#GrecoMonday: NMU-OTS supports Dave Schultz Memorial with large and talented team
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
NMU-OTS wrestler Sammy Jones of the NYAC locks up a gut wrench on Travis Rice in the 63 kg finals at the Dave Schultz Memorial. Photo by Larry Slater.
If you were watching the Dave Schultz Memorial International’s Greco-Roman division this past weekend, you may have noticed a lot of athletes from the Northern Michigan University – Olympic Training Site team. That was not by accident. The NMU-OTS program, under the direction of coaches Rob Hermann and Andy Bisek, has made competing in this tournament a major priority.
NMU-OTS had 25 wrestlers in the draw, a variety of athletes. Many made the medal rounds. Other had a bit of a rough go. Performance is always important for the Northern Michigan athletes, but at this event, learning is also a very big part of the equation.
“For some of these guys, this is the first time they are out of the room this year. It is an international tournament and we want to support our own international tournament. The more matches you get, the better you get. They need to be here,” said Coach Hermann.
Coaches Hermann and Bisek understand that this is still early in the season, part of the process of developing each athlete on the team.
“It’s about competing against the best guys and making a match out of it. They are going to make mistakes, but these mistakes, we will be able to clean them up in our room, and be better the next time we leave our room. This is all practice. The Schultz Memorial, the Bill Farrell International, the overseas trips, are all practice for making the Junior World Team and the Senior World Team. We take these tournaments in stride, and we want to learn from it,” said Herman.
Two NMU-OTS athletes won gold medals, Randon Miranda (55 kg) and Sammy Jones (63 kg). Capturing silver medals was Carter Nielsen (82 kg). Taking bronze were Dalton Roberts (60 kg), Austin Morrow (67 kg), Anthonie Linares (72 kg) and Jesse Porter (77 kg).
“They know we are here. We have a lot of guys wrestling for a medal. We have about four or five Juniors here, and it is going to help them make that Junior World Team. We like having the Juniors wrestling with the Seniors,” said Hermann.
If you look back over the years, Northern Michigan’s Greco-Roman program has made a big difference in the performance of the United States at the world level.
“With the numbers we have in our room, iron sharpens iron. We have more than 50 guys training together full-time in Greco. We have Andy Bisek as our coach and he is running all the practices. With his guidance, and both of us getting the guys in the room, you can only get better. It’s a proven fact that we had nine World Team members on various age-group teams. We expect to do just as well this year,” said Hermann.
Not only did current NMU-OTS wrestlers compete well, but some other wrestlers who trained there in the past also won medals. Schultz silver medalists Leslie Fuenffinger (60 kg) and Travis Rice (63 kg) were at Northern Michigan at one time during their careers, as well as numerous others in the Schultz draw.
“I have been there nine years, and the program has been going for about 18 years. Northern Michigan is the backbone of Greco-Roman wrestling. We are a developmental program, but we are also a Senior-level program. When our wrestlers graduate, some of them are staying up there. If helps our Juniors get that much better, that much quicker. There aren’t many places you can go to get a degree and train Greco-Roman fulltime,” said Hermann.
Hermann will be leading a group of 24 wrestlers, including NMU-OTS athletes and other age-group Greco wrestlers, on a tour to the Austria Junior Open in late February. This trip is another step in developing the young athletes with more international experience, as well as preparation for this summer’s Junior World Championships.
“You wrestle guys the same age. We will have a great camp with Finland, Germany, Czechia and Austria. If you are on a Junior World Team, you better get overseas before you go over to the World Championships,” said Hermann.
GRECO NOTES
Northern Michigan was not the only college-based Greco-Roman team at the Dave Schultz. Williams Baptist’s Greco-Roman had six entries, under the direction of Coach Jon Drendel. While the WBU Greco team did not bring home a medal from Colorado Springs, many won matches and were able to get high-level Greco-Roman experience.
2014 Greco-Roman World Team member Joe Rau of the Titan Mercury WC attempted to become a “double champion” at the Dave Schultz Memorial, entering both styles at the tournament at 87 kg. In the Greco-Roman semifinals, he was defeated by Alan Vera of the Florida Jets, the Cuban immigrant who has just been cleared to compete for the USA, and finished with a Greco bronze. In freestyle, Rau was able to reach the medal rounds, placing fourth at 86 kg after losing a wild 20-7 bout against Brett Pfarr in the bronze-medal match. Rau trains in both styles at the Chicago Regional Training Center, and has done freestyle at the Senior level in the past.
2016 Olympian and four-time Greco-Roman World Team member Robby Smith was coaching athletes from the Chicago Regional Training Center, not only in Greco-Roman, but also in the freestyle tournament.
The 60 kg weight class at the Dave Schultz Memorial had some deep talent, with 2017 World Team member Ildar Hafizov claiming gold, 2018 U.S. Open runner-up Leslie Fuenffinger taking silver and 2018 World Team member Dalton Roberts getting bronze. Fuenffinger avenged his 2018 U.S. Open finals loss to Roberts with a 9-8 win in the Schultz semifinals, the exact same score Roberts beat him by in Las Vegas last year. Hafizov won his second Schultz title, with his last gold medal coming when he represented Uzbekistan back in 2010.
The USA will send strong delegations to both UWW Greco-Roman ranking tournaments in February, the Grand Prix Zagreb Open in Zagreb, Croatia, Feb. 9-10 and the Hungarian Grand Prix in Gyor, Hungary, Fec. 23-24. U.S. rosters for both events will be released shortly.
