On Saturday night at the 2009 U.S. World Team Trials in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Schlatter once again accomplished something that no one thought would happen coming into this year. The 23-year-old Schlatter, who is wrestling his first season of freestyle since high school, defeated U.S. Nationals champion and hometown favorite Travis Paulson in two consecutive matches to make the U.S. World Team.
“I took a year off to redshirt this year,” said Schlatter, a three-time All-American for the Gophers. “You always need goals. My goal from the start was to make the World team. We had planned on going to a couple international tournament and what not. This was the goal the whole year. This is what I was training for.”
All four periods that Schlatter won were 0-0 at the end of regulation and ended up in the clinch. Thankfully for Schlatter, luck was on his side. He won the ball draw all four periods, which allowed him to start the tiebreaker period with Paulson’s leg, which allowed him to score the winning takedown in each of those periods.
“I never like going to the clinch, obviously, if I can avoid that,” said Schlatter. “It’s something we have been working on a lot. It’s something you have to work on when you wrestle freestyle, especially in this high level of competition. It’s going to go there from time to time. So I felt like I was well prepared for it.”
It might not have been the way Schlatter wanted to win, but he’ll take it.
“Obviously, I wanted to take him down and score,” said Schlatter. “But he’s real strong. He has good positioning, kind of similar to me in that respect. So I knew that if someone did get a takedown that would probably be the period because that’s a strength for both of us, I believe. It just so happened that no one got the takedown during the period.”
Schlatter felt that if he redshirted, he had to make the most of it.
“Last year at NCAAs, I fell well short of what I wanted,” said Schlatter, who placed seventh at that event. “I think I needed a break. I was just battling some injuries that year and the year before. I just need to take a step back and focus on me and what I needed to work on. I talked it over with the coaches and we decided to redshirt. We talked about how I need to make some goals. If I was going to take the redshirt year, it needs to be advantageous and I need to get something out of it. The goal was to make the World Team.”
Schlatter was one of three first time U.S. World Team Trials champions crowned in the freestyle competition on Saturday night. The other two were Shawn Bunch (60 kg) and Jake Varner (96 kg).
Bunch had to battle through the Challenge Tournament on Saturday just to get the chance to face U.S. Nationals champion Mike Zadick, who earned an automatic berth in best-of-3 finals.
Bunch, who trains at the Ohio Regional Training Center in Columbus, Ohio, used his quickness and explosiveness to defeat Zadick in two straight matches. Both matches, though, went all three periods, and involved several controversial calls.
“I feel great knowing that all the hard work I put in, all the sacrifices I’ve made in my life could lead to this, getting that opportunity to win that gold medal, which I’ve always wanted to do since I was younger, when I first started wrestling,” said Bunch. “I want to be a World champ, Olympic champ. That’s my goals. And I want to achieve them.”
Varner defeated 2008 Olympian Andy Hrovat in two consecutive matches. It has been a breakthough year for Varner, who won his first NCAA title this past March, after losing in the NCAA finals two years in a row, then won his first U.S. Nationals title in April, and just won his first U.S. World Team Trials title.
“You have bad years,” said Varner, who was coached by a pair of Olympic champs, Cael Sanderson and Kevin Jackson. “You go out there and wrestle. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. This year I guess everything fell in my place. I worked hard for it. It worked out where I came out on top, so that’s always fun.”
In the Greco-Roman competition, the USOEC program in Northern Michigan made a statement by crowning three champions: Spenser Mango (55 kg), Harry Lester (74 kg), and Chas Betts (84 kg).
“You can see we’re coming up,” said Betts, who defeated five-time U.S. World Team member T.C. Dantzler. We’ve been saying it for years. And now it’s finally coming in. And tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are guys who either came through our program or are in still in our program make two or three more spots out of it. So it’s a good sign.”
Mango, a 2008 Olympian, had no trouble with World bronze medalist Lindsey Durlacher, winning in consecuitive matches.
“I made the Olympic team last year, but wanted to build on that,” said Mango. “I had to get this World team spot first and then go to the Worlds and get a gold.”
Lester, who retired after the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and the decided to come back and move up a weight class, won two straight matches over Jess Hargrave to make his third U.S. World team. He feels good about his decision to move up a weight class.
“I’m healthier,” said Lester, a two-time World bronze medalist. “I’m having a lot more fun. It makes for a lot better wrestling, a lot more enjoyment of the sport.”
The other Greco-Roman champion crowned on Saturday night was World champion Dremiel Byers, who defeated Brandon Rupp in consecutive matches.
The women’s freestyle champions crowned on Saturday night were Jessica Medina (51 kg), Deanna Rix (59 kg), Adeline Gray (67 kg), and Ali Bernard (72 kg).
Sunday's competition at the 2009 U.S. World Team Trials gets underway at 9 a.m. CT at the Mid-America Center.
BEST-OF-3 FINALS RESULTS
FREESTYLE
60 kg/132 lbs.
Shawn Bunch defeated Mike Zadick, 2 matches to 0
Bunch dec. Zadick, 3-0, 1-3, 2-1
Bunch dec. Zadick, 3-0, 0-2, 1-0
74 kg/163 lbs.
Dustin Schlatter defeated Travis Paulson, 2 matches to 0
Schlatter dec. Paulson, 1-0, 1-0
Schlatter dec. Pauslon, 1-0, 1-0
96 kg/211.5 lbs.
Jake Varner defeated Andy Hrovat, 2 matches to 0
Varner dec. Hrovat, 0-1, 3-0, 1-0
Varner dec. Hrovat, 0-1, 2-0, 1-0
GRECO-ROMAN
55 kg/121 lbs.
Spenser Mango defeated Lindsey Durlacher, 2 matches to 0
Mango dec. Durlacher, 3-0, 5-0
Mango dec. Durlacher, 2-0, 3-0
74 kg/163 lbs.
Harry Lester defeated Jess Hargrave, 2 matches to 0
Lester dec. Hargrave, 4-4, 1-0, 1-0
Lester pinned Hargrave, 3-0, 0:29
84 kg/185 lbs.
Chas Betts defeated T.C. Dantzler, 2 matches to 1
Betts dec. Dantzler, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
Dantzler dec. Betts, 2-0, 2-1
Betts dec. Dantzler, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0
120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Dremiel Byers defeated Brandon Rupp, 2 matches to 0
Byers dec. Rupp, 2-0, 1-0
Byers dec. Rupp, 1-0, 2-0
WOMEN’S FREESTYLE
51 kg/112.25 lbs.
Jessica Medina defeated Patricia Miranda, 2 matches to 1
Miranda dec. Medina, 3-0, 1-4, 3-1
Medina dec. Miranda, 1-0, 0-4, 4-3
Medina dec. Miranda, 0-1,1-1,1-0
59 kg/130 lbs.
Deanna Rix defeated Kelsey Campbell , 2 matches to 1
Campbell dec. Rix, 2-0, 1-0
Rix dec. Campbell, 3-0, 1-0
Rix dec. Campbell, 1-0, 1-0
67 kg/147.5 lbs.
Adeline Gray defeated Christen Paysse, 2 matches to 0
Gray dec. Paysse, 4-0, 3-0
Gray pinned Paysse, 1:59
72 kg/158.5 lbs.
Ali Bernard defeated Jenna Pavlik, 2 matches to 0
Bernard dec. Pavlik, 4-2, 7-2
Bernard dec. Pavlik, 7-0, 4-0
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