Nick Gwiazdowski squares off with Dom Bradley at the 2015 Bill Farrell International Open. 


The United States will be sending a solid contingent to Kasavjurt, Russia for the 2016 Intercontinental Cup on October 14-16. Among the young stars that will be in attendance are:

57kg
Nico Megaludis
Alan Waters

70kg
James Green

74kg
Alex Dieringer

97kg
Kyven Gadson

125kg
Bobby Telford
Nick Gwiazdowski

The Intercontinental Cup is held in the wrestling-rich republic of Dagestan. Approximately the size of West Virginia, Dagestan is responsible for some of the greatest wrestlers in the last 30 years. If USA Wrestling's focus is to win World and Olympic gold medals we'll have to go through Dagestan to do it. Men's Freestyle Head Coach Bill Zadick is excited for both the opportunity and at athletes heading Kasajvurt. 

"The Intercontinental Cup in Khasajvurt, RUS, will be a good competition to start our fall schedule with and provide a valuable learning experience for the athletes who attend. Khasajvurt is in the heart of the World's great wrestling so it is always a great opportunity; always learning and for some sharpening for future events. We have a talented group of athletes traveling to compete and two great coaches, both, with prior experience in the region leading our delegation." - Bill Zadick 

Some of the athletes, namely Alex Dieringer and Alan Waters, have had success domestically but are still untested on foreign soil at the senior level. One of the things that U.S. wrestlers seem to struggle with is adjusting to foreign, and more specifically European, styles of wrestling. Getting young, up-and-coming athletes a taste of international competition at a senior level is not only vital to the growth of the athlete, but also important to progressing and expanding the growth of USA wrestling in general.

Other wrestlers traveling to Dagestan are hoping to add to the international experience that they have already. Nick Gwiazdowski is one of the top 125kg athletes in the U.S., and he could very well represent the U.S. in world competition now with Tervel Dlagnev retired. Gwiazdowski has two international competition championships under his belt, the 2015 Bill Farrell Open and the 2015 Grand Prix Of Spain, not to mention a bronze medal finish at this year's Ziolkowski Memorial in Poland.

N.C. State head coach Pat Popolizio had this to say about Gwiazdowski's progress:

"Nick is continuing to work on areas he needs to improve on. Being able to focus on freestyle full time and wrestling in these international competitions over seas will allow him to make steady gains and put him in the position to represent Team USA in the very near future." -Pat Popolizio 

James Green will look to get back to a much more reasonable weight class of 70kg after being forced to drop down to 65kg for most of 2016, because 70kg is a non-Olympic weight class. Green, a New Jersey native, has medaled in every senior-level tournament he has entered at 70kg, with notable wins coming at the 2015 World Championships, where he took home a bronze medal, and the 2015 Grand Prix of Spain, where he won a gold medal and beat world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Frank Chamizo of Italy in the finals. 

When you take into account the success that the Cadets/Juniors had at the World Championships this summer and fact that USAW is spending time and money to take some of the younger senior level athletes on tours, the future of wrestling in this country looks very bright.