The United States wrestling program showed an overall strong effort on the first day of the Dave Schultz Memorial International Tournament, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 8.    Easily the most competitive Dave Schultz International ever, a total of 13 World Champion wrestlers were in the field, as talented athletes from across the world competed in men's freestyle, men's Greco-Roman and women's freestyle wrestling.    GRECO-ROMAN    2000 Olympic champion and 2001 World Champion Rulon Gardner needed three wins to claim his pool and advance to the semifinals at his weight class. He beat three foreign opponents, scoring an 11-0 technical fall over Danis Renteria of Colombia, a 3-0 overtime win over Georgi Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan and a 4-1 win over Nikola Iliev of Bulgaria.    "The first match went real well, 10-0," said Gardner. "The second match was 3-0 and was also a good match. I went to the clinch there and scored a gutwrench. The third one was 4-1; I executed a gutwrench and some takedowns. Every day you wonder if you are good enough. It's a constant battle. Right now I feel good. You can't take anything for granted, your wrestling, your feet, anything."    The U.S. pulled three big upsets over the rugged Cuban team in Greco-Roman. Cuba was the World team champions in 2001, and has had much success in past head-to-head battles with the USA, their top Pan American rival.    At 84 kg/185 lbs., Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), competing up a division, shocked 1999 World Champion Luis Mendez of Cuba, 3-0 in overtime.    "It felt nice. I haven't had a big win in awhile," said Sieracki. "The home crowd made the difference. When you are in Cuba, you don't have anybody behind you. Now is the time of year I have to start waking up and wrestling well again."    At 66 kg/145.5 lbs., Mike Ellsworth upset World and Olympic silver medalist Juan Maren of Cuba. Ellsworth, who has been outstanding when he is hot, has reached as high as No. 2 on the U.S. ladder in the past. Ellsworth closed out his pool with a technical fall and advanced to medal contention.    "I'm happy. He beat me at Pan Ams last year, and he's a tough competitor," said Ellsworth of his win over Maren. "He's like anybody else, beatable. The match went my way. I've never won this tournament, but I've been in the top three for three years. With Maren in my pool, I knew I had nothing to lose and a lot to gain. I gave it my all and the Lord was with me."    An even bigger shocker came at 96 kg/211.5 pounds, when U.S. Air Force wrestler Philip Johnston caught and pinned veteran Cuban star Ernesto Pena, in 1:47.    Another big win came at 74 kg/163 pounds, when U.S. Marine star Marcel Cooper defeated Sweden's 2002 World Champion Jimmy Samuelson, 3-0. Both wrestlers were competing up from their normal division.    "This is our third match," said Cooper. "He beat me 1-0 in Sweden two years ago, and he beat me 3-0 in Sweden the last time. The other two times, I felt I wasn't 100% focused. I felt that I could have won one of the other matches. I studied him, and I have learned how to wrestle him. There is no way I am staying at this weight class. They are just too big. I'm just getting some matches in. Come Armed Forces and U.S. Nationals and I'm dropping to my normal weight."     Olympic and World silver medalist Brandon Paulson (Anoka, Minn./Minnesota Storm) won his pool at 55 kg/121 pounds. He defeated Kim Holk of Sweden, 3-0 in overtime and Bunsei Murakami of Japan, 7-0.    "I'm not satisfied," said Paulson. "I won my matches. I have a lot to work on. I was hard to score on, but I'm not scoring a lot. My next opponent from Kazakhstan is tougher than hell. I came here to get some international matches and see where I can improve."    Also in that weight division, Lindsay Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) won his pool with three wins. The biggest win came in the third round, with pin in 5:25 over Masatoshi Toyoda of Japan. Last week, at the Concord Cup, Toyoda scored wins over both Durlacher and Paulson.    "I'm really happy with the U.S. squad," said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser. "Right down the line, we have been aggressive, physical and pretty darn smart. We upset Maren, Pena, Mendez and Samuelsson. We also avenged some losses from the past. I'm happy with our progress."      FREESTYLE    1998 World Champion and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Sammie Henson (State College, Pa./Sunkist Kids) looked strong in winning his pool at 54 kg/121 pounds. He scored technical fall wins over Miguel Martinez of Mexico, Ali Shemol of Bulgaria and Kuji Adachi of Japan.    "I felt better in that last match," said Henson. "Early on, I was reaching too much. I have to shorten my arms. I felt I had the power out there today. I was a lot stronger in the last match. He was good, and I wrestled to the level of my competition. I am going 100% this year. I'm taking it one year at a time. I wouldn't be here at this tournament if I wasn't going for it this year."    One of Henson's 2000 Olympic teammates, Cary Kolat (Lock Haven, Pa./Dave Schultz WC), was upset in his pool competition by a tough up-and-comer, Jared Frayer (Norman, Okla./Sunkist Kids). Kolat led the match 1-0 at the break, but Frayer scored a pair of two-point counter tilts in the second period for a 4-1 lead. Kolat scored a late takedown to close it to 4-3 then time ran out.    "He's been my hero for a long time," said Frayer. "It's a big win, but I'm just climbing the ladder. It doesn't mean anything until the Trials. Cary is a good guy, and it was a good match. I've always dreamed about wrestling him. This is just the beginning. I have two more tomorrow."    2001 World silver medalist Brandon Eggum (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) won three bouts in his pool at advance at 84 kg/185 lbs. He scored a technical fall and two convincing decisions to move on to the semifinals.    "I thought I wrestled all right," said Eggum. "I really haven't wrestled much since the World Championships. I felt a little sluggish on my feet at the beginning. I feel good, but tomorrow is what counts."    "There were no major upsets, except for the Kolat/Frayer match," said National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson. "All in all, the Americans wrestled really well. I'm looking forward to the quarterfinals. It should tell us where we are at for the rest of the tournament, and project where we are at for the rest of the year."    WOMEN    Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) had one of the toughest draws of all U.S. women, and came through with three strong wins over foreign opponents to take her pool. In the first round, she beat two-time World Champion Sara Eriksson, 3-2. The second win was a 2:32 pin over Lene Aanes of Norway. The third round was a tight come-from-behind 3-2 win over Viola Yanik of Canada.    "This was unbelievable. I didn't think after such a bad tournament in Russia, I'd be able to deal with this kind of adversity so well," said McMann. "I made some changes, especially with my mental focus. It paid off big time in this tournament, as I was alert and aware. The plan worked well. I wrestled MY matches. I'm really excited about tomorrow. I have had tough match after tough match."    McMann was in the strongest women's division, which featured three past World Champions. Also winning their pools and qualifying for the semifinals were 2000 World Champion Kristie Marano (Albany, N.Y./ATWA) and five-time World Champion Nikola Hartmann-Dunser of Austria. Marano had a pin and a technical fall in her pool victories.    2002 World silver medalist Tina Wilson (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) won three tough matches in her pool to advance. In the first round, Wilson beat 2002 World bronze medalist Ida-Therese Karlsson of Sweden 5-3. After an 11-0 win over Audrey Pang of Princeton, Wilson drew Vanessa Boubryemm of France, an athlete Wilson beat in the 2002 World meet. Tina scored a 9-1 win to move on to the semifinals.    "I felt focused today," said Wilson. "Once I did my weight cut, I was prepared and really ready to go. I was thinking I'd have some top people in m