News

Four Soldiers, All-Army team win national Greco-Roman championships
Date Posted: 4/13/2009

By Tim Hipps
FMWRC Public Affairs

LAS VEGAS – Four Soldiers won national titles to lead the All-Army wrestling team to its ninth Greco-Roman crown in 10 years at the 2009 U.S. National Wrestling Championships April 11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program wrestlers Spc. Jermaine Hodge, Spc. Faruk Sahin, Sgt. Brad Ahearn and Staff Sgt. Dremiel Byers won their respective weight classes as the All-Army team outscored New York Athletic Club, 82-78, to win its fifth consecutive national team title.

Hodge, a native of Hillsborough, N.C., upset Sunkist Kids’ two-time national champion Sam Hazewinkel, 1-0, 0-3, 4-4, in the 121-pound finale to secure his first national championship.

Sahin, a former Turkish national junior champion, prevailed, 2-0, 1-0, over Gator Wrestling Club’s Mark Rial.

Ahearn, of Orange Park, Fla., won his second straight national championship with a 2-0, 1-0 victory over Sunkist Kids’ R.C. Johnson in the 211.5-pound division.

Byers, of Kings Mountain, N.C., won his eighth national championship with a 5-0, 1-0 victory over New York Athletic Club’s Brandon Rupp in the 264.5-pound weight class.

Spc. Aaron Sieracki, of Richland Center, Wis., finished second in the 185-pound division after losing 1-0, 3-0 to 2008 Olympian T.C. Dantzler of New York Athletic Club.

All five Soldiers are stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., home of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program and All-Army wrestling team.

The champions in each weight class earned No. 1 seeds for the U.S. World Team Trials on May 30-31 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The top seven finishers in each weight class, including 17 Soldiers, qualified for the World Team Trials.