COLORADO SPRINGS – Past World champions Dremiel Byers and Kristie Davis will lead the 21-member U.S. wrestling team into the World Championships on Sept. 6-12 in Moscow, Russia.

The seven-day competition will start with the Greco-Roman tournament, followed by women’s freestyle and men’s freestyle.

The U.S. has a talented team, mixed with veteran stars and some exciting young newcomers. The USA seeks to improve on its performance from last year, when it returned with three individual medalists. 

Davis, formerly Kristie Marano, is a two-time World champion (2000, 2003). She has dropped down to 67 kg/147.5 lbs. She won a silver medal in her last trip to the Worlds in 2007. She is a U.S. record nine-time World medalist, winning a medal each of the nine previous times she competed at a World Championships.

Byers won his World title in 2002, when the Greco-Roman World Championships were held in Moscow. In addition, Byers won a World silver medal in 2009 and a World bronze medal in 2007 at 120 kg/264.5 lbs., making him the first American Greco-Roman wrestler to win a World medal of each kind.

The U.S. freestyle team is led by returning World silver medalist Jake Herbert at 84 kg/185 lbs. 2006 World silver medalist Mike Zadick will make his third appearance in the Worlds in freestyle wrestling at 60 kg/132 lbs.

2005 World bronze medalist Justin Ruiz is back on the Greco-Roman team. He is making his fifth trip to the Worlds. He competes at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

2008 World bronze medalist Tatiana Padilla has made her third straight World Team at 55 kg/121 lbs. Padilla was fifth in the World in 2009.

Olympian Spenser Mango has made his second straight World Team in Greco-Roman at 55 kg/121 lbs. Byers and Zadick also are past Olympians.

Two members of the women’s freestyle team are past University World champions, Elena Pirozhkova at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and Stephany Lee at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Mango is a past University World champion in Greco-Roman.

Six of the seven U.S. Greco-Roman team members have competed in a previous World Championships, with only Jake Fisher at 74 kg/163 lbs. in his first World meet.

Only two of the seven U.S. Women’s team members are in their first World Championships, Alyssa Lampe at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. and Kelsey Campbell at 59 kg/130 lbs.

Four men’s freestyle team members will be in their first Senior World Championships: Obe Blanc at 55 kg, Brent Metcalf at 66 kg, J.D. Bergman at 96 kg and Les Sigman at 120 kg.

Two-time NCAA Div. I national champions on the men’s freestyle team are Metcalf and Herbert. Sigman won four NCAA Div. II national titles.

Defending champion teams are Russia in men’s freestyle, Turkey in Greco-Roman and Azerbaijan in women’s freestyle. At the 2009 World Championships in Herning, Denmark, the United States placed sixth in women’s freestyle, seventh in men’s freestyle and 15th in Greco-Roman. 

The U.S. teams are in their final acclimation training camps overseas, with Greco-Roman in the Czech Republic, and men's and women's freestyle in Germany. Each team will then travel to Moscow for their competition.

There will be complete daily coverage from the World Championships from Moscow on TheMat.com, which is USA Wrestling’s website. Included will be audio coverage of each session, plus video interviews, session wrap-up stories, results brackets, a live chat room and more features. 

To follow the U.S. athletes in Moscow, go to TheMat.com Special Section at:
http://www.themat.com/specialevents/2010/worlds/default.php?EventID=23959

Also posted in the Special Section are complete previews for each weight class, along with a Team USA Media Guide.

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE

Monday, Sept. 6
Greco-Roman 55 kg (Mango), 66 kg (Sahin), 96 kg (Ruiz)

Tuesday, Sept. 7
Greco-Roman 60 kg (Davis), 84 kg (Clark), 120 kg (Byers)

Wednesday, Sept. 8
Greco-Roman 74 kg (Fisher); Women’s freestyle 48 kg (Lampe), 51 kg (Medina)

Thursday, Sept. 9
Women’s freestyle 55 kg (Padilla), 59 kg (Campbell), 63 kg (Pirozhkova)

Friday, Sept. 10
Women’s freestyle 67 kg (Davis), 72 kg (Lee); Freestyle 55 kg (Blanc)

Saturday, Sept. 11
Freestyle 60 kg (Zadick), 84 kg (Herbert), 96 kg (Bergman)

Sunday, Sept. 12
Freestyle 66 kg (Metcalf), 74 kg (Paulson), 120 kg (Sigman)

U.S. GRECO-ROMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ROSTER
55 kg/121 lbs. – Spenser Mango, St. Louis, Mo. (New York AC)
60 kg/132 lbs. – Jeremiah Davis, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)
66 kg/145. lbs. – Faruk Sahin, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)
74 kg/163 lbs. – Jake Fisher, Boise, Idaho (New York AC)
84 kg/185 lbs. – Jake Clark, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force)
96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Justin Ruiz, Boise, Idaho (New York AC)
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Dremiel Byers, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army)
Coaches – Steve Fraser (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Momir Petkovic (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Rob Hermann (Pensacola, Fla.); Dan Hicks (Camp LeJeune, N.C.)
College affiliations – Northern Michigan USOEC (Mango, Davis, Fisher), Nebraska (Ruiz), Clark (Minnesota), North Carolina A&T (Byers), Selcuk Univ. (Sahin), Michigan (Coach Fraser), U.S. Naval Academy (Coach Hicks)

U.S. WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ROSTER
48 kg/105.5 lbs. – Alyssa Lampe, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
51 kg/112.25 lbs. – Jessica Medina, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
55 kg/121 lbs. – Tatiana Padilla, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
59 kg/130 lbs. – Kelsey Campbell, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
63 kg/138.75 lbs. – Elena Pirozhkova, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Gator WC)
67 kg/147.5 lbs. – Kristie Davis, Oklahoma City, Okla. (New York AC)
72 kg/158.5 lbs. – Stephany Lee, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
Coaches – Terry Steiner (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Vladislav Izboinikov (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Keith Wilson (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Link Davis (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
College affiliations – Oklahoma City (Davis, Coach Davis), Northern Michigan USOEC (Lampe), Univ. of the Cumberlands (Medina), Lindenwood (Padilla), Arizona State (Campbell), Missouri Valley (Lee), Iowa (Coach Steiner), Oklahoma (Coach Wilson), Central Oklahoma (Coach Davis), Moscow State Univ. of PE (Izboinikov)

U.S. FREESTYLE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ROSTER
55 kg/121 lbs. – Obe Blanc, Stillwater, Okla. (Gator WC)
60 kg/132 lbs. – Mike Zadick, Solon, Iowa (Gator WC)
66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Brent Metcalf, Iowa City, Iowa (New York AC)
74 kg/163 lbs. – Travis Paulson, Ames, Iowa (Sunkist Kids)
84 kg/185 lbs. – Jake Herbert, Evanston, Ill. (New York AC)
96 kg/211.5 lbs. – J.D. Bergman, Columbus, Ohio (New York AC)
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Les Sigman, State College, Pa. (Nittany Lion WC)
Coaches – Zeke Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Bill Zadick (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Brandon Slay (Colorado Springs, Colo.); John Smith (Stillwater, Okla.); Terry Brands (Iowa City, Iowa)
College affiliations – Iowa (Zadick, Metcalf, Coach Brands, Coach Zadick), Oklahoma State (Blanc, Coach Smith), Iowa State (Paulson), Lock Haven (Blanc), Northwestern (Herbert), Ohio State (Bergman), UN-Omaha (Sigman), Arizona State (Coach Jones), Univ. of Pennsylvania (Coach Slay)