USA brings home three gold medals and one team trophy at the Zagreb International Cadet Greco-Roman Open

Photo of U.S. Cadet Greco-Roman exchange team, courtesy of Lucas Steldt.


Below is a report from the Zagreb Croatian Cadet Greco-Roman International, held over the past weekend in Croatia.

Nate Rubino 45kg
Gold

What happened: Rubino takes Gold again in Zagreb, Croatia. Nate lost the first match to his German counterpart. With a hard fought battle, he dropped a one point decision. Since there was only two athletes, the German coach asked to do another match. We abliged eagerly. In the second match, Nate dominated the German with a technical fall. Nate was awarded the Gold since his win was higher in value.

Medalists

Gold – James Rubino (USA)

Silver – Albert Nakaev (Germany)

Rubino says: “Last year I went on this same trip, I didn’t do very good, but it helped me a lot in positioning and what its like to wrestle in an international tournament. I think that it helped me make it to the finals at Fargo. This year was much different I knew what to expect this time and it paid off with two gold medals, and I plan on taking what I have learned and my added confidence too Fargo. My head coach Zac Dominguez also helped me so much in my knowledge of Greco Roman wrestling”

Caden Arps 50kg
Silver

What happened: We moved Cayden up a category to get matches. At the 48 kg category there were no opponents. Cayden again wrestled two matches dropping both. His opponent from Germany was clearly more experienced which is obvious with every foreign opponent. But Cayden is fresh to Greco and the talent is there. It’s our job as USA Greco and Greco coaches as a community to develop him.

Medalists

Gold – Aaron Belscheidt (Germany)

Silver – Caden Arps (USA)

Arps says: “This is my first year of Cadet and first International trip. This trip has taught me a lot of different styles and techniques that I will use at home. I went on this trip knowing nothing about the International enviroment. On this trip I had great teammates to push me to better myself during training. This trip helped me so much on knowledge of Greco. Going on this trip has mentally and physically helped me with my wrestling”.

Conor Knopick 55kg
Gold

What happened: This blonde-haired wonder boy lit the gym up in Zegreb, Croatia with his athletic talents and the fight he brought to the mat. His record for the day was 4-0 using the Nordic system. The other coaches noticed his abilities as well and gave that smile of approval as he walked off the mat. As Team USA and a friend of his coach Zac Dominiquez (MWC), I was very proud for Conor and Zac.


Medalists

Gold – Conor Knopick (USA)

Silver – Faisal Alldossary (KSA)

Bronze – Numan Bayram (Germany)

Knopick says: “This is my second year being on this trip and even though I’ve learned a lot from all my coaches at MWC, you can learn so much from these international trips. The style of wrestling overseas compared to the United States are so far away from each other. The things I took over to this trip of Greco knowledge from all my coaches at MWC helped me so much to get to the top of the podium. Even though my first Tournament in Serbia didn’t go as I wanted it to. I adapted and overcame thanks to Zac and Lucas and I’m thankful for this opportunity to represent the United States in a good fashion.”

Logan Hatch 65 kg
5th place

What happened: Logan looked better but was snuffed out of finding a win.

Medalists

Gold – Samuel Bellscheids (Germany)

Silver – Luka Molbabic (Croatia)

Bronze – Aleksa Ilic (Serbia)

Hatch says: “Only five weeks ago I was cleared to wrestle again. The past two years have been rough on injuries. First, I broke my back in February of 2017 putting me out for eight long months. I attempted to come back for the 2018 Folkstyle season but ended up breaking my leg in January during practice. Even though I was unable to come out with a win on this trip, it was great to get back on the mat and compete. I learned a lot during the training camp in Serbia and can’t wait to get back to the room at home to work on what I have learned. I had great teammates on this trip, pushing me to go harder and better myself. We had a fun time on and off the mat.”


Andy Garcia 110kg
Gold

What happened: Revenge. Andy avenged two previous losses from the Saturday before in Subotica, Serbia. What a week of training can do!! I can safely vote Andy most improved on this tour. A week ago, he was losing positions and having trouble finding offense. This week, he controlled the center and the hand fight. Scoring off front head locks and off balances, he notched two dominant wins to win the gold.

Medalists

Gold – Andy Garcia (USA)

Silver – Velijko Petrakovic (Serbia)

Bronze – David Ivanko (Croatia)

Garcia says: “Coming into this trip I was worried about the level I was wrestling at. Coming off the plane into the first tournament, I don’t think I did as much on the mat as I could have. However during the training the camp after the first practice, Coach Lucas came to me and told me do you see now that you can battle with these guys. If you battle and hand fight and tire them out the first three minutes, the last minute you work your offense and you score. During the training camp, I felt better in positions that I had lost in during the first tournament. Coming into the second tournament I felt good I felt relaxed and ready. Both matches I wrestled I was losing on the scoreboard but I felt confident that the last minute of each match was going to be my time to score. The first match I was losing 0-3 and came back and won 6-3. My second match I was down 0-5 and stopped a gut wrench and put the kid on his back and from there I started gaining ground and came back to tech the kid. Lucas was right the first three minutes were grind time and the last minute was time to go score and work my offense.”

Team Summary


Team USA is bringing home a team trophy. As a Team we placed 3rd. What gave us fighting power in the team race was the fact the other nations only brought World Team athletes. In every other nation they use a point system of sorts to decide who they will sponsor at the World Championships. The process of a world team trial as a tournament to decided the participants at Worlds is foreign to all other nations. All the nations only brought 4-5 athletes. These were the 4-5 athletes they will sponsor at the World Championships just a few weeks from now back here in Zagreb, Croatia. As USA brings a whole team, most nations only bring a few choice athletes that have a chance of becoming medalists.