Sam Hazewinkel in the Nationals

Sam Hazewinkel, son and nephew of my college wrestling coaches (both Olympians), wrestled in the NCAA div. I national championships again this week. Sam used to come wrestle with the college team back when he was in high school (the high school kids just weren't a decent workout for him, even early in high school).

He ended up placing third at nationals for the third time in a row. Twice in a row he has been upset by Dubuque in the semis, I think. Yesterday he beat the number one seed in the tournament (who was also upset in the semis by a freshman kid (a phenom from NY state himself) Sam beat earlier this season. Fortunately for Sam, Dubuque graduates this year, and Sam still has a year to go.

The NCAA wrestling is tougher on Sam than on most, because he is also the number 2 ranked Greco-Roman wrestler in the country and divides his training time between the two styles. He's even beaten the number one seed on at least one occassion. Most college wrestlers never really try to enter the international arena until they graduate, but Greco-Roman is Sam's true love, I think. I'm still looking forward to seeing great things from him in the years to come. Watch for him in the Olympics in 2008. I hope we can get him up here to do a clinic for the kids sometime. It could be a great wrestling and witnessing opportunity, I think -- his father and uncle have seen untold numbers of people saved through their witness as they wrestle and coach.

If you scroll about two-thirds of the way down this page, you'll see a section titled Hazewinkel is the king of Saturday morning. Nice little writeup, and it shows the respect the wrestling community has for him.

Edit: I'm coming back on the 24th to add another link with an article involving Sam and the Greco nationals.