Photo By Tim Hipps | U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program Sgt. Justin "Harry" Lester wins his sixth...... read more read more
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LAS VEGAS -- Army wrestlers won their first overall team title and 13th Greco-Roman team crown during the 2015 U.S. Open Wrestling Championships at the South Point Arena here, May 8 - 9.
Seven Soldiers won individual crowns to help the Black and Gold claim the team title for combined men's Greco-Roman, men's freestyle and women's freestyle. Eleven of 29 Army competitors reached the finals of the national championships for Olympic-style wrestling.
"This started some years ago," said Shon Lewis, head coach of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, or WCAP, wrestlers stationed on Fort Carson, Colorado. "We started building a tradition and expectations and raising the bar, and I've just been fortunate enough to get a group of guys and gals that's been able to say, 'OK, coach, how high do you want me to go? I'll go that high and a little bit higher.'"
Two-time Olympian Sgt. Spenser Mango won his seventh U.S. Open crown with a 5-0 victory over 2013 World Team member Jesse Thielke in the finals of the 59-kilogram/130-pound Greco-Roman division.
"The coaches told me they really needed this win, and that was a first for me," said Mango, 28, who recently moved up one weight division. "I've never been in that position because I always usually go first, being in the smallest weight class. But coach said, 'Hey, this team race is close. We need you to pull this one out.' He told me, 'Hey, champ, bring it home for us.' I had that hanging over my head, and one person you don't want to let down is coach Lewis.
"So I went out there and gave it my all - got out, got an early lead, and stayed on them. If it was a different situation, maybe I would have tried a big throw or something, but I played it safe tonight. I went out there and scored my sure points, wrestled smart, and picked up the W."
Lewis laughed when told what Mango said about being called upon to keep the Army in the championship hunt.
"He made his mind up a long time ago, before he got to Las Vegas, that he was going to get it done," Lewis said.
Mango's performance followed impressive runner-up finishes at the Hungarian Grand Prix and Pan American Championships.
"We have the World Championships in [Las] Vegas this year, so I'm just taking it one tournament at a time, trying to knock all these tournaments out, and that paves the road to Rio," Mango said. "I'm grateful for this Army WCAP opportunity. I honestly don't know what I'd be doing without it. I might be a Soldier for life."
Sgt. Justin "Harry" Lester, an Olympian and two-time world bronze medalist, won his sixth U.S. Open title with a 7-2 victory over Pat Smith in the Greco-Roman 71-kilogram/156-pound weight class.
"I'm really feeling good this tournament; no major injuries; not hurting at all; weight cut went excellent," Lester continued. "I didn't get that many matches, but the matches I did get, I made them count. I got some moves in that I wanted to try, so it was a good tournament for me."
Lester competed in the 2009 and 2014 World Championships. His goals are to compete at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, before assessing his military future.
"Joining the Army was a second wind for me," said Lester, 31. "I got around a good group of people with the coaches and the athletes, and it was kind of like a revival for me and made me want to wrestle. I've got one more match to make this world team. I've got to get on top of that medal stand this year, and we'll take it from there."
"I'm very grateful for the opportunity IMCOM [U.S. Army Installation Management Command] and WCAP has given me, so it's probably going to be time to give back to the Army. I have to figure out a way to serve my country in the best way that I can."
Two-time U.S. World Team member WCAP Sgt. Caylor Williams, 24, cruised to a 13-1 technical fall victory over Kevin Beazley, at 98 kilograms/216 pounds, for his third consecutive U.S. Open Greco-Roman crown.
"Most of my accomplishments can't be measured with victories on the mat - most of them are measured in my heart and my mind: growing as a person, growing as a Soldier, growing as an adult, making that jump from boyhood to manhood," Williams said. "Before I joined the Army, I didn't know what I was fighting for. I was just out there fighting. … Now, like my drill sergeant told me, if you need motivation to figure out what you're doing, look to your left and look to your right. Remember what you represent. That gives me strength. It's everything. The way I feel about it right now, I feel like I'd want to be a Soldier for Life."
Although Williams has three national crowns and two world championship appearances on his resume, Lewis expects him to improve immensely.
"He's still green," Lewis said. "He's still got a high, high ceiling. He's not even halfway there, I don't think. If he's able to stay healthy, and stays focused and determined, I think he's going to do some great things."
Two-time U.S. Open champion Sgt. Sharon Jacobson, 31, won her first national title in 2006, took some time off, turned to mixed martial arts, and returned to the mat to win her first wrestling tournament in three years. She prevailed with an action-packed, 12-9 victory over Jacarra Winchester in the 55-kilogram/121-pound finale.
Two weeks earlier, Jacobson got punched in the eye during an Invicta Fighting Championships 12-mixed martial arts bout in Kansas City, but that did not deter her from wrestling in Las Vegas.
