Three former Gophers took center stage at the New York Athletic Club on Saturday for the Greco-Roman half of the Bill Farrell Open. All three – Pat Smith, Alec Ortiz and Brad Dolezal – picked up victories on the day, with Smith finishing third at 71 kilograms and Dolezal taking fourth at 75.
Smith advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 12-4 tech fall over Cody Pack in the quarters. Despite allowing a four-point move during the opening period, Smith steadily built an 8-4 advantage at the break and sealed the match by adding four more points early in the second. It was a four-point move from Christopher Gonzalez that bounced Smith to the backside of the bracket, the key moment in a 4-1 semifinal defeat. Once in consolation matches, Smith eliminated fellow alum and training partner Ortiz, 4-2, before taking third after Ellis Coleman forfeited the bout.
Ortiz reached the quarterfinals at 71 kilograms, where he ran into Coleman. After pulling to within one point, 3-2, early in the second period, Ortiz surrendered two points around the one-minute mark and dropped the bout, 5-2. He rallied in wrestlebacks, where he found himself in a shootout with Joshua Russo. After falling behind 8-0 in the match’s opening 45 seconds, Ortiz scored 16 unanswered points, a streak that took just 1:27 late in the first period to tech Russo, 16-8. Ortiz was eliminated by Smith in his next match.
Dolezal, making his national-level Greco debut, won a nail-biter in the quarterfinals, knocking off John Yeats on criteria, 7-7. Two four-point moves from eventual 75-kilogram champ Kamal Bey helped defeat Dolezal, 8-2, in the semis. An early 4-0 deficit in his first consolation match didn’t deter Dolezal, as he fired back with eight points to finish the first period and defeat Broc Clark. In the third-place bout, an early flurry from Jesse Porter led to an 8-0 tech fall, putting Dolezal into fourth place.
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U.S. NON-OLYMPIC WEIGHT WORLD TEAM TRIALS
At New York, N.Y., Nov. 12, 2016
Greco-Roman Best of Three Final Series
71 kg/156 lbs. – Chris Gonzalez, Bolingbrook, Ill. (U.S. Army WCAP) dec. Alejandro Sancho, Miami, Fla. (NYAC/NMU), two matches to one
Bout One – Sancho dec. Gonzalez, 2-1
Bout Two – Gonzalez dec. Sancho, 2-1
Bout Three – Gonzalez dec. Sancho, 4-1
80 kg/176 lbs. – Patrick Martinez, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP) dec. Jon Anderson, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP), two matches to one
Bout One – Martinez dec. Anderson, 3-1
Bout Two – Anderson dec. Martinez, 4-2
Bouth Three – Martinez dec. Anderson, 4-1
Third place matches
71 kg/156 lbs. – Pat Smith, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm) by inj. dft. over Ellis Coleman, Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Army WCAP)
80 kg/176 lbs. – Jon Jay Chavez, Ithaca, N.Y. (unattached) dec. Barrett Stanghill, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Storm), 3-2
Greco-Roman Medal Match results
Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership
59 kg/130 lbs.
Gold – Shota Tanokura (Japan) dec. Hayden Tuma (USA/U.S. Army WCAP), 4-3
Bronze – Sam Jones (USA/NYAC) dec. Dmitry Ryabchinskiy (USA/NYAC), 3-1
66 kg/145.5 lbs.
Gold – Ktsuyoshi Kawase (Japan) pin Austin Morrow (USA/NYAC), 1:53
Bronze – Mustafa Mohaney (USA/NYAC) tech. fall Jessy Williams (USA/NYAC), 8-0, 1:56
75 kg/165 lbs.
Gold – Kamal Bey (USA/Sunkist Kids) tech. fall Karim Hawash (Egypt/NYAC), 15-5, 3:00
Bronze – Jesse Porter (USA/NYAC) tech. fall Brad Dolezal (USA/Minnesota Storm), 8-0, 0:43
85 kg/187.25 lbs.
Gold – Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Belarus) dec. Alan Vera (Cuba), 2-2
Bronze – Lucas Sheridan (USA/Army WCAP) dec. Junheong Choi (Korea), 5-2
98 kg/215 lbs.
Gold –. G’Angelo Hancock (USA/New York AC) dec. Hayden Zillmer (USA/Minnesota Storm), 2-0
Bronze –Zach Merrill (USA/Titan Mercury WC) dec. Masato Sumi (Japan), 5-2
130 kg/286 lbs.
Gold – Minseok Kim (Korea) dec. Eric Fader (USA/U.S. Marine Corps), 7-0
Bronze – Trent Osnes (U.S. Marine Corps)