By Gary Abbott, TheMat.com

The 2007 United States Marines Corps U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas are in the history books, as the wrestling community has witnessed outstanding competition and memorable performances. When all the dust settled after two full days at the Las Vegas Convention Center, USA Wrestling was left with most of its 2007 World Team in place.

Fans need to know that there may be a few adjustments to the U.S. World Team from the champions who were crowned in Las Vegas.

In men’s freestyle, 2007 U.S. Nationals champion Nate Gallick was injured in training and took an extension on his final series. Only a U.S. Nationals champion has the right to request a delay. Gallick will face World Team Trials champion Mike Zadick, a 2006 World silver medalist, in a best-of-three series at a date and location to be announced.

In women’s wrestling, the three champions at the non-Olympic weight classes (51 kg, 59 kg, 67 kg) may have to defend their position in a special wrestle-off against medalists from the Olympic weight classes. This event is tentatively scheduled for July 10 in Colorado Springs, Colo. This is similar to the format of special wrestle-offs for the women held in 2002 and 2003.

The U.S. Nationals champion will have a “leg up” in any wrestle-off series, meaning that she would only have to win one bout to keep the spot, while a challenger would have to win two in a row. Patricia Miranda (51 kg), Leigh Jaynes (59 kg) and Katie Downing (67 kg) may have one more step to nail down their World Team berths.

Regardless of the results of the additional bouts, there are some general conclusions that can be drawn from the results of the World Team Trials. They are:

1. The Greco-Roman World Team is very experienced and talented, the same group with the exception of Jake Clark (85 kg), that took third at the World Championships last year;

2. The women’s World Team has a mix of experience and young talent, and has the potential to improve on last year’s finish;

3. The men’s freestyle World Team will have quite a bit of new blood as a number of athletes had breakthrough performances in Las Vegas.

One of the big questions coming out of Las Vegas is how the composition of these three teams will do at the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17-23. What is better for the USA, experience or fresh newcomers?

The first thing that history has proven is that there is no way to predict a World Championships. Last year, the U.S. Freestyle World Team had many new faces which concerned many, and then had a strong third-place finish with four medalists. There have been other years where experienced teams in all three styles have finished below expectations.

The Greco-Roman team has been together as a unit for three straight years now. The team is exactly the same as the 2005 World Team that competed in Budapest, Hungary, and only one different athlete was on the 2006 World Team that went to Guangzhou, China (Jake Clark at 85 kg). These athletes have tremendous experience, know and support each other well and are comfortable with their coaching staff.

Five of the team members have won World medals: Dremiel Byers at 120 kg (2002 gold), Joe Warren at 60 kg (2006 gold), Lindsey Durlacher at 55 kg (2006 bronze), Harry Lester at 66 kg (2006 bronze) and Justin Ruiz at 96 kg (2005 bronze). The other two have been as high as fifth in the World: T.C. Dantzler at 74 kg (2006) and Brad Vering at 84 kg (2002, 2003).

The U.S. Women’s Team is not yet fully formed. If you start with the four Olympic weight classes, you get an idea about what this team will be like. The group is led by two-time World champion and eight-time World medalist Kristie Marano at 72 kg, as well as 2004 Olympic silver medalist and two-time World medalist Sara McMann at 63 kg. You also add in a 2001 World silver medalist in Stephanie Murata. In the four Olympic weights, the only newcomer is Marcie Van Dusen at 55 kg, who has never been to the Senior World Championships, but was a University World champion and also has won many medals on the international circuit.

If the three women who won the World Team Trials advance past the special wrestleoffs, they will add more experience. Miranda at 51 kg won a 2004 Olympic bronze, and also owns three other World medals. Downing at 67 kg was a 2005 World bronze medalist.

Men’s freestyle is an interesting collection of athletes, many who are having their first try at the World Championships. The World “rookies” include Henry Cejudo at 55 kg, Doug Schwab at 66 kg, Joe Heskett at 74 kg and Tommy Rowlands at 120 kg. If Gallick is able to beat Zadick in the special wrestle-off, then you also add him in at 60 kg.

Of this group, all but Schwab have won World medals for the United States on the age-group level. Cejudo has won a Junior World silver medal and bronze medal the last two years. Rowlands and Gallick won World University Games gold medals in 2005. Rowlands also won a Junior World silver medal. Heskett was a Cadet World bronze medalist as a high school star back in 1994.

The experience on the freestyle World Team comes from Joe Williams at 84 kg, a two-time World bronze medalist, and Daniel Cormier at 96 kg, who has made his fifth straight U.S. team. Williams has moved up from 74 kg, where he established himself worldwide. Both Cormier and Williams competed on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, falling just short of taking a medal. If Zadick beats Gallick, his World silver medal last year gives him key experience in his quest to win the World title this year.

It is easy to get excited about this group of American athletes. However, the pressure is on all of the U.S. athletes who do well in Baku, not just for personal pride and national respect. The top eight place-winners in each weight class at the 2007 World Championship in Azerbaijan, qualify their nation to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. If a wrestler does not make the top eight this year at the Worlds, the U.S. must qualify their weight class through the 2008 Pan American Championships, or one of two Olympic Qualification Tournaments. Basically, the 2007 World Team members are wrestling not only for themselves, but for everybody in their weight class who hopes to make the Olympic team in 2008.

If you look at last year’s World’s results in the 18 Olympic weight classes, if the U.S. matches the 2006 performance, Team USA would have qualified nine weight classes for the Olympics. That includes four in both men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman and one in women’s freestyle. That would have left nine weight classes left to be qualified. This is an area where the U.S. certainly hopes to improve on last year’s results, especially on the women’s team. Placing in the top eight is a big deal this year.

Does experience help when trying to qualify a weight class for the Olympics? We will see when the U.S. team returns from Azerbaijan in September.

(Gary Abbott is the director of special projects for USA Wrestling. He has worked with USA Wrestling since 1988 directing the organization’s communications activities. Among Abbott’s special project assignments are Title IX and women’s wrestling development. He was named W.I.N.’s Journalist of the Year in 2002.)