Massive Support At Event At Bryant Park Grill Following Dual Meets Featuring USA-Iran-Russia At New York's Grand Central Terminal

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NEW YORK, May 17, 2013 – A landmark day of wrestling and international cooperation was capped by an historic evening of celebration and philanthropy on Wednesday as USA Wrestling and Beat The Streets Wrestling, Inc., a youth development organization that believes wrestling is the superlative tool for nurturing boys and girls into capable young men and women, teamed to raise a record of $1.5 million for the organization. It began with “The Rumble on the Rails,” a pair of dual meets featuring top squads from USA, Iran and Russia, powerhouses in the sport, held at Grand Central Terminal, followed by the annual Beat the Streets Awards Gala at Bryant Park Grill.

Team USA dominated Russia on the evening card, winning eight of nine matches in an event broadcast live on Universal Sports. The USA men’s freestyle team got things rolling by sweeping all five of their matches, as Coleman Scott, Logan Stieber, Brent Metcalf, David Taylor and Jordan Burroughs earned wins. Helen Maroulis won her women's freestyle event, and Kendrick Sanders and Ben Provisor took Greco-Roman matches, with Evgeni Saleev salvaging the final match for the Russians. Earlier in the day, Iran defeated the USA, 6-1 in a men’s freestyle dual in the same venue, with four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake winning for the Americans.

The event showed unique cooperation between the three nations as part of the Keep Olympic Wrestling movement. Although their governments do not always agree, the wrestling leaders in these nations have a strong working relationship.

“The success of 'The Rumble on the Rails' and Beat The Streets Awards Gala show the strength and solidarity of the sport of wrestling, top to bottom and across international lines,” said Mike Novogratz, Beat The Streets Chairman. “The entire community has come together in support of the dual goals of regaining Olympic status in 2020 and helping Beat the Streets in its critical work of benefiting disadvantaged and at-risk youth through this great sport.”

The Gala also honored a host of athletes and contributors to wrestling during the evening. They included: 

• Become Your Own Dream Scholarship • Rosemary Flores, Curtis
• Junior League Wrestler of the Year • David Berkovich, Elite Wrestling Club
• Female Student-Athlete Award Winner • Kim Cardenas, Petrides
• Male Student-Athlete Award Winner • Kevin Tynes, Brooklyn Tech
• Lady Liberty Award Winner • Rosemary Flores, Curtis
• Atlas Award Winner • Adis Radoncic, Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy
• Junior League Coach of the Year • Tim Prugar, New Heights Academy
• Boys High School Assistant Coach of the Year • John Cichon, Petrides
• Boys High School Coach of the Year • Chris Milani, Cardozo HS
• Girls High School Coach of the Year • Chris Alena, Curtis
• Man of the Year • Kyle Dake, Cornell University

ABOUT BEAT THE STREETS

The mission of Beat the Streets is to develop the full human and athletic potential of the urban youth and to strengthen the culture of New York City wrestling. BTSW works directly with the New York City Department of Education in a public-private partnership to help New York City's student-athletes achieve their personal and athletic goals. Through the operation of wrestling programs in middle and high schools in the five boroughs, BTSW and the DOE provide a safe, positive atmosphere in which disadvantaged and at-risk youth can learn the essential life skills of physical fitness, teamwork, and self-empowerment. The goal of fostering strong, dedicated, and optimistic kids is delivered through coaching, after-school programs, and mentoring. More information can be found at www.beat-the-streets.org.

Click on images for articles from the following news outlets:

USA Today

News Times

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

NBC New York

Newsday

Channel News Asia

France 24

Over the weekend of May 11-12, BTS wrestlers and coaches travelled to Binghamton for the NY State Cadet and Junior Freestyle and Greco-Roman State Championsips.  BTS emerged with the team title in three out of four tournaments, taking home the first place trophy in Junior Freestyle, Junior Greco, and Cadet Greco.  BTS placed 5th as a team in Cadet Freestyle.

In addition to the team titles, four BTS wrestlers won individual titles.  John Luke Destefano (Poly Prep), Zafar Iskandarov (Brooklyn International), Dolan McColgan (Petrides), and Cheick Ndiaye (Brooklyn International) all took home individual gold medals.

