Cleveland to host 2010, '11 US Nationals, FILA Jr Nationals

November 25, 7:44 PMCollege Wrestling ExaminerMark Palmer

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What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas... unless it's the US Senior Nationals and FILA Junior Nationals wrestling events.

These two prestigious freestyle/Greco-Roman wrestling events will be leaving Las Vegas -- their long-term homes -- for Cleveland in 2010 and 2011.

The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission in conjunction with USA Wrestling will be hosting the two events at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University in downtown Cleveland on April 21-25, 2010.

The US Senior National Wrestling Championships feature the nation’s top wrestlers in the three Olympic styles: men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. The Men’s FILA Junior National Championships include the nation’s top athletes who are 17-20 years old, competing in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Up to 850 athletes are expected to participate in the two competitions that weekend.

Cleveland and the region are no strangers to amateur wrestling. Cleveland State University hosted the 1998 NCAA Division I championships. The metropolitan Cleveland-Akron area, and the entire state of Ohio, is a hotbed for amateur wrestling at all levels. There are nearly 14,000 high school wrestlers in the state.  In addition, Ohio is much closer to other wrestling centers such as Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

Landing these two freestyle/Greco-Roman events is a considerable coup for Cleveland. The US Senior Nationals had been hosted by Las Vegas in 20 of the last 22 years, while the FILA Junior Nationals had been held there alongside the Senior Nationals for the last five years.

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