NYAC Holiday International underway: prep star Jantzen upsets Fleeger in opening round

Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
11/18/2006

Special Section for New York AC International

NEW YORK, N.Y.- The American Airlines/New York AC International Championships began Saturday morning at the famous New York Athletic Club with a number of upsets in the early rounds in men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman.

In the opening round at 60 kg/132 lbs., Corey Jantzen (Shoreham, N.Y./Team RAD), a high school senior and one of the nation’s top recruits, upset Chris Fleeger (Ithaca, N.Y./New York AC), 0-6, 2-0, 5-4. Fleeger dominated the opening period, but Jantzen came on strong in the final two periods. In the final period, Jantzen jumped to a 5-2 lead and Fleeger scored two late takedowns but could not close the gap.

Fleeger, who recently won the Sunkist Kids International Open, was a NCAA runner-up for Purdue. Jantzen recently signed with Harvard Univ., where his older brother Jesse Jantzen was a NCAA champion

Another first round upset came in Greco-Roman at 74 kg/163 lbs., as Archili Gulioshvili (Middlesex, N.J./New York AC) pinned defending New York AC Holiday Tournament champion Sasa Petkovic (New York AC), 0-5, 1:21. Gulioshvili, who was a high school wrestler in New Jersey, hasn’t competed in over a year prior to entering this tournament.

All of the other returning champions in the field today won their bouts and will advance to this afternoon’s quarterfinals.

Returning champions in freestyle who won early bouts were Travis Lee (Ithaca, N.Y./New York AC) at 60 kg/132 lbs., Jared Lawrence (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) at 66 kg/145.5 lbs., Andy Hrovat (Ann Arbor, Mich./New York AC) at 84 kg/185 lbs. and Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. In Greco-Roman, returning champion Adam Wheeler (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) did not compete in the first session, and will be in the quarterfinals at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. this afternoon.