UPDATED: BAKU BLOG: Dlagnev wins title as Baku trip nears its conclusion
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by Andy Hrovat
Well, our camp is almost over. All that's left is the banquet. We leave tomorrow morning at 5 a.m., so it will be an early morning. I am really excited to get back - this trip has just been a little long.
Last night, the dual was a little crazy. At weigh-ins, FILA wanted us to move the dual from 6 p.m. to 4 p.m. We weighed in at 2:30 p.m., so that barely left us time to go back and get our gear, let alone the guys cutting weight time to recover.
Eventually, FILA and all of us came to the agreement to wrestle at 7 p.m. after the women's finals. I was really impressed with the way we wrestled as a team. Bunch was hurting from cutting a little weight and he started the night off by beating the European champ. Caldwell wrestled tough and when he learns the freestyle game he will be a good one. Dustin wrestled hard and was right there with one of the best in the world. Jake came out hard but has been struggling with his asthma due to the pollution. Bryce wrestled hard and came out with a victory.
I wrestled the Olympic bronze medalist and I wrestled hard. He came at me and took a shot to my left leg. I wasn't expecting it and off the single he laced me for one. He shut my offense down and that's how the period finished.
The second period we scrapped and both of us were taking shots. I stopped his high-crotch attempt and had him in a chest lock with my legs all the way sprawled out. I just couldn't keep his head underneath my body and he peaked out for a 2-point exposure. There was only about 15 seconds left when we went back to our feet and the period ended 2-0.
In the final match of the evening, Tervel beat the European champ in 3 periods. Every time I watch Tervel wrestle he impresses me. I think it's great the we have two of the best heavyweights in the world pushing each other to be greater.
The day of the tournament we woke up at 5:45 a.m. and met to eat breakfast at 6 a.m. We left for the arena at 6:40 a.m. and arrived at 7 a.m. The team got a hard warmup in and we stared off the day with 3 wins.
You always wrestle to win them all, but that's a pretty hard task to accomplish. We took some tough losses to quality opponents and some of them made the finals and others didn't. I lost to last year's Junior World champ in a high-scoring bout in the quarterfinals. In the 3rd period, I made one mistake with my hands and got caught reaching. The Russian hit a 3-point high crotch on me and the coaches challenged the call. We lost and I was now losing 4-0. When they reviewed the video, the cameraman missed the action so they couldn't tell the outcome. I was able to get a takedown and was in on another shot but I lost the leg trying to get a 3-point move. The Russian then lost 1-0, 1-0 in the semis to the champ.
Tervel again impressed everyone in the crowd by winning 3 matches to take the title. He again beat the European champ in 3 periods. I think we did a great job as a team and we are improving at a fast rate. I hope we can continue our progress and keep up the momentum going into the Worlds.
July 17
Well, it didn't take long to get over the long travel and 11-hour time change. I arrived and settled into my room around 1 a.m. The front desk didn't know what room I was in so I walked down the hall and yelled out Tervel's name until he opened the door. It was surprising how fast he answered because he just so happened to be using the bathroom when he heard me. I put my bags in the room and talked to Tervel and called Dr. Feldman ASAP. Tervel had just noticed a staph infection on his leg and I wanted to make sure the antibiotic Dr. Feldman gave me would help him out. He was pretty lucky I was able to give him some medicine.
We woke up around 9:30 a.m. to eat breakfast then got dressed and on the bus at 11 a.m. Today's training was three matches in the morning and two at night. It was almost like wrestling a tournament. I was paired up with the Olympic bronze medalist and European champ right away. I thought I wrestled well for my circumstances. The best part of wrestling him was to feel him. I believe I can beat him when we wrestle the dual on Saturday. My next match was another Olympian from Uzbekistan. I wrestled well for almost four minutes then I started to fatigue. The last match was a bust for me - I just had to tough it out and push through it.
