OKLAHOMA CITY -- In 2004, Cael Sanderson walked away from competitive wrestling at the age of 25 after winning an Olympic gold medal. He was no longer having fun with the sport.
Cael Sanderson defeated World silver medalist Jake Herbert (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)As Sanderson put the finishing touches on a two-match victory over 2009 World silver medalist Jake Herbert at the 2011 U.S. World Team Trials on Saturday night, he winked at those positioned matside.
"I'm just trying to have fun with it," said Sanderson after outscoring Herbert 13-3 in two matches. "That's the trick."
Sanderson won three matches in the Challenge Tournament on Saturday afternoon, prior to facing Herbert. His final win in the Challenge Tournament came over Jon Reader, a wrestler he recruited and coached at Iowa State.
"That was very strange," said Sanderson of facing his former wrestler. "Reader is somebody I have a great deal of respect for. I've spent a lot of time with him and around him. I consider him a really great friend. So it was weird. That was a weird match for me. It wasn't who I was hoping to wrestle."
Sanderson, who coached Penn State to a national championships this past season, is one of three wrestlers with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club to make the 2011 U.S. World Team. The others are Jake Varner and Teyon Ware.
Varner earned a spot on the U.S. World Team on Friday night, while Ware secured his spot on Saturday night by defeating returning U.S. World Team member Brent Metcalf in the best-of-three finals series.
Ware, a 2011 U.S. Open champion, topped Metcalf in the opening match. Metcalf, though, came back to win the second match. In the third and deciding match, Ware got on a roll and outscored Metcalf 9-1 in two periods to take the match and make his first U.S. World Team.
"I'm very excited," said Ware, who won two NCAA titles as a college competitor at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, 20 miles from Oklahoma City. "This is the easy part. The easy part is done. I've got to take it up a notch and bring home a medal for the World Team."
Teyon Ware made his first U.S. World Team by defeating Brent Metcalf (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)"It was a tough decision," said Ware of his move to State College, Pa. "But I got the phone call from Cael. I saw it as an honor. He gave me a call and asked me to train with him. If you want to be the best, you have to train with the best."
Tervel Dlagnev, a 2009 World bronze medalist, is back on the U.S. World Team at 120 kilos, after finishing runner-up at the U.S. World Team Trials a year ago. Dlagnev defeated 2008 Olympian Steve Mocco two matches to one to earn the spot, two months after winning his first U.S. Open title.
"I'm just excited to have this opportunity to go back to the Worlds," said Dlagnev, who trains at the Ohio RTC in Columbus, Ohio. "Second World Team. Finally won the Open. Great season so far. I've got to cap it off with a World gold medal."
An emotional Nick Simmons gets his hand raised after beating Sam Hazewinkel (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)"I had a bad performance at the U.S. Open," said Simmons, who trains in Corvallis, Ore."We sat down with all my coaching staff at Oregon State and readjusted everything ... how I was training, my diet, and everything. That helped tremendously. I owe those guys everything."
Greco-Roman wrestlers Joe Betterman, Jake Fisher, and Justin Ruiz earned spots on this year's U.S. World Team with victories on Saturday night. All three are past Trials champions.
Betterman, who was on the U.S. World Team in 2007 and won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2008, defeated two-time returning U.S. World Team member Jeremiah Davis in two straight matches at 60 kilos.
"I feel like I'm right there with the top guys in the world," said Betterman, who has won every international event he has entered this season except two. "I've beaten the top guys in the world in the Olympics, so I'm right there. I think this year is my year for a medal."
Fisher made his second straight U.S. World Team at 74 kilos by avenging a loss from this year's U.S. Open finals to Ben Provisor. Fisher won the opening match in the best-of-three series finals, but Provisor came back to win the second match. The third and deciding match was a seesaw battle that went three periods before Fisher emerged with the hard-fought victory.
