Saturday June 9, was a sunny summer like day in Philadelphia, but the real action was indoors at the Ben Franklin School for the Spartans Pride Tournament. Organized as the final event to Team Philadelphia’s Sports Week, the event had thirteen competitors from four cities across the country.

Saturday June 9, was a sunny summer like day in Philadelphia, but the real action was indoors at the Ben Franklin School for the Spartans Pride Tournament. Organized as the final event to Team Philadelphia’s Sports Week, the event had thirteen competitors from four cities across the country.

The day began with an energetic match at 157lbs between Shaun from the Spartans taking on Josh from Chicago. Shaun won with a fall at 1:15 into the match. Next up at 133lbs was Carl from Metro Wrestling Club in New York taking on Mike from the Spartans, this match too ended in the first period with a Mike suffering the fall at 1:03.

Moving up a weight class to 149 lbs Gus from the Spartans took on Ross from the Golden gate Wrestling Club in San Francisco. Ross took the first period with 3 points for a near fall, and an additional point for holding the position, the period ended with a nice gut wrench for two with 19 seconds left. In the second period Ross dominated again with two takedowns and a near fall at 1:35 and earning him gold in the 149lb division.

The fourth match of the day saw Shaun back on the mats this time taking on fellow Spartan teammate Rick. Shaun dominated with a takedown and a fall in 36 seconds.

The next mach pitted two Metro teammates as Adrian and Mark went head to head in the 185lb division. Mark neatly handled his teammate with some good old fashioned grappling with good takedowns and near fall moves. Mark bested his teammate 6-0 and 6-0.

The same was done in the next match at 197lbs as Dennis of the Spartans took on teammate Ed, with Dennis winning the first period with a three point takedown a push out and a 2 point takedown. Dennis ended the match in the second period with Ed suffering the fall at 1:07 earning Dennis the gold.

The tournament returned to the 133 weight class for one of the toughest battles of the day as Matt from metro battled with teammate Carl for the full three periods. Matt won the first period with a nice near fall takedown. Carl fought back in the second to win 6 to 2. Carl put Matt away in the third winning by with good take downs and a nice gut wrench at 1:45. That second victory at 133 earned Carl gold in the division.

Ross from Golden Gate then had his first Match at the 157lbs taking on Josh from Chicago. Josh had a strong start earning points for a takedown and a near fall before Ross pulled a nice reversal and took the match with a fall at 1:50.

The action then moved to the 185lb division where Adrian was dominated by fellow metro teammate Kirk suffering a fall at 1:05. The loss did earn Adrian the bronze at 185lbs.

The action moved back to the consolation round at 133lbs with Mike from the Spartans taking on Matt from metro. Mike won the first period 6-0 at 1:47 and won the second period 9-3 for the silver, Matt took home bronze.

Up next was the consolation round of the 157lb division between Josh from Chicago and Rick from the Spartans. Josh easily defeated Rick who went down with a fall at 0:57 in the first earning Josh the bronze medal.

The Medal round at 185lbs saw a spirited match between Kirk and Mark both from metro wrestling club. Kirk won the first period 2-0 and took gold in the second with a 4-0 win. Mark took the silver.

In the final match up of the day and the medal round at 157lbs Ross from Golden Gate took on Shaun from the Spartans in a fast paced single period bout that saw the lead change as Shaun scored first with a takedown and near fall only to see Ross scored with a near fall out of bounds before he finally suffered his own fall at 1:24 earning him the Silver with Shaun taking the gold.

Carl from the metro club summed it up best “It was a beautiful day, and I hope we'll do it again. It was everything you could hope for in an event, to compete with friends and
test our skills.”

It is the goal of the Spartan wrestling club to make the event an annual summer competition.

Spartan Pride Tournament 2007 Results

Carl W. (Metro)               1^st

Mike L. (Spartan)            2^nd

Matt B. (Metro)               3^rd

Gus S.   (Spartan)              2^nd

Rick V.    (Spartan)           4^th

Kirk C.    (Metro)             1^st

Adrian S. (Metro)             3^rd

Dennis L. (Spartan)         1^st

Ed W.       (Spartan)         2^nd