Surprisingly, I didn't take a nap and stayed up until the next workout. Again, I was paired with the Azerbaijan wrestler. I wrestled better, going to the clinch in the first period. I might have exposed him but they didn't count it. The second period he scored twice and the third period I finally scored my first offensive points on him. My second match I wrestled a heavyweight and beat him. At this point, I was exhausted and ready to sleep. I came at a bad time for training, but a good time to get adjusted to the time. We had a team meeting about workouts and Zeke Jones told us we had the next day off the mats but we had a sauna and massage. The following day was off completely. I was well-rested and ready to go by Monday.
Since it's the week before a major tournament we have only worked out once a day this whole week. Every day I have been here I have wrestled better and every time I wrestle the Azerbaijani I close the gap more and more. It's just the confidence I need going into the dual and tournament.
In our spare time, we are doing a lot of things together as a team. Some days we will go to the beach when it's sunny or we will get out of the heat and play Mexican train dominoes. The team is really coming together and bonding. We just can't wait until we get back home.
July 14
Well, I have been in Azerbaijan now for 5 days and it feels like I have been gone forever.
I was expected to leave Colorado Springs on July 5, but I missed my flight. I am a new resident in Colorado and I am not used to looking at the airport I fly out of. I just assumed it was Colorado Springs so Sunday morning I went to their airport and was told I was supposed to be in Denver. This was no big deal so USA Wrestling was going to fly me out with Brandon Slay and Darrion Caldwell on Tuesday.
So Tuesday comes and Brandon and I get a ride to Denver from his wife. The two of us are on seperate flights to NYC. I go to my gate and I board my flight. Being tired, I fall asleep right away. I wake up almost 2 hours later and we are still at the gate. They finally let us off the plane but with no estimate as to when we are going to leave. At this point, I already knew I was going to miss my connection.
USA Wrestling made sure I could get out on Wednesday now. I ended up waiting almost 2 more hours before we board in Denver. I wasn't the only one who was delayed luckily. Brandon was in the air for almost 8 hours. His flight was delayed due to weather in NYC. He stayed at his friend's house and I stayed at the NYAC.
We met up at the AC for a steam in the morning then went to a deli for lunch. We then walked around Central Park before we headed to the airport. This was the longest travel I have ever had to get out of the U.S.
Last night, the dual was a little crazy. At weigh-ins, FILA wanted us to move the dual from 6 p.m. to 4 p.m. We weighed in at 2:30 p.m., so that barely left us time to go back and get our gear, let alone the guys cutting weight time to recover.
Eventually, FILA and all of us came to the agreement to wrestle at 7 p.m. after the women's finals. I was really impressed with the way we wrestled as a team. Bunch was hurting from cutting a little weight and he started the night off by beating the European champ. Caldwell wrestled tough and when he learns the freestyle game he will be a good one. Dustin wrestled hard and was right there with one of the best in the world. Jake came out hard but has been struggling with his asthma due to the pollution. Bryce wrestled hard and came out with a victory.
I wrestled the Olympic bronze medalist and I wrestled hard. He came at me and took a shot to my left leg. I wasn't expecting it and off the single he laced me for one. He shut my offense down and that's how the period finished.
The second period we scrapped and both of us were taking shots. I stopped his high-crotch attempt and had him in a chest lock with my legs all the way sprawled out. I just couldn't keep his head underneath my body and he peaked out for a 2-point exposure. There was only about 15 seconds left when we went back to our feet and the period ended 2-0.
In the final match of the evening, Tervel beat the European champ in 3 periods. Every time I watch Tervel wrestle he impresses me. I think it's great the we have two of the best heavyweights in the world pushing each other to be greater.
The day of the tournament we woke up at 5:45 a.m. and met to eat breakfast at 6 a.m. We left for the arena at 6:40 a.m. and arrived at 7 a.m. The team got a hard warmup in and we stared off the day with 3 wins.
