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Uzbekistan finishes 4-0 at Kit Carson Cup, with USA Team II (NYAC) and Japan finishing 3-1

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by Gary Abbott

Dremiel Byers of the U.S. Army was unbeaten during the 2010 Kit Carson Cup

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Uzbekistan finished with a 4-0 record, the only one of the eight teams entered in the Kit Carson Cup to end the day undefeated.

The Kit Carson Cup, an international Greco-Roman dual meet tournament, was held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. There were four full teams of U.S. athletes, competing against national teams from Bulgaria, China, Japan and Uzbekistan.

In the final dual meet of the day, the only two remaining undefeated teams in the field met, as Uzbekistan beat USA Team II New York Athletic Club, 5-2. Uzbekistan won the first five matches of the dual meet, including a win at 60 kg/132 lbs. by 2001 World Champion Dilshod Aripov. Another key win for Uzbekistan came at 55 kg/121 lbs., when Ildar Hafizov pin 2008 Olympian Spenser Mango (St. Louis, Mo./New York AC) in the second period.

USA Team II New York Athletic Club, as well as Japan, finished with 3-1 final dual meet records.

Each U.S. team competed against the four foreign nations. Each foreign team faced all four of the U.S. squads.

"It was a great day. We had 16 dual meets today. Americans wrestling foreigners, one after another after another. This, combined with these teams competing at the Dave Schultz Memorial next week, is tremendous," said National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser.

Two U.S. wrestlers, both who were competing on the USA Team II New York Athletic Club team, finished with perfect 4-0 records: Justin Ruiz, Boise, Idaho (New York AC) at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. and Brandon Rupp (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

All four of the U.S. wrestlers at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. finished without a loss. The other three heavyweights had 3-0 records, plus won a match by forfeit to finish 4-0, joining Rupp as unbeaten at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. They were Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), Tim Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) and Peter Kowalczuk (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids).

A moment of silence was held for the late Jacob Curby, a Greco-Roman Team USA athlete who passed away last Friday at age 25. Many of the U.S. competitors were friends or teammates of Jake's, and came to compete to honor his memory.

2006 World champion Joe Warren (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) competed for the first time since 2007. He lost his two matches of the day, falling to Jiang Sheng of China, 0-1, 2-2 and Ryutaro Matsumoto of Japan, 0-3, 0-1.

All four of these international teams will also compete at the annual Dave Schultz Memorial International, set for the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Feb. 4-6.

KIT CARSON CUP
At Colorado Springs, Colo., January 30

Team Records
Uzbekistan, 4-0
USA Team II New York Athletic Club, 3-1
Japan, 3-1
USA Team I Army, 2-2
Bulgaria, 2-2
China, 1-3
USA Team III Sunkist Kids/Minnesota Storm, 1-3
USA Team IV Junior/University, 0-4

Click here for all of the dual meet results

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