#FreestyleFriday: Meet the coaches and athletes of the NYCRTC

Front page photo (left to right): Kendall Cross, Valentin Kalika, Lavion Mayes, Frank Chamizo, Nestor Taffur and Evan Henderson. Photo by Justin Hoch, jhoch.com.

While in New York City to cover the Henry Cejudo vs. TJ Dillashaw fight on Jan. 19, Taylor Miller of USA Wrestling visited the NYCRTC and sat down with the coaches and athletes for a fun get-to-know-the-athletes interview. Heading up the RTC are coaches Olympic champion Kendall Cross and Valentin Kalika. Making up the athletes are USA wrestlers Lavion Mayes and Evan Henderson and Italy’s World champion and Olympic bronze medalist Frank Chamizo and Colombia’s Nestor Taffur. Check out the video and get to know the NYCRTC athletes.

Freestyle Notes:

• Alex Dieringer avenged a loss from the 2013 Junior World Championships last week at the Ivan Yarygin Memorial. Dieringer, who lost to Junior World champion Alan Zaseev of Russia in the 2013 Junior World finals, tallied a win over Zaseev six years later in the 79 kg quarterfinals of the Yarygin with a 7-4 victory to move onto the semifinals. After coming up short in the semis, Dieringer advanced to the bronze-medal match, where he was slated to meet up once again with Zaseev. The Russian did not show up to weigh-ins, forfeiting the bout to Dieringer, who was awarded the bronze.
• Patrick Downey, who was one match shy of making the 2018 U.S. Senior National Team at 86 kg, was back in action last week, competing at the Dave Schultz Memorial International. Downey, a 2012 Junior World silver medalist, breezed past the competition in his bracket, scoring at least one four-point move in each of his three matches en route to 86 kg gold. It was Downey’s first Senior international gold medal.
• Elite Accelerator Program (EAP) athlete Aaron Brooks made a statement at the 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International, winning gold in his first Senior-level appearance. Wrestling at 79 kg, Brooks tallied two wins, including a first-period fall against Stacey Davis, followed by a 10-0 tech fall over a two-time NCAA DI All-American Nate Jackson. At 18 years old, Brooks is a 2017 Cadet World champion, a 2018 Junior World silver medalist and is already making a mark at the Senior level.
• Another young standout was Iowa State freshman David Carr, who took 2016 Olympian Frank Molinaro down to the wire in the 70 kg semifinals at the Schultz tournament. Carr, a 2016 Cadet World bronze winner, scored in the last 20 seconds but fell to Molinaro in a 9-8 shootout.

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