Abas finished starving for wrestling
By DAVID WHITE
It’s national tournament time, and here’s what Stephen Abas is not doing:
Starving. Dehydrating. Experiencing persistent pain.
Instead, the former Fresno State wrestler is feeling fine heading into the U.S. Senior National Championships, which run Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas.
The reason: Abas has given up on cutting weight to 121 pounds and has bumped up to 132 pounds for this weekend’s freestyle qualifier for the U.S. World Trials.
“I was really having to dehydrate my body to make weight, “said Abas, who won a silver medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Olympics. “It was getting pretty tough to make (121 pounds). I was feeling it in my kidneys. Twenty years of wrestling … it takes a toll. After the Olympics, I knew I didn’t want to dehydrate my body like that anymore.”
Abas, 27, has competed internationally at 121 pounds since 1998 and won three NCAA titles as a Bulldog at 125 pounds.
He first considered the weight jump when longtime friend Eric Guerrero, a lock on the U.S. world team at 132 pounds since 2001, retired after the 2004 Olympics.
Abas decided to test the new class at a February tournament in Cuba. How’s this for a mind maker-upper: Abas beat reigning Olympic champion Yandro Quintana 3-1, 7-5 en route to a silver-medal finish.
“You’ve got to understand, “retiring Bulldogs coach Dennis DeLiddo said. “That Quintana kid is unbelievable. I didn’t think God himself could beat that guy. After he beat that Cuban, you knew Stephen was going to stay there.”
Just to be sure, Abas tried to make 121 pounds one more time for the World Cup last month in Uzbekistan. He went 10-0 to win the gold but never felt so horrible winning a tournament.
It was the first time Abas weighed 121 since August.
“That was by far the hardest time I’ve ever had to make weight, “Abas said. “It took a lot of dehydrating to get there. My whole body was tingling. I was just feeling really, really bad. Usually, I recover once I make weight.
“This time, I never did recover.”
Added DeLiddo: “I knew he was having a hard time once he started consistently weighing 140. In college, he never had to cut (weight) like that. He’d be sitting on the ground for weigh-ins playing Nintendo while everyone else was running. He just grew into his body.”
Abas already is ranked first in the nation at 132 pounds. He’s aiming for his third straight Senior Nationals title and fifth straight berth on the U.S. World team.
E-mail David White at dwhite(at)fresnobee.com
(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, www.shns.com.)
Wrestling Gear
