2000 New York AC Christmas Tournament to be held Dec. 16-17 in New York City
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Heather Van Peursem (USA Wrestling)
12/13/2000
A strong field of many top freestyle, Greco-Roman and women wrestlers in the United States are expected to compete at the annual New York AC Christmas Tournament, held in New York City, Saturday, Dec. 16 and Sunday, Dec. 17. This marks the first year that all three styles of wrestling will be held at the same time during the tournament. Both the Greco-Roman and women's competition will feature some World champions, Olympians and U.S. National Team Members. "It adds some excitement to the tournament by having all three styles represented," said Mike Duroe, U.S. Freestyle Development Coach and Women's National Coach. "The level of competition will be very high and it should be a very exciting tournament. This time of year is good for the U.S. elite athletes to test themselves to see where they are in their preparedness for competition going into 2001." Those athletes which indicated they may compete in Greco-Roman are: 2000 Olympian Kevin Bracken (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) at 138.75 pounds and two-time Olympian Shawn Sheldon (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) at 119 pounds. 2000 Greco-Roman National Team Members Ethan Bosch (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC), T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC), Darnell Lollis (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) and Chris Saba (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) are expected to compete. Fourth-ranked Josh Hall (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) is also on the list projected to compete at 213.75 pounds. Bosch and Saba finished second at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials. Bosch will compete at 187.25 pounds while Saba will compete at 152 pounds. Dantzler and Lollis are ranked No. 3 on the U.S. National Team. Dantzler wrestles at 167.5 pounds and Lollis at 127.75 pounds. 2000 Women's World Champion Kristie Marano (Albany, N.Y./ATWA) is expected to compete at 149.75 pounds and fellow World Team member Sara McMann (Lock Haven, Pa./Sunkist Kids) will wrestle at 123.25 pounds. Four U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athletes are expected to compete in freestyle: Mike Eierman (Colorado Springs, Colo./Team Excel), Casey Cunningham (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids), C.C. Fisher (Colorado Springs, Colo./NYAC) and Dustin Denunzio (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC). Eierman wrestles at 138.75 pounds, Cunningham at 152 pounds, Fisher at 127.75 pounds and Denunzio at 138.75 pounds. U.S. National Team member Teague Moore (Pittsburgh, Pa./Sunkist Kids) will compete at 119 pounds. Moore was a 1998 NCAA Champion for Oklahoma State and is ranked third for the 2000-01 season. Cody Sanderson (Heber City, Utah/Sunkist Kids) was a 1999 NCAA runner-up for Iowa State University. He also placed sixth at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials in Greco-Roman. He is expected to wrestle at 119 pounds. These athletes are just getting warmed up for the chance to compete in New York City again. Only the next time it could be in the 2001 World Championships for all three styles, which will be held in Madison Square Garden Sept. 23-30.