Weitzel Claims Second Place at International Competition
6/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
LODZ, Poland -- Freshman Joshua Weitzel (Lincoln University, Pa./Oxford HS), a member of the University of Michigan wrestling team, recorded a 3-2 mark in the freestyle competition to claim runner-up honors at the 84 kg (185 pounds) weight class at the World University Championships, held June 2-4. Freshman Eric Tannenbaum (Naperville, Ill./North HS) also competed for the United States in the international tournament, finishing fifth at 66 kg (145.5 pounds).
"It's a great experience to go overseas and see a lot of different styles of wrestling among the international competition," said Weitzel. "I think I learned a lot from competing in this tournament, and it should be a great way to build for next season."
After a tough 5-3 loss to Poland's Horbik Radoslaw, Weitzel came back strong in subsequent rounds with back-to-back falls against Russian Vasily Goltaer and Pejman Dorostkar of Iran. With each weight class divided into separate pools of competitors, wrestlers earned classification points based upon their match scores to determine who would advance to the semifinal round. Weitzel's two falls made the difference as he and Dorostkar each recorded a 2-1 mark in the initial rounds, and the Wolverine earned the automatic trip to the semifinals.
Weitzel continued the momentum into the next round as he came from behind to pull out a narrow 6-5 victory over Sergei Kolosnikov of Israel in the closing seconds of the semifinal match. The Wolverine faced Dorostkar for a second time in the final, falling to the Iranian wrestler 6-0 for a second-place finish.
Tannenbaum received one of the toughest draws of the tournament, facing Iran's Masod Vehedi, one of the top wrestlers in the world, in his first match. Tannenbaum lost a close 8-5 decision to the eventual 66 kg champion, proving to be the only wrestler to score against the Iranian wrestler through the entire tournament.
With no third-place match scheduled, Tannenbaum went straight to the fifth-place match, where he recorded a 10-0 technical fall shutout against Turkey's Mehmet Yozgut, who had claimed fourth place at the World Freesyle Championships in 2001.
Weitzel and Tannenbaum were the top American placers in the international competition, guiding the U.S. team to a ninth-place finish among the 21-country field.
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
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