BEAT THE STREETS GALA USA Seniors, Juniors win big in NYC
by Gary Abbott For seven years, Beat the Streets, Inc. in New York City has
held a major wrestling competition to raise money for youth wrestling in the city and to inspire the wrestling community to think big about the sport. The vision that Mike Novogratz and the leaders at Beat the Streets had for this event was amazing, and it has grown into one of the most successful and popular wrestling events held each year. This year, there was a new twist to the competition. When the
Iranian Wrestling Federation agreed to send a team to the event, they asked if they could bring some UWW Junior-level wrestlers in addition to a few Senior-level stars. So, for the first time, four of the matches on the Beat the Streets card featured the best 17-20 year old wrestlers from the United States and Iran, those who are considered future Olympic stars. To add to the buzz, retired NFL superstar Ray Lewis was the honorary coach for Team USA, and gave the American team a rousing and inspiring speech before the matches began. “I got a pep talk from Ray Lewis,” said three-time World champion Adeline Gray. “He is one of those people you Google on Sunday nights to get motivation for Monday morning. To have him live, in the middle of Times Square, and to have him talk about my dream, and what I wanted to accomplish in this world. He spoke to me at a level that I didn’t want to just do it, but it really made we want to do it for everybody else and think about the next generation of young girls,” said Gray. In the main event, the United States put out five Olympic
Team members and four UWW Junior National champions on the mat against top foreign opponents. When it was over, four U.S. Olympians and three UWW
Junior National champions from the United States won matches, brought to the world live by Flowrestling. As the newcomers to Beat the Streets, the UWW Junior matches held special interest. The American winners were Daton Fix of Oklahoma at 55 kg, Mitchell McKee of Minnesota at 60 kg and Mark Hall at 74 kg. “This is awesome. Wrestling in Times Square, it doesn’t get
any better than that. When I stepped on the mat, the Iran fans were cheering, and the crowd started chanting USA, USA. It was an awesome experience,” said Fix. Fix, a 2015 UWW Cadet World bronze medalist, got his
offense rolling in a 14-3 technicall fall over 2013 Cadet World bronze medalist Kheyrollah Ghahramani of Iran. Fix scored three consecutive gut wrenches to open the match up, then closed it out with a slick shrug takedown. McKee hit a four-point counter throw, the key move in an 8-8
criteria decision over 2015 Asian Junior champion Peiman Biabani of Iran. McKee was leading 7-4, but Biabani scored a takedown and a gut wrench to lead 8-7, but a McKee reversal tied it up and forced the criteria to be enforced. “It was exciting. Not everybody gets an opportunity like this,
and it’s true. They only do this once a year, and this is the first year they had Juniors. Who knows if they will do Juniors again. It was fun to come out here, and wrestle in front of everybody here and around the nation,” he said. 2014 Cadet World champion Hall broke open a 2-2 tie with a
takedown and an exposure and went on to defeat 2014 Asian Cadet bronze medalist Ahmad Bazrighaleh of Iran, 8-5. “There is an awesome crowd out here. Obviously, a great
Mark Hall beat his Iranian opponent in Times Square at the Beat the Streets Gala event. Robbert Wijtman photo.
place to wrestle and my first time here. It is different scenery. And when I was out there, I could feel the wind. It is a little dif- ferent. I feel I changed the pace a little bit, the way I like it, explosive,” said Hall. Iran’s only win of the night came in the UWW Junior match at
84 kg/185 lbs., when 2015 Junior World champion Mojtaba Goleij of Iran had a strong second period to defeat 2015 U.S. Junior World Team member Zahid Valencia, 10-1. Fix, McKee, Hall and Valencia immediately flew off to Irving,
Texas to compete in the UWW Junior World Team Trials. Fix, Hall and Valencia won their weight classes and will compete in the UWW Junior World Championships in France this fall. Winning Senior bouts for the USA were two 2016 U.S. Olympians in men’s freestyle, J’den Cox at 97 kg and Jordan Burroughs at 74 kg, as well as 2016 U.S. Olympians in women’s freestyle Helen Maroulis at 53 kg and Adeline Gray at 75 kg. Burroughs won his sixth career match in a Beat the Streets
event, and Maroulis won for her fifth time, while Cox and Gray were competing there for the first time. “It was great. It is always fun to be here. I never get more
excited than when everything is on the line. You guys might see it as an exhibition. I see it as a legacy builder,” said Burroughs. Cox was dominant on his feet in the second period to defeat
Asian Games champion Meisam Mostafa Joukar of Iran, 10-5. The match was 1-1 at the break, but Cox scored four second- period takedowns and added a stepout for the big win. “I got going, got my movement going. He had some pretty
good athletic strength. Overall, it was a good match. It was so much fun. Holy cow, this was fun. I may not be smiling, but in my heart, I was all into it,” said Cox.
Continued on page 16 15 USA Wrestler
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