National championships, World Team Trials come to Charlotte

James Johnson

Last year’s Ontario Beach Sports and Music Festival sports lineup included professional jet skiing and beach volleyball.

More muscle has been added to this year’s event at Charlotte, as Rochester hosts sanctioned beach wrestling for the first time, on Saturday and Sunday.

Beach style was formally recognized by the sport’s sanctioning bodies two years ago. Competitors face off in a 20-foot ring marked in the sand. The object is to score two points.

A point is awarded with each takedown or removal of an opponent from the ring during the three-minute match.

“It’s really a wide-open opportunity to enjoy wrestling,” said Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling’s director of communications. “It’s really easy to follow and the matches go very quickly.

“The athletes tend to try it out, and after they do, they like it. The sand slows the action down that in some cases, allows the older athletes to succeed against younger athletes.”

Competitors grouped by sex, age and weight go after USA Wrestling National Championships, beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Beach Wrestling World Team Trials take place 10 a.m. Sunday, with the winners forming the United States team at the World Championships in Turkey, Sept. 7-9.

By Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY
Last year the world governing body for Olympic wrestling noted the appeal of beach volleyball and held its first World Beach Wrestling Championship in Turkey (yep, headlocks in the sand). Now it aims to ride the wave of the mixed martial arts craze.

The new addition called grappling (yep, choking allowed) has been recognized by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles. Known by its French acronym FILA, it hopes to broaden its amateur appeal with a “new world of wrestling” theme.

Its first grappling world championship is set for Sept. 7-9 in Antalya, Turkey, along with the beach wrestling worlds. USA Wrestling will hold its grappling world team trials this weekend in Las Vegas.

FILA has eliminated some of the mayhem and danger of pro mixed martial arts circuits such as the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC). Unlike the UFC, kicks and punches are forbidden in grappling. But submission holds, including some chokes, are permitted.

“If you just take out the punches and kicks, it’s exactly the same,” says 275-pound class entrant Bryan Vetell, 29, a mixed martial arts pro with the New York Pitbulls of the International Fight League.

The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), the governing body of international amateur wrestling, aims to add beach wrestling to the Olympics program. FILA President Raphael Martinetti, who was in Antalya for the First World Beach Wrestling Championships, told the Anatolia news agency that he was pleased with the organization in Antalya, adding: “Beach wrestling has simpler rules than mat wrestling and the matches are more entertaining for the spectators. I am confident of a bright future for beach wrestling.” Martinetti added that they would soon apply to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to recognize beach wrestling as an Olympic sport.

ANTALYA, TURKEY — Former East Stroudsburg University wrestling coach Angelo Borzio won a bronze medal and the United States team took second place at the World Beach Wrestling Championships in Turkey Saturday.

Borzio took bronze in the over 187.5 lbs. division. It was the second bronze medal in less than a week for Borzio after taking third at the Sombo World Championships.

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling Assistant Coach Jeff Zastrow will represent the U.S. in the first-ever Beach Wrestling World Championships in Turkey beginning November 1st.

Zastrow won gold in the senior men’s 231-pound division the day prior to the World Trials. It was the Beach World Trials the next day where he made his mark.

The 210-pound Zastrow competed in the ‘above 85 kg’ class, wrestling against opponents that weighed as much as 285 pounds. Despite giving away a 70-pound advantage, he managed to finish high enough to qualify for the World Championships following an injury to the second-place finisher.
All this occurred without having any previous experience in beach wrestling.

“If it comes around and I have the opportunity to do it, I’ll try,” Zastrow said.

An assistant coach since the end of his collegiate career, Zastrow continues to find new adventures. He has taken part in several other activities such as skydiving, cliff diving, whitewater rafting over waterfalls and ultimate fighting.

“He has this certain edge to him,” said wrestling Head Coach Tim Fader. “I don’t think he fears anything.”

The Watertown native has continued to prepare for his first international event as he expects to have a good showing.

Sussex Central standout wrestler Connor McDonald can go about this season with a little less to think about, as the two-time state champion made his college commitment on Monday night.

