Hey Guys, J.D. Oliva here.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to announce the first group of casting choices for our film 7 Minutes.

Jeff Harrison, formerly of the Univeristy of Northern Iowa, has landed our starring role. The former American Idol contestant, who complied 25-5 record while competing for the Panthers at 149 pounds this season, absolutley blew us away during his audition. Harrison will be joined by teammate Steve Ertl. The former Colorado state champion had far and away the most impressive audition of the day, winning a role that had the most competition.

Matt Murray of the University of Nebraska has also accepted a part in 7 Minutes. The former NCAA Runner-up at 141 lbs., will play our University’s assistant coach. Matt was also very impressive in his audition considering he has had no previous acting experience.

Doug LeClair, former Head Coach at Logan High School in Lacrosse, Wisconsin was easy choice when casting our Head Coach. Doug literally is the man he will be portraying in the film. His enegry and excitement will be huge benefit to our feature.

Trivia question: What Real Pro Wrestling competitor scored the first-ever six point throw in league history?

Answer: Joe Williams of the Chicago Groove.

While that information is pretty fresh in the minds of hardcore RPW fans, it’s something that will keep Williams in the RPW history archives forever.

That’s because in the 163 pound quarterfinals Williams, the No. 1 seed, used a six-point high throw to take a commanding lead against Tyrone Lewis of the Oklahoma Slam. Williams went on to win that match 8-4, and then defeated Donny Pritzlaff of the Pennsylvania Hammer 5-2 in the semifinals to advance to the RPW 163 pound finals where he will face rival Joe Heskett of the Iowa Stalkers.

But that six-point throw – the highest point total you can score with one move in Real Pro Wrestling – wasn’t what stood out the most to Williams, a 2004 U.S. Olympian and three-time NCAA champion for the University of Iowa.

What stood out to Williams was that, for the first time in his storied wrestling career, he felt the sport of wrestling was showcased the way it should be.

SPOILER WARNING!

On Sunday’s Episode five of Real Pro Wrestling, which featured competition in the 184-pound weight class, eight world class wrestlers battled for the right to compete in the championship match. Emerging, however, were two polar opposite personalities.

The first is a brash, charismatic kid with a love for southern rap music, named Muhammed “Mo” Lawal. The other is an unassuming and hard working Greco-Roman star from small town Nebraska who has a fondness for the outdoors, named Brad Vering. The two will now battle in the Real Pro Wrestling finals, which will air on Fox Sport Net on May 25.

Lawal, the fourth seed, entered the arena strutting and beaming with confidence. He first dispatched fifth-seeded Quincy Clark of the Pennsylvania Hammer, and then shocked everyone (but maybe himself) by upsetting top-seeded Lee Fullhart of the Iowa Stalkers, a wrestler who had beaten him in their three previous meetings.

In the quarterfinals, the 24-year-old Lawal jumped out to a big early lead on Clark, a Greco-Roman veteran and 2000 Olympian. Lawal was able to exploit Clark’s weakness (defending his legs), scoring with a barrage of quick and explosive leg attacks. He cruised to an easy 16-7 victory.

Bob Condron/USOC

COLUMBUS, Ohio—An Ohio United States District Court denied a temporary restraining order on Wednesday in a suit brought by the Ohio Taekwondo Association (OTA) against USA Taekwondo (USAT) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). In its ruling, the Court found that “granting plaintiff’s [OTA’S] request would throw the sport of Taekwondo into a state of disarray and would result in harm to Taekwondo athletes throughout the United States.”

OTA’S complaint sought to restrain USAT and the USOC from continuing with implementation of a remediation plan approved in February, 2004, by the United States Taekwondo Union (USTU), USAT’s predecessor organization. That plan was approved on the eve of USTU’s decertification as a national governing body by the USOC. The complaint also challenged the transfer of USTU’s corporate situs from Ohio to Colorado and the change of USTU’s corporate name to USAT. Further, the complaint sought to relieve OTA from exhausting its administrative remedies challenging the reorganization plan as required by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (the “Act”).

Special to the T-R

When you bring together 800 high school students and place them in one room together you might think it could be difficult to get their attention.

On Thursday morning, Marshalltown Community College’s Babe Harder Memorial gymnasium became silent as Olympic medalist Cael Sanderson approached the podium to speak.

Sanderson, Iowa State University assistant wrestling coach, was the featured speaker at MCC’s Career Expo 2005. Students from more than 15 different high schools across Iowa listened intently to him express the importance of continuing education after high school. Sanderson shared some of his own experiences in his drive to go for the Olympic gold medal in free style wrestling.

He explained that throughout his childhood and adolescence his father always stressed that education came before sports. If his grades weren’t up, he wouldn’t get to wrestle. Sanderson’s father was also his wrestling coach. Thus, Sanderson chose to make good grades a priority in his life.

Sanderson stressed that everyone makes mistakes in life. He said mistakes help us be better. It’s okay to make mistakes, but learn from them. Use them to be stronger, tougher.

