When Ben Askren competes in the World Team Trials this weekend, he’ll be doing so from an unfamiliar position.

Parker Eshelman photo

Wrestler Ben Askren, who won back-to-back national titles at 174 pounds, is competing at 163 pounds in the World Team Trials this weekend in Las Vegas. He enters as the No. 6 seed.

Askren enters the tournament in Las Vegas having cut more than 10 pounds and as a No. 6 seed. In his final two years at Missouri, which he capped by winning his second 174-pound national championship in March, Askren was the top seed in every tournament he entered.

But that’s the life of a recent college graduate trying to make the difficult transition from folkstyle wrestling to freestyle.

"I’m not really worried where I’m seeded," said Askren of the tournament that starts today and determines the U.S. world team roster. "I’m ready to seek and destroy everybody."

Judging by seeding, Askren winning the tournament this weekend - or even finishing in the top three to ensure a spot on the world team - would be considered an upset. The field of wrestlers is almost identical to that of the U.S. Open, where Askren finished sixth.

But Askren’s finish didn’t disappoint him too much. That tournament was held just three weeks after he wrapped up his collegiate career at the NCAA Championships. Between March 17 and April 4, Askren had to cut weight to 163 pounds and brush up on his freestyle technique, which he hadn’t used in months.

Folkstyle wrestling, which is used in high school and collegiate competition, is a control sport. The idea is to control your opponent on the mat, whereas freestyle wrestling, which is used in international competition, is more tactical. The idea is to expose your opponent’s back, rather than pinning him to it.

Askren isn’t new to freestyle wrestling. In the spring and summer while he was in high school, he wrestled strictly freestyle. And when he entered Missouri in the fall of 2002, he thought his freestyle was more advanced than his folkstyle. But after five years of wrestling folkstyle 10 months out of the year, those positions switched.

"My freestyle wrestling went downhill," he said. "Now I have a year and a half" until the 2008 Olympics "to pick it back up. I think it’s going to be challenging, but I’m going to do it."

Kenny Monday knows how difficult the transition can be. After winning a national championship for Oklahoma State in 1984, Monday won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics and a silver medal in 1992. Now, Monday coaches a club team and is a high school assistant in Dallas, and he helps train wrestlers at the Sunkist Kids wrestling club in Tempe, Ariz.

"It took me three years, up until the trials for the ’88 Olympics, for me to get comfortable with my freestyle," Monday said. "It’s a completely different sport with different strategies and tactics. He’s so used to rolling around - or the ‘funk,’ as they call it - that kind of stuff will get you in trouble in freestyle."

Twice since the NCAA Championships, Askren and his brother Max have traveled to Tempe and worked out with Monday and other freestyle wrestlers. And though Monday will say that Askren’s freestyle wrestling is not up to par with some of the others in his weight class, he’ll follow that by saying his future is definitely bright.

"I like his wide-open style, I like that he’s a true pinner, and he’s not set in his ways," Monday said.

Monday said he’ll be in Las Vegas for the trials this weekend and hopes to spend more time with the most accomplished wrestler in MU history.

But for Askren to make the world team - which he said is crucial if he wants to make the 2008 Olympic team - he’ll have to surprise some people. In his bracket are Joe Heskett, a world team member last year and U.S. Open champion; Donny Pritzlaff, who won the U.S. Open and the World Team Trials last year; and Tyrone Lewis, who made the world team last year.

"I think it’s going to be a tough road for him," Monday said. "Will he emerge? I won’t say that he won’t. It would definitely open everybody’s eyes if he did."

Askren wasn’t expected to have as much success early in his collegiate career, either. But in his first full college season in 2003-04, he won a Big 12 championship and was an NCAA runner-up. He knows he’s competing against wrestlers that have strictly freestyle experience for almost five years, but he uses his U.S. Open performance as motivation.

In that tournament, he beat the second-seeded Lewis, before losing a close match to Heskett in the semifinals.

"I was within 15 seconds of winning, and that was the guy that won the U.S. Open. I was right there," Askren said. "I feel like my freestyle has really improved. I feel like I’ve improved in all facets of my game. I’m ready to go."

Advertisement