Concord Youth Center opens with six exhibition matches and fundraising dinner

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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
02/01/2003


The Concord Youth Center was christened on Friday evening with six exhilarating Greco-Roman exhibition matches, four of them on the senior level and the other two from Concord youth wrestlers.    With California Senator Tom Torlakson and Oakland Athletics owner Ken Hoffman in attendance, the private crowd of less than 100 was dazzled with an up-close and personal look at the oldest style of amateur wrestling.    "This is great for the community," Torlakson said. "The best matches were with the youth. They worked so hard and they wanted to impress in front of such a mature crowd. Those four youth wrestlers are to be commended for their efforts and their coaches are to be commended for doing such a great job in helping them to develop into great wrestlers and people."    The event was a fundraiser for the newly-opened Concord Youth Center in Concord, Calif. A prime rib dinner preceded the exhibition matches. The 20th Annual Concord Cup will be held in the same venue beginning tomorrow.    In the first youth match, Tyler Spangler dominated Andrew Mayes 7-2, using two throws early in the first period to take an early 5-0 advantage.    In the second youth match, Tyler Sheridan and Jesse Trujillo traded arm-spin takedowns and each scored on a lift-and-throw, but it was a late takedown by Trujillo that tied the score at 6-6. After no scoring in a 30-second overtime, the match was stopped and both wrestlers were declared winners.    At 60 kg/132 lbs., Makoto Sasamoto of Japan held on for a 3-2 win over 2002 U.S. World Team member James Gruenwald (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids). Sasamoto scored early with a takedown, but used a gut wrench to take a 3-0 lead into the second period. Gruenwald was able to score a takedown and then cut the lead to 3-2 after a fleeing the mat call against Sasamoto, but the American was unable to score on two par terre opportunities in the final minute.    2002 U.S. World Team member Kevin Bracken (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) dominated Masaki Imuro of Japan 7-0 at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. Bracken used two lift-and-throws in the first period to score all seven of his points. The first lift-and-throw scored three points plus one more for appreciated and the other lift-and-throw scored three more points.    Replacement Rusland Biktyakov of Uzbekistan wore out 2001 U.S. World Team member Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) in a 5-3 victory at 74 kg/163 lbs. Sieracki struggled to score from par terre in the match, despite numerous opportunities. Biktyakov, who placed 10th at the 2000 Olympic Games, was able to score on a gut wrench in the second period to provide the final scoring margin.    Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC), who placed 5th at the 2002 World Championships, was impressive in a 3-0 win over Djakhongir Turdiev of Uzbekistan at 84 kg/185 lbs. Vering constantly controlled the action, chasing Turdiev around the mat for the entire six minutes. In the first period, Vering scored on a takedown, and then scored one more points on a gut wrench near the edge of the mat to take a 2-0 lead. Vering scored another takedown later in the match to earn the win.    The Concord Cup pits three U.S. teams of the top Greco-Roman wrestlers in the nation against some of the top Greco-Roman wrestlers internationally. Each U.S. team will wrestle each international team twice and the international teams will wrestle each other once. The U.S. teams will not compete against each other.    Dual competition between the U.S. and foreign teams will begin on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 10:00 a.m. Western time. The tournament will commence on Sunday, Feb. 2.    Exhibition Match Results  60 kg/132 lbs. - Makoto Sasamoto (Japan) dec. James Gruenwald (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids), 3-2  Youth - Tyler Spangler (Concord Youth Club) dec. Andrew Mayes (Concord Youth Club), 7-2  66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Kevin Bracken (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) dec. Masaki Imuro (Japan), 7-0  Youth - Tyler Sheridan (Concord Youth Club) and Jesse Trujillo (Concord Youth Club), tied 6-6  74 kg/163 lbs. - Ruslan Biktyakov (Uzbekistan) dec. Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), 5-3  84 kg/185 lbs. - Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) dec. Djakhongir Turdiev (Uzbekistan), 3-0    2003 Concord Cup Schedule  Saturday, Feb. 1  10:00 am - U.S. Team #1 vs. Uzbekistan  11:00 am - U.S. Team #2 vs. Japan  2:00 pm - U.S. Team #3 vs. Uzbekistan  3:00 pm - U.S. Team #1 vs. Japan  4:00 pm - U.S. Team #2 vs. Uzbekistan  5:00 pm - Japan vs. Uzbekistan    Sunday, Feb. 2  12:00 pm - U.S. Team #1 vs. Uzbekistan, U.S. Team #3 vs. Japan  1:00 pm - U.S. Team #2 vs. Japan, U.S. Team #3 vs. Uzbekistan  4:00 pm - U.S. Team #3 vs. Japan  5:00 pm - U.S. Team #1 vs. Japan, U.S. Team #2 vs. Uzbekistan