Returning champions Gardner, Haight and Bergman dominate rivals on first session of ASICS/Vaughan Ju
<< Back to Articles
Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
07/20/2003
All three returning champions remain unbeaten after the first session of the 2003 ASICS/Vaughan Junior National Greco-Roman Championships at the FargoDome in Fargo, N.D., Sunday, July 20. Returning champion Tanner Gardner of Kansas opened with a pair of technical fall wins at 119 pounds. He stopped Marcos Orozco of California, 12-0 and Ryan Adams of Minnesota, 11-1. Gardner won his Junior title last year at 105 pounds Returning champion Cheney Haight of Utah won both of his matches by technical fall at 152 pounds. He stopped Wes Pierce of Arizona, 12-1 and Chris DeVilbiss of Maryland 11-0. Haight won his title last year at 140 pounds Returning champion J.D. Bergman of Ohio had a pin and a technical fall at 189 pounds. He defeated Jared Stapleton of Oklahoma 11-0 and pinned Quinton Pruett of Arizona in 34 seconds. This is the same weight class that Bergman won last year. Also in the Greco-Roman division this year is a Junior National freestyle champion from last year, Craig Henning of Wisconsin at 145 pounds. Henning opened his Junior Greco-Roman tournament with a pair of 10-0 technical falls. There were a dozen 2002 Cadet National Greco-Roman champions who were entered in this year's Junior Nationals in Greco-Roman. All are still alive in the tournament. The 140-pound division is stocked full of these young stars, with three 2002 Cadet National champions in the same weight class. Jason Johnstone of Ohio (the 130-pound Cadet champion), Brent Metcalfe of Michigan (the 135-pound Cadet champion), and Danny Grater of Kansas (the 140-pound Cadet champion), are all in the Junior draw at 140 pounds this year. All three opened with 2-0 records. Johnstone scored a first-round 11-0 technical fall, then won a tight 6-3 match in round two over Micah Flodeen of Minnesota. Metcalfe won his first two bouts, with an 11-1 technical fall and a pin in 1:00. Grater had a pair of technical falls, 14-2 and 12-0. Only one of the 2002 Cadet National champions suffered an early loss. Nate Matousek of Minnesota, competing this year at 152 pounds, dropped a 3-2 match in the first round to Matt Kocher of Pennsylvania. Matousek barely won his second match, a 6-5 win over Eric Luedke of Kansas, and remains alive in the double-elimination draw. Junior Greco-Roman action continues on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., alongside the Cadet division.