Saturday, 9 a.m. Fargo; a rough round

<< Back to Articles
Jason Bryant (TheMat.com)
07/26/2003


For two and a half hours on the last day of the USA Wrestling Junior Freestyle National Championships, the mats on the Fargodome floor see some of the nations best talent beating each other to a pulp.    Some call it the All-American round, some just call it a brutal round, but however you say it, the 9 a.m. round on Saturday is quite possibly the best collection of age-group talent competing in one tournament at a given time.    Wrestling media junkies have to keep up by listening for the quick bout calls. By the time the 9 a.m. round rolls around, 23 mats have been whittled down to nine.    "Brett Land, California-Brad Pataky, Pennsylvania, Mat 8," says announcer Sandy Stevens. The first bout called of the morning would be a high-profile high school match at any tournament in the country.    The next several bouts called read like a Who's Who of high school and soon to be college wrestlers.    "Javier Maldando, Florida-Mark McKnight, Pennsylvania Mat 11."  "Tim Kephart, Missouri-Tony Valdez, Nebraska, Mat 15."  "Daniel Frishkorn, Virginia-Dustin Schlatter, Ohio, Mat 10."    Bob Pruesse, tournament director for the Ironman tournament in Ohio, as well as a wrestling journalist, takes great interest in the round. As do other wrestling nuts and college coaches.    "This round is so tough because who's around and how much they have on the line," Pruesse said.    "Every match is a good one. Instead of running from one side of the dome to another to catch a good match, in this round, you'll miss three good matches to watch three," he said.    Every cliché in the book comes out when talking about the 9 a.m. Saturday round.    "The cream rises to the top" and "this is where the rubber meets the road here," Pruesse commented.    Ray Brinzer, who's coaching with Team Pennsylvania and the Angry Fish Wrestling Club, was a double champion in 1989 at the Junior Nationals in Cedar Rapids, Ia., and won the freestyle championship in 1990. He knows the competition as both a wrestler and a coach and how some kids react.    "All these guys left are tough. Psychologically, it's different from the finals. In this round, it's more of a grind, you've got to go through several people and they're all tough, rather than knowing the one guy you're going to wrestle for a medal in the finals," Brinzer said.    Just getting to the finals is the hardest part, not the actual final itself.    "It's not necessarily the best wrestler that makes the finals. This tournament is a marathon and at this point, they're feeling tired, pains are being felt. … and think about if you're coming off Greco, you've got guys approaching 20 matches this week," Brinzer said.    "Max Askren, Wisconsin-Zac Fryling, Pennsylvania, Mat 10" echoes through the dome.    Oklahoma State coach John Smith is seen on the floor, as are Minnesota coach J Robinson, Iowa State coach Bobby Douglas, and Columbia coach Brendan Buckley.  Coaches from Division II and III coaches are also circling what's left of the 23 mats.    College coaches are very aware of the 9 a.m. round.    Oklahoma State coach John Smith has several wrestlers that will medal in the Junior Freestyle tournament, Justin Porter, Frishkorn, Brent Parkey just to name a handful.    "This is the part of the tournament that gives a great opportunity to go to that next level. They put the work in all summer to get here. Most kids train all summer with a dream to win it," Smith said.    Frishkorn dropped matches to Schlatter 3-0 and Indiana's Alex Tsirtsis 6-4, but Smith was supporting his incoming frosh.    "He struggled, but we look forward to working with him. The next Saturday he wrestles for us, he'll learn from experience in this tournament for down the road, he'll win those type of matches," Smith said.    "Patrick Bond, Virginia-Josh Weitzel, Pennsylvania, Mat 1."    It's the round from hell.