5PM62: Northern Michigan's Patrick Curran picking things up quickly

Patrick Curran of Northern Michigan University's National Training Site is one of the US Greco-Roman program's brightest young prospects. 

In just over a year-and-a-half since joining NMU, Curran has had the opportunity to train and compete overseas in order to expand his skill-set, which has already translated to several impressive performances on the domestic circuit. Curran is also equally entertaining on and off the mat, and his story is one to which most wrestlers around the country can relate. 
 
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I rip for im AUF.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Stop worrying about stupid procedures and do pull up six
warning about making self gift. Craig why we had it
a podcast and wanted to call the five point Move.
I'm frustrated with the word.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Our Greco guys from United States are true and because
they have good athletes.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Have good human beings, but rona win. We've got to
help we get that. See what I want people know
me from all of our results where everything comes from
Five point Move.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Hello and welcome to episode sixty two of the Five
Point Move Podcast. I'm Tim Hans, founder and senior editor
of five point move dot com and for e six two,
we've got one guest for you, and that is Patrick Current.
Pat Current of Northern Michigan University's national training site for
Greco Roman.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Wrestling, or you could just say NMU and move on Current.
He's been at NMU for just about.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
A year and a half and in a short period
of time has begun to establish himself. He has sort
of made a splash just based on his competitiveness alone.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
And that's what I've noticed about him in particular, He's
just the kind of athlete you want to enter the
Greco Roman program in our.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Country because he is tough. He has some knack for
just fighting everything.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Like the way I've been describing, and I've had to
talk about this kid a few times over the past month.
He contests every position. That's the way I keep putting it.
I don't know another way to put it. I don't
even know if it's good all the time what he's doing,
if I'm being honest, But he fights everything, and he's
also opportunistic in the right way, and he's got.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
A hawcore mentality.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
He's in a room that's going to provide him the
support and resources necessary.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Plus he's got one of.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
His workout partners is Peyton Jacobson. So you watch the
whole picture of pac Current since he started at NMU
up until this point now, and not only is he
a totally different wrestler, but you see like you see
a world team capable stuff inside of him. And plus

(02:27):
he's a bundle of personality, which is one of the
other reasons why I want to get him on. And
so we'll be getting to his interview segment in a
minute or so, not literally a minute or so, because
we've got a couple of items to run through real quick.
And that is the the United States is going to
close out two thousand and twenty four on a rather

(02:47):
high note.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
And we'll do this in order. If you've been following along.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
The Haparanda Cup the tip end of November, two Americans
been following along?

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Who were they?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Auto Black, Austin de Santo, Otto Black, of course you
twenty World silver medallist Austin de Santo.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Probably everyone in their mother's cousin knows who he is.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
NCAA Division one, four time All American, and you already
know the narrative. Auto Black. First year in college. He's
gray shirting, which I didn't even know what that meant.
I had to call, you know, just instead of calling
college coach friends of mine, I instead went and called

(03:37):
Max Black and he explained it could imagine how that
conversation went. Let me turn my phone off here, and
so Auto Black, who's you know? He's committed to the
university I while he's wrestlingly, I guess in college open tournaments.
He's wrestled in one, he won it. And he's huge

(03:59):
g e prospect. One of the most talented athletes, young
athletes I've seen in a while. And then you have
DeSanto coming over to Greco. It's a big deal. And
so they enter Haparanda Cup in the same weight category
sixty three kilos two kilo allowance, so call it sixty
five if that matters to you. They didn't meet in

(04:21):
the tournament, you'll come to think of it. I'm not
even sure if they were in the same pool or not.
I think they might have been though, because I think
they had common opponents. But nevertheless, Otto Blacko's take silver.
Austin DeSanto first senior Greco tournament he bronzes. Now it's
the first senior Greco tournament for Auto Black two. It's

(04:44):
just that give them the style of wrestling, your expectations
going in, we're probably a little higher for Atto Black,
even despite DeSanto's pedigree in wrestling. Overall, they have a
week of training in between hap around a cup ends.
I guess they hang around Sweden for a few days,

(05:05):
get some training sessions. In this past weekend, both gentlemen
entered the Visto Cup and Finland different way classes. This time,
DeSanto went sixty aka sixty two two quilo allowance, Otto
Black goes sixty seven. DeSanto wins destroys everybody. Otto Black wins,

(05:30):
and yeah, I mean yeah, he pretty much destroyed everybody too.
I mean he had a couple of matches that were
a little tighter, but they weren't that tight. And then
in his i mean, his last two matches, he wonted
to flourish even the finally gave up two points in
the very early part of that match, and and he
just started pouring on in the second period. He wrapped
it up, I guess halfway through or something. But it's

(05:51):
exciting stuff. Otto Black clearly an enormous, enormous Greco prospect,
just you know, outto Black.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
What I like about Otto Black, what he.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Does is he does the kind of stuff that you
really want to see to like, you want to see
throughout the whole match, but.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
You only usually get to see towards the end.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
When a guy is like down by a couple few points,
you know where they start lowering their levels and now
we're gonna start trying to pour on the attempts And Okay,
maybe he's not going berserk in first periods, but he's
lowering his he's level changing and trying to navigate, you know,

(06:34):
his different entry points to unferral his offense and then
as soon as he gets a little opening, he tries
to explode and he's got just such superb movement. Just
he's a pleasure to watch, just total pleasure to watch.
And Austin DeSanto he's coming over here, and it's been

(06:57):
a it's been a minute since the Greco has had
a college freestyle type with the kind of resume de
Santo brings to bear. And don't anybody please fact check
that with you know, somebody like Kun or something like that.
You know, because Cohn wrestled some freestyle right just when

(07:19):
he was made his first World team here, he still
wrestled freestyle. That was twenty eighteen, and so it's exciting.
I don't know, I think it's exciting. Yes, the GRECO
program needs to recruit high school aged athletes to come
over full time. That is the principal way to rebuild

(07:45):
this program.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
There's no question about it.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
That said, this is still the United States of America
where you have to grow up wrestling at least what
folk style freestyle. You don't have to wrestle echo. You
don't have to wrestle freestyle either, but you do have
to wrestle folk style. It's now getting around it. It's
the system. It's what Matt Linlan used to call the
folk style system. And we need all the help we

