In the house on Sunday: Munoz and Moore examples of wrestlers giving back
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Derek Moore and Mark Munoz matside in Fargo, both helping coach Team California and giving time to young people.
We heard that Mark Munoz, an NCAA champion for Oklahoma State, a Junior World finalist and an accomplished MMA fighter was part of the Team California delegation as a coach. Even during his busiest years competing in mixed martial arts, Mark has remained active in wrestling, working with local kids in his community and showing up at major USA Wrestling events.
Mark was in the house during today’s session in Fargo, and was available when he wasn’t busy coaching the California wrestlers. Munoz is no longer fighting in MMA, but is a coach for a number of fighters. He also runs a wrestling club in his community. His son is a top wrestler, off to compete at Div. I Arizona State.
Munoz keeps busy in many other pursuits. He is about to take a multi-nation tour to U.S. military posts overseas, teaching active duty military how to use martial arts for protection. He is also starting an acting career.
What is most interesting is the major motion picture he stars in called Lumpia With a Vengeance. Munoz showed us the trailer of the film which is in post-production. He is the hero of an action film which plays on his Filipino-American heritage, and has a ton of twists and turns (appropriate for a wrestler, right?)
Click here for Movie Trailer featuring Mark Munoz
We caught Munoz in the corner on the raised center mat alongside another Team California coach and product of the state, Derek Moore. Like Munoz, he was an NCAA wrestling champion, staying in the state at Cal-State Davis. Moore joined the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program to pursue Olympic freestyle wrestling, and served our nation as a soldier for a number of years. He is currently an assistant coach under Lenny Zalesky at California Baptist, which is transitioning to Div. I status. Munoz and Moore are examples of so many past wrestling greats who stay involved and impact the lives of young people on a daily basis.
Although today only features freestyle wrestling, there are a number of U.S. Greco-Roman Olympians who are helping coach state associations in both styles.
1988 Greco-Roman Olympian and past World Team member Ike Anderson is back in Fargo coaching Team Colorado. Anderson spent many years as a USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman coach, and is a successful high school coach in Colorado.
1996 Olympic silver medalist and past World medalist Brandon Paulson is coaching freestyle and Greco-Roman with Team Minnesota. Paulson was recently inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. (We featured him in an In-The-House story in Fargo last year).
You can’t forget to include 1996 Olympian and 1997 World champion Les Gutches, USA Wrestling’s Associate Executive Director of Programs and Strategy, who is here as part of the USA Wrestling staff. He gets added to the NCAA champion list for his titles for Oregon State, as well.
Olympian and World Team member Eric Guerrero was on the floor. He represents another category worth noting, as the coach at the Oklahoma RTC, which is affliated with the University of Oklahoma. A native of California, Guerrero won three NCAA titles, and then coached at Oklahoma State, and remained in state when he took his RTC coaching post.
Another past Freestyle World Team member, Danny Felix, is coaching with Team Pennsylvania, and runs his own wrestling academy, after many years of coaching at the college level.
That was past Senior World Team member Shawn Bunch that you saw on the floor. A college star at Edinboro, who competed with the Ohio RTC while chasing his Olympic dream, Bunch is now competing in MMA. Along with Ben Askren and others, we start a new category for MMA athletes in Fargo.
We promised to start reporting on college assistant coaches, and will open that up with a pair who were past Senior World Team athletes, Tony Ramos and Obe Blanc. Both competed on the Senior World Team in men’s freestyle. Blanc is the newest Div. I assistant coach, just recently taking the job with host North Dakota State. Ramos is the assistant coach at North Carolina.
You can add Illinois RTC coach Bryan Medlin to the RTC coaching list, as Medlin is once again one of the coaches for powerhouse Team Illinois.
With the U.S. Marine Corps as the sponsor of the Junior/16U Nationals each year, many U.S. Marines are involved with the event. During the championship finals, active-duty Marines help with the presentations on center mat. However, two active-duty U.S. Marine wrestlers are here in a coaching capacity, as Camp Lejuene-based Marines Terrence Zaleski and Vaughan Monreal-Berner are among the Team North Carolina coaches.
