Don Pritzlaff

Don Pritzlaff (born January 23, 1979 in Red Bank , New Jersey ) is an American wrestler . He won a bronze free style welterweight medal at the 2006 World Championships.

Career

Don Pritzlaff started wrestling at the age of five. His first coach was his father Don Pritzlaff senior. He attended high school in Lyndhurst , New Jersey , where he also devoted himself to wrestling. He was trained there by Ernie Monaco. At the same time he became a member of the Badger Wrestling Club . Other coaches in the course of his career were then Sean Bormet and Barry Davis . He only wrestled in free style and was also a member of the New York Athletic Club .

The first major successes on the wrestling mat came in 1995. He finished 3rd at the U.S. Junior Championships that year and won the New Jersey high school championship three times in a row from 1995 to 1997. In 1998 he became the American junior lightweight champion. He was then used at the Junior World Championships in Las Vegas , where he won the title in front of Fahretin Ozata from Turkey and Nikolaos Loizidis from Greece . This was a promising start to his international wrestling career.

From 1998 Don Pritzlaff attended the University of Wisconsin . From this year he participated in the so-called NCAA Championships, the US student championships. These championships are of enormous importance in the United States because almost all top US wrestlers come from universities and are formed there. At the NCAA Championships in 1998 he finished 6th and in 1999 5th place in the welterweight division. In 2000 and 2001 he won this title from Joe Heskett , who was to become one of his main competitors in the further course of his career.

Don Pritzlaff's international career, which began so promisingly in 1998, did not continue in this successful style. This was due to the fact that he had two competitors at the national level in Joe E. Williams and Joe Heskett , which he could not defeat in the US championships and the Olympic and world championship eliminations.

It was not until 2006 that he managed to become American welterweight champion, where he defeated Joe E. Williams for the first time in the final battle . In the US World Championship elimination, he succeeded in beating Tyrone Lewis in the decisive fights and thus to acquire the ticket to the world championship in Guangzhou . Before that, however, he was still used at the Pan American Championships in Rio de Janeiro , where he took 2nd place in the welterweight division behind Iván Fundora from Cuba . At the World Championships in Guangzhou, Don Pritzlaff defeated Richard Brian Addinal from South Africa a . Ruslan Kokayev from Armenia , then lost to Asghar Ali Bazrighaleh from Iran . In the consolation round he then defeated Abdalhakim Schapijew from Kazakhstan and Murad Gaidarow from Belarus , whom he won with a tactical masterpiece with 2: 1 rounds at 1: 3, 1: 0 u. 1: 0 tech. Points hit and deservedly won a World Cup bronze medal .

In 2007 and 2008, he failed to maintain the top position in the United States. Joe Heskett and Ben Askren placed in the important national championships before him, so that he came to no further inserts in the international championships.

Don Pritzlaff, who has a degree in sociology, lives in Middleton , Wisconsin and is a trainer at Hofstra University.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1998	1.	Junior World Championships in Las Vegas	Light	before Fahrettin Ozata , Turkey u. Nikolaos Loizidis , Greece
2001	1.	Sunkist Open in Phoenix , Arizona	Welter	before Wade Elliott, Canada a . Byron Tucker, USA
2002	3.	New York AC International	Welter	behind Joe Heskett u. Josh Koscheck, before Andy Hrovat , all USA
2002	5.	Sunkist Open in Tempe , Arizona	Welter	behind Joe Heskett, Ramico Blackmon, Kirk White u. Jason Ramstetter, all USA
2002	3.	"Henri Deglane" Memorial "in Nice	Welter	behind Kirk White, USA a. Raza Ramazanzadeh, Iran
2002	1.	"David Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	Welter
2003	2.	Sunkist Open in Tempe	Welter	behind Ramico Blackmon, in front of Sean Harrington, bde. USA & Zoltan Hunyadi, Canada
2003	4th	"David Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	Welter	behind Casey Cunningham et al. Joe Heskett, bde. USA & Zoltan Hunyadi
2003	3.	New York AC International	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams u. Matt Lackey, bde. United States
2004	4th	"David Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	Welter	behind Joe Heskett, Ramico Blackmon u. Kirk White, all USA
2004	3.	New York AC International	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams u. Carl Fronhofer, bde. United States
2005	1.	"David Schultz" Memorial in Colorado Springs	Welter	before Tyrone Lewis et al. Luke Becker, bde. United States
2005	2.	New York AC International	Welter	behind Kachab Chubetzky, Russia in front of Jamuludin Aliev, Russia
2006	5.	"Ivan Yarigin" Memorial in Krasnoyarsk	Welter	behind Albert Saritow , Sergei Kirilow, bde. Russia, Oleg Belozerkowski, Ukraine a . Dimitri Kirilov, Russia
2006	2.	Pan American Championship in Rio de Janeiro	Welter	behind Iván Fundora , Cuba , in front of Wilson Medina, Colombia
2006	3.	Golden Grand Prix in Baku	Welter	behind Gela Saghiraschwili , Georgia a. Arsen Gitinow , Russia, ahead of Sergei Kirilow, Russia
2006	3.	World Cup in Guangzhou	Welter	with victories over Richard Brian Addinall, South Africa a . Ruslan Kokajew , Armenia , a defeat against Asghar Ali Bazrighaleh , Iran a. Victories over Abdalhakim Schapijew, Kazakhstan a . Murad Gaidarov , Belarus
2007	3.	World Cup in Krasnoyarsk	Welter	behind Soslan Tigijew , Uzbekistan u. Denis Zargusch , Russia, before David Akhalmosulishvili, Georgia a. Sergei Witkowski , Russia

National successes

year	space	competition	Weight class
1995	3.	USA Junior Championship	up to 60 kg body weight
1998	1.	USA Junior Championship	Light
2000	1.	NCAA championships	Welter	before Joe Heskett u. Steve Blackford
2001	1.	NCAA championships	Welter	before Joe Heskett u. Matt Lackey
2002	5.	USA championship	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams , Casey Cunningham, Ramico Blackmon and others. Kirk White
2002	3.	World Championship trials	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams u. Casey Cunningham
2003	7th	USA championship	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams, Joe Heskett, Casey Cunningham, Byron Tucker, Ramico Blackmon and others. Kirk White
2003	5.	World Championship trials	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams, Joe Heskett, Kirk White and others. Casey Cunningham
2004	5.	USA championship	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams, Joe Heskett, Kirk White and others. Ramico Blackmon
2004	6th	Olympic trials	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams, Jeo Heskett, Ramico Blackmon, Kirk White u. Casey Cunningham
2005	3.	USA championship	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams u. Kirk White
2005	3.	World Championship trials	Welter	behind Joe E. Williams u. Kirk White
2006	1.	USA championship	Welter	before Joe E. Williams, Tyrone Lewis et al. Joe Heskett
2006	1.	World Championship trials	Welter	before Tyrone Lewis, Joe Heskett, etc. Travis Paulson
2007	3.	USA championship	Welter	behind Joe Heskett u. Casey Cunningham
2007	4th	World Championship trials	Welter	behind Joe Heskett, Casey Cunningham et al. Ramico Blackmon
2008	5.	Olympic trials	Welter	behind Ben Askren , Tyrone Lewis, Ramico Blackmon u. Ryan Churella

Note: all competitions in free style, WM = world championship, trials = elimination tournament, welterweight, until 2001 up to 76 kg, since 2002 up to 74 kg body weight

swell

• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• US Wrestling Association website,
• Canadian Wrestling Association website,
• Trade journal Der Ringer

Web links

• Profile of Don Pritzlaff at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Don Pritzlaff fight against Joe Heskett at the 2000 NCAA Championships