World champion Marano misses weight at U.S. Olympic Team Trials; 188 athletes weigh in to compete fo
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
05/20/2004
A total of 188 athletes weighed in to compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wrestling in Indianapolis, Ind. on May 20. This included 74 men's freestyle wrestlers, 70 men's Greco-Roman wrestlers and 44 women's freestyle wrestlers. The biggest news came in the women's division, where two-time World Champion Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), the 2004 U.S. Nationals champion, did not make weight at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. With Marano out of the weight division, U.S. Nationals runner-up Sara McMann (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) moves into the top seed at the division. That means that McMann will not compete in the Challenge Tournament portion of the competition, and moves directly into the Championship Series portion of the tournament on Sunday. Marano did weigh-in at the next Olympic weight class, 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Early in her career, Marano competed at the highest women's weight class at the time, 75 kg/165 lbs., where she won four World silver medals. Marano has won the most World medals of all U.S. women wrestlers with seven. All of the other top seeded wrestlers in the competition made weight and advanced directly to the Championship Series on Sunday. The top seeds were all the 2004 U.S. Nationals champions, except for McMann and Oscar Wood (Fountain, Colo./U.S. Army). Wood was second at the U.S. Nationals at 66 kg/145.5 lbs. in Greco-Roman, and was moved up to the top seed after U.S. Nationals champion Faruk Sahin accepted a provisional suspension from the U.S. Anti Doping Agency on Tuesday and did not enter the competition. All of the other athletes who weighed-in were placed in the Challenge Tournament portion of the tournament, which will be held on Friday and Saturday. The winner of the Challenge Tournament at each weight class, which completes on Saturday evening, advances to the Championship Series on Sunday, to face the No. 1 seed in a best-of-three series on Sunday. There are 17 positions on the U.S. Olympic Team at stake in the Olympic Team Trials (seven men's freestyle, six men's Greco-Roman, four women's freestyle). The U.S. did not qualify for the Olympic Games at 74 kg/163 lbs. in Greco-Roman. That division will be contested in Indianapolis, and the winner does not make the Olympic team, but the results will determine the U.S. national team for the 2004-05 season. A seeding meeting was held for the Challenge Tournament portion of the competition, and all of the athletes entered were given a seed. This determined the pairings for the tournament for the competition. There were a few athletes who made changes in their weight divisions, and were placed in the new weight class and seeded accordingly. The most prominent wrestler to change weight class was T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), a two-time U.S. World Team member in Greco-Roman at 74 kg/163 lbs. Dantzler dropped to 66 kg/145.5 lbs. and received the No. 2 seeding in the Challenge Tournament. Also dropping down from 74 kg/145.5 lbs. was 2000 Olympian Heath Sims (Huntington Beach, Calif./Dave Schultz WC), who received the No. 4 seed in the Challenge Tournament. Sims competed at 74 kg/163 lbs. earlier this season. Other prominent wrestlers to drop in weight in Greco-Roman were James Shillow (Quantico, Va./U.S. Marines), who received the No. 3 seed at 60 kg/132 lbs. and Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), who received the No. 2 seed at 74 kg/163 lbs. In the women's division, six-time World Team member Lauren Lamb (Farmington, N.Y./Michigan WC) dropped down to 55 kg/121 lbs. after placing second in the U.S. Nationals at a non-Olympic weight division (59 kg/130 lbs.) Lamb has not competed at this weight level for many years. She received a No. 6 seed in the Challenge Tournament. There were three weight classes contested at the U.S. Nationals for women's wrestling that are not included in the Olympic Games. A number of athletes who wrestled at that tournament qualified for the Olympic Team Trials, and had to select an Olympic weight class to wrestle in this weekend. Some of these women dropped down in weight, while others chose to move up. In men's freestyle, very few athletes chose to change weight class. Moving down in division was Celso DeAnda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Team Excel), who moved into 60 kg/132 lbs., where he received the No. 9 seed. Competition on Friday will include the preliminary round, and the quarterfinal round of the Challenge Tournament, along with some consolation rounds. The Challenge Tournament semifinals and finals will be held on Saturday. Sunday is the Championship Series, with the top seed facing the Challenge Tournament champion in a best-of-three series, with the winner earning a position on the U.S. Olympic Team (at every weight class except 74 kg in Greco-Roman).