One of the few top military wrestlers who represented both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, and this week coaching with Team Colorado is Aaron Sieracki. His day job is to coach women and men with the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).
More NCAA Div. I head coaches are starting to appear, as we add Troy Steiner of Fresno State, Zach Tanelli of Columbia and Steve Martin of Old Dominion to the list. (I am one of those guys who can tell the difference between the Steiner twins). Of course, Steiner joins our NCAA champion list.
Found another women’s college head coach in the house, Cliff Cushard of Adrian, who is also Michigan USA Wrestling’s Women’s Director. There are more, I am told.
We saw a number of other men’s college head coaches including Jim Moulsoff of Augsburg, NYU head coach Bruce Haberli, Link Davis of Emmanuel and Chuck Kearney of St. Mary.
As we start our list of men’s college assistant coaches, we note that Olympian Tervel Dlagnev, who was featured yesterday as an Olympian, is an assistant coach at Ohio State. Also seen on the floor of the Dome was Northern Iowa assistant Randy Pugh, Iowa assistant coach Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, Derek St. John of Iowa State, Gabe Dean of Cornell, Mike Evans of Campbell, Joe Dubuque of Princeton, Brad Dillon of Lehigh, Erkin Tadzhimetov of Utah Valley and Israel Silva of Fresno State. Throw a rock in the Fargodome, and you probably hit a college coach…
We get to add Dean and Dubuque to the NCAA champion list as well. Plus, we saw NCAA champion Jayson Ness (with Team Minnesota).
Assistant women’s college coaches in the mix include Julia Salata of King, who has been a Women’s National Team member a number of times and has coached Team New York for many years. Also, Adrian women’s college assistant Dominic Adams is Michigan’s girls national team head coach.
Hey, if you see anybody worthy of mention in the Dome, email me at gabbott@usawrestling.org
IN THE HOUSE SCOREBOARD (through Sunday)
Olympic medalists: Brandon Paulson
World champions: Les Gutches
Olympians: Eric Guerrero, Ike Anderson, Les Gutches, Eric Guerrero, Dan Dennis, Shawn Sheldon, Ben Askren, Tervel Dlagnev
World medalists: Leigh Jaynes, Tervel Dlagnev, Shawn Sheldon
World Team members: Tony Ramos, Obe Blanc, Danny Felix, Shawn Bunch, Tom Erikson, Veronica Carlson, Shawn Sheldon
NCAA Div. I head coaches: Troy Steiner of Fresno State, Zach Tanelli of Columbia, Steve Martin of Old Dominion, Jeremy Spates of SIU-Edwardsville, Chris Ayres of Princeton.
Other division college men’s head coaches: Jim Moulsoff of Augsburg, Bruce Haberli of NYU, Link Davis of Emmanuel, Chuck Kearney of St. Mary, Tom Erikson of Lyon, Alex Radsky of Washington and Lee.
Women’s college head coaches: Cliff Cushard of Adrian, Brandy Green of Limestone, Carlene Sluberski of the University of Providence, Sam Schmitz of McKendree, Donnie Stephens of the University of the Cumberlands
Men’s college assistant coaches – Tervel Dlagnev of Ohio State, Obe Blanc of North Dakota State, Tony Ramos of North Carolina, Northern Iowa assistant Randy Pugh, Iowa assistant coach Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, Derek St. John of Iowa State, Gabe Dean of Cornell, Mike Evans of Campbell, Derek Moore of California Baptist, Brad Dillon of Lehigh, Erkin Tadzhimetov of Utah Valley, Israel Silva of Fresno State.
Women’s college assistant coaches – Julia Salata of King, Dominic Adams of Adrian
RTC coaches – Eric Guerrero, Bryan Medlin
NCAA champions, all divisions: Mark Munoz, Derek Moore, Joe Dubuque, Troy Steiner, Derek Moore, Jayson Ness, Ben Askren, Max Askren, Tervel Dlagnev,
MMA athletes – Mark Munoz, Ben Askren, Shawn Bunch,
Past and present U.S. Military wrestlers – Aaron Sieracki, Terrence Zaleski, Vaughan Monreal-Berner
We heard that Mark Munoz, an NCAA champion for Oklahoma State, a Junior World finalist and an accomplished MMA fighter was part of the Team California delegation as a coach. Even during his busiest years competing in mixed martial arts, Mark has remained active in wrestling, working with local kids in his community and showing up at major USA Wrestling events.