Wrestlers who placed in the top 3 of their weight class qualify to represent New York at the National Tournament held in July in Fargo, ND.  Match results for BTS's national qualifiers are below.

For full results, visit trackwrestling.com.

Read more: Beat The Streets Wins Team Titles at NY States

Rumble on the Rails, the 2013 Gala is almost here! 

Ticket sales have closed and we are going through final preparations. The Iranians, the Russians, and the Americans are all in New York City and getting ready to wrestle. It's going to be an epic afternooon and night of wrestling and celebrating the greatest sport on Earth! 

If you didn't get a ticket, have no fear -- both matches will be broadcast live on the NBC outlets listed below and they will be streamed live, as well. See below for full details.

Television & Webstreaming

• The USA vs. Iran match will be broadcast LIVE on NBC Sports Network from 3:30pm - 5:00pm, ET.
• The USA vs. Russia match will be broadcast LIVE on NBC Universal Sports from 6:00pm - 7:30pm, ET.
• Webstreaming will be available on themat.com & teamusa.org.

The Iranian contingent flew into JFK Airport this afternoon and they were greeted by Beat the Streets. In addition to the seven wrestlers taking part in the Gala this coming Wednesday, May 15th, there were also documentary crews, coaches, athletic support staff, and media.

Hooman Tavakolian, co-founder of the Become Your Own Dream Scholarship, is serving as Team Leader and interpreter. Thank you, Mo!

Ticket sales for the Rumble on the Rails close at 11:59pm on Monday 5/13.

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For a recap of the day 1 action in Cadet Greco-Roman and Junior Freestyle, check out the article by NYWrestlingNews.com.

Brackets: Cadet Greco | Junior Freestyle

On Wednesday, May 8th, the Curtis Warriors wrestling team downed the Canarsie Girls Wrestling Team at home for the inaugural PSAL Girls Dual Meet Title by a score of 29-9. 

Both teams scored convincing victories in Monday's semi-final round to advance to the finals, with Curtis defeating Brooklyn Tech 23-13 and Canarsie beating New Dorp 24-12.

Curtis finishes the season with a perfect 10-0 record.  Curtis won the PSAL Individual Title on April 27th at Wingate behind five individual champions.  The unquestioned leader of the Warriors is Rosemary Flores.  In addition to a recent City Title, Rosemary has multiple national titles on her resume.  

Canarsie also finished second to Curtis at the individual championships behind a balanced team effort.  Canarsie finishes the year with a record of 8-2.  Their other defeat came at the hands of Curtis 24-14 on April 9th.

Congratulations to all the girls who participated in this first-ever PSAL Girls Wrestling League! You should all be very proud of yourselves for being ground breakers!

The champions of the girls individual city championships are headed for Orlando, FL for the Body Bar National Championships this weekend, May 10th-12th. Look for more coverage of that as the weekend progresses.

Individual Champions

Saturday, April 27th, 2013 marked an historic day as 107 girls representing 16 teams competed at Brooklyn's Wingate High School in the PSAL's first Girls City Wrestling Championship.  

Champions were crowned in 13 weight classes. Curtis won the team title with 209 points. Canarsie, Brooklyn Tech, the Catch-All Team, and New Dorp rounded out the top five. In addition to winning City Titles, champions at 97, 105, 112, 117, 125, 130, 139, 148, 159, and 172 have qualified to to be a part of the Beat the Streets travel team which will compete at the  Body Bar Women’s National Championships.  

Read more: 13 Champs Crowned at First-ever PSAL Girls City Championships

The Board of Trustees of Beat the Streets Wrestling Inc. (BTSW) has announced the election of Yoshi Nakamura as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. 

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Yoshi to our board and look forward to his enthusiasm and acumen as we move forward at this very exciting time,” said Board Chairman Mike Novogratz.

“I am very happy to be the newest member on the Beat the Streets board,” said Nakamura. “I have been a huge fan for many years and it's an honor to join up with such a great organization. I am very excited to help advance and promote the very important mission of providing opportunities for New York City's youth to participate in wrestling. The sport and its many lessons were driving forces in molding me into the person I am today.  I look forward to helping do great things for our student-athletes.”

