Well the tournament is over in Russia (Yarigin), which is one of the toughest tournaments in the world. It is so tough because of the amount of Russians that are entered in the tournament. For example when you go to the world or olympic championships only one guy from Russia is allowed to wrestle, unless of course there is a Russian wrestling for another country, but in this tournament there are multiple russians in a weight. Supposedly they made a rule limiting the amount of russians into the tournament which would be around 6-8 at each weight, but there were more than double that in each weight class. My weight class (96kg) had 17 russians in it. I like the fact they can enter as many as they want because it makes it sweeter when you beat them. But anyway back to the tourney. We ended up having 6 guys place, One medal in tervel dlagnev, and five 5th place finishes in Brent Metcalf, Jake Herbet, Tommy Rowlands, Les Sigman, and me. We wrestled pretty well but there is always room for improvement and this is just another step to the goal of being an olympic champion. I made the Semis of the tourney and ended up having to default out to the eventual champion. I was confident in myself to win this tournament and was in a groove to do so. But thats the way the cookie crumbles sometimes and things get in the way. I am dissapointed that I could not finish the tournament but I wrestled pretty well and have made some gains so I guess thats a plus. But my goal everytime I step on the mat is to win and it did not happen this tournament so makes me hungrier for the next competition and makes me want to get better in all positions I can to be ready for every match. It has been a long trip and I am on my way home now which is going to be another long trip. We already had a 5 and a half hour flight from krasnoyarsk (where we wrestled the tournament) to Moscow where we had to then drive to another airport about an hour away and now getting ready to fly to Munich, where I will be separating from the rest of the guys and I then fly into Newark and then to Harrisburg. So it is a long trip and long day but that is how it goes for these things. Thats all for now and ill be back soon. Thanks for you support!

Well sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. Things have been real busy with training and the holidays. But I am back in Russia now getting ready for the Yarigan Tournament. Which is probably the biggest and toughest tournament outside of the world and olympics. It makes it tough because there are multiple russians in each weight class. But we are in Vladikaskav, Russia training right now and I have been able to work out with some world champs, an olympic silver medalist, and other great wrestlers. It is a good experience to be able to get a feel for these guys and something a little different. We have been here for 5 days now and compete at the end of the month. The days are kind of going slow but that is part of the process of getting ready for something like this and being out of your norm. It is fun being able to wrestle some of the best guys in the world to see where I am at. But that is all we have been doing really since we have been here is working out and relaxing. We played basketball today but it is not american basketball, it is more like rugby and basketball mixed. No dribbling and you can tackle and push and throw guys down. We only play to two points because you do not get many decent shots off since someone is always jumping on you. It was different but fun at the same time. Thats all I have for now and I will write as soon as I can get back on the internet since there is no wifi at our dorms we are staying at, I had to come to a cafe with wifi. So be back as soon as I can!