Mark was in the house during today’s session in Fargo, and was available when he wasn’t busy coaching the California wrestlers. Munoz is no longer fighting in MMA, but is a coach for a number of fighters. He also runs a wrestling club in his community. His son is a top wrestler, off to compete at Div. I Arizona State.
Munoz keeps busy in many other pursuits. He is about to take a multi-nation tour to U.S. military posts overseas, teaching active duty military how to use martial arts for protection. He is also starting an acting career.
What is most interesting is the major motion picture he stars in called Lumpia With a Vengeance. Munoz showed us the trailer of the film which is in post-production. He is the hero of an action film which plays on his Filipino-American heritage, and has a ton of twists and turns (appropriate for a wrestler, right?)
Click here for Movie Trailer featuring Mark Munoz
We caught Munoz in the corner on the raised center mat alongside another Team California coach and product of the state, Derek Moore. Like Munoz, he was an NCAA wrestling champion, staying in the state at Cal-State Davis. Moore joined the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program to pursue Olympic freestyle wrestling, and served our nation as a soldier for a number of years. He is currently an assistant coach under Lenny Zalesky at California Baptist, which is transitioning to Div. I status. Munoz and Moore are examples of so many past wrestling greats who stay involved and impact the lives of young people on a daily basis.
Although today only features freestyle wrestling, there are a number of U.S. Greco-Roman Olympians who are helping coach state associations in both styles.
1988 Greco-Roman Olympian and past World Team member Ike Anderson is back in Fargo coaching Team Colorado. Anderson spent many years as a USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman coach, and is a successful high school coach in Colorado.
1996 Olympic silver medalist and past World medalist Brandon Paulson is coaching freestyle and Greco-Roman with Team Minnesota. Paulson was recently inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. (We featured him in an In-The-House story in Fargo last year).
You can’t forget to include 1996 Olympian and 1997 World champion Les Gutches, USA Wrestling’s Associate Executive Director of Programs and Strategy, who is here as part of the USA Wrestling staff. He gets added to the NCAA champion list for his titles for Oregon State, as well.
Olympian and World Team member Eric Guerrero was on the floor. He represents another category worth noting, as the coach at the Oklahoma RTC, which is affliated with the University of Oklahoma. A native of California, Guerrero won three NCAA titles, and then coached at Oklahoma State, and remained in state when he took his RTC coaching post.
Another past Freestyle World Team member, Danny Felix, is coaching with Team Pennsylvania, and runs his own wrestling academy, after many years of coaching at the college level.
That was past Senior World Team member Shawn Bunch that you saw on the floor. A college star at Edinboro, who competed with the Ohio RTC while chasing his Olympic dream, Bunch is now competing in MMA. Along with Ben Askren and others, we start a new category for MMA athletes in Fargo.
We promised to start reporting on college assistant coaches, and will open that up with a pair who were past Senior World Team athletes, Tony Ramos and Obe Blanc. Both competed on the Senior World Team in men’s freestyle. Blanc is the newest Div. I assistant coach, just recently taking the job with host North Dakota State. Ramos is the assistant coach at North Carolina.
You can add Illinois RTC coach Bryan Medlin to the RTC coaching list, as Medlin is once again one of the coaches for powerhouse Team Illinois.
With the U.S. Marine Corps as the sponsor of the Junior/16U Nationals each year, many U.S. Marines are involved with the event. During the championship finals, active-duty Marines help with the presentations on center mat. However, two active-duty U.S. Marine wrestlers are here in a coaching capacity, as Camp Lejuene-based Marines Terrence Zaleski and Vaughan Monreal-Berner are among the Team North Carolina coaches.
One of the few top military wrestlers who represented both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, and this week coaching with Team Colorado is Aaron Sieracki. His day job is to coach women and men with the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).
