Fomer NCAA champion for the Iowa State and now current assistant coach for South Dakota State, Jon Reader finished 5th at the Yasar Dogu International in Istanbul, Turkey today. Reader opened the day with a dominant pin over Turkey’s Kadir Yaziki and then followed that with another victory over Serdar Boke of Turkey as well. Poland’s Radoslaw Marcinkiewicz handed Reader his first loss of the day 11-8. With Marcinkiewicz making the finals, Reader was pulled back into the repechage where he won his next match by technical fall (12-2) over an unknown opponent to reach the bronze medal match against American Keith Gavin. Gavin proved to be too much for Reader and despite a late flurry of action, Reader lost the medal match to place fifth at the tournament.
Joe Colon (Panther Wrestling Club) and Angel Escobedo (Cyclone Wrestling Club) also competed in Turkey yesterday, both at 57 kg, and unfortunately met in the very first round. USA’s #2 ranked wrestler Colon came out on top of the all American matchup by a score of 5-0, which meant that Colon would need to reach the finals to give Escobedo a chance to medal. Colon was able to pick up another win over Romania’s Andrei Dukov 6-5, but lost to the eventual bronze medalist Otari Gogava of Georgia.
Up next for Escobedo will be the AGON V event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he will face former Hawkeye NCAA champion Matt McDonough in a freestyle matchup. The event is titled Iowa Against The World, so Escobedo will be taking on the role of the world trying to knock off the Hawk.
57 kg/125.5 lbs. – Angel Escobedo, Ames, Iowa (New York AC/Cyclone WC)
LOSS Joe Colon (USA), 0-5
57 kg/125.5 lbs. – Joe Colon, Cedar Falls, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC/Panther WC)
WIN Angel Escobedo (USA), 5-0
WIN Andrei Dukov (Romania), 6-5
LOSS Otari Gogava (Georgia), 2-6
86 kg/189 lbs. – Jon Reader, Brookings, S.D. (Sunkist Kids), 5th
WIN Kadir Yaziki (Turkey), pin
WIN Serdar Boke (Turkey), 7-6
LOSS Radoslaw Marcinkiewicz (Poland), 8-11
WIN, 12-2 *
LOSS Keith Gavin (USA), 0-4
*Team USA acknowledged they were missing names, and the article will be updated if the name becomes available.