(08:12):
can get, We need all the participation we can get.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
And then you got a guy like Desantu who wants
to come in here and give it a try. And
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
Granted, Haparanda and Havisto aren't exactly going to be confused
with the Hungarian Grand Prix, but two tournaments, you're seeing
the potential that these two individuals have and it's just
something to be excited about. But they weren't alone Otto

(08:41):
Black and Austin DeSanto because also this past weekend courtney,
Denzel Freeman, who usually shirks at the courtney part of that,
he went and entered the Ibrahim Ustafa tournament in Egypt
and he silvered. So we should probably get with Freeman
and talk about that at some point coming up. But

(09:02):
point of the matter is this US gets one, two, three, four,
five medals within span of two weeks overseas. That's going
to look very nice on paper. It's going to look
really nice on digital paper when five point puts out
the twenty twenty four overseas medal count and we kind

(09:24):
of list all the placings and from where they were earned.
Plus you also had the age group success at the
U seventeen and U twenty levels. We had our first
U twenty three world medallist.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
In Becca Melashphili.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
So not bad, not a bad, not a bad way
to close things out for twenty four and so anyway,
on that note, we've got big things to look forward
to with Patrick Current, So.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Let's go talk to past. Yeah, okay, Pat, dial it
back for me real quick.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
We're going to skip around a little bit, but just
for the purposes of getting some background. You're from Illinois, Yes,
how did you become introduced to Greco Roman wrestling.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
That would be through Matt Rats Wrestling Club Glenbard, North,
originally from Carol Stream And I started out wrestling at
the kids club at my high school and they had
a spring freestyling Greco club just started out doing that.
Didn't go to a Greco state championship until or maybe

(10:45):
even my freshman year of high school, and that's where
I got into it. I started training at Gomez actually
it would have been eighth grade. I was training at
Gomez Wrestling Academy and obviously we went to the Freestyle
state championships as well as the GRECO State Championships. We

(11:06):
had coach Wetzel on the staff at Gomez, so he
was he was a good Greco guy back in the day.
So started out at Gomez and UH really stepped out
of it my freshman year dealing with an injury and
didn't get back into it until after my sophomore year.

(11:30):
It was pretty much just out of season wrestling any
chance that I could get to get better, and Greco
came along with that. I didn't end up getting really
into it until my junior year. I went to Fargo
for my first and only time, and I didn't qualify

(11:53):
at the state championships for Greco or freestyle, so I
ended up going to going to Second or Last Chance,
and there was only one other participant at my weight
class for GRECO, so all I had to do was
beat him, so I ended up pinning him in the
first period and getting my bid to go to Fargo.

(12:15):
Did that camp down at University of Illinois for a week,
went to Fargo, and I believe I went one and
two at Fargo, and then after that COVID happened. Wrestled
my folk style season later on in the year my
senior year. In the spring it was postponed two ended

(12:38):
up at in the finals my senior year sadly lost
to a guy I knew from the Fargo camp and
ended up going to University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and wrestling
a year and a half there. Had some success there,
but with a little bit of injuries. UH my sophomore year,

(13:05):
I kind of took a step back, and UH I
ended up talking to Cayden Natal, who I had met
at the Northern Superior camp that I went to my
junior year before Fargo. I came up here for for
a week and UH we had two practices a day,

(13:29):
and UH I loved it. I really liked it and
was really thinking about it as a as a possibility
for me. But after finding success and in folk style
my senior year, I decided to keep on with that.
So I decided to make the change. I reached out
to Cayden, He got me into contact with Andy, went

(13:53):
on my visit. UH moved out of my apartment completely
and moved up to Northern all within within a few
weeks and made the transition to Greco, and I've just
been hammering away at it since.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
So here's two takeaways.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
One is that this Superior Camp now Northern has a
Big Brother Camp, but Superior Camp that was one of
its goals was obviously to recruit, potentially recruit, and at

(14:33):
the very least, just like you know, I guess you
could say the Big Brother camps, at the very least
plant a seed. So even though you had already begun
wrestling some Greco previously, like you got a chance to
see what it's like in that sort of environment. The
second takeaway is it's for a wrestler from Illinois, it's

(14:59):
almost an unconventional route to GRECO because so many I'm
guessing you had some time on target with Brian Medlin.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
You had to have encountered them a bunch, But like.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
I think he was in charge of the he was
in charge of the Fargo camp when I was there.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Of course, But you're not someone who we would define
as a disciple of Medlands either, and a good portion
of our program is and has been influenced by him,
at least those from Illinois anyway. So that's what I
find to be kind of interesting, is that like you're

(15:35):
from this, you know, one of our key states. You
got involved in it kind of young, but then you
deviated back to folk style, which is completely and totally understandable,
especially given the wrestling culture in our country. Yep, but
now you know, we'll call it. I guess what like

(15:56):
a year and a half or so in at.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Northern right, Uh?

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yes, yeah, it's like this is what you should have
been doing, this is what you should be doing.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Do you think of it that way? Or am I
projecting for sure?

Speaker 2 (16:11):
If it wasn't, I I really I really don't know,
Like if I had, if I could go back and
make a different decision, I don't know if I would have,
because I don't know if any everything would have still
panned out the way it was. But I think I
definitely could have benefited from a few more years down
at the UH down at you twenty. But after finding

(16:35):
success my senior year in folk style, I honestly forgot
that Northern was uh was even an option. To be honest,
it really wasn't even on my radar when it definitely
should have been. But it was a weird, weird year
for recruiting anyways, with with how COVID was and everything,

(16:55):
and I didn't wrestle my senior year until until most May,
so I had already committed to a folk style college
before then. But luckily I made the switch. I definitely
could have benefited from a from two more years of
full time Greco.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, I know, I mean, I agree with I agree
with the idea of things happen for a reason. I
don't necessarily get into oh well, you know, uh, I
regret doing this, and I wish I did this earlier.