Added BTSW Executive Director Jim Fallis, “We are excited to have Mr. Nakamura join our Board.  His background and familiarity with the sport and the wrestling community of New York and the surrounding area will be tremendously helpful as we continue to grow wrestling and the awareness of Beat the Streets.”

View Press Release.

New York City was represented by three Alumni attempting to earn All-American Honors and automatically qualify for the World Team Trials.  One of them, Dimitry Riabchinsky of New Utrecht, was successful.

Riabchinsky, who now trains at the United States Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University and competes for the New York Athletic Club, fell in his openning round match to Nikko Triggas.  He rebounded nicely with two dominant victories in the consolation round to advance to the consolation semifinals.  In that round, he again ran into Triggas and was defeated for a second time.  Riabchinsky then won the 5th Place consolation final against Christian Nielsen of the Army's World Class Athlete Program.

Read more: US Open Update - Riabchinsky takes 5th

The tournament, previously scheduled to take place at Wingate HS in Brooklyn, has been cancelled.

The US Open Wrestling Tournament Opened today in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The tournament is open to all competitors and crowns champions in all Senior Level Weight Classes in Men's Freestyle, Women's Freestyle, and Men's Greco-Roman.  Two New York City alums will compete tomorrow, Friday April 19th, on Day 2 of the tournament.

Kevin Hartnett was a two-time CHSAA Champion for Monsignor Farrell and now competes for the Bloomsburg Huskies.  The Junior finished this past season with a record of 23-8 to up his career record to 71-34.  He will open the tournament at 74 Kg with a match against Ryan Watts of Michigan.  He will need to finish in the top 8 of his 32-man bracket to advance to the second day.

New Utrecht Alum Dmitry Riabchinsky will represent the New York Athletic Club at 55 Kg in Greco-Roman competition tomorrow.  Riabchinsky has been a top competitor in his weight class nationally for the last few years, despite only compteting for one season at New Utrecht. He currently lives and trains out of the United States Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan. Riabchinsky will open the competition against Nikko Triggas, an NCAA All-American for Ohio State.

FloWrestling.com is live streaming the event for Flo Technique Wave Subscribers.

Brackets and results are available on TrackWrestling.com.

Eighteen high school girls, two college-aged coaches, and one alumna competed this past Saturday, April 13th, at the “Revolution in Springfield” Tournament in Springfield, MA.

Read more: Beat the Streets Girls at “Revolution in Springfield”

Last week, three New York City Wrestlers traveled to Indiana University of Pennsylvania to compete in FloNationals.  The tournament, which is open to competitors from all 50 states and does not separate wrestlers based on grade, has proven to be one of the premier high school wrestling events in the country.  New York City was represented in the tournament by Monsignor Farrell Wrestlers Austin Addis, Ralph Maio, and NYSPHSAA 5th place finisher, Andrew Psomas.

Psomas in action at States

Psomas, who recently committed to wrestle at Columbia University, was the headliner for New York City. The 170-pounder won his first two matches to advance to the quaterfinals where wrestled eventual finalist Myles Martin of New Jersey and fell 11-2. From there Psomas wrestled in the All-American round and was defeated by Dakota Juarez of Michigan 9-2.  Psomas finished the tournament in the top 12 of his weight class. You can watch Psomas's quaterfinal match on FloWrestling.

Read more: Monsignor Farrell goes to FloNationals

Here we go again!

It's hard to imagine that we could top last year's amazing event in Times Square, but this just could do it. It's going to be an unprecedented display within the majestic confines of Vanderbilt Hall inside of historic Grand Central Terminal. You won't want to miss it. 

Of utmost importance is the acknowledgement that this is a private event. There will be no public view as in past years at Times Square. That means you have to have a ticket in order to view the Wrestling or attend the Awards Gala celebration and benefit being held afterwards at the Bryant Park Grill. Furthermore, there will NOT be walk-up ticketing -- the only way to buy tickets will be through our online portal opening Thursday, April 18th and closing on Monday, May 13th at 11:59:59 PM ET. Or whenever we sell out, whichever comes first.

