Howes to Compete at U23 World Team Trials
Rising Avila senior Gavin Howes will wrestle on one of the sport's biggest stages when he competes at the vaunted USA Wrestling U23 World Team Trials this weekend in Geneva, Ohio.
It's the second straight year that an Avila wrestler will represent the squad at this massive summer showcase, with a ton at stake: the winner of each weight class earns an automatic berth to the World Wrestling Championships this October in Albania, one of the premier events in the sport.
"He's had this in his sights since two weeks after the national tournament," head men's wrestling coach Eric Mateo said.
One of Avila's primary starters at heavyweight this season in his first year wrestling in Kansas City, Howes was nationally ranked at heavyweight in the NAIA for much of this season and finished as the runner-up in the KCAC in his first season in the conference. He faced plenty of top NAIA talent all year long, but this tournament represents a massive step up in competition for all involved: athletes from all levels of collegiate wrestling will descend on Ohio this weekend vying for a spot on the podium, which is awarded to the top eight in each weight, and that coveted spot on the World Championship roster, which only one athlete in each weight class can earn automatically.
Starting in high school, wrestlers grow accustomed to training and competing year-round, so training for and competing in an event like this in the summer maintains that same training cycle the athletes are used to, while giving them a legitimate goal to strive for, instead of merely training for training's sake.
"You will get incrementally better all the time during the season, but you can get exponentially better during the spring and summer," Mateo said.
Adding in an extra layer of challenge to this event, Howes has been learning to compete in two totally new styles of wrestling. Howes competed in the American Folkstyle all year during this college season, but international athletes compete in either Freestyle (like the college women do), Greco-Roman, or both – and Howes will be competing in both styles this weekend.
"We're such a young program, we have some guys who have a lot of experience wrestling freestyle and Greco, and some guys that have literally zero," Mateo said. "[Gavin] wrestled year-round growing up, but not much freestyle and Greco. Over the past few months, we've been working on rule differences. He's gotten better at wrestling just through practicing in general, but going from folkstyle to freestyle, knowing the rules is huge. It's wrestling, but they're still very different."
Last summer, Daryus Webb made history, a phrase that became fairly common as the year progressed, by becoming the first Eagle to place at this event, finishing 8th in the Greco category. Tyler Johnson and Luke Ward also made the field for the Eagles, giving the young program plenty of representation on a national and international stage.
Howes earned the right to be the next Eagle to compete on that stage by hitting all the requirements and goals established by Mateo and the coaching staff: a strong GPA, good standing with the team and the school, participating in required fundraisers, and committing to the effort of the training camp building up to the event. And Johnson, who competed in the event last year but can't compete this year, will accompany Howes as a coach and mentor this time around along with head women's wrestling coach Zach Revier, who has plenty of ties to these events himself.
Howes will be competing in the heaviest weight class in both events, 125 kilos for Freestyle and 130 kilos for Greco. Howes will first wrestle in the Greco event all day on Friday, May 31, before shifting to Folkstyle, featuring a massive field of competitors, over the weekend. Saturday will feature all the preliminary rounds, with quarterfinals and all placement matches on Sunday. Competition begins at 9:30 or 10 AM every day from the Spire Institute in Geneva, and FloWrestling will provide live stream coverage all weekend long. Stay tuned to Avila Wrestling on social media for more updates and content from this weekend in Ohio.