Note: USA Wrestling will post a feature on a different aspect of the organization each day of the work week. Mondays belong to Greco-Roman.
If you were watching the Dave Schultz Memorial International’s Greco-Roman division this past weekend, you may have noticed a lot of athletes from the Northern Michigan University – Olympic Training Site team. That was not by accident. The NMU-OTS program, under the direction of coaches Rob Hermann and Andy Bisek, has made competing in this tournament a major priority.
NMU-OTS had 25 wrestlers in the draw, a variety of athletes. Many made the medal rounds. Other had a bit of a rough go. Performance is always important for the Northern Michigan athletes, but at this event, learning is also a very big part of the equation.
“For some of these guys, this is the first time they are out of the room this year. It is an international tournament and we want to support our own international tournament. The more matches you get, the better you get. They need to be here,” said Coach Hermann.
Coaches Hermann and Bisek understand that this is still early in the season, part of the process of developing each athlete on the team.
“It’s about competing against the best guys and making a match out of it. They are going to make mistakes, but these mistakes, we will be able to clean them up in our room, and be better the next time we leave our room. This is all practice. The Schultz Memorial, the Bill Farrell International, the overseas trips, are all practice for making the Junior World Team and the Senior World Team. We take these tournaments in stride, and we want to learn from it,” said Herman.
Two NMU-OTS athletes won gold medals, Randon Miranda (55 kg) and Sammy Jones (63 kg). Capturing silver medals was Carter Nielsen (82 kg). Taking bronze were Dalton Roberts (60 kg), Austin Morrow (67 kg), Anthonie Linares (72 kg) and Jesse Porter (77 kg).
“They know we are here. We have a lot of guys wrestling for a medal. We have about four or five Juniors here, and it is going to help them make that Junior World Team. We like having the Juniors wrestling with the Seniors,” said Hermann.
If you look back over the years, Northern Michigan’s Greco-Roman program has made a big difference in the performance of the United States at the world level.
“With the numbers we have in our room, iron sharpens iron. We have more than 50 guys training together full-time in Greco. We have Andy Bisek as our coach and he is running all the practices. With his guidance, and both of us getting the guys in the room, you can only get better. It’s a proven fact that we had nine World Team members on various age-group teams. We expect to do just as well this year,” said Hermann.
Not only did current NMU-OTS wrestlers compete well, but some other wrestlers who trained there in the past also won medals. Schultz silver medalists Leslie Fuenffinger (60 kg) and Travis Rice (63 kg) were at Northern Michigan at one time during their careers, as well as numerous others in the Schultz draw.
“I have been there nine years, and the program has been going for about 18 years. Northern Michigan is the backbone of Greco-Roman wrestling. We are a developmental program, but we are also a Senior-level program. When our wrestlers graduate, some of them are staying up there. If helps our Juniors get that much better, that much quicker. There aren’t many places you can go to get a degree and train Greco-Roman fulltime,” said Hermann.
Hermann will be leading a group of 24 wrestlers, including NMU-OTS athletes and other age-group Greco wrestlers, on a tour to the Austria Junior Open in late February. This trip is another step in developing the young athletes with more international experience, as well as preparation for this summer’s Junior World Championships.
“You wrestle guys the same age. We will have a great camp with Finland, Germany, Czechia and Austria. If you are on a Junior World Team, you better get overseas before you go over to the World Championships,” said Hermann.
GRECO NOTES
Northern Michigan was not the only college-based Greco-Roman team at the Dave Schultz. Williams Baptist’s Greco-Roman had six entries, under the direction of Coach Jon Drendel. While the WBU Greco team did not bring home a medal from Colorado Springs, many won matches and were able to get high-level Greco-Roman experience.
2014 Greco-Roman World Team member Joe Rau of the Titan Mercury WC attempted to become a “double champion” at the Dave Schultz Memorial, entering both styles at the tournament at 87 kg. In the Greco-Roman semifinals, he was defeated by Alan Vera of the Florida Jets, the Cuban immigrant who has just been cleared to compete for the USA, and finished with a Greco bronze. In freestyle, Rau was able to reach the medal rounds, placing fourth at 86 kg after losing a wild 20-7 bout against Brett Pfarr in the bronze-medal match. Rau trains in both styles at the Chicago Regional Training Center, and has done freestyle at the Senior level in the past.
2016 Olympian and four-time Greco-Roman World Team member Robby Smith was coaching athletes from the Chicago Regional Training Center, not only in Greco-Roman, but also in the freestyle tournament.
The 60 kg weight class at the Dave Schultz Memorial had some deep talent, with 2017 World Team member Ildar Hafizov claiming gold, 2018 U.S. Open runner-up Leslie Fuenffinger taking silver and 2018 World Team member Dalton Roberts getting bronze. Fuenffinger avenged his 2018 U.S. Open finals loss to Roberts with a 9-8 win in the Schultz semifinals, the exact same score Roberts beat him by in Las Vegas last year. Hafizov won his second Schultz title, with his last gold medal coming when he represented Uzbekistan back in 2010.
The USA will send strong delegations to both UWW Greco-Roman ranking tournaments in February, the Grand Prix Zagreb Open in Zagreb, Croatia, Feb. 9-10 and the Hungarian Grand Prix in Gyor, Hungary, Fec. 23-24. U.S. rosters for both events will be released shortly.
Note: USA Wrestling will post a feature on a different aspect of the organization each day of the work week. Mondays belong to Greco-Roman.
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