Brandon Precin (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) finished third at 60 kg in the FILA Junior Nationals while NCAA champion Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) and All-American Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) competed on the senior level.
By virtue of his bronze medal at last summer's World University Games, Herbert already secured a spot in this summer's World Team Trials. Metzler's seventh place finish assured him a spot in the team trials and Precin's third-place finish at the junior level clinched him a spot in the Junior World Team Trials.
The trials, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, begin June 10.
"Metzler and Precin did some great things during the tournament," head coach Tim Cysewski said. "We have areas to improve on, but their progress as college freshmen is just outstanding. Metzler entered the tournament as a relative unknown on the freestyle circuit and he came away with All-American status and a spot in the U.S. Senior World Team Trials."
The senior nationals were broken into two days of competition, with wrestlers needing to win their way through the qualification round on day one in order to advance to the second day's championship bracket.
With offseason tournaments such as the U.S. Senior Nationals, the matches are scored differently than in the college ranks. Matches consist of three two-minute periods, and the wrestler who wins two of the three rounds in declared the winner. A technical fall is awarded if a wrestler reaches a lead of six points in a period.
Metzler won four matches in the qualifying draw on the first day of competition. He defeated Angel Alegre of thorobred, 4-1, 6-0, before falling to Danny Felix of the Sunkist Kids, 2-0, 1-0. Metzler fought is way back through the consolation bracket of the qualifying tournament, winning three more matches. His last win came over Cory Vombaur of the Cowboy WC, 1-0, 3-0.
After a bye in the first round of the main draw, Metzler fell to the Gator WC's Mike Zadick, 7-0, 7-0. He advanced in the consolation draw when his first opponent defaulted due to injury and after a loss to Chris Fleeger of the New York AC, he topped the Warrior WC's Joey Rivera, 3-2, 2-2, for seventh place.
Tamillow went 3-0 in the qualifying draw to advance to the main bracket. His first win came over Israel Silva of the Sunkist Kids, 4-0, 1-0, and he defeated Eric Lapotsky of the Bison WC in his second match, 3-1, 4-0. That set up a match against Penn State's Phil Davis, who topped Tamillow during Big Ten season. Tamillow won the freestyle bout, 1-0, 1-1, 3-0.
In the main draw, Tamillow won a three-period match over Sean Stender of the Sunkist Kids, 3-1, 0-3, 1-0, before falling to Muhammed Lawal of the Gator WC, 6-0, 4-1. In the consolation bracket, Tamillow won his first match over Brent Jones of the Cavalier WC, 7-1, 2-1, but fell to Iowa State's Kurt Backes, wrestling for the Sunkist Kids, 4-0, 4-2. The junior dropped a two-period decision in the seventh-place match.
"Tamillow avenged two losses on the weekend, by beating Phil Davis on Day 1 and Sean Stender on Day 2," Cysewski said. "Mike is a major factor in the 96 kg weight class and it is evident that he would like to once again qualify for the World Team Trials."
On the junior level, Precin won three matches in the main draw at 60 kg to advance to the semifinals. He topped Justin Paulsen of Advanced Training Wrestling, 6-2, 4-1, and pinned Nick Outumuro of the Titan Wrestling Club and Rob Tate of the Warrior Wrestling Club in his second and third matches, respectively. The freshman was pinned in the semifinals, but defeated Zach Bigboy of Bakersfield and Mike Gray of Finger Lakes Wrestling to claim third place.
"Precin's win over Gray proves that he is making outstanding progress," Cysewski said. "It is very difficult to train the entire year in collegiate style and then turn it around for the freestyle circuit less than three weeks after NCAA's. Precin is maturing fast and it is perfect timing because his world team trials will be here before we know it."
At 84 kg, Herbert defeated Terry Madden of New York AC in his first match, but fell to Michigan's Tyrel Todd, wrestling for the New York AC, in his second match, 6-2, 1-2, 3-3. The junior defaulted with an injury out of his consolation match.
After winning two matches in the qualifying draw, Lang defaulted due to an injury.
"Jake and Lang will continue to train hard," Cysewski said. "They both wanted to be in the tournament to win it. We'll look to both of them for major success at the trials."
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