as 2007 USOC Wrestlers and Team of the Year
Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
01/16/2008

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has honored its 2007 Wrestling Male and Female Athletes of the Year, as well as its Wrestling Team of the Year.

The Male Wrestler of the Year is 2007 World silver medalist Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC). The Female Wrestler of the Year is 2007 World silver medalist Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC). The Wrestling Team of the Year is the 2007 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team.

It is the fourth time Marano has won this award (2000, 2003, 2006, 2007). It is the first time that Vering has won this award.

Each year the USOC recognizes the top male and top female athletes and the top team as selected by their respective member organizations. The names of the athletes and teams are placed on ballots used to select the USOC SportsMan, SportsWoman and overall Team of the Year. Members of the USOC Board of Directors along with representatives of the national media participate in the voting to select the USOC SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year. The USOC award winners will be announced on January 17.

Vering won a World silver medal at 84 kg/185 lbs. in Greco-Roman wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in September. It was the top performance by a U.S. wrestler at the competition.

At the World Championships, Vering opened the tournament with a victory over Nikola Kinezvic of Montenegro, 7-0, 6-0, then defeated Bolat Abdullayev of Ukraine, 4-0, 4-0. In the third round, he beat Jan Fischer of Germany, 3-0, 4-0, then stopped Saman Tahmasebi of Iran, 2-1, 0-3, 2-1 in the quarterfinals. In dramatic fashion, Vering pinned Korea's Jung-Sub Kim in the semifinals in the second period, 3-0, 1:59. In the championship round, he dropped a 4-0, 4-0 finals match to 2004 Olympic champion Aleksey Mishin of Russia.

He was a member of the historic 2007 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team, which won the World Team Title for the first time ever. The USA defeated Russia by one point in the team standings at the World Championships.

Vering won a gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in July, the major multi-sport event held every four years. He was one of three U.S. champions in Greco-Roman wrestling. He defeated Eddy Bartolozzy of Venezuela in the finals.

He won the title at the U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas, Nev. in June. It was his fourth career victory at the World Team Trials. He defeated 2006 U.S. World Team member Jake Clark of the U.S. Marines in the finals series in two straight matches. Vering also won the title at the U.S. Nationals championships in Las Vegas, Nev. in April. He pinned Justin Millard of the U.S. Air Force in the finals match.

Vering claimed a gold medal at the Pan American Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador in May. This was the qualifying event for the 2007 Pan American Games. He won the gold medals at three other international events, the Dave Schultz Memorial International in Colorado Springs, Colo. in February, the Gedz Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia in March and the Vantaa Cup in Vaanta, Finland in November. He also added a bronze medal at the Ion Cornianu Memorial Tournament in Brasov, Romania in August.

Vering, 31, is a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete. He was a 2000 NCAA Div. I champion and three-time All-American at the Univ. of Nebraska. A native of Howells, Neb., Vering was a three-time Nebraska state high school champion.

Marano was a World silver medalist at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. in women’s freestyle wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in September. It was the top performance by a U.S. wrestler at the competition.

At the World Championships, Marano won three straight matches to qualify for the finals. She defeated Agnieska Wieczczek of Poland, 3-0, 1-0, then pinned Maider Under of Spain in the second match, 1-0, 1-6, 1:13. In the semifinals, she pinned 2004 Olympic silver medalist Guzel Manurova of Russia in 49 seconds. In the gold-medal match, Marano dropped a 3-0, 3-0 decision to 2006 World champion Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria.

Marano tied a U.S. record for all three styles by winning her ninth World medal. Amazingly, she’s won a medal in all nine trips to the Worlds, going nine-for-nine in her career. She tied men's freestyle superstar Bruce Baumgartner with nine World medals.

She won a gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in July, the major multi-sport event held every four years. Marano was one of two U.S. champions in women's freestyle wrestling. She pinned Canada’s Ohenewa Akuffo in the gold medal finals in the first period.

Marano won the title at the U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas, Nev. in June. It was her seventh career victory at the World Team Trials. She defeated Stephany Lee of the Sunkist Kids in the finals series in two straight matches. She also won the title at the U.S. Nationals championships in Las Vegas, Nev. in April. It was her ninth career U.S. Nationals gold medal, tieing her for second in history among U.S. women wrestlers. She pinned 2005 World champion Iris Smith of the U.S. Army in the finals.

She also won a silver medal at the Warsaw Cup in Warsaw, Poland in August. Her only loss was to 2006 World champion Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria.

Marano, 28, is a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete. She is originally from Albany, N.Y., where she competed on the wrestling team at Colonie Central High School.

The 2007 U.S. Greco-Roman World Wrestling Team became the first to win a Greco-Roman World Team title when they edged out Russia at the World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17-19.

The highest previous finish for a U.S. Greco-Roman World Team was third, which occurred during the 2001 World Championships in Patras, Greece and the 2006 World Championships in Guangzhou, China.

The U.S. was trailing Russia 30-29, but a victory by American Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) in the bronze-medal match at 264.5 pounds on the final day ended up being enough to overtake world power Russia, 31-30.

The U.S. captured three medals, and had four athletes in the top five of their weight classes. Vering won a World silver medal at 185 pounds, Harry Lester (Akron, Ohio/Gator WC) won a World bronze medal at 145.5 pounds, Byers won a bronze medal at 264.5 pounds and Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) placed fifth at 121 pounds.

The U.S. World team also included Joe Betterman (Chicago, Ill./USOEC/New York AC), T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) and Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)

The U.S. Greco-Roman World Team was named USOC Team of the Month for September 2007.

Coaching the U.S. Greco-Roman World Team were World Team Coaches Jay Antonelli (Chesapeake, Va.) and Rich Estrella (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and USA Wrestling National Greco-Roman Coach Steve Fraser. The Team Leader was John Bardis of Alpharetta, Ga.

U.S. Greco-Roman World Team members
55 kg/121 lbs. - Lindsey Durlacher (Colorado Springs, Col./New York AC), 5th
60 kg/132 lbs. - Joe Betterman (Chicago, Ill./New York AC/USOEC), dnp/33rd
66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Harry Lester (Akron, Ohio/USOEC/Gator WC), 3rd
74 kg/163 lbs. – T.C. Dantzler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC), dnp/22nd
84 kg/185 lbs. - Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), 2nd
96 kg/211/5 lbs. – Justin Ruiz (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), dnp/13th
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), 3rd
National Greco-Roman Coach – Steve Fraser, Colorado Springs, Colo.
U.S. World Team Coaches – Rich Estrella, Colorado Springs, Colo., Jay Antonelli, Chesapeake, Va.
Team Leader – John Bardis, Alpharetta, Ga.
Coaching staff – Anatoly Petrosyan, Colorado Springs, Colo., Momir Petkovic, Colorado Springs, Colo., Ivan Ivanov, Marquette, Mich., Shon Lewis, Colorado Springs, Colo.