Rowlands, Mocco set for rematch in the finals of U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Craig Sesker USA Wrestling
06/15/2008

LAS VEGAS – Tommy Rowlands and Steve Mocco staged one of the most physical, hard-fought matches of the U.S. Nationals finals.

Now they will meet with something even bigger at stake.

A berth in the Olympic Games.

Mocco breezed through the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Challenge Tournament to earn a shot at Rowlands in Sunday night’s best-of-3 freestyle finals at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

The winner earns a trip to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Rowlands sat out during the first session early Sunday by virtue of winning U.S. Nationals and placing fifth at the 2007 World Championships.

Another rematch of the U.S. Nationals will occur at 74 kg/163 lbs. in freestyle when champion Ben Askren meets runner-up Tyrone Lewis. They also waged a fierce, physical battle back in April’s U.S. Nationals.

2006 World Team member Andy Hrovat won the Challenge Tournament at 84 kg/185 lbs. to earn another shot at Mo Lawal in the freestyle finals. Lawal sat out the first session by virtue of winning U.S. Nationals and placing in the top 10 in the World in 2005.

Hrovat upset Lawal by pin en route to making the World Team two years ago, but Lawal beat Hrovat in the finals of the 2008 U.S. Nationals.

Damion Hahn won the Challenge Tournament at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. to earn a shot at 2007 World bronze medalist Daniel Cormier in the finals. Cormier sat out after winning U.S. Nationals and being a Top 10 finisher in the 2007 Worlds.

Past World champion Dremiel Byers will meet Challenge Tournament winner and U.S. Army teammate Tim Taylor in the Greco-Roman finals at 120 kg/264.5 lbs.

2005 World Team member Justin Ruiz will face Challenge Tournament winner Adam Wheeler in the Greco-Roman finals at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

SUNDAY’S BEST-OF-3 FINALS MATCHUPS

Greco-Roman

96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) vs. Adam Wheeler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC)

120 kg/264.5 lbs.

Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) vs. Tim Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army)

Freestyle

74 kg/163 lbs.

Ben Askren (Columbia, Mo./Sunkist Kids) vs. Tyrone Lewis (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC)

84 kg/185 lbs.

Mo Lawal (Temecula, Calif./Gator WC) vs. Andy Hrovat (Ann Arbor, Mich./New York AC)

96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Daniel Cormier (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) vs. Damion Hahn (Ithaca, N.Y./New York AC)

120 kg/264.5 lbs.

Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio) vs. Steve Mocco (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)

After so many years of chasing Rulon Gardner, Dremiel Byers learned what it was like to have Rulon Gardner chasing him.

Byers, a world-level wrestler for 10 years who was twice blocked from the Olympics by former gold medalist Gardner, won his way to the games by beating U.S. Army teammate Tim Taylor in the best-of-three U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman 264½-pound trials Sunday night.

Finally, a wrestler long accustomed to being No. 2 was No. 1, and Byers did it in a big way by catching Taylor with an underhook and dropping him for a 5-point move that decided the third and final match of their best-of-three series.

And guess who chased him across the mat for an interview once he was done? None other than Gardner, Byers' longtime rival and NBC's newest wrestling analyst.

"To come out and finish the way he did was the best thing he could have done," Gardner said. "That's going to give him a lot of confidence going into Beijing."

Think the 33-year-old Byers hasn't waited for this day since he first took up Greco-Roman wrestling a dozen years ago? Since he first won a national championship nine years ago, a remarkably long time for someone to wait to become an Olympian after proving he was good enough to be the best in the country?

"It's kind of poetic," said Byers, a 2002 world champion who choked back tears of pride and accomplishment. "I'm a romantic guy like that. There's a closeness there."

Byers feels the same way now about Taylor, a former Clearfield (Pa.) High wrestler who trains in Colorado Springs daily with Byers. The two go on hunting trips and attend parties together, and beating Taylor was as hard for Byers as beating Byers once was for Gardner.

"Other guys here are in clubs that live all over the country and come together for one event," Byers said. "In the Army, we're an actual team. We're in our (wrestling) room pounding it out every day."

Now, Byers likely will take Taylor with him to Beijing to help him prepare for the Olympics. Just as Gardner took him to the games to help Gardner prepare for winning his upset-of-a-lifetime gold medal in 2000 and bronze medal in 2004. And if Byers wants another training partner ...

"If he wants me to help him, I'm there," Gardner said.

Fittingly on a night that Gardner won, several other longtime No. 2s also came through to make the Olympic team.

At freestyle 185 pounds, Andy Hrovat beat three-time national champion Mo Lawal. In a surprise at Greco-Roman 211½ pounds, Adam Wheeler outlasted Justin Ruiz, who had won the past five national titles, three times beating Wheeler. At freestyle 264½ pounds, Steve Mocco -- the national runner-up the past five years and a three-time world team runner-up -- defeated top-seeded Tommy Rowlands, who was fifth in the world last year.

When Mocco won, family members -- including sister Katie, who competed in this weekend's judo trials -- hugged, screamed and cried upon realizing he wasn't second any longer.

"It's been a struggle, it's been a struggle for my family," said Mocco, also a two-time NCAA runner-up. "I've always come up a little bit short. But in a real tough weight class, I found a way to win."

There was one repeat Olympian on Sunday night, Daniel Cormier at freestyle 211½ pounds,

There was no doubt who is No. 1 at freestyle 163 pounds -- Ben Askren, the oh-so-confident former Missouri wrestler who needed only one year to transition from two-time NCAA champion to Olympian.

Former college stars such as the 23-year-old Askren often need a much longer indoctrination before excelling in freestyle, and Askren has adapted his style. But he hasn't eliminated the raised No. 1 fingers, the pumping fists, the crowd gestures, all of which stamp him as a nonconformist in an old, traditional sport.

"I just knew I was going to win. There was no doubt in my mind," Askren said.

That confidence, he said, comes from a relentless training regimen and an eagerness to outwork his opponents.

"I work harder than a lot of people. A lot of senior level (wrestlers) don't want to work. They don't want to be the best," Askren said.

He doesn't doubt he will win in Beijing, despite his lack of top-level international experience.

"I'm going to win a gold medal," Askren said.

The other Greco-Roman and freestyle Olympians were determined Saturday night, including 18-year-old Jake Deitchler, the first high schooler to make the U.S. team in 32 years.