(17:36):
I mean, so many Greco guys in our country say that,
and I understand why. But the truth of the matter
is is that you wrestled at the collegiate level, and
even if it weren't for four years or something, at
the same time, like it's I don't know why people

(17:59):
hide from this, but the college wrestling doesn't matter if
it's NAIA D three, D two whatever.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
It's like, it's.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Very competitive, and those college wrestlers know how to grind,
you know, and you're very very I mean very very
that's even understating it. Like you're an extremely like intense competitor.
And to me anyway, and I'm not alone, I would reckon.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
But that is.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
One of the gifts folks out wrestling does in part
on our greco Roman wrestlers.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Is that competitiveness I think anyway.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Coming to Marquette, getting to know Andy, getting to know Parker, obviously,
I'm referring to head coach Andy Bisik and assistant coach
Parker Betts. How has your dynamic been with them? They
are ignoring my personal affinity and friendships with both. They

(19:06):
are tremendous coaches. I here not to go off the
rails here, pat. I always tell people that Brian Medlin
is the best coach in the country. It's like, it's
flat lines what I always say, and.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
People will go, well, why.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
I had a guy at the Olympic trials asked me,
he says, who's the best coach in the country.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
He said, Oh, it's Brian Medlin.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
He goes, Okay, why and I was like, because he
coaches the man, not the style. I tell this to
Brian just to like, you know, on the phone one day,
just to kind of embarrass him.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
That exact story.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
You know.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
What he tells me, tells me that no, I'm not
the best coach in the country. Andy be Sick is
the best coach in the country, and then he goes
on a multi minute soliloquy about how Andy is the
best coach in the country, the amount of detail and

(20:05):
the way that he handles his wrestlers and how he
can relate to them, and it's you know, it's not weird,
but you know, I'm just friends with Andy.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
So you talk to me about Andy.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Like, not to put you in an awkward spot, but
if Brian Medlin, who I certainly trusts when it comes
to topics such as these, if he's saying that Andy's
best coach in the country, I'm inclined to believe him.
If Andy is the best coach in the country. If not, Parker,
we're leaving out Parker crying out loud. But talk to
me about basic. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
I think the best thing that we've got here at
Northern is just the culture. And we're very lucky because
Andy brings a very interesting perspective because he also came
through this program and he's been a part of Marquette
for decades yea, and so he knows the culture. And uh,

(21:04):
he's coming and do a very good job. My first
couple of weeks on campus, you know, I was just
coming from a strictly folk style background. I hadn't wrestled
Greco Roman and Uh years two or three years. So

(21:25):
immediately when I got in the room, I just I
looked at the best guys, and Peyton was in there, Benji.
I don't want to leave anyone out because I know
though not be happy with me. Peyton and Benji. I
was David, obviously, I was. I was looking at those
guys and I was I was just trying to replicate
what they were doing. I was asking not too many questions,

(21:50):
but a lot, and Andy was receptive to all of
them and he gave his honest answer. I came in
here looking for success, and every single time that I
had a question Andy, Andy was there, and throughout me
being here for the past year and a half almost
two years now, it's just I've gotten to know him

(22:12):
him a lot more as a as a person, and
Uh I just really relate to his his coaching philosophy
a lot too. He's just a chill guy. But then
as soon as as soon as uh he gets into competition,
he just fierce competitor. And it's nice having someone as

(22:34):
I'm making my way and trying to build the name
for myself and establish myself in this sport. Someone who's
been through this process and someone who I can ask
questions to. So I'm really glad that I have someone
who's been through this experience that I can ask questions
and he can he can share his experiences and give
me some insight on onto what's going on and how

(22:56):
I can improve sometimes sometimes, Uh, he's such a friendly
guy that, like you forget that he's one of the
best Greco guys to come out of our country and
in recent history.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
So my gosh, you might as well be anonymous if
he didn't have the mustache. Nobody know who he is.
Like he's just is completely unassuming.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, but nobody comes to Greco Roman wrestling is just
single to none. It's just, uh, it's a great resource
to have up here. And I tell the I try
to tell the freshman all the time, like if you
have questions, like all you have to do is ask,
He'll He'll talk wrestling forever.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, nobody nobody would guess like if they I mean,
uh mean, of course he looks athletic. I get fine, whatever,
but like he's not the one thing about Andy that's
just completely totally remarkable.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Parker. Two actually.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Is that Andy does not, like in any way, shape
or form, like have it in him to seek attention
for himself.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
He doesn't even you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
He's like just completely like on the level all the time.
And that's what I imagine is what attracts his guys
to him. You know, He's not like, yeah, there's some
coaches they want to make sure everybody knows who they are.
They want to make sure everybody knows they're the coach.
And like Andy's just so darn comfortable in his own

(24:34):
skin that it's not important enough to him to like
carry himself that way. Ye huh, Now there is a
I always find it interesting though, when it comes to
Andy and Parker because, like you said, like Andy's you know, chill,
like you know, completely laid back. It's got an awesome

(24:54):
sense of humor. What's Parker's disposition the room? You see
the motivator?

Speaker 2 (25:05):
I would say so, I think both of them motivate
in UH in different ways. Obviously, UH, Andy wants to
to see everyone succeed. So just having that motivation to
two UH to perform to UH to his expectations is
a big one. But but Parker. He uh yeah, he's

(25:26):
a little bit more more loud and in your face
about it. Like if Andy's Andy's talking at the beginning
of practicing about what we're doing and someone's talking, Parker
is gonna be the guy too, uh to shut him up.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
But uh he's the enforcer.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
Yeah yeah, And just like like even even like cornering Andy,
like before your match, there's there's no like like like
yelling or like like big big thing.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
He's just get out there, get it done, think about it. Uh. Strategically, Parker,
you get a little bit more more fire out of
out of them during your match, which both are important
to have because different guys are motivated by different things.
So I think we've got it's it's important to have
that that differentiation when it comes to that because because

(26:24):
different guys are more receptive to different things.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
What is Andy like for you postmatch win or lose?

