 The All-Marine Wrestling Team competed in the 2009 Cristo-Lutte International Wrestling Open in Paris, France on 31 Jan -1 Feb. Sergeant David Arendt, Jr won four straight matches in the 120 kg division on his way to the gold medal. In his first match, Arendt defeated Frances Nicolas Sauvaire 3-1, 4-2. Next, he defeated Javal Bahadurov of Azerbaijan 3-1, 7-4. In the third round Arendt defeated Frenchman Yannick Szczepaniak 3-1, 5-3. Szczepaniak won 5th place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games. In his fourth and final match, Arendt defeated Oldrich Kucera of Czech Republic 3-0, 9-0. At 96 kg, Corporal Moises Hernandez defeated Frances Mody Diawara 3-1, 5-1 on his way to 5th place. The next weekend, in Colorado Springs, CO, the Marines competed at the 2009 Dave Schultz International Open Wrestling Tournament. Arendt won the silver medal with a record of 2-1. In the first round, Arendt defeated Dharmender Dalal of India 5-0, 2-0. In the second round he defeated American Pete Kowalczuk by fall in 5:36. In the final match, Arendt was defeated by 2002 World Champion, Dremiel Byers of the US Army. Hernandez turned in another good performance competing at 96 kg going 2-2 on the day. On his way to a fourth place finish, Hernandez defeated Pete Gounaridis of the US Olympic Education Center in Marquette, MI 3-1, 4-1. Gounaridis is currently ranked #5 in the U.S. Also competing well for the Marines was Sergeant Steven Forrest. He battled his way to a 6th place finish in the extremely loaded 74 kg division. Forrest finished the day with a 3-3 record, with two of his wins coming over international wrestlers from Ecuador and India. The 74 kg division featured two 2008 Olympians and 3 former US National Champions. The Marines will be back in action at the Armed Forces Championships hosted by the US Air Force at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho on March 11-16.
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