The Pennsylvania Regional Training Center had a strong showing last weekend at the Bill Farrell International Open in New York City. Three of the four resident athletes competed, with B.J. Futrell (65kg) bringing home the gold medal and Richard Perry (86 kg) taking the bronze. Dan Vallimont (74 kg) fell short of the bronze medal match after finishing 2-2 on the day, and Chase Pami did not compete.

In his second tournament wrestling with the Pennsylvania RTC, B.J. Futrell plowed through the 65 kg field on his way to a championship title. He opened his day with a 12-0 tech fall over former all-American Dan Neff and continued to roll with a 9-1 decision over Subin Kim of South Korea and a 7-0 shut out of Kyrgyzstan’s Mamatov Ulukman. In the finals, Futrell gutted out a 12-10 win over two time Ohio State all-American Hunter Stieber. The match was a back and forth affair until Futrell broke through a 6-6 gridlock with a 4-point feet-to-back maneuver with under a minute left in the second period. This is B.J.’s first gold medal with the Pennsylvania RTC after placing second in the Ziiolkowski International in June. After his performance, B.J. emphasized how much he enjoyed wrestling in the tournament.

“Honestly, this weekend was the most fun I actually had competing in a long time, and it had nothing to do about winning.”

B.J. will compete for the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club in Ukraine following the Thanksgiving weekend.

At 74 Kilograms, Dan Vallimont dropped his first match to Russia’s Khalil Aminov. Although Vallimont got in on good leg attacks early against the Russian, Aminov was able to use a few tricks for exposure to secure the victory 10-0. Vallimont came back to rattle off two wins in the consolation brackets, 11-0 over Tony Piva and 9-0 over Stefan Kaeppler, before falling in a tight 5-3 battle to Quinton Godley.

Richard Perry posted a 3-1 record on the way to his third place performance. He started the day with a 3-1 decision over Josh Asper before falling to a red hot Timmy McCall. On the backside, he won a hard fought 5-5 battle over all-American Pete Renda before defeating 2 time JUCO National champion Deron Winn 5-2 for bronze. Perry will be competing at the Golden Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan next weekend.

The team will next compete together January 27-29th at the Paris Grand Prix. Until then, you can continue to follow the PRTC on all social media outlets @pennsylvaniartc as they continue to grow in their training, wrestling, and community outreach with Beat the Streets Philadelphia.

B.J. Futrell stands atop the 65 kg podium

NYAC Bill Farrell International Open Results

B.J. Futrell – Gold Medal – 65kg

1/8 Finals – Dan Neff (BRTC) – 12-0 (1:09)

1/4 Finals – Subin Kim (Korea) – 9-1

1/2 Finals – Mamatov Ulukman (Kyrgyzstan) – 7-0

Finals – Hunter Stieber – 12-10

Dan Valimont – DNP – 74kg

1/8 Final – Khalil Amino (RUS) – 10-0 L (3:10)

Con of 16-2 – Tony Piva (BWC) – 11-0 (:37)

Con of 8-1 – Stefan Kaeppeler (NLWC) – 9-0

Con of 8-2 – Quinton Godley (TMWC) – L 3-5

Richard Perry – Bronze – 86kg

1/4 Final – Josh Asper – 3-1

1/2 Final – Timmy McCall – L 0-10

Consi-Semi – Peter Renda- 5-5

3rd Place – Deron Winn – 5-2