Speaker 2 (26:34):
When I lose, I kind of I don't know if
this is like me maturing. Uh back in back in
the day, I used to I used to get real
upset about it and get confused. I'm like, I can't
believe I lost that match, and get all up in
arms about it. But taking a loss, now it's just

(26:56):
look back at it and learn, like what can I
do different? And it really just depends on the guy.
But but with me, he'll he'll give me some he'll
tell me, he'll tell me what I did wrong. Obviously,
he'll give me some time to cool down. And after
that you can you can go up to him and
he'll he'll, uh, he's not gonna give you the sugarcoated

(27:18):
version of it, obviously, like we're all adults. He's not
gonna not gonna baby you. He's gonna tell you what
you did wrong, because he knows that that's what it
takes to uh to really improve. Because if you just
blue smoke the entire time and and uh and and
told you like, oh, I don't know what went wrong, like,

(27:41):
you're not gonna you're not gonna gain anything from that.
So I think that's a really valuable thing. It's nice
having a coach like that because they're actually going to
tell you what what you did wrong, because because then
you go back in the room and you work on it,
and he will he'll work with you on the things
that you need improving on. You get back in the
room the next week, you say, hey, I did you

(28:01):
said I did this, this and this wrong.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
I want to work on it.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
He'll be the guy to work on it, work on
it with. So I think that's really, uh, really a
valuable thing. And I'm glad he I'm glad he doesn't
sugarcoat anything, because when I lose, it's now like, all right,
what did I do wrong? And how can I improve it?

Speaker 4 (28:23):
You know?

Speaker 3 (28:23):
That's That's another thing though, too, is that you know,
you you experience success in high school.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Towards the end of high.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
School, you go and wrestling college, and then you get
into Greco and there's you know, there's a you know,
there's a pronounced learning curve. It's not supposed to be
a straight shot to the top. You just come over
to Greco and just start slaying everybody, Right, So how

(28:55):
have you come to grips with that?

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Now?

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Like it sounds like you have, but like that take
an adjustment where it's like, huh, you know there's a
period here where like I'm losing more than I'm winning,
you know which, listen, pat That turns a lot of
dudes off, like totally turns them off. That's why we
don't necessarily recruit so much from the colleges anymore and

(29:21):
stuff like that because they don't want to come over
here and like just bite down on the learning process,
which that's all this is, is a learning process. The
winds are great, but the losses are great too, because
that's it's all learning, right, I mean, none of this
that I'm saying is intellectually unique. So for you, as

(29:46):
I said, like, given you know how tough you are
in match, and clearly you are trying to die to
win out there again, like how did you come to
grips with the learning process? And it's like, Okay, you're
gonna win some you're gonna lose them right now. I
mean that's just part of how this goes.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, transferring from my other school, I kind of said
to myself, like if I'm gonna if I'm gonna keep wrestling,
it's gonna be against the best competition. Like if I
if I win a tournament or if I placed a tournament,
I want to be I want it to be against
the best. So coming in you know obviously Peyton h Peyton, Jacobson,

(30:34):
the Nutters, Aaron Dobbs, they're all, Benji Peek, They're all.
They're all Wisconsin guys, and coming from Wisconsin school, most
of my teammates had wrestled these guys before, and they
told me that, like, when I get into this room,
it's it's not gonna be good. So I knew. I
knew going in, I knew what I was getting myself into,

(30:55):
and I knew that it was definitely gonna be it's
It was probably one of the most humbling experience of
my entire life. It was walking into that room and
we the amount of talent that we had in that
room was it was. It was horrible. These guys were

(31:15):
coming off the the January Camp. I didn't I didn't
see any of these guys until until they came back
from the January Camp, and it was just a complete
destruction of all of the fundamentals that I had. In
folk style, you wrestle with your hips out, and then

(31:35):
I had to wrestle with my hips in In folk
style you reach and greco you don't, and uh, yeah,
it was It was just a complete, completely new style
to me, to be honest, because even in high school,
obviously I wrestled greco, but those tournaments were so close
to the high school season that basically it was.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Just high school wrestling with GRECO rules.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yes, correct, high school wrestling.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, that's kind of what Fargo basically is.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, so yeah, all those fundamentals, it was pretty much
still whoever was the most athletic was going to win.
But getting into this room where where there was so
much experience and these guys have been overseas to train with,
these guys who've been training Greco their entire lives, their
their fundamentals were just mine. I just couldn't even I

(32:28):
couldn't even compete. But I kind of went into the
room with the attitude like I'm just going to wrestle
the best and probably gonna get my butt whooped, but
I'll figure it out or that that's it. Like there
was really no other options, so I just went in
there just tried to find the best competition I could.

(32:51):
It was one of the first live practices since the
guys got back from the January camp. I forgot how
to get thrown, tucked my chin and just kind of
just kind of protect myself. Peyton got around me, put
me right on my head, said this is my room.

(33:11):
I was like, what did I get myself into? So
I just kind of put my head down and just
kept asking Andy questions about what I can be working on,
how go live with better guys in the room, go
live with a couple guys my own age and skill level.

(33:31):
And then after practice, just go up to Andy and
say like, would you think what could I improve on?
And and he gave it to me. And it's it's
been an ongoing process for sure. I uh one of
our recruits, he came in for a visit before before

(33:56):
the open, and uh, I was beating them and I
was feeling pretty good. I wrestled seniors, I wrestled Ortiz
first round. I was wrestling them pretty good. I thought
I was up against him, and then uh, you know,
my fundamentals came into play. I hit my hips out
and I remember that match very well. Yeah, and he

(34:19):
stuck me.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
And I was like, all right, that's the education process
at work.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
All right, I guess keep my hips in and then
won my next match, got beat by Icens and then
I was out. And then I went on to wrestle
U twenties and went against that recruit that that we
had in the room previously, had my hips out and

(34:45):
got armed through twice, and I uh, I was like
this is so frustrating. Ended up not placing it that tournament.
My goal was to make to make a U twenties team,
but obviously that didn't work out, and then just went
back to work before last year. How did I do

(35:11):
last year? Just kind of kept kept hammering away, kept
competing with the best guys in the room, competed with Peyton,
competed with uh with Benji. They were obviously getting ready
ready for big competitions coming up. I went to Dallas,
I was up at eighty seven. I think I'm pretty sure.

(35:36):
I went on in two and I was like, all right,
this is uh frustrating again. Then I got back in
the room, kept training. Peyton and Benji were getting ready
for for Olympic trials. Just kept hammering away with them.

