Team Trials preview at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men's Greco-Roman wrestling

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
05/11/2004


This is a weight class that is in the Olympic Games. However, the United States did not qualify to compete at the 2004 Olympics at 74 kg/163 lbs. USA Wrestling will host the 74 kg/163 lbs. weight class in Indianapolis as a method to determine the U.S. National Team for the 2004-05 year. A winner will also be in place in the unlikely scenario that FILA has an opening here at the Olympic Games.    The winner of this tournament is not a member of the U.S. Olympic Team.    That said, fans should expect a good competition here in Indianapolis. Exactly who will enter and who will change weight class will not be known until weigh-ins. All eight of the placewinners at 74 kg from Las Vegas are eligible to compete in Indianapolis. Will they go down, or go up, or just stay in place and fight for Team USA position and funding? Nobody really knows.     Just remember that to drop, an athlete must lose 17.5 pounds. If they go up, they are gaining 22 pounds. With that kind of spread, many of the wrestlers from 74 kg may just stay right where they are.    A quick summary of the action at the U.S. Nationals follows. Winning the gold medal in a bit of a surprise was Darryl Christian, who had not reached higher than No. 3 on the National Team ladder in this weight class in the past. In the semifinals, he beat Ken Cook, an athlete that had a few wins over Christian this past season. In the finals, he stopped veteran Steven Woods, who had wrestled a great tournament.    Another surprise was that two-time World Team member T.C. Dantzler did not make the finals, losing a 2-1 overtime match to Woods in the semifinals. Dantzler wrestled back to claim third place, defeating Cook in the bronze-medal bout, 3-2.    The other four wrestlers to qualify for the Olympic Trials by placing in Las Vegas in the top eight were Zac Dominguez, Heath Sims, Jess Hargrave and Curtis Barnes. Dominguez is a young athlete who was a Senior All-American for the first time. Sims was a member of the 2000 Olympic team at 69 kg, the weight class that got eliminated when men's wrestling dropped to seven divisions. Hargrave and Barnes wrestle for the tough U.S. Marines team.     Woods won this weight at the Armed Forces Championships, another qualifier. Getting into the field through the Regionals are two wrestlers who normally go at 66 kg and are expected to drop, Cory Posey and Mike Ellsworth. The other Regional winners were Grant Whitmer, Cheney Haight and Rodney Bolden. That wraps up the potential field in this weight division.    So where will people go? One of the stars from 76 kg, Keith Sieracki, made the move up in weight for the U.S. Nationals and placed fifth at 85 kg. Cook wrestled up at 85 kg at the Dave Schultz International, perhaps a test at how he can do at that weight class. Beyond that, what these athletes might do is merely speculation, with nothing really to base it upon. This choice will be made by each individual athlete, based upon their personal realities and their goals.    Let's see what happens. There will be a competition at 74 kg in Indianapolis, and all expectations are that there will be a number of talented wrestlers in the draw.     2004 TEAM TRIALS QUALIFIERS IN MEN'S GRECO-ROMAN AT 74 KG/163 POUNDS  U.S. Nationals Champion - Darryl Christian, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)  U.S. Nationals, second place - Steven Woods, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force)  U.S. Nationals, third place -  T.C. Dantzler, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)   U.S. Nationals, fourth place - Ken Cook, Fremont, Calif. (Sunkist Kids)  U.S. Nationals, fifth place -  Zac Dominguez, Bellview, Iowa (Golden Eagles)  U.S. Nationals, sixth place - Heath Sims, Newport Beach, Calif. (Dave Schultz WC)  U.S. Nationals, seventh place - Jess Hargrave, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marine Corps)    U.S. Nationals, eighth place - Curtis Barnes, Quantico, Va. (U.S. Marine Corps)  Armed Forces Champion  - Steve Woods, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Air Force)  South Regional Trials Champion - Grant Whitmer, Pensacola, Fla. (U.S. Navy)  West Regional Trials Champion - Cory Posey, Colorado Springs, Colo. (New York AC)  North Regional Trials Champion -Cheney Haight, Marquette, Mich. (USOEC)  East Regional Trials Champion - Mike Ellsworth, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Harvey Twisters)  Central Regional Trials Champion -Rodney Bolden (unattached)