Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
USA Wrestling has updated its new “Bout of the Week” which has been posted as a video file on-line on TheMat.com Audio/Video website .
The feature this week is the 2005 Tommy Rowlands vs. Hakan Koc men’s freestyle match at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.
This match has been placed on the TheMat.com’s new Audio/Video website, which was the former USA Wrestling Member’s Only website. The new website has been redesigned and reformatted and was launched today. It is an exciting upgrade that will better serve the wrestling community and provides cutting-edge technology.
The World University Games (WUG) is a multi-sport event, which is similar to the Olympic Games or Pan American Games. This competition features only athletes who are enrolled in college. Wrestling was included in this event for the first time since 1981. The U.S. sent a strong team, developed through a very competitive University World Team Trials held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs over Memorial Day weekend.
A number of the U.S. athletes were talented college wrestlers, plus a few athletes just getting their international careers started on the Senior level. One of the most accomplished of the U.S. freestyle athletes, in relation to his teammates, was Tommy Rowlands of the Sunkist Kids, who was ranked No. 3 in the U.S. in his weight class on the Senior level.
Rowlands has been considered one of the nation’s top young wrestlers going back to his successful high school years in Ohio. He won USA Wrestling double titles at both the Cadet Nationals and the Junior Nationals as a prep star from Bishop Ready High School in Columbus. He also captured a national folkstyle title his senior year in school.
He was very talented in the international styles, and qualified for two U.S. World Teams while still in high school. He was fourth at the 1997 Cadet World Championships and fourth in the 1999 Junior World Championships.
It was big news when Rowlands decided to stay at home and attend The Ohio State University, the most prominent recruit that that Coach Russ Hellickson had landed for the Buckeyes in many years. Rowlands was one of a number of talented Ohio athletes who decided to go to Ohio State, something that would pay off bigtime for the program in the future.
He was immediately an outstanding college wrestler, competing up at heavyweight. He placed second in the NCAA Championships during his freshman year and won a NCAA title as a sophomore. During his junior year, he was looking for another chance at an NCAA title but was injured severely in the semifinals and could not complete the tournament, placing sixth.
Ohio State fans will remember his senior year in 2004 for a long time, as Rowlands led an amazing team revival that was unexpected. The team was a mix of some talented veterans and some raw young athletes, and had a rough dual meet season. A local newspaper wrote a scathing article criticizing the program. The team qualified just five athletes for the NCAA Championships through the Big Ten meet. Yet at the NCAA Tournament, Rowlands won his second career title, all five Buckeyes became All-Americans and the team placed in a tie for third place in the NCAA standings.
Although Rowlands was a heavyweight in folkstyle, he often competed on the national level in freestyle at 96 kg/211.5 pounds, where he could use his great technique and motion to beat the opponents there. He did compete one season at heavyweight in freestyle and placed second at the 2002 World Team Trials behind Kerry McCoy. During the 2004 Olympic year, he dropped the weight and placed fourth in the U.S. Nationals and Olympic Team Trials at 96 kg.
Wrestling Gear
