Army team places three athletes and its coach on 2009 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team

U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program heavyweight wrestler Staff Sgt. Dremiel Byers lifts New York Athletic Club's Brandon Rupp en route to victory in the finals of the Greco-Roman 264.5-pound division of the 2009 USA Wrestling World Team Trials May 30 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Photo by Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs

The U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program put an unprecedented three Greco-Roman wrestlers and a coach on Team USA for the 2009 World Wrestling Championships.

Staff Sgt. Dremiel Byers, Spc. Faruk Sahin and Pfc. Jeremiah Davis won their respective weight classes in the 2009 USA Wrestling World Team Trials at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 30-31.

WCAP coach Staff Sgt. Shon Lewis, along with Minnesota Storm coach Dan Chandler, will lead them to Herning, Denmark, for the World Championships, scheduled for Sept. 21-27.

Although two of the Army's reining national champions - Sgt. Brad Ahearn and Spc. Jermaine Hodge - lost during the first round of the challenge tournament, five other Soldiers muscled up and reached the finals of the World Team Trials.

"That's encouraging to me," Lewis said. "Between Las Vegas [site of the U.S. National Championships] and here, we had a total of seven different guys in the finals. That's going to make me work even harder because now I know I have seven guys who can get it done."

Byers ended the Soldiers' rough first day of the tournament on a high note by earning his sixth berth in the World Championships with a two-match victory over New York Athletic Club's Brandon Rupp of Pocatello, Idaho, in their best-of-three championship series at 264.5 pounds.

"I definitely wanted to get it done; I just wish I could've done it with more flair," said Byers, who won both matches in two straight periods by scores of 2-0, 1-0 and 1-0, 2-0. "When the boss (Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Commander Col. Brick Miller) is in the house, you want to do more. I just knew after that weight cut to keep it simple and basic and it would all work out, so that's the way I played it."

Byers, a 2002 world champion and 2008 Olympian, had to regain energy after cutting seven kilograms overnight to make weight, but said he could "fake getting tired until I'm dead" while on the mat.

"They told me my whole life if I could just do something with my stomach I would look real good," Byers quipped. "I've convinced myself that a line down the middle is better than a six-pack. So a two-pack will do it.

"I had to get off six or seven kilos yesterday. Things like that shouldn't happen to a guy who calls himself a vet, but even if it's horrible, there's a lesson to be learned. I know that I can get it off if I ever need to get it off again. I was fortunate to have good coaches there to make me do it, and remind me that people are counting on me to get it done, and why we're doing this."

Lewis said earlier in the day that he "would still bet the farm" on Byers pulling through.

"He had a lack of focus and let his weight get a little bit too high and he was struggling," Lewis said. "The blessing in disguise was that he's a previous world medalist so he was able to sit out until 6 o'clock that evening, so he was able to recover."

"I'm getting older and it's getting harder, but I know I can still get it done," said Byers, 34, of Kings Mountain, N.C. "I've got to stick around until the next Olympic Games, of course. I feel like I can win that one. I really want it. There's a lot of fight left in me."

Byers said the support he receives is unmatched in the world of Olympic-style wrestling.

"My teammates aren't just teammates," he said. "Those are my brothers and sisters in arms. We're a family, and everything we do is to push and motivate each other. I know those guys are behind me, and they needed me to get this done."

Davis inspired the Soldiers' rally on Sunday with a semifinal victory over reining national champion and former U.S. World Team member Joe Betterman, the top-seeded wrestler in the tournament at 132 pounds. After defeating WCAP teammate Spc. Marco Lara in the first round, Davis prevailed 3-2, 0-5, 1-0 over Betterman.

"We knew that was doable," Lewis said. "We were elated, but we weren't surprised."

On the other side of the 132-pound bracket, Staff Sgt. Glenn Garrison prevailed 0-1, 1-0, 3-0 over Pfc. Nathan Piasecki to set up an All-Army finale.