"It just came down to a hard fight and me defending," said Fisher. "That's pretty much how I won. Ben's tough."
Justin Ruiz, a 2005 World bronze medalist and seven-time U.S. Open champion, made his sixth U.S. World Team (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)So what does it mean to Ruiz to be back on the U.S. World Team?
"It means another shot to go wrestle the world's best and it gives me a shot to qualify the weight class for the Olympic Games, so it's big, real big," said Ruiz.
Four of the seven Greco-Roman wrestlers on this year's U.S. World Team were a part of the team that won the world championship as a team in 2007.
"I think we've got a great shot to make some waves at the World Championships," said Ruiz.
In the women's freestyle competition, a pair of past World finalists, Clarissa Chun and Elena Pirozhkova, came out victorious on Saturday night.
Chun, a 2008 World champion, dominated Alyssa Lampe in two straight matches to win the title at 48 kilos. Lampe defeated Chun a year ago to make the U.S. World Team.
"I'm just so focused," said Chun, who battled injuries last year. "Every day in practice I make promises to myself. Those promises are for me. I just have a good group of people helping me."
World silver medalist Elena Pirozhkova defeated Adeline Gray in two matches (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)"We know each pretty well," Pirozhkova said of Gray, who won the U.S. Open this year at 67 kilos. "We both train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs together. I know everything she does. She knows everything I do, basically, so it's just whoever brings it to the mat that day."
Saturday Night Finals Results
Men's Freestyle
55 kg:
Nick Simmons (Sunkist Kids) def. Sam Hazewinkel (Sunkist Kids), 2 matches to 1
Hazewinkel dec. Simmons, 0-1, 3-1, 1-0
Simmons dec. Hazewinkel, 0-4, 3-3, 5-3
Simmons dec. Hazewinkel, 2-6, 8-1, 6-1
66 kg:
Teyon Ware (Nittany Lion WC) def. Brent Metcalf (New York AC), 2 matches to 1
Ware dec. Metcalf, 1-0, 0-1, 1-1
Metcalf dec. Ware, 2-1, 0-6, 2-0
Ware dec. Metcalf, 2-0, 7-1
84 kg:
Cael Sanderson (Nittany Lion WC) def. Jake Herbert (New York AC), 2 matches to 0
Sanderson dec. Herbert, 4-1, 2-0
Sanderson dec. Herbert, 5-2, 2-0
120 kg:
Tervel Dlagnev (Sunkist Kids) def. Steve Mocco (New York AC), 2 matches to 1
Mocco dec. Dlagnev, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
Dlagnev dec. Mocco, 1-0, 3-0
Dlagnev dec. Mocco, 1-0, 1-0
Greco-Roman
60 kg:
Joe Betterman (Sunkist Kids) def. Jeremiah Davis (U.S. Army), 2 matches to 0
Betterman dec. Davis, 2-0, 0-6, 4-0
Betterman dec. Davis, 0-2, 3-0, 1-0
74 kg:
Jake Fisher (New York AC) def. Ben Provisor (Sunkist Kids), 2 matches to 1
Fisher dec. Provisor, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
Provisor dec. Fisher, 1-0, 3-0
Fisher dec. Provisor, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
96 kg:
Justin Ruiz (New York AC) def. John Lorenz (U.S. Army), 2 matches to 0
Ruiz dec. Lorenz, 2-0, 1-0
Ruiz dec. Lorenz, 1-0, 2-0
Women's Freestyle
48 kg:
Clarissa Chun (Sunkist Kids) def. Alyssa Lampe (Sunkist Kids), 2 matches to 0
Chun dec. Lampe, 6-0, 4-1
Chun dec. Lampe, 7-0, 7-1
63 kg:
Elena Pirozhkova (Gator WC) def. Adeline Gray (New York AC), 2 matches to 0
Pirozhkova dec. Gray, 2-0, 1-0
Pirozhkova dec. Gray, 2-0, 1-0
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