Three USOEC Greco wrestlers placed in the top five at the University World Championships in Kourtane, Finland, on Saturday, Oct. 6.

Placing first at the 55 kg weight class was junior Max Nowry. Not only does he now hold the title of World Champion, but he was also named USA Wrestling’s athlete of the week.

“I was glad to have won the tournament and be awarded wrestler of the week,” Nowry said. “The ultimate goal is Senior World Championships and the Olympics, and winning University Worlds is going to prepare me to compete on the biggest stage wrestling has to offer.”

Nowry said he was very nervous at the beginning of the tournament because his first match was against a familiar rival.

“I drew Marcin Kunysz from Poland first round, the same guy who knocked me out of Universities last time,” Nowry said. “Once I beat him I felt relaxed and picked it up for the rest of the tournament.”

Head USEOC coach Rob Hermann said even with a World Championship under his belt, Nowry is still on his way up to his peak performance.

“He hasn’t even scratched the surface to his talent yet,” Hermann said. “Nowry is young and hungry. Most importantly, he identifies his weaknesses and works to improve on them.”

Second-year assistant coach Aghasi Manukyan said Nowry dedicates every minute of practice to bettering himself on the wrestling mat.

“He never misses a practice and stays longer working on skills,” Manukyan said. “He knows why he is here and every day I see him getting better and better.”

Hermann said the University World’s competition was huge and the team, in general, did very good considering their opponents.

“Most of the weight brackets were stacked this year,” Hermann said. “There were bound to be Olympians in every weight class.”

One of the athletes who went head-to-head with an Olympian was junior Mark Stenberg. He ended up losing in two periods 0-1, 0-1.

“I had to wrestle the Iranian Olympian Taleb Nematpour,” Stenberg said. “I went into it like I would any other match and ended up holding my own.”

Agasey said Stenberg has really been focusing on improving himself as an all-around athlete and it has been showing in his performance.

“He has been working on his strength and agility and he is getting better,”Agasey said. “Once he figures out a way to score on his feet he’ll make it to World Team Trials and be very successful there.”

Stenberg said he didn’t want to waste the chance to wrestle at University Worlds, so he forced himself to be dedicated during his summer off season.

“I didn’t sleep in till 11 a.m. every day, and I actually paid attention to the nutrition I was taking in,” Stenberg said. “I did a lot of speed work and a lot of heavy lifting; it was my first time on the University team and I wanted to make the best of it.”

Hermann said the team has been winding down these last two weeks in order to allow time to catch up on academia and recover fully before their next tournament.

“We are an education training facility, and some of these boys have been gone from school for two weeks, so I’ve given them time to get homework caught up,” Hermann said. “In the beginning of November, a few wrestlers will be going on a Swedish tour and the remaining will compete at the New York Athletic Club.”

Nowry said he is grateful for the down time to catch up in every aspect.

“It’s been pretty hectic for us; over the last 21 days, I’ve been traveling and competing for 14 of them and maybe on the mat at home for two of the remaining days,” Nowry said. “I’ve been looking forward to being back on my regular training schedule again.”

Nowry and his teammates will compete at the NYAC Holiday International Open on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.