Golden grapplers - Military Sports, hunting, fishing, military competitions - Military Times

Golden grapplers

For the second year in a row, a team of Army wrestlers smoked the other services at the Armed Forces Wrestling Championship hosted by the Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 18-22.

The winners will represent the U.S. at the 27th World Military Wrestling Championship in August in Lahti, Finland.

The All Army Wrestling team of 14 wrestlers won 13 of 14 gold medals. The Marines came in second and third. The Navy placed fourth.

It was a two-day competition. Day one consisted of three rounds of Greco-Roman style, and day two was made up of three rounds of freestyle wrestling.

Wrestlers from the Fort Carson, Colo., headquarters of the Army World Class Athlete program dominated the event, taking 11 of the Army’s medals.

In Greco-Roman wrestling, Army gold medalists were:

• Spc. Jermaine Hodge, 121-pound class.

• Spc. Jeremiah Davis, 132-pound class.

• Spc. Faruk Sahin, 145-pound class.

• Sgt. 1st Class James Johnson, 162.8-pound class.

• Spc. Peter Hicks, 184.8-pound class.

• Spc. Justin Millard, 211.2-pound class.

• Sgt. 1st Class Dremiel Byers, 264-pound class. Byers is the reigning world champion; he was a member of the U.S. team at the Olympics in Beijing.

In the freestyle competition, Army gold medalists were:

• Hodge, 121-pound class.

• Spc. Mark Bradley, 132-pound class.

• Pvt. Angel Cejudo, 145-pound class.

• Capt. Patrick Simpson, 162.8-pound class.

• Capt. Philip Simpson, 184.8-pound class.

• Spc. Timothy Taylor, 264-pound class.

All of the wrestlers are from Fort Carson except Johnson, who is from Fort Jackson, S.C., and Capt. Patrick Simpson, who is from Fort Campbell, Ky.

The Army’s coach is Staff Sgt. Shon Lewis, the former U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman coach.