By David Pressgrove, Sports Writer

When Adams State College junior Kourtney Lake stepped to the scales at the NCAA Division II wrestling national championships in March, the signs were there.

The former high school state champion from Moffat County weighed in for the 141-pound weight class at 130 pounds.

Those who didn’t know Lake may have wondered why he was wrestling 11 pounds under his class and just six pounds above the next weight class.

But for those close to Lake, they knew.

“He wanted to keep wrestling to nationals,” Lake’s wife, Melissa, said. “The doctors didn’t see a problem with it, so he continued.”

In January, Lake was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. It’s a cancer that, at this time, has no cure.

After the wrestling season was over, Lake and his wife moved to Farmington, N.M., to live with Lake’s mother and stepfather, Reagan and Rolland Barney.

Lake is currently undergoing experimental treatments for his disease.

“The cancer has spread beyond the tumor, so doctors are being very aggressive with treatment,” Melissa said. “The medicine Kourtney is taking was cleared to be used just recently.”

After Kerry McCoy won his first collegiate national championship, the cover of Penn State University’s media guide featured the tuxedo-clad wrestler sitting in a chair at the center of a mat — holding a cello in his hands.

The point was made: This heavyweight was a virtuoso, on and off the mat.

McCoy, now 30 and a coach of Real Pro Wrestling’s Pennsylvania Hammer, began studying cello in third grade. He continued to play the instrument through his senior year at Longwood High School in Middle Island, N.Y. He also took private lessons as a class during his final year at Penn State.

“It was nice to have something to give me a break from the wrestling,” McCoy said.

But the wrestling world was lucky that in junior high school, he added this athletic endeavor to his musical interests. “Seventh grade was the first year we were allowed to be involved in a competitive sport,” explained the 6-foot-2-inch McCoy, “and there wasn’t a basketball team.”

In high school, he claimed two county championships (the only way to qualify for the New York state tournament). He finished second in the Empire State his junior year, coming back to take the title the following season.

Cpl. Jake Clark won gold at 2004 Armed Forces Championship

By Fred Zimmerman, Stars and Stripes

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — An Okinawa-based Marine has been named the Corps’ top male athlete for 2004, a year in which he won gold medals at the Armed Forces Championship in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

All-Marine Wrestling Team veteran Cpl. Jake Clark, 25, a transportation management specialist here, is ranked second in the United States at 84 kilograms — about 184 pounds.

“I was really surprised when I found out,” said the South St. Paul, Minn., native. “I’d heard of the award but to hear that I was actually named [the Corps’ top athlete], that is a big accomplishment for me. I’m really excited.”

Clark’s brother Joey was on the Marine Corps team before him. Jake Clark said the original plan was for his brother to leave the Marine Corps after four years so the two could wrestle together in college. But Joey re-enlisted — so Jake Clark decided to join his brother instead. “I said, ‘We may not wrestle together in college, then, so let’s do it in the Marine Corps,’” Jake Clark said.

Weight rules change for H.S. athletes

STEVE HERMAN

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - High school wrestlers will have to follow a more stringent program to prevent rapid weight loss under rules adopted this week by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Starting in 2006-07, wrestlers may not lose more than 1.5 percent of their weight per week and must maintain body fat of at least 7 percent for boys and 12 percent for girls. Also, their weight-loss plans must be monitored weekly by the schools.

The issue surfaced in 1997 after three college wrestlers died as a result of ailments attributed to excessive weight-loss in an attempt to reach a lower weight class for competition. The NCAA clamped down the next year, and since then, high school athletic associations in at least 18 states also have set standards for the amount of weight wrestlers may lose.

“The weight management rule change is certainly monumental,” Dave Carlsrud, chairman of the NFHS wrestling rules committee, said Friday. “While weight management has been researched for many years and may have been passed earlier, a number of our states needed time to prepare for an effective implementation.”

The Dave Schultz Wrestling Club national program to cease at the end of the 2004-05 season
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling

Nancy Schultz, the founder and President of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Foundation, has announced that the Senior-level national program of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club will not continue after the end of the 2004-05 USA Wrestling international season.

This popular and successful club was served the wrestling community for a full decade, providing opportunities for talented and motivated wrestlers to achieve their dreams. The club was created in 1996 in memory of the late Dave Schultz, a World and Olympic champion wrestler and ambassador of goodwill within international wrestling.

The Dave Schultz WC has supported wrestlers in men’s freestyle, men’s Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle wrestling, both on the Senior level as well as within USA Wrestling age-group programs. Athletes from the Dave Schultz WC have won World and Olympic medals for the United States, and the club has won national team titles and honors on many levels.

The decision to cease operation of the club’s Senior-level nation teams was made by Nancy Schultz for personal and family reasons. She also recognizes that the expansion of opportunities for wrestlers during the last decade will allow the sport to continue to thrive even without the Dave Schultz WC involved.