Defeats
Menlo Park South Africa
73-29
Southern Maryland Wrestling Club
Defeats
Menlo Park South Africa
73-29
Laurel HS
Laurel, MD
April 2, 1997
In an exciting night of action, 18 time Grand National Club Champion Southern Maryland Wrestling Club soundly defeated South Africa's Menlo Park (Upper Transvaal Federation) National Freestyle Team in an informal exhibition match by a score of 73-29. The crowd of about 300 in the Laurel HS gym was entertained with a short clinic and jump-rope demonstration by World Jump-rope Champion, US Greco-Roman Olympic Team Member, and SMWC Coach Buddy Lee. Following the clinic, SMWC's three top open wrestlers took on South African National Champions and Olympic Team Members in tremendous matches.
At 187 lbs, Maryland Open Age/Wt Folkstyle State Champion Mark LaFond faced South Africa's Jurie Reichel. The match went about 1 minute with neither wrestler scoring when Mark executed a quick duck under and takedown for 2 points. With no subsequent score the wrestlers were returned to standing and Jurie attempted a single leg attack. Mark countered, executing an under arm throw and chin hook, taking Jurie to his back for a fall at 2:06 in the match.
At 167, two National Team Members, Troy Sunderland, the current US Naval Academy Assistant Coach and former US Freestyle Team Member, met Bennie Labuschangne, a member of South Africa's Barcelona Olympic Team. A great match followed with Troy continually executing trips and outside singles to score a technical fall at 3:48 in the match.
The final open match at 119 lbs featured #2 Nationally HS Ranked and All-Met Outstanding Wrestler Jason Gabrielson facing Francois Rocher, South African National Runner-up. Jason dominated the match with duck-unders, hip rolls, and gut wrenches to score a technical fall at 2:46 into the match.
In a second team event, Maryland's beltway youth league champion team, Golden Ring of Baltimore lost a very close 47-43 decision to the South African's. The key to the Golden Ring loss was the defeat of five of their first six wrestlers, several by tech falls. Their first win was at 105 lbs, but they were unable to capitalize with big scores in subsequent matches to catch the South African team.
During their area visit, SMWC Head Coach Bruce Gabrielson, presented a clinic on freestyle technique development, plus the team entered a local tournament on Saturday.
Non-open wrestlers were matched by age (within one year) and weight (within 4 lbs). HS scholastic team scoring rather than international team scoring was used. Results of the SMWC vs SA match are listed below:
Open Matches SMWC MP SMWC Menlo Park -------- 187 Mark LaFond Fall Jurie Reichel 6 0 167 Troy Sunderland TF (11-1) Bennie Labuschangne 11 1 119 Jason Gabrielson TF (12-0) Francois Rocher 16 1 -------- Junior/under Matches ---------- 116 Kevin Gabrielson TF (19-5) Esterhuizen Rossouw 21 2 115 Chris Hanlon 0-2 Werner Gillmer 21 5 115 Marty Erickson 3-1 Adriaan Maree 24 6 105 Nick Alley 0-6 Berki Uys 24 9 105 Luke Rakley TF (10-0) Kendal Uys 29 9 105 Brent Jones 4-1 Daniel Lass 32 10 100 Ryan Forman TF (10-0) Jaco van Wyk 37 10 98 Jason Kiessling TF (12-0) Phillip van Vuuren 42 10 93 Bruce Ross 0-2 Jaco van der Wal 42 13 90 Jonas Bray 4-0 Otto Helberg 45 13 85 Luke Palumbo 5-2 Nardis Taljard 48 13 85 David Mahan TF (11-0) Jacques Schoombee 53 13 80 Danny Yates Fall Francois Conradie 59 13 77 Sam O'Hair LBF Jacques Rossouw 59 18 75 Rudy Rueda 4-3 Neels de Jager 62 19 70 John Erickson 4-6 Cornelius Smit 63 22 70 Mike Rock 2-0 Ian van Wyk 66 22 64 Cameron Watkins 0-3 Willie Venter 66 25 65 Tony Mahan 2-10 Heinrich Barnes 67 28 60 Mike Rowe 2-1 Donavin Erasmus 70 28 62 Matt Jones 3-2 Rasmus Erasmus 73 29SMWC Head Coach Bruce Gabrielson
MP Head Coach Bennie Labuschange
Asst Coach Dries van Heerden