A total of 15 win double titles at Veterans Nationals with freestyle wins; Kasser , LeVasseur and Co
<< Back to Articles
Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
04/08/2004
Las Vegas, Nev. - A total of 16 wrestlers won double titles by claiming the freestyle title at the Veterans National Championships at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Wednesday evening. A double champion is an athlete who wins both the freestyle and Greco-Roman division in the same competition. Wrestlers compete in five different age divisions in Veterans competition: Division A (35-40 years old), Division B (41-45), Division C (46-50), Division D (51-55) and Division E (56 years old and over). Double champions in Div. A were Darren Petty (Greensburg WC) at 58 kg and Jim Richardson (Minnesota Storm)at 130 kg. In Div. B, Mark LaVasseur (Minnesota) at 58 kg, Jamey Kasser (Ohio WC) at 63 kg and Kevin Donofrio (Brandon WC) were double champion Two wrestlers were double champions in Div. C: Paul Herder (Montrose) at 63 kg and J.D. Hawkins (Team Jesus) at 69 kg. In Div. D, the double champions were Ed Knecht (Arizona) at 58 kg, Shirzad Ahmadi (Connecticut) at 63 kg, Russ Cozart (Florida) at 69 kg, Mark Black (California) at 85 kg and Jack Nutter (Ohio) at 97 kg The Div E double champions were Jack Hornbuckle (Unattached) at 63 kg, Donald Apodaca (Jets WC) at 85 kg, Joe Reasbeck (Unattached) at 97 kg and Bob Anderson (Jets WC) at 130 kg. For the first time, there were "Triple Crown" winners in Veterans wrestlers, athletes who won the folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman titles at the age level during the same year. The first Veterans Folkstyle Nationals were held in Waterloo, Iowa last week. The first Veterans Triple Crown winners were Mark LaVasseur (Div. B, 58 kg), Jamey Kasser (Div. B 63 kg) and Russ Cozart (Div. D 69 kg).