Seating will be extremely limited. and the heightened security required by Grand Central dictates that only those with pre-arranged tickets will be admitted. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation!

All that said, stay tuned for further updates. We've got a lot of exciting things to share as we announce the lineups, special guests, and more.

This very well may go down as the greatest wrestling event in history.

Here is the official press release.

Read more: Rumble on the Rails: 2013 BTS Gala

The National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) national tournament wrapped up yesterday in Virginia Beach, VA. BTS emerged with its first NHSCA All-American as Adis Radoncic of Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy went 7-2 in the tournament, good enough for 5th place in the 51-man bracket.

Here is a match-by-match recap of his weekend:

Read more: Radoncic Earns 5th Place at NHSCA Nationals

On Saturday, 51 girls from six teams battled it out at Townsend Harris High School.

The PSAL Catch-All Team

For many, this marked the first match of not only this season, but their wrestling careers. The Townsend Harris tournament was one of two tournaments taking place today, with the second happening at Hunter College High School. Between the two, over 130 girls competed. Read coverage of the Hunter College HS tournament.

That total is double the average number of girls who have competed in the Mayor’s Cup Girls Division, the oldest girls tournament of the Folkstyle Season in New York City. It is also twice the number of girls that competed in the PSAL Girls Developmental League last year.

Read more: PSAL Girls Inaugural Season Kicks Off at Townsend Harris

On Saturday, 80 Wrestlers from eight schools met at Hunter College High School to kick off the Inaugural PSAL Girls Wrestling Season. There was another kickoff tournament taking place at Townsend Harris High School as well.

Canarsie wrestlers Nikkiann Mitchell (l.)
and Miranda Gilbert.

Nikkiann Mitchell, a junior from Canarsie who took first place at 117 pounds, really grasped the significance of the event: “We’re the first girls in PSAL history to have our own league.  This is huge.  We’re a part of something bigger than we are, and I don’t think too many people realize the magnitude of that.” 

Champions were crowned in 12 different weight classes. See coverage of the tournament at Townsend Harris.

Read more: PSAL Girls Kickstart Inaugural Wrestling Season at Hunter

Competition in the first ever PSAL Girls Wrestling League kicks off today with tournaments at Townsend Harris HS and Hunter College HS.

Competition at each location will begin at 10am. Teams will compete all day without taking a break so fans interested in seeing the finals should make sure they get there early.

Site locations and teams competing are as follows:

• Hunter College HS
  • 71 E 94th St
    New York, NY 10128
  • Teams: Brooklyn Tech, Canarsie, New Dorp, Curtis, Bathgate, Flushing, Grover Cleveland, Hunter
• Townsend Harris HS
  • 149-11 Melbourne Ave
    Flushing, NY 11367
  • Teams: Susan Wagner, CSIHS, Sunset Park, Catch All, MLK, Taft, Townsend Harris, H.S. of Fashion Industries

The BTS website will provide coverage of these tournaments along with the entire PSAL Girls Wreslting Season.

Adis Radoncic (Jr., RKA) has earned All-American honors and will be wrestling Saturday to determine where he places. With three more victories, he can earn a 3rd place finish.

After the second day of the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) National Wrestling Tournament, a total of three BTS athletes remain alive in the competition. Seniors Cheick Ndiaye of Brooklyn International and Keanu Thompson of Grand Street Campus are both alive in the consolation rounds of their Senior National Bracket.

Nathanael Rose (So., Eagle) won his opening two matches of the tournament by fall to advance to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated 2-1 and fell to the consolation bracket. He then dropped a 4-0 decision in the All-American round to finish just short of the podium. Radoncic lost in the Round of 16, as well, but rebounded to win three consecutive matches in the consolation bracket to earn All-American honors.

Other BTS Athletes who won matches in the tournament were Saidyokub Kahramonov, a Junior out of New Utrecht, Juniors Marc D'Chiutiis and Konstantin Parfiryev of James Madison, Freshman Ramel McIntosh of MLK, and Junior Nigel Williams of Eagle Academy. McIntosh and Williams each won two matches.

Follow results tomorrow at Escape Sports.