You always wrestle to win them all, but that's a pretty hard task to accomplish. We took some tough losses to quality opponents and some of them made the finals and others didn't. I lost to last year's Junior World champ in a high-scoring bout in the quarterfinals. In the 3rd period, I made one mistake with my hands and got caught reaching. The Russian hit a 3-point high crotch on me and the coaches challenged the call. We lost and I was now losing 4-0. When they reviewed the video, the cameraman missed the action so they couldn't tell the outcome. I was able to get a takedown and was in on another shot but I lost the leg trying to get a 3-point move. The Russian then lost 1-0, 1-0 in the semis to the champ.
Tervel again impressed everyone in the crowd by winning 3 matches to take the title. He again beat the European champ in 3 periods. I think we did a great job as a team and we are improving at a fast rate. I hope we can continue our progress and keep up the momentum going into the Worlds.
July 17
Well, it didn't take long to get over the long travel and 11-hour time change. I arrived and settled into my room around 1 a.m. The front desk didn't know what room I was in so I walked down the hall and yelled out Tervel's name until he opened the door. It was surprising how fast he answered because he just so happened to be using the bathroom when he heard me. I put my bags in the room and talked to Tervel and called Dr. Feldman ASAP. Tervel had just noticed a staph infection on his leg and I wanted to make sure the antibiotic Dr. Feldman gave me would help him out. He was pretty lucky I was able to give him some medicine.
We woke up around 9:30 a.m. to eat breakfast then got dressed and on the bus at 11 a.m. Today's training was three matches in the morning and two at night. It was almost like wrestling a tournament. I was paired up with the Olympic bronze medalist and European champ right away. I thought I wrestled well for my circumstances. The best part of wrestling him was to feel him. I believe I can beat him when we wrestle the dual on Saturday. My next match was another Olympian from Uzbekistan. I wrestled well for almost four minutes then I started to fatigue. The last match was a bust for me - I just had to tough it out and push through it.
Surprisingly, I didn't take a nap and stayed up until the next workout. Again, I was paired with the Azerbaijan wrestler. I wrestled better, going to the clinch in the first period. I might have exposed him but they didn't count it. The second period he scored twice and the third period I finally scored my first offensive points on him. My second match I wrestled a heavyweight and beat him. At this point, I was exhausted and ready to sleep. I came at a bad time for training, but a good time to get adjusted to the time. We had a team meeting about workouts and Zeke Jones told us we had the next day off the mats but we had a sauna and massage. The following day was off completely. I was well-rested and ready to go by Monday.
Since it's the week before a major tournament we have only worked out once a day this whole week. Every day I have been here I have wrestled better and every time I wrestle the Azerbaijani I close the gap more and more. It's just the confidence I need going into the dual and tournament.
In our spare time, we are doing a lot of things together as a team. Some days we will go to the beach when it's sunny or we will get out of the heat and play Mexican train dominoes. The team is really coming together and bonding. We just can't wait until we get back home.
July 14
Well, I have been in Azerbaijan now for 5 days and it feels like I have been gone forever.
I was expected to leave Colorado Springs on July 5, but I missed my flight. I am a new resident in Colorado and I am not used to looking at the airport I fly out of. I just assumed it was Colorado Springs so Sunday morning I went to their airport and was told I was supposed to be in Denver. This was no big deal so USA Wrestling was going to fly me out with Brandon Slay and Darrion Caldwell on Tuesday.
So Tuesday comes and Brandon and I get a ride to Denver from his wife. The two of us are on seperate flights to NYC. I go to my gate and I board my flight. Being tired, I fall asleep right away. I wake up almost 2 hours later and we are still at the gate. They finally let us off the plane but with no estimate as to when we are going to leave. At this point, I already knew I was going to miss my connection.
USA Wrestling made sure I could get out on Wednesday now. I ended up waiting almost 2 more hours before we board in Denver. I wasn't the only one who was delayed luckily. Brandon was in the air for almost 8 hours. His flight was delayed due to weather in NYC. He stayed at his friend's house and I stayed at the NYAC.
We met up at the AC for a steam in the morning then went to a deli for lunch. We then walked around Central Park before we headed to the airport. This was the longest travel I have ever had to get out of the U.S.
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