(35:58):
Those are two great guys that that were that were
big because as soon as I had any questions with them,
I would wrestle with them and and we would we
would talk about what I could work on. They were
super helpful and just just again asking questions. That's just
just understanding what you don't know is is really important

(36:20):
in that whole process. And then finally, oh, I ended
up going to Bulgaria on spring break. Luckily I got
into a round robin, or else I would have had
a pretty short day. I went and three on my feet.
I was all right, I was thinking. But then as
soon as I got put down first the parterre overseas

(36:44):
is just it's different, it's just insane. Had a bunch
of good partners over there, learned a lot. I even
got the chance to uh train with the guy who
won gold at eighty seven Novakov, So that was great. Yeah,
just just kept just kept hammering away. Finally found a

(37:08):
little bit of success. Obviously. Uh, you've you've spoken about
my competitive nature, and it was nice to finally have
my fundamental sw down to the point where I could
start competing like I wanted to again, because I kept
finding myself over exerting myself into dumb positions and I

(37:29):
would I would push in or I would reach to
go to snap and I would get ducked and taken down.
And just figuring out how to compete and be super
active while also not getting not getting put on my head.
So just understanding how to stay in good position and
and uh and luckily I have I wrestled through every position. Uh,

(37:54):
and I got that from folk style, which which I'm
happy I have, but now just understanding and have an
experience in Greco, I can finally start putting my competitive
nature to work without getting completely destroyed every single every
single tournament.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Well you're I mean, look, you're not being totally fair
to yourself, because the wrestler you are, the Greka Roman
wrestler you are today, would absolutely destroyed the Greco Roman
wrestler you were. You know last season for sure. Yeah,

(38:38):
the way you painted that Bulgaria story was really hilarious,
but uh, pat, nobody would say it that way.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Well, I'm glad it was a round robin.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Yeah, completely honest.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Oh my gosh. Well, I think that's you know, I
think that's the thing.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
Is that the way that you're describing this, it's yeah,
it's there's no way, it's uncommon.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
You know.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
It's because I think that when a lot of guys
come over, there's so much adaptation taking place in real time,
and I think that there's a lot of introspection during matches,
you know, and.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Where my feet wear, my hands.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Uh, you know, you're you're thinking and you're trying not
to do the you're trying not to make the big mistake,
you know, because you know, an incorrect position against someone
really good can turn into quicksand pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
But I like the way that you say it, like.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
You know, like now you now once starting to get
solid with you call him fundamentals. Once you're solid that
now you can start fighting like pat like the reason
one of the reasons why we're even talking now is
just it's not just because you're an up and coming
athlete from Northern it's also because I watched all your

(40:20):
matches basically probably anyway, certainly this season. Anytime we when
I say we my little clique, like and I'm talking
about you, it's like, man, this kid fights so hard.
If there's a missing component to our program, it's like,
we could use more guys who.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Fight this way.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
And to that end, I'd like to bring up a
name because I was talking to this gentleman about you,
and I can actually use his name now because he
is no longer in the United States Navy, and that
is Ryan Hope.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, Ryan Hope.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
Who's one of my I don't have a lot of
good friends, but he's one of them. And I guess
it was probably just about a week ago or so,
I was on the phone with one mister Hope, and
we were talking about you a bunch. Let me tell you,

(41:20):
do you have any insights you'd like to share regarding
your dynamic with Ryan, Because I didn't even know that
he knew you, by the way, when we were talking.
That wasn't why you were not why we were talking. Yeah,
but I had mentioned you and would you like to

(41:42):
take a shot here or yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Him and his brother were at Northern while I.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Was uh lunch money.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah, yeah, at the kids club and him and his
brother we're going through and doing the exact same things
that I am doing right now. And they were coming
into the height school room and showing things. And then
they kind of went off and did their own thing.
I think they both moved out to Colorado and then

(42:10):
I didn't They would stop in from time to time
and they would run practice.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
He did tell me a story, and I don't want
to embarrass you too badly. I think you probably understand
where I'm going.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Oh yeah, when he was training for.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
For the Navy, right, so you came into practice.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Look, I won't leave out the details, but the brunt
of it is this is that you got put through
the wringer. Okay, oh yeah, rather hardcore and Ryan and
the I guess the head coach.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
No, no, it was one of our assistant coaches to
Tom Goodella. He was. It wasn't it wasn't even practice.
It was uh we did we did a rock This
guy Tom, he was a he was a he was
in the army, he was a ranger and he. Uh.
Every summer we do this thing called Warrior Weekend and

(43:15):
uh we go out to my my the head coach,
Mark Han. He's got a farm out in western Illinois,
so lots of hills, uh, just a just a farming community,
and he's got a house out there and we would
all go pitch tents and we'd have competitions and stuff,
just a big team bonding weekend. But the first activity
that we do is a ten to fifteen mile rock. Yeah.

(43:39):
I uh, I got put through the ringer. Basically it
was a one hundred pound kid with a fifty or
sixty pound pack on doing Indian runs the whole way,
and uh yeah it sucked.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
Well, uh yeah, that's kind of part of how I
guess I heard it. The other part was that like
they took delight in I guess hammering you out with
pt of some sort yep. And Ryan's takeaway was that.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
What did he say? You know what?

