Eric Hoffman celebrates a victory at the Cadet Pan American Championships in Campeche, Mexico. Mike Bambic photo

CAMPECHE, Mexico – The men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman teams dominated the Pan American Cadet Championships by bringing home 17 of a possible 20 medals in the two-day event. 

In total, the U.S. contingent hauled in nine gold medals (four in Greco-Roman and five in freestyle).  

Jake Stilling of Wisconsin and Eric Hoffman of Maryland earned double titles for the U.S. team by winning gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Stilling had an impressive run of four straight victories in freestyle to capture the 73kg weight class. Hoffman had an electrifying comeback victory in Greco-Roman to claim the 69kg class.  

Illinois natives Tommy Pawleski and Jered Cortez had impressive showings as both athletes were double finalists. Pawleski won the gold in Greco-Roman and earned a silver in the freestyle competition. Cortez had a gold medal performance at 54kg in freestyle and took the silver in Greco. 

At 63kg, Utah’s Grant LaMont earned gold as he dominated his freestyle opponents.  In the bronze medal match for Greco-Roman, LaMont was able to score two five-point throws to secure his spot on the podium.

Specializing in Greco-Roman at 100kg, Alex Bambic of Arizona put together an array of attacks to earn his gold medal.

Taking the freestyle duties for the U.S. team at 100kg was Adam Coon of Michigan, who was unscored upon during the freestyle competition on the way to his gold medal. Coon was a double champion at the FILA Cadet Nationals and will represent the United States at the Cadet World Championships in Szombethely, Hungary, August 25-28, 2011.

At 42kg, Ethan Koan of Missouri earned a silver medal in Greco and a bronze medal in the freestyle competition. 

At 50kg, Chris Allen of Missouri earned a spot in the Bronze Medal match in Greco-Roman.

At 58kg in Greco-Roman, Brandon George of Utah made his second Cadet Pan Am appearance after earning the spot in 2009.  

New Jersey’s Anthony Ashnault had a back-and-forth finals match with Wilfredo Rodriquez of Venezuela at 58kg. In the end, Ashnault took the silver and Rodriquez went on to win the OW in freestyle competition. Ashnault had two dominating wins in the qualification rounds.  

At 84kg, Spencer Wilson of Kansas was a double medalist with a bronze in the Greco-Roman competition and a silver medal in freestyle.

More complete results will be posted when available.

The tremendous cultural experiences, the ability to coach and compete at the international level and most importantly the pride in representing the USA in competition was felt by each team member and that allowed them to bond quickly into a very strong unit!  The maturity of our elite wrestlers and the focus of our coaching staff allowed us to all grow to be better wrestlers, coaches and people.

“We are developing a more international style and this tournament effectively allowed us to test our match strategies. We still need to learn when to attack and when to control our mat position. The entire U.S. contingent from the athletes themselves; to the support staff, were motivated to win gold medals,” said U.S. coach Drew Pariano, the head coach at Northwestern.

“Our Greco team started a bit slow in Friday’s morning session but we really rallied to earn 8 medals including 4 golds and the team title.  For many of our guys, this was their first taste of international competition.  As they became more comfortable with the environment. they really started to tear guys up,” said U.S. Coach Mike Clayton, Head Coach at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Team Leader, Brian Giffin of Beat the Streets Chicago said, “The Cadet program is a vital part of the development of our nation’s top wrestlers. This trip to Pan Am’s was a strong step to helping us prepare tomorrow’s Olympic and World Champions for their journey.”

Special thanks to the USA staff that made this trip such a successful venture:

Team Leader: Brian Giffin (Illinois)
Head Coach: Mike Clayton (New Jersey)
Head Coach  Drew Pariano (Illinois) 
Asst. Coach: Steve Glassey (California)
Asst. Coach: Craig LaMont (Utah)
Asst. Coach: John Grecco (Florida)
Asst. Coach: Dan Coon (Michigan)
Team Manager: Ricardo Garcia (California)
Team Manager: Matt Hampton (Illinois)
Media: Mike Bambic (Arizona)
Media: Bill Ashnault (New Jersey)