McDonald, of Rehoboth Beach, committed to Lehigh University, where he will be a member of the Mountain Hawks wrestling team.

Lehigh, located in Bethlehem, Pa., has a great wrestling tradition, and McDonald will follow in the footsteps of former Sussex Central alumnus Steve Bastianelli.

McDonald narrowed his offers down to Illinois, Stanford, Maryland, Penn, Indiana and Virginia Tech before selecting Lehigh.

McDonald began wrestling at five years old with the Rehoboth Beach Wrestling Club.

I remember his first tournament, when McDonald strolled into the lobby of Laurel High School tipping the scales at a mere 35 pounds soaking wet.

He blew through the competition that day winning the 8 and under 40-pound class.

McDonald has prepared his entire career, and by all means, deserves to be on his way to the Lehigh Valley.

With only two high school losses in his career, both during his freshman season, McDonald is eyeing his third state title.

Last summer he nailed down his second Junior National Championship.

The Batter’s Box and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans have teamed up for a second straight year to raise money for a local high school athletic program.

The Pelicans and Batter’s Box presented the Georgetown Athletic Booster Club with a check in the amount of $1,480 at halftime of the Georgetown-Carolina Forest football game earlier this month.

Last year the Batter’s Box and Pelicans made a donation to the Socastee athletic program.

They have also teamed to create the Pelicans High School Baseball Showcase at Coastal Federal Field, which is held each March.

The two-day, 14-team event allows area players the opportunity to play at Coastal Federal Field.

The Batter’s Box, located in Surfside Beach, is a locally owned sporting goods store that specializes in baseball and softball equipment.

The business can also be found online at www.aluminumbats.com.

Wrestling clinic

The AAU-North Myrtle Beach Wrestling Club will begin practice at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at the North Myrtle Beach High wrestling room.

Kids ages 4 and up are invited to join. If you are interested or have questions, call Mike LaPresto 215-3344 or Charlie Clay 399-9138.

I’m creating an amateur wrestling search engine and I need sites to add. They could be your site, your schools or your one favorite sites. Topics include amateur wrestling, martial arts, boxing and related topics.

Post your favorite site’s below or you can contribute here (Google Account Required)

The 2006 ASCIS East Coast Beach Wrestling Championships was a huge success with over 200 wrestlers, including several from the W. T. Clarke Varsity Wrestling Team, taking part in the two-day event held Aug. 12-13 in Long Beach.

The tournament included 6 divisions: middle school, high school, college, veteran’s, girl’s and women. Congratulations to the following members of the W. T. Clarke Varsity Wrestling Team, coached by Mike Leonard, who participated/placed in the championship:

Joe Gaynor: 3rd place - 185 lbs

Matt Gaynor: 1st place - 133 lbs

Michael Grimes: 1st place - 185 lbs.

Michael Hanley

Michael Leonard

Andy Matarrita

Jimmy McKenna

John McKenna

Michael Palmer: 3rd place - 145 lbs.

Kelly Palmer

Scott Pietras: 4th place - 125 lbs.

Jordan Spirou: 1st place - 171 lbs.

Jared Tunkel

MIKE KUHNS
Record Sports Editor

Angelo Borzio, the former wrestler and coach at East Stroudsburg University, is supposed to be lounging on the beach these days, not wrestling on it.

But wrestling was exactly what Borzio was doing last Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla. at the first ever USA Beach Nationals.

Borzio won the heavyweight class 240-270 pounds and a bid to the World Championships in Turkey Nov. 1-5. The former wrestler who rose as high as No. 3 on the U.S. Olympic ladder, placing third at the U.S. Nationals in 2000, admits he didn’t know what to expect when he entered the tournament.

“I don’t know how to take it serious,” said Borzio, who wrestled in the Olympic trials in 2000 and ‘04. “What do I do, go to the beach and push people around?”

Once thought to have ended his competitive wrestling career, Borzio just couldn’t resist giving beach wrestling a shot.

“I looked at it as an opportunity to have fun,” he said.

The sport emerged last year and consists of a rope that is laid in the sand which forms a 20-foot diameter circle. A takedown is a point and getting any part of your opponent out of the circle is a point.