Medved International

I got back early this morning and I'm extremely tired. I left Tuesday for Belarus to get acclimated then compete on Sunday. I didn't know what to expect before going over there. Most of the major cities that I have been to overseas to wrestle haven't been that nice but Minsk, on the hand, was a complete 360. The city was very clean and well kept up. Most of the trips that I go on overseas I usually bring my own food because you don't know what to expect but the food was actually pretty good. I've had my fair share of Borsch (soup) but the Borsch we had over there was great. I'm going to see if Terry can try and whip it together some time.

I was lucky enough to be able to have some time to adjust to the time difference and was able to spend some time on the mats before I had to weigh-in on Sat. After weigh-ins we went back to the hotel got some lunch and went over to the finals for the other weight classes. We got to see fellow Americans Espo, Hrovat, Frayer, and Bunch compete for medals. After the finals we headed to one of the local eateries. You might know it as TGIFridays. I headed back to the hotel to get ready to compete in the morning.

Having 3 Americans (Cerminara, Lawal and myself) at the weight, we were pretty sure that one of us were going to meet up first or second round. They typically don't separate wrestlers overseas. At weigh-ins you draw a number and they put you into the bracket.

The brackets came out with Cerminara and I first match. First period I won 1-0. I got a take down in the first 20 or 30 seconds and held him off for the 1st period win. Second period went to clinch where Kyle had the lock. He ended up false starting 3 times and they cautioned him and gave me a point. Its a crappy way to win but you know what they say. A win is a win.

Second match was against a Belarusian. I end up beating him 5-0 and then I got a pin in the last couple seconds of the second period.

I'm not going into too much detail because I have some video footage that I'm going to try and post on the site so you can check out the matches.

My semifinal match was supposed to be against a Russian but he got hurt the match before and decided to forfeit in the semis. My final match was against fellow American and rival Mo Lawal. Up to this point, I haven't beaten him in freestyle. My lone win over him was in the semi-finals of my junior year at the NCAA's. First period went to the clinch where I won the toss and got the lock. I was able to secure the leg and drive him out of bounds for the point. Second period he won 2-0 on a single leg takedown to a leg lace and the third period I won 3-1. I was able to turn him with my front head lock and also get a push out for a point.

In all it was a great trip. It was a nice city with great Borsch and I wrestled well but it still feels great to be home. I'm going to try and get those matches up on the site tonight or tomorrow so you can check them out. Probably tomorrow though as I'm hitting a wall right now. I need sleep.