"I had a fight two weeks ago and my eye blew up," Jacobson said. "They thought my orbital was broken, but it was good, so I was excited that I would still be able to compete here."
Jacobson, too, is all aboard the Army train, although she may continue as a massage therapist instead of a wrestler.
"WCAP has been huge," Jacobson said. "It's such a blessing; it's like a family. Everyone is supportive of everyone. If you're fighting for your dream, they're right behind you. I love WCAP and I love the Army. They really support dreams and bring good things and good attention to the military with WCAP. I'm so grateful for them that I do plan to stay in the 20."
WCAP Sgt. Whitney Conder, 27, rallied to her third U.S. Open title with a 5-3 victory over Carlene Sluberski in the women's 53-kilogram/116.5-pound division.
"She's intense. She's a fighter, and she's going to lay it on the line," Lewis said. "Our girls were just dynamite tonight."
Two-time U.S. World Team member Capt. Leigh Provisor, 34, prevailed 6-1 over 2014 World Team member Jenna Burkert in the women's 60-kilogram/132-pound finale for her second U.S. Open crown.
"My husband is an Olympian and he definitely gives me the insight on how to win," said Provisor, the former Leigh Jaynes, who married Olympic wrestler Ben Provisor. "He gives me tips on the game plans and mentally what your opponents may be going through. He sees things that I don't see, so I feel like I have a really great coach and a really great partner on my side.
"Along with the Army program, it's really hard to lose with such a strong family and team unit. I thought at times, I was meeting a lot of obstacles in particular programs I was training in, where they didn't believe in me like the team that believes in me now. Coach [Aaron] Sieracki told me how great I was today, and he's been telling everybody he feels like I'm going to win nationals and how my training has been going well and how I look awesome in practice.
"I've never had that type of support system, unfortunately, throughout my career, and I really feel like that makes a big difference when you have people on your side. My home is with the black and gold. Sometimes you don't realize that until you stray away and have different life experiences and find out what was really important to you. I really love this program and I'll do anything it takes to get to the top."
Provisor also exemplifies Soldier for Life qualities.
"I take it one match, one minute at a time," she said. "I do have my eyes set on Rio, but that's a long-term goal, and I'm an officer so I plan in long-term, near-term, short-term. I work as a Soldier. For the past four or five years I've been in my Reserve unit and just doing my job over there.
"I love the Army. I love putting my uniform on. I love representing the United States, whether it's on the mat or whether it's in my uniform. I've already got 14 years in, you can't get much more life than that, and I'm going to go all the way through as long as I can, and I'll do something specific once I'm done wrestling, and I'll continue my career doing something that's important to the Army."
In a battle of Soldiers, Pfc. Patrick Martinez earned his first U.S. Open crown with a 3-1 victory over Sgt. C.J. Myers in the 80-kilogram/176-pound Greco-Roman finale.
"We know each other's style and all that," said Martinez, 25. "He's been around for awhile and I'm an up-and-comer, so I have to play catch-up. This [victory] means a lot."
Olympic bronze medalist and two-time U.S. open champion WCAP Sgt. Randi Miller, 31, dropped a 4-3 decision in the 69-kilogram/152-pound women's finale to seven-time U.S. Open champ Elena Pirozhkova, a 2012 World champion.
"I definitely don't feel like '2008 Randi' just yet, but I'm getting closer and closer," said Miller, who during the summer of 2008, won an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing. "The Army WCAP teaches you a lot. It's based on discipline and staying straight with day-to-day actions, and that helps a lot with controlling my diet - and just remembering the Army ways: discipline, motivated, dedicated."
Capt. Jon Anderson, 30, finished runner-up in the 85-kilogram/187-pound Greco-Roman division after losing a technical fall 9-0 decision to four-time U.S. Open champ Jordan Holm, a two-time World Team member, who was named Outstanding Greco-Roman Wrestler of the tournament.
Army Pvt. Dillon Cowan lost by technical fall to three-time U.S. World Team member Andy Bisek in the 75-kilogram/165-pound Greco final.
The top two Greco-Roman finishers at the U.S. Open will advance to the U.S. Greco-Roman World Team Trials in Ithaca, New York, June 4. The U.S. Open champion will enter the trials with a 1-0 match lead over the runner-up in a best-of-three match series.
The U.S. Open men's and women's freestyle champions advance to the best-of-three finals at the U.S. World Team Freestyle Trials in Madison, Wisconsin, June 11-12. The top seven women and top five men in each weight class at the U.S. Open will compete in a challenge tournament for the right to earn a shot at the champs at the U.S. Freestyle World Team Trials.
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2015 22:40 |
| Story ID: | 166926 |
| Location: | LAS VEGAS, NV, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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