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2002 Dave Schultz Memorial International
Tournament Final Results
2/10/2002
Heather Van Peursem/USA Wrestling
The fourth annual Dave Schultz Memorial International Tournament came to a close
Sunday night with the United States giving a great showing in the championship
medal round.The tournament was held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in
Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 9-10.
The outstanding wrestler of the men’s freestyle tournament was Donny
Pritzlaff (Madison, Wis./Dave Schultz WC) the champion at 74 kg. He
defeated Ramico Blackmon (Colorado Springs, Colo./Team Excel) by a 14-4
technical fall. Blackmon defeated 2000 Olympic Champion Daniel Igali of Canada
in the semifinals to reach the gold-medal match.
2001 World Team member Keith Sieracki (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army)
defeated 2000 Olympian Heath Sims by a 10-0 technical fall at 74 kg to claim the
title. Sieracki was named the Greco-Roman outstanding wrestler.
The outstanding wrestler in the women’s division was 2001 World Silver
medallist and 2001 FILA International Wrestler of the Year Toccara Montgomery
(Cleveland, Ohio/Sunkist Kids). She scored four pins on her way to the title at
67 kg.
Freestyle Outstanding Wrestler - Donny Pritzlaff, Dave
Schultz WC
Women’s Outstanding Wrestler - Toccaraa Montomery, Sunkist Kids
Greco-Roman Outstanding Wrestler - Keith Sieracki, U.S. Army
Team Scores:
Freestyle - 1. NYAC - 44 pts.; 2. Sunkist Kids
Greco-Roman - 1. U.S. Army; 2. U.S. Air Force
Women - 1. Missouri Valley - 253 pts.; 2. Sunkist Kids
Champion quotes
Jim Gruenwald
“I knew that Joe was a brawler and it would be a tough match. I trained hard
everyday to get ready for the competition. Joe’s young and he’s got a lot to
learn, but he has a great future ahead of him. It was kind of like wrestling the
guy I’m going to hand the torch off to when I retire.”
Stephanie Murata
“I watched her a number of times even though I haven’t wrestled her that
often. I knew we were both training hard for the competition and it was a good
match to test myself against her. I was happy that there was the turnout there
was. The quality of wrestlers keeps getting better and that’s great to see.”
Faruk Sahin
“It didn’t really seem like I was at the top of my moment but I wrestled
well. Training against Steve everyday, I get to see where he is at. This was
mostly just a way to gauge myself for future competition, to see where my
weaknesses are. It was a learning opportunity to compete against the foreign
competitors and try out my favorite techniques.”
Donny Pritzlaff
“It was great to beat a guy that hasn’t gotten beaten in awhile. It was a
great win for me personally, Ramico was coming off some big wins and it was a
good win. I set out to start with a good pace and keep it close. I got down 4-0
early but things worked out so that I got on a 14-0 run to win. Things started
slow but then picked up. Having 13 countries here was great, the remembrance of
Dave and the importance of the tournament made this a really competitive
tournament. This is a great start to the season for me, I’m really excited.”
Tocarra Montgomery
“This was a fun tournament, there weren’t as many international competitors
as in other international tournaments so there wasn’t a lot of pressure. It
was great to have more foreigners here than last year . Even though I have only
been wrestling for four years, I think my determination and hard training is
what I have to give credit to for wrestling so well.”
Keith Sieracki
“I couldn’t look back. I knew that it would be a tough match. I have
wrestled Heath in awhile, but knew that he has been training hard. I hadn’t
ever beaten him before so I was thinking it was going to be a close match,
it’s like a dream to win like that. I’m sure that next time it will be close
and hopefully I won’t be the one down, it’ll be a barnburner.”