Davis managed to throw Garrison and won the division in two straight matches.

"He had a little more on Garrison than Garrison had on him, and he had a game plan," Lewis said. "It showed in the finals.

"We didn't see 100 percent of Jeremiah [Davis]. In his semifinal match, he wrestled at probably 70 percent of his ability, and in the finals he was about 75 percent. He has another 25 percent that he can produce and we're going to be working hard to get that coming into the World Championships."

Lewis praised Garrison, 35, a three-time U.S. World Team Trials runner-up.

"What's really great about Garrison is that he's a real team player," Lewis said. "Everybody in that weight class - Nathan Piasecki, Marco Lara, Jeremiah Davis, Mark Bradley - he's spending time with them and helping them try to get better while he's trying to improve. He might not think so, but he has to take a share of that victory for Jeremiah Davis because he's worked with Jeremiah and helped him over and over and over.

"But that's what we do because we really are a family. Garrison understands that he's coming close to the end - this is his last quad - and after he's finished, Jeremiah and all those other guys are the ones we're going to be pushing to get things done.

"One day, Jeremiah will be the guy teaching all the young guys his stuff."

WCAP provided five of the nine wrestlers in that weight class.

"It's beautiful because iron sharpens iron," Lewis said of the luxury of having five Soldiers in the Greco-Roman 60-kilogram division of the World Team Trials. "I just blow the whistle and get out of the way because they are like pit bulls off the leash."

Ditto for Spc. Faruk Sahin, who manhandled Gator Wrestling Club's Mark Rial in two straight periods to win the crown at 145.5 pounds.

"Nobody can beat me, is that good enough?" said Sahin, 33, a former member of the Turkish Junior National Team who became a U.S. citizen in 2004. "Now I have to go back home, kiss the wife and baby, and start practicing right away because I don't have very much time to get ready. I don't want to talk too much about it. Main thing: stop talking, start working."

Lewis agrees that Sahin has much work to do, but he also realizes that Sahin is on a roll.

"This is probably the most sound I have seen Faruk wrestle from start to finish," Lewis said. "Usually, in these tournaments, he has some type of lapse. He did pretty well in Vegas, too, so he's had back-to-back tournaments where he's been sound. That's encouraging, but we still have a lot of work to do before we get to Denmark for the World Championships."

Staff Sgt. Jess Hargrave, who never had placed higher than fourth in the U.S. Nationals or World Team Trials, made it to the finals before losing to two-time world bronze medalist Harry Lester of New York Athletic Club in the 163-pound class.

"Hargrave came out of nowhere," Lewis said. "He must have read that article that recorded me as saying he didn't have a shot at 74 kilos [at nationals]. He proved me wrong and the rest of my staff wrong.

"In the first match, he had two-time world bronze medalist Harry Lester on his back and we thought he was pinned, but of course I guess when you have two world medals they don't call them as fast.

"That was huge for his confidence. He beat two guys who have consistently been second and third, and he beat them back-to-back. And being right there in the match with Harry Lester in the finals, that's going to do wonders for us and him in the years to come."

The winning Soldiers' next mission is to mount the podium in Denmark to see the Stars and Stripes raised and hear Byers' favorite song played: "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"Go back over there and get a medal, and keep winning," Byers said. "Keep winning for the Army. I say it all the time: I'm fortunate to be a part of the World Class Athlete Program. There are people out there doing this same job - the same MOS: 92 Yankee - and these guys are in Iraq and Afghanistan. The least I can do is win for them. They're watching, and I hear from them. It's important. It's important."

"The Black and Gold Army wrestling team is bigger than just wrestling," Lewis said. "We talk about everybody carrying their own ruck, and the guys have bought into that. These guys are doing a good job of getting the Army name out there and putting them on the map when it comes to the sport of wrestling.

"I'll take this as a good moment, but I'm hoping that my proudest moment of '09 will be in Denmark, laughing and telling stories through the night when we get a couple medals from the World Championships."