Hawk finishes 11th in Beijing
Marcus Schulz - Special to The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 8/27/07 Section: Metro

BEIJING - Iowa freshman Jake Kerr finished 11th in men's freestyle-wrestling competition Aug. 25 at the 2007 Junior World Wrestling Championships in the China Agricultural University Gymnasium.

Kerr rated his performance a 2 out of 10.

"The first match was the only thing I did decent, probably a 2, honestly," he said.

Competing in the men's freestyle at 74 kilograms - 163 pounds, he went 1-1 in the morning session, placing him in the repechage rounds in contention for the bronze medal.

He lost in the second repechage round to Gocha Lomtatidze of Georgia, 2-0, scoring only one point to seven in the first round and losing to a technical fall in the second round. International competition consists of three two-minute periods with a 30-second break between.

Kerr felt that the differences in each foreign wrestler's style caused the most difficulty.

"Every foreign guy here is different," he said. "When you wrestle American guys, it's more hand fighting, going for the legs, shooting.

"Here, you're worrying about the upper body."

However, Kerr's opponent shot for his legs, beating him in two periods by technical fall, 7-1 and 6-0.

During the morning session, Kerr opened the competition with a 4-2, 4-2 win over Kurt Botha of South Africa. In the first period, Kerr had a three-point chestlock throw and in the second period had a front headlock throw for three points, winning the match.

Kerr advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Denis Tsargush of Russia, the 2006 Military World champion, who went on to win the gold medal at 74 kilos by defeating Ayhan Sucu of Turkey. Kerr lost to Tsargush by technical fall, 6-0, 6-0.

Kerr's coaches for the Junior World Team in freestyle include 2004 Olympic silver medalist Jamill Kelly, three-time Senior World Champion Lee Kemp, and National Freestyle developmental coach Dave Bennett.

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"Every foreign guy here is different," he said. "When you wrestle American guys, it's more hand fighting, going for the legs, shooting."

Funny, I thought at the World championships everybody is native to planet Earth. As Americans, it seems people are taught to think us vs the World no matter where you are.

Big I think he was talking about wrestling styles.

Look, all I am saying is that there are no foreign guys at the World championships just like there are no foreign guys at the US Nationals.

You can say Europeans, Asians, Russians, Iranians but don't call them foreign.

Just like in US Nationals you can say Iowa guys or Minnesota or Oklahoma guys but none of them are foreign to the tourney.

Originally Posted by Big

Look, all I am saying is that there are no foreign guys at the World championships just like there are no foreign guys at the US Nationals.

You can say Europeans, Asians, Russians, Iranians but don't call them foreign.

Just like in US Nationals you can say Iowa guys or Minnesota or Oklahoma guys but none of them are foreign to the tourney.

This is incorrect. The man in question is undoubtedly foreign to Jake Kerr, just as Jake is foreign to him. They are from two different sovereign nations. So they are foreigners to each other. Methinks you are nit picking.

They are from two different sovereign nations.

Duh! That is why its the World championships. Do you suppose if he said :"Every guy I wrestle here...." we would not know that he means wrestlers from other countries? Why do you need to use the word FOREIGN when talking about your opponents at the world championships?

When you say others are FOREIGN, by definition you mean that you are NATIVE. Is Kerr native to China or the world championships?

for·eign /ˈfɔrɪn, ˈfɒr-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fawr-in, for-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or derived from another country or nation; not native: foreign cars.
2. of or pertaining to contact or dealings with other countries; connected with foreign affairs.
3. external to one's own country or nation:

You are incorrect. It does not by definition mean that you are native to the place you happen to be, it means that the person you are describing is from a different country then your own. The "native" definition you are talking about is your own personal CONNOTATION and not the actual DENOTATION.