Staff Sgt. Glenn Nieradka (right), a member of the Army World Class Athlete Program, grapples for a 5-0 decision over Navy IT2 Mark Gaskill in the 60-kilogram Greco-Roman division of the 2003 Armed Forces Wrestling Championships at Mountain Home, Idaho. Nieradka, 31, of Tigard, Ore., has won six Armed Forces championships. (Photo by Tim Hipps)
Army wrestlers dominate 2003 Armed Forces Championships
by Tim Hipps
MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho (Army News Service, April 21, 2003) -- The All-Army freestyle team won six of seven gold medals April 13 to punctuate soldiers' domination of the 2003 Armed Forces Wrestling Championships.
Members of the Army World Class Athlete Program also won three gold medals April 12 in Greco-Roman competition en route to grappling team titles in both wrestling disciplines from the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and host Air Force.
Spc. Oscar Wood, who won the 66-kilogram freestyle division and finished runner-up to Air Force Staff Sgt. Steve Woods in Greco-Roman at the same weight, was the only soldier to compete in both categories.
"I like wrestling both days, I always have," said Wood, pressed into double duty by Spc. Glenn Garrison's injury. "Greco-Roman is my favorite, but just to have the chance to wrestle freestyle is fun and exciting."
Almost all the freestyle fun and excitement came from Army's side of the mat as 1st Lt. Eric Albarracin, Sgt. Jason Kutz, Spc. Max Shingara, Sgt. Charles Daniels, Spc. Franklin Lashley and 2nd Lt. Dominic Black won their weight classes.
Marine Lance Cpl. Jacob Clark prevented Army's freestyle sweep by winning the 84-kilogram title as Army Sgt. Charles Daniels settled for silver.
"I'm pretty biased; I love the Army," said Wood, 27, of Gresham, Ore. "But I think what happened today in the freestyle finals is what's going to happen for a long time in both categories."
With the exception of the Marines' conquest in 2001, the All-Army team has won the Armed Forces Championships every year since 1989, and this was their strongest freestyle tournament that anyone could remember.
"In freestyle, this is by far the best team we've ever had since I've been here," said Sgt. Keith Sieracki, 31, of Richland Center, Wisc., who won the 74-kilo Greco-Roman crown. "And I've been around for a long, long time."
Sieracki, a U.S. alternate for both the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, is ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Wrestling behind New York Athletic Club's T.C. Dantzler, who upset Sieracki at the World Team Trials last June at Minneapolis.
His younger brother, Air Force Senior Airman Aaron Sieracki, celebrated his 28th birthday by winning his sixth Armed Forces Greco title at 84 kilos on the strength of convincing victories over Army Sgt. Kenny Owens, a former Marine, and Marine Jacob Clark.
"He's beaten everybody in the U.S. that he can beat to be on the World Team or the Olympic team, but he hasn't done it on the day that he was supposed to do it," Keith said of Aaron. "If he keeps going like this, I think he'll do it.
"If you're a betting man, with me and Aaron both going to the Olympic Trials, if you just bet on the last name alone, one of us will make the Olympic team. That's a sure bet. I don't know if it's me or it's him - maybe both - but you're guaranteed that one of us will make it."
Heavyweight world champion Sgt. Dremiel Byers, 28, of Kings Mountain, N.C., won one of three gold medals for the Army in Greco-Roman competition. And two-time national champion Glenn Nieradka won his sixth Armed Forces title at 60 kilos.
He and Kutz kept the Army unbeaten and unscored upon in six 60-kilogram matches of the two-day, round-robin, dual-match format.
"At 60 kilos, we gave up zero points in six matches," said Kutz, a two-time Armed Forces champ. "That makes us the most dominant weight class on the All-Army team."
Staff Sgt. Duaine Martin and Sgt. Deon Hicks won Greco gold medals for the second-place Marines. Air Force's Woods, 27, of Gary, Ind., defeated Army's Wood, 3-2, in the best Greco-Roman bout of the tourney en route to winning the 66-kilo crown.
(Editor's note: Tim Hipps is a member of the Army Community and Family Support Center Public Affairs staff.)