Speaker 3 (44:22):
I'm trying to remember exactly how he phrased it, but
it was basically like, look, he was complaining, but he
wasn't complaining in a way that he was like gonna
stop or quit. And it sounded to me like they
kept trying to push you and push you and push you,
you know, just to mess with you a little bit,

(44:43):
and you stayed with it the entire time, finished it
in less than optimal physical condition.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
I would reckon yea, And.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Yeah that was that was it, And I was like, yeah,
it makes sense, it makes sense.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yeah, yeah, that was That was a tough one for sure.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
The Hope Brothers.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
Let me tell you something about the Hope Brothers, Okay,
because I love both of them, and I mean that.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
I'm not saying that like.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
A like just throwaway like they're they're just they're just
super awesome and I care a lot about them and
they're very extremely valuable resources. They should be both both
Corey and Ryan should be weaponized for the GRECO program.
They're both encyclopedias of knowledge when it comes to this

(45:44):
sport in totality, like not just like Greco Roman wrestling
like Americans and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
They know everything.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
They know it like a sport, like the way that
people who follow the NFL know like all the players
on like each roster and stuff like that and whatever.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
Like that's how well.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
They know it and their their concepts and their philosophies
like they they sound like they have PhDs in it totally,
Like if you could have a PhD in this style
of wrestling, they've got it. And both of them reputably were,
you know, immensely hard workers.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
I mean immensely hard workers.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
And to that fact, Denis Hall used to Denisall had
them for just a little bit. He's at Northern and
he forged some sort of bond with Corey and Ryan,
and he said the same thing. It's like, my gosh,
like like almost sadists the two of them, which would

(46:49):
you know, which obviously would make sense given you know
where Ryan went career wise when he was done with wrestling, right, So,
but yeah, I just want to make sure I mentioned
that that I had talked to, uh, my good friend Ryan.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
I knew you talked to him. I was I was
talking with Ryan, we had our high school as a
practice Thanksgiving morning, and I told him that you wanted
to do this with me and he was like, I
was just on the phone with him the other morning
and then he showed. Dude, we were talking Greco and
he was showing me, uh, some two on one offense

(47:28):
and yeah, you're right. They they're nerds.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
Nerds just totally like absolute nerds. Yes, for sure, one
hundred and ten percent. Yeah, like weird things, dude, Like man,
they get in the weeds and uh, you know.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
It's no, it is no, it's cool. No, it's cool.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Is when someone like truly, like like truly loves something
that you love, you know what I mean, Like they
really love it. And so yeah, anyhow, but uh, I
don't know that was funny though, that was funny. The
crazy part is is that like Ryan and I got

(48:10):
on the phone to talk about something unrelated and I
was you know, like the you know, most recent thing
had been the New York Tournament and so like I'm
talking about this, this this, and I was like, oh, well,
then I mentioned you and I was like, yeah, basically

(48:30):
talking you up. I guess in part probably because of Illinois,
but and as soon as I started, he goes like, oh,
I know him, Like it was like here we go and.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Anyway, I guess that might be just the high school
that we come out of. I've been doing two days
since my freshman year of high school, so I know
we've been our high schools used the exact same workouts
for our conditioning for probably decades, even since my dad
was in high school and wrestled there, and it doesn't

(49:04):
seem like a whole lot's changed. So your dad wrestled
pat Yeah, oh wow high school at the same high
school as me.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Oh that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
Okay, that was kind of brought me into it.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
Yeah, Well, you know what when in the beginning, when
you were like talking, you know, about your background and
stuff like that, like at first, the way you like,
I I don't know, I guess I misheard it at first,
but then it didn't make sense. It's almost sounded like
you had started wrestling when you were like, I don't know,
I think it's the way you said it, like seventh

(49:41):
or eighth grade, and I was like, nah, he had
to have been started.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
He had to start wrestling sooner than that. Yeah, when
did you start?

Speaker 2 (49:48):
So my dad put me into wrestling when I was
four or five. Okay, then my mom kind of said like,
this is crazy for a four or five year old
to be doing hour and a half two hour practices
two or three times a week. This is ridiculous. Why

(50:08):
don't we come back to this when.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Uh, yeah, when he can you know forms that.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Yeah. So then, uh, it was around fifth grade and
there's these uh two main roads that go through my town,
Kun and uh lies uh Lee's for if my coach
John's listening because he's been in that town forever and
he knows the original names. But on that corner there's

(50:36):
a there's a barn with a with a giant gold
dot on it, and my house in the pool you
have to take you go past those crossroads. And I
asked my dad. I was like, hey, Dad, why is
there a giant dot on that on that barn? And
he's like, oh, it's for uh it's for the wrestling team.

(50:58):
And I'm like what does it mean? And he's like, oh,
you got to wrestle varsity at Glenbard North to find out.
And I was like, well, I want to figure out
what that means. So I was like, Dad, put me
in wrestling, so that winter I started wrestling.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
What does the dot mean?

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Means that I'm a part of the secret Society of
the Gold Dot.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Oh, so you're not allowed to say it.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Not at liberty to say, dude, I'm repeating the question.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
You're like giving me weird answers. I'm sorry, Okay, not
at liberty to say so. It must be uh something
really scandalous. I guess out there in the boondocks of Illinois.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Do I have that correct?

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I wasn't going to bring this up, but we're we're
starting to hit the home stretch here. Gosh.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
I mean, it makes it sound like I've been talking
about you a bunch over the past month. But I
have told this story probably I don't know, let's call
it four times four times, Okay, I'm gonna make it public.
I don't know if I'm gonna do it justice. But
it's something I've not I had not witnessed before at

(52:16):
a wrestling tournament, never of any level, by the way,
dating back to my own childhood, I've not seen this
that I've had a wrestling tournament.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
After the New.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
York Bill Farrell Memorial had wrapped up and we're on
the mat, the Ukrainian national team is taking a pic
team picture. We had an interaction that I have to
be honest with you, at least for a little while longer.
Is going to live on in my mind as one

(52:47):
of the most remarkably funny things I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
Do you know what, rootine, I'm taking.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
Here, Pat, No, not really, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Oh my gosh, you should know. As soon as I started.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Sorry, I apologize.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Okay. So the Ukrainian national team is taking a picture.

Speaker 3 (53:06):
You're facing me, okay, I guess you have mccoon standing
to your right, right, yeah, okay, we're talking and the
Ukrainians are taking this picture on the mat right behind you,
right behind you, okay, and standing at the end, okay,

(53:29):
was a wrestler from Ukraine. And I said to you,
I whisper, Okay, it's a mistake, mistake, mistake, but I whisper,
and I say, hey, that guy behind you, his name
is vladimirak Eliav. He's one of the dirtiest wrestlers you
ever see.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Okay, do you remember this?

