Pritzlaff Earns Bronze at 2006 World Championships of Wrestling
October 02, 2006 | Wrestling
University of Wisconsin assistant wrestling coach Donny Pritzlaff earned bronze at the 2006 World Championships of Wresting held Sept. 25-Oct. 1 in Guangzhou, China. Overall the U.S. team placed third with 35 team points. Russia captured the title while Iran took second with 51 and 44 team points, respectively.
The former two-time NCAA champion started off well, defeating Richard Addinall of South Africa and Ryslan Kokaev of Armenia. His only loss came from Ali Asgharbzrei of Iran. However, Pritzlaff rebounded by defeating Abdulkharim Shapiyev of Kazakhstan and Murad Gaidarov of Belarus for the third place.
Pritzlaff, a native of Lyndhurst, N.J., began competing for USA wrestling after his collegiate career, saying that it was a natural progression to move to international wrestling.
The USA freestyle team is comprised of 21 athletes who placed third or higher at the World Team trials in April of this year.
'Although it was my first year on the team I knew a lot of the guys,' said Pritzlaff. 'They are a lot of the guys that I faced in college from different schools in the Big Ten or the Big 12.'
As far as competing at the International level, Pritzlaff says he is still adjusting.
'It is a different speed, like going from college football to professional football. It takes some time to get used to,' said Pritzlaff.
The style of wrestling is different as well, as international competition is freestyle wrestling. 'It makes it tough when you compete internationally because the countries you face have been freestyle wrestling the entire time. So they have a little bit of an advantage,' said Pritzlaff.
Although he didn't leave the World Championships with a title, Pritlaff is satisfied with his performance.
'I wanted to win; anytime I compete I want to win, but it was nice that for my first time I was able to get a medal,' said Pritzlaff. 'I hope that I can serve as a mentor to our guys on the team who are looking to possibly enter international wrestling. I know that when I was in college it gave me confidence to be surrounded by coaches who have competed at the highest level.'
Pritzlaff will continue to compete at the international level and has hopes of making it to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
