WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Vering led U.S. to only World Greco title in 2007
By Gary Abbott Brad Vering had an advantage when he started wrestling as a kid in his small hometown of Howells, Neb. His older brother, Russ, introduced him to the sport and was a mentor throughout his career. Ultimately, Vering’s wrestling journey included winning an
NCAA title for the University of Nebraska, making two U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman teams, winning a World silver medal and being a leader on the only U.S. Greco-Roman team to win a World Team Team title. “My brother started wrestling, and I don’t think my parents were too keen on it right away. It wasn’t a big sport in my home- town. He started dragging me to practice when I was five or six years old. I started down that road, loved it right off the bat. I struggled the first few years, like anybody does. By the time I was third or fourth grade, I was serious about it. I enjoyed the toughness about it, I enjoyed learning new techniques, and all the friendships,” said Vering.
Howells had a population of 650, with limited wrestling oppor-
tunity, so Brad’s parents would take him to Fremont, a bigger town with an active club, where he had a longer season and could go to more tournaments. Ultimately, his brother was a walk-on wrestler at the University of Nebraska, starting his career at heavyweight and working out with Rulon Gardner. Russ Vering ended up overcoming an injury, and earned the
starting spot for the Huskers at 190 pounds. “That was a big deal, starting as a walk-on. That was very inspiring for me. He has been an awesome asset for me, both in a personal and athletic setting. He was training at a very high level at Nebraska. He wasn’t one of the best guys on the team. But he was able to show me all the things the best wrestlers were doing when I was young, in junior high. I was able to pick up on that stuff. It was a huge advantage having him,” said Vering.
Brad Vering went on to star in high school, winning three state titles and three Junior Nationals titles.
“In high school, I loved both freestyle and Greco. I placed in both styles as a Cadet, placed third and first at Juniors my jun- ior year and won both styles as a senior. There was a lot of pride to be able to win both styles. If you went to a Regional tournament, that was all we had back then. There weren’t all the big tournaments we have now. Everybody showed up. At Junior Nationals, I remember having more than 100 kids in my weight class. You have to wrestle seven or eight matches just to place. I remember seeing guys win two Stop Signs. That was a big deal. It wasn’t that I favored one style. I wanted two Stop Signs at the same tournament. It showed toughness and grit. If you could turn around and change styles, you were a complete wrestler. I wanted to be the best in the country in both styles,” he said.
Because of his success at USA Wrestling events, Vering was 18 USA Wrestler
Brad Vering was an NCAA champion for Nebraska before becoming a fixture on United States World and Olympic Teams in Greco-Roman wrestling. Larry Slater photo.
invited to the U.S. Olympic Training Center for training during his high school years. It was there that he met Matt Lindland, who developed into a workout partner, mentor, friend and coach during his journey.
“I came out to Colorado Springs for the Big Brother camp, and it meant you had a big brother. My big brother ended up being Matt Lindland, and after getting beat up by Matt for two or three weeks, I knew him really well. He ended up having an opportu- nity to train and coach at Nebraska the year I was deciding on college. And when (Nebraska coach) Tim Neumann called me and said Matt would be training there, I said sign me up,” said Vering. Vering became a star at Nebraska, where he continued to wrestle both styles in the summer. As one of his Husker coach- es, Lindland had influence on Vering’s direction. “At the FILA Junior Nationals, we wrestled freestyle first. My bracket was nasty. It had Cael Sanderson, Mark Munoz,
Continued on page 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44