Speaker 2 (53:51):
Yeah, yako okay.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
And then this guy who like.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
Is a tough, excellent beast of a wrestler himself who
had just lost.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
In the final to a nausey from Hungary. You turn around.
You don't know him.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Now.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Maybe you got to know him in Springs, I'm guessing,
but you didn't know him in New York. And you
turn around, you greet him, and then you pick the
silver metal up off of his neck hanging on.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
It's on his chest, it's on his sternum.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
You don't know this guy, okay, and you go, oh, wow,
second place, what happened here? And I was like half mortified,
half like finding it hilarious. And he doesn't understand that,

(54:58):
like you're rasing him, Like he don't get it. And
so he's like, oh, I lose, and you're like, oh, yeah, well, yeah,
well what happened? He's like Then finally he starts to
kind of like get the program a little bit, and
then he's like, what happened to you?

Speaker 1 (55:14):
And you're like, ah, I lost.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
And then you guys like half playfully sort of grab
each other, right, and so not that I was so
totally worried about this like becoming an international incident, but
then like I got like kind of sort of involved,
and I was like just to like sort of pre
preemptively diffuse it.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
I just like I was like.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
Okay, so you're going to Color Springs next week on
He's like, yes, we're going to Olympic Sturing Center. We leave,
you know, Sunday or whatever he said, and I was like, okay,
all right. We all went our several ways after that,
so at least soon after anyhow, And.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
Dude, I was laughing about that for like two days.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
Like I came home and told my my wife does
not care about any of this, and I told her,
like all about it.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
Her name is Maureene, I said, Maureene, Like.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
This kid, he picked up the medal off the guy's neck,
picked up the metal.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
It's like, ah, what happened here? Silver metal?

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Yeah? Oh, I saw I saw him earlier on in
the day. I didn't even know he was in my
weight class, to be honest, and I was I was
kind of just pacing around warming up for my match,
and he came up to me and like I don't
know if he like thought I was a different guy
or what, but like he kind of like grabbed my

(56:35):
hands and like play wrestled with me for a second,
and I was like and like we kind of talked
for like a few seconds, and then I was like, hey,
good luck. He said good luck, and then we went
about our separate ways. And so then when I turned
around and saw him, he saw me, and I was like, hey,
what happened? Like silver metal and he was like, oh yeah,

(56:59):
I lose, and then it just went went as you
uh as you described. He was like, oh, yes, I
go Colorado Springs. Awesome. Awesome, me too, and then we
went about our separate ways. But then, uh, I ended
up seeing him in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
And did you get hands on him at all?

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Yeah? Yeah, we wrestled quite a few times. Actually we
exchanged singlets. I gotta I got a Ukraine singlet, he's
got a USA singlet.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Now see that's a happy ending to the story.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Follows me on Instagram. No, you you did say that.
You were like, this is one of the dirtiest wrestlers
I've ever seen in my entire uh my entire life.
And I was like, you can't be that bad. I
don't know, just a man.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
I know he's he's okay, Like I I probably over
overstated that, but like he's I've seen him wrestle a
bunch and it's looking I don't even have a problem
with it. Think of it as like egregious, but like
he's the type of dude who, you know, drop a
knuckle in ribs or something, or he'll give you an
extra shove or he'll pop you in that, like just

(58:05):
little things like that.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Nothing major, no, no, yeah, it's just just aggressive dude.
Like look, I'm glad it ended well it did. I mean,
it wasn't that big a deal.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
It was.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
First off, it was pat It was really funny, just
like how it started. But I instantly felt bad for
him because I just felt.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
Like he doesn't know. Yeah, I don't know whatever. I'm
not gonna keep going on about it, but.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
It was awesomes Okay, I talked to him about it.
Beef is settled.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
How did you fare against him live? If you don't
mind me asking, you know, well, Parterre, I'm sure like
he's he's really strong from Parterre.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
He uh. The first time I wrestled him, he uh,
he just kept hanging on my head and it felt
like more of a boxing match because every single time
he hung on my head, I'd punch that arm and
punch an underhook and he'd pummel out of it and
then just start hanging on my head again. And finally
after I was just like, yo, hey, what's the deal

(59:05):
man like, and then he's like, I do this, and
then this leads to this, and and he he obviously
got a couple of scores on me. Fortunately I got none,
but uh, you know, that's how it goes. But it's
it's those type of positions that I want to put
myself in where I'm wrestling guys who are who are
better than me. And that's why that's why that camp

(59:28):
in Colorado is so beneficial to me, because you have
to go and seek out the best and wrestle them.
Because if you just stay wrestling the same guys every
single every single week, week in and week out, you
get to know what they do, You get the same
feel everyone. They can teach you their moves, you can

(59:51):
teach them your moves. But getting guys from overseas like that,
and being able to train with with those type of
guys who have been wrestling this style of wrestling since
pretty much their whole lives, just as long as we've
been wrestling folk style here. Yeah, they've been wrestling it
so long that they know the ins and outs of

(01:00:12):
this sport. So well, and like I know, they don't
speak English, but I picked their brain just as much
as I can and and just they just show me
it and stuff, and uh, parteer Partaire was difficult even
even when I was on top, like i'd uh, I'd
go to get a lock and he'd start standing up

(01:00:33):
on me. And he just had the feel down so well,
because he's had that feel since he was five or
six years old, probably that he just knows the positioning
of the sport so well. And it just frustrated me
so much on top, he was gutting me, but nothing,
nothing crazy at all. So yeah, I just I just

(01:00:55):
pretty much picked his brain the entire camp, to the
point uh where he probably thought I was bothering them,
But that's all right. We were actually on the same
flight out. I was with him the entire time we
flew from from New York to Atlanta, Atlanta to Colorado Springs.

(01:01:15):
We were on the same flights there, and then I
was on the flight at six am with the entire
Ukrainian team into Atlanta. So so I was with these
guys pretty much the entire time I was traveling around.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
Let me ask you, just for fun sake, anyway, it's
a couple of user friendly questions that aren't so technical
and stuff like that, even though I normally prefer the more,
you know, engrossed detail when we're talking about the sport.
But here here's what I'll throw at you. Who's your

(01:01:51):
favorite American Greco Roman wrestler to watch right now?

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
Anyway?

