall in the race for Male Athlete of the Month. The triathlete took a break from swimming to win the 2009 ITU Duathlon World Championships in Concord, N.C. on Sept. 26. 

The U.S. Women's National Ice Hockey Team won the 2009 Hockey Canada Cup Championships in September, helping them place second in the voting for Team of the Month. Team USA defeated Canada twice including a 2-1 victory in the final game in Vancouver on Sept. 6. The U.S. Junior Diving Team came in at third in the voting after winning the overall team title at the Junior Pan American Championships in Calgary, Canada, Sept. 10-13. American divers compiled 31 medals, including 11 gold medals.

Nearly 1,500 votes were cast by followers of the USOC's Twitter site (@USOlympic). The Twitter votes account for ten percent of the final tally, with a voting panel of U.S. Olympic family members comprising the remainder.

September 2009 USOC Athlete of the Month Results:

Men
1. Tyson Gay, Track & Field
2. Jarrod Shoemaker, Triathlon
3. Dremiel Byers, Wrestling

Women
1. Kristin Armstrong, Cycling
2. Melanie Oudin, Tennis
3. Sanya Richards, Track & Field

Team
1. USA World Cup Team, Baseball
2. U.S. Women's National Team, Hockey
3. Junior Pan American Team, Diving