French freestylers visit Cedar Falls

USA Mat Club hosts exhibition dual with France’s best 16, 17 year olds

By Eric VanSickle

CEDAR FALLS – Some wrestling fans don’t think May is prime for a wrestling dual, but members of Cedar Falls’ USA Mat Club hosted an exhibition with some very special visitors May 3.

The club hosted the French Cadet National Freestyle Team in the C.F. High gymnasium for a series of 17 matches in front of a few dozen supporters. The unofficial team scoring had the USA Mat Club winning, 42-33.

The semi-informal exhibition paired the male wrestlers with those close in weight, while the four female wrestlers – Iowa City West's Jasmine Bailey and C.F.'s Cassey Herkelman and France’s Julie Sabatie and Manon Calliaud – wrestled two matches, switching opponents. All of the French boys had two matches, with Alexis Malezieux having three.

The French team is making a tour of the U.S., participating in USA Wrestling-sanctioned freestyle tournaments and a few exhibition duals. This trip was postponed from last year, when the volcano in Iceland prevented intercontinental travel between Europe and North America.

Ibrahim Selloum, the French team coach, said the tour has gone very well so far and he, the other coaches and wrestlers are enjoying their stay.

“We’ve had very good training and competitions,” Selloum said. “With (USA Mat Club director and C.F. head wrestling coach Wil Kelly), we’ve had very good contact.”

For most of the French kids, it’s their first visit to the U.S. Selloum said one wrestler participated in a tournament two years ago in Chicago.

He added the wrestlers themselves like America.

“Their way of life is very good,” Selloum said. “The competition… we can fight (wrestle) with the guys with other good guys, and afterwards, we can speak with them with civility.”

Freestyle wrestling is somewhat similar to what wrestling fans see during the high school season, but with some glaring differences. The most noticeable difference is the scoring and the match structure.

In FILA (International Wrestling Federation) rules, matches are best-of-three, two-minute periods. When a wrestler wins two periods, he or she wins that match, unless a pin fall is scored. Like folkstyle wrestling, a pin is an instant win, no matter the current score or what happened in prior periods.

Also, when a wrestler amasses a 6-point lead in either period, that period is over and the wrestler is given the victory for that period. It’d be similar to a technical fall in folkstyle, but the match continues if it’s the first period won.

There are also three officials in FILA-sanctioned matches – the referee, mat judge and mat chairman. They can award anywhere from 1 to 5 points for certain moves either wrestler performs, and two of the three must agree to the score.

For example, the referee would hold up two fingers for one wrestler when he exposes the back of his opponent. The mat judge can either agree by holding up the same colored paddle with a “2” or a different score, or the white paddle for no score. If they disagree, the mat chairman would break the tie by either awarding the score the referee suggested or the one from the mat judge.

During the meet, the USA Mat Club’s two girls each earned splits, both beating Calliaud – Herkelman by pall in 1 minute, 35 seconds, and Bailey pinned her in 20 seconds – but Sabatie won both of her matches by decision – 4-0 and 3-0 over Bailey and in three periods over Herkelman, 3-0 in the final period.

Selloum said his staff and wrestlers have scouted and game planned for Herkelman, the first Iowa girl to qualify for and advance in the traditional state tournament back in February, after seeing her in a pair of tournaments over the weekend.

“I’ve seen her wrestling men, and then see her wrestling against French girls,” he said. “We studied her video, how she wrestled. We analyzed that she lifted her left leg (when making a move).”

Kelly noted Sabatie is one of the best cadet girls’ wrestlers in Europe, winning a pair of medals in continental competitions.

“It’s a real opportunity for her to compete against (some of the best),” he said.

Club coach Zhang Fan appreciated how Sabatie and Calliaud faced Herkelman.

“Cassey is always facing tough talent,” Zhang said. “This French girl today did a very good job.”

C.F. junior 189-pounder Zach Rahnvardi also had a split on the evening. He beat Quenton Milliere, 2-1 and 5-1, but France’s Jordan Noblet earned an 8-0, 6-0 win later.

Other victories by USA Mat Club members included Dan Kelly, Sam Dagit, Max Thompsen, Christian Miller, David Langley and Jack Hathaway.

Selloum said the USA Mat Club wrestlers performed well against his squad.

“I’m surprised with the level of the talent,” he said. “Cassey is a very good wrestler.”

Wil Kelly said the experience the local wrestlers had against the French is invaluable.

“It’s a great experience for our guys to get an opportunity to compete internationally, but have it here locally without leaving the state,” Kelly said. “That’s always a great opportunity.”

He added the differences in styles between FILA freestyle and IHSAA folkstyle gave the local wrestlers a great learning experience.

“These other guys (from France), they’ve been training freestyle all year long,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to train between two or three different styles. There’s definitely an adjustment for our kids. I think they did well.”

Zhang said the locals did a very good job against the French visitors.

“These kids have made great progress, and have challenged the (French national) team,” Zhang said.

USA Mat Club (C.F.) 42, France 33

Alexis Malezieux (FRA) win over Brendan Alexander (IA) 9-1, 6-0
Julie Sabatie (FRA) win over Jasmine Bailey (IA) 4-0, 3-0
Cassey Herkelman (IA) win over Manon Calliaud (FRA) Fall 1:35
Dan Kelly (IA) win over Adama Sow (FRA) 7-2, 7-0
Stephane Heyer (FRA) win over Clark Doyle (IA) 4-1, 7-0
Sam Dagit (IA) win over Achille Reggiani (FRA) 3-0, 3-2
Jordan Noblet (FRA) win over Ty Robertson (IA) 7-0, 6-0
Zach Rahnavardi (IA) win over Quentin Milliere (FRA) 2-1, 5-1
Alexis Malezieuex (FRA) win over Cody Lange (IA) 8-0, 8-0
Julie Sabatie (FRA) win over Cassey Herkelman (IA) 0-4, 3-1, 3-0
Jasmine Bailey (IA) win over Manon Caillux (FRA) fall :20
Max Thompsen (IA) win over Adama Sow (FRA) 8-2, 4-1
Stephane Heyer (FRA) win over Dylan McGlauflin (IA) 4-4, 3-2
Christian Miller (IA) win over Achille Reggiani (FRA) 7-1, 6-3
Jordan Noblet (FRA) win over Zach Rahnavardi (IA) 8-0, 6-0
David Langley (IA) win over Quentin Milliere (FRA) fall 1:10
Jack Hathaway (IA) win over Alexis Malezieux (FRA) injury def

Independence 5, NU High (Cedar Falls) 1

Tori Zasadny scored two goals and had three assists in the No. 10-rated (Class 2A) Independence/East Buchanan girls' soccer team beat NU High (Cedar Falls), 5-1, at the University of Northern Iowa club fields Thursday night.