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Peyton probably a guy who came out of our program.
It was it was awesome watching them, uh compete in Paris.
That was really fun. I mean, I don't know if
it's just showing some favoritism, but it's just fun to
go out there and uh watch your practice partner just
just go out there against the best.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
Do you have a favorite foreigner you like to watch?

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
I find myself watching uh Makamodoff highlights because uh, Max
always talks about him. So it's I'm still pretty new
and I'm trying to figure out names and uh who's
who oversees? So, uh yeah, Macha Mudoff.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
Probably when you deal with high school wrestlers from you know,
like where you grew up and all that stuff, and
they know what you've gone on to do. Now, what
do you talk about when it comes to Greco, Like,
how do you you know. So, how do you describe,
like this path you've taken, do you recommend it, how

(01:03:05):
do you encourage? Like how has that gone since you've
been up at Northern and become a full time American
Greco Roman wrestler here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Yeah, I pretty much talk to them about exactly what
I told you about. It's going to be humbling and
you're definitely going to take some losses as you're making
the transition. But I don't know, it's been one of
the most rewarding things that that I've done. I've grown
a love for the style. Yeah. I just explained to

(01:03:38):
him that, like obviously you're say, I'm talking to a
kid trying to tell them, like, yeah, Northern would be
a great opportunity. I tell him, you're going to go
in there and there's there's a lot of talent in
our room, and it's and it's a completely different style
than you're used to. But I think I think it's
really important for the sport to get these young young

(01:04:01):
guys in a in full time Greco to to grow
it in America. I don't know, I just I just
share my love for it, tell them how cool it
is that you can just lift up guys and throw
them on your head, throw them on their head. Uh yeah,
it's like, I don't know, I don't A lot of

(01:04:24):
the guys that I've been talking to there there. It's
hard because a lot of them don't even see it
as an option unfortunately. So it's just pretty much I
explained to them, like when they ask me when I'm competing,
I'm like, I don't. There's four or five months sometimes

(01:04:44):
before I compete again, and it's gonna be it's gonna
be rough. But then you have to take that four
or five months and make it your mission to be
in your peak athletic condition that you can be at
that tournament because the next time you compete might be
five six months from then. But then I explained to

(01:05:07):
him how cool it is to travel overseas and and
to train and to be at the pinnacle of the sport,
because that's really what we're training for. I said when
I transferred that I only wanted to if I was
gonna win. I wanted it to be against the best.
And you know, there's a couple of guys that I'm
talking to, but I would definitely love for to get

(01:05:31):
more guys up here, and uh, you know, the hopes
came out of my high school and I came out
of my high school, and hopefully I could get a
couple of guys with the with the with the same uh,
with the same come up that I had, her experiences
that I had at my high school and demeanor up here.
Because if they could get these fundamentals down, the competitive

(01:05:55):
drive that these kids have, I think they could definitely
do some damage.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
Okay, And that was Patrick Karrent of Northern Michigan University.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Eighty two kilograms.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
I guess you would presuppose that might be eighty seven
by the time at LA twenty twenty eight rolls around.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
And you heard him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
He's trying to do his part in bringing younger wrestlers
into this program.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
And that's what we need.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
We need the athletes of today, not the athletes of yesterday.
We need the athletes of today more than anything else
to talk to their peers, their contemporaries, and those a
little bit younger, those still in high school, as to
what this is all about, what kind of opportunities are
available for them, Because, to be honest with you, no

(01:06:51):
matter how much of an effort we all make, none
all of them know this and so.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Yeah, there's work to be done there.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
But as I said in the intro, pac Currn he is,
it's a dynamo. He's got a whole lot of potential
and there's a lot to look forward to with his
career as that goes forward, and I hope you and
everybody else pays attention to him. And let's close out

(01:07:23):
with a couple of other notes. We mentioned Otto Black
and Austin Desanton in the beginning of this program, and
then we also mentioned see Denzel Freeman in Egypt, and
that closes out the competitive calendar for Greco Roman Wrestling

(01:07:44):
as far as twenty twenty four is concerned.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
So what do we have coming up?

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Well, among other things, where we have coming up is
it's December, so sooner than later we're gonna start putting
out the year end award material, the stuff for you
guys to vote on Athlete of the Year, Impact Performer,
outstanding individual performance. Not going to speculate. I can't even

(01:08:13):
imagine who athlete of the Year could be. It was
a really big campaign for several guys, in particular those
who made the Olympic team. I'm sure they're going to
get the highest billing, but there's you know what, there'll
be other stories in there somewhere, and.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
Yeah, this is how we lift up our athletes. It's not.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
I mean, this is one of the mechanisms to help
promote them, help promote the program, help promote the sport.
So when that material comes out, please vote, share it
and then let's sort of celebrate our country's grecro Roman
athletes together. And then after that we start hitting January.

(01:09:02):
What January Camp? Then from January Camp, I guess it's
the trip to Croatia Zagreb, the Ranking Series tournament, other
overseas concerns, and then before you know it, the World
team trials because for the second year in a row,
senior team selection will take place in April. It's all

(01:09:27):
gonna go pretty quick. All gonna go pretty quick, all right,
Social media concerns, Social media concerns. To follow Patrick Kerran,
you can do so on Instagram at Patrick Underscore Current.
The underscore is a classy touch, isn't it, The underscores
with these screen names. I'm sure he's got a snapchat

(01:09:50):
or something dumb like that, but we don't share snapchats.
She should follow our athletes, So follow Patrick Kerrn once again,
Patrick Underscore or current. To follow Dennis Hall, who hasn't
been on this program in over a year.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
He has supposed to how do I say this in English?

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
He was supposed to have made a couple of appearances
in the time since. But he's just getting him and
I on the same page. To do this is just
it's difficult.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
So we'll get him back. We'll get him back.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
But to follow Dennis Hall, if you would, you can
follow him at Dennis Hall WGW on Twitter and on
Instagram Instagram.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
His handle is a little bit different. What is it?

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
It's Dennis Hall Underscore Another underscore Dennis Hall Underscore u
D for University of Dubuque and for USA, grecor Roman
news and athlete perspectives. Please go to five point Move
dot com and as always, follow along on Twitter at
five the number five pt Move.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
That's it for episode sixty two. Everybody, thanks for listening,
and we'll see you soon.