More NCAA Div. I head coaches are starting to appear, as we add Troy Steiner of Fresno State, Zach Tanelli of Columbia and Steve Martin of Old Dominion to the list. (I am one of those guys who can tell the difference between the Steiner twins). Of course, Steiner joins our NCAA champion list.
Found another women’s college head coach in the house, Cliff Cushard of Adrian, who is also Michigan USA Wrestling’s Women’s Director. There are more, I am told.
We saw a number of other men’s college head coaches including Jim Moulsoff of Augsburg, NYU head coach Bruce Haberli, Link Davis of Emmanuel and Chuck Kearney of St. Mary.
As we start our list of men’s college assistant coaches, we note that Olympian Tervel Dlagnev, who was featured yesterday as an Olympian, is an assistant coach at Ohio State. Also seen on the floor of the Dome was Northern Iowa assistant Randy Pugh, Iowa assistant coach Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, Derek St. John of Iowa State, Gabe Dean of Cornell, Mike Evans of Campbell, Joe Dubuque of Princeton, Brad Dillon of Lehigh, Erkin Tadzhimetov of Utah Valley and Israel Silva of Fresno State. Throw a rock in the Fargodome, and you probably hit a college coach…
We get to add Dean and Dubuque to the NCAA champion list as well. Plus, we saw NCAA champion Jayson Ness (with Team Minnesota).
Assistant women’s college coaches in the mix include Julia Salata of King, who has been a Women’s National Team member a number of times and has coached Team New York for many years. Also, Adrian women’s college assistant Dominic Adams is Michigan’s girls national team head coach.
Hey, if you see anybody worthy of mention in the Dome, email me at gabbott@usawrestling.org
IN THE HOUSE SCOREBOARD (through Sunday)
Olympic medalists: Brandon Paulson
World champions: Les Gutches
Olympians: Eric Guerrero, Ike Anderson, Les Gutches, Eric Guerrero, Dan Dennis, Shawn Sheldon, Ben Askren, Tervel Dlagnev
World medalists: Leigh Jaynes, Tervel Dlagnev, Shawn Sheldon
World Team members: Tony Ramos, Obe Blanc, Danny Felix, Shawn Bunch, Tom Erikson, Veronica Carlson, Shawn Sheldon
NCAA Div. I head coaches: Troy Steiner of Fresno State, Zach Tanelli of Columbia, Steve Martin of Old Dominion, Jeremy Spates of SIU-Edwardsville, Chris Ayres of Princeton.
Other division college men’s head coaches: Jim Moulsoff of Augsburg, Bruce Haberli of NYU, Link Davis of Emmanuel, Chuck Kearney of St. Mary, Tom Erikson of Lyon, Alex Radsky of Washington and Lee.
Women’s college head coaches: Cliff Cushard of Adrian, Brandy Green of Limestone, Carlene Sluberski of the University of Providence, Sam Schmitz of McKendree, Donnie Stephens of the University of the Cumberlands
Men’s college assistant coaches – Tervel Dlagnev of Ohio State, Obe Blanc of North Dakota State, Tony Ramos of North Carolina, Northern Iowa assistant Randy Pugh, Iowa assistant coach Ryan Morningstar of Iowa, Derek St. John of Iowa State, Gabe Dean of Cornell, Mike Evans of Campbell, Derek Moore of California Baptist, Brad Dillon of Lehigh, Erkin Tadzhimetov of Utah Valley, Israel Silva of Fresno State.
Women’s college assistant coaches – Julia Salata of King, Dominic Adams of Adrian
RTC coaches – Eric Guerrero, Bryan Medlin
NCAA champions, all divisions: Mark Munoz, Derek Moore, Joe Dubuque, Troy Steiner, Derek Moore, Jayson Ness, Ben Askren, Max Askren, Tervel Dlagnev,
MMA athletes – Mark Munoz, Ben Askren, Shawn Bunch,
Past and present U.S. Military wrestlers – Aaron Sieracki, Terrence Zaleski, Vaughan Monreal-Berner
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