Small-town Nevadan eyes wrestling big time

It was straight-up 10 a.m. Saturday, and they had rolled out a couple of wrestling mats in a sprawling ballroom at the South Point. About 15 guys who could whip your behind with one hand tied behind their back were beginning to stretch, and to put each other in wrestling holds, and to chat about this tough guy or that one from the Middle East or one the "Stan" countries — Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, et al.

The USA Wrestling Greco-Roman team that will compete in the 2015 World Championships at the Orleans this week was in the house, as was another of those gun shows.

Bryce Saddoris of Spring Creek from up in Elko County wasn't stretching on the mats, or telling stories about tough guys from the "Stan" countries. He wrestles Monday, so he was still in his room, and in a little while he would start losing weight.

"My weigh-in is Sunday, so today is my big weight-cutting day," said the 27-year-old Saddoris, the top-ranked Yank in the 66-kilogram/145.5-pound division, after strolling the long hall to the ballroom to chat.

So maybe a little chicken, a few steamed veggies. No carbs, no sodium, no fruit. A lot of time in the sauna. A lot of time in a plastic suit. A lot of time on a treadmill — as much time as you can stand on the treadmill, he said. Then, more time sweating and busting your hump and rump on a stationary bicycle.

Make the weight on Sunday.

And then Monday, wrestle a tough guy from one of the "Stan" countries, or maybe an Iranian or a Bulgarian. Sometimes the Iranians and Bulgarians sweat profusely, and they usually aren't into manscaping.

Amateur wrestling is a great sport, but it isn't for everybody. It takes a calorie counter, and an incredible amount of discipline. Bryce Saddoris won four consecutive state championships at Spring Creek, and he was incredibly disciplined.

Then he got incredibly more disciplined.

Saddoris wrestled for Navy in college. He finished sixth in the NCAA championships; he helped Navy beat Army in all four of his years. He said "yes, sir" and "no, sir" a lot.

Now he's in the Marines. He's a commissioned officer, a captain. He's a supply officer. He works out of a warehouse at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. And sometimes on the weekends he wrestles against outstanding amateurs, with the blessing and support of the corps.

And if he wrestles well this week against the tough guys from the "Stan" countries and assorted Iranians and Bulgarians, he'll have a big leg up on making the U.S. Olympic wrestling team that will compete in Brazil next summer.

So a kid from little Spring Creek, Nev., pop. 12,361, has a shot to make the Olympic team, and who knows, maybe he even has a shot at getting his picture on a box of Wheaties. Because sometimes when an amateur wrestler or a gymnast (especially a female gymnast) or somebody from one of the other sports most of us only care about every four years — such as modern pentathlon — beats the rest of the world, the Wheaties people will put his picture on the box.

Saddoris laughed at the mention of the Wheaties box. He said it would be nice, but he considers making the Olympic team a much more realistic goal. "It's always been a dream of mine," he said.

"I've had career dreams, I've had different stages of my life, what I've wanted to accomplish, and this is something I've always wanted to do — I've always wanted to make a world or Olympic team and I've always wanted to win an Olympic or a world medal.

"So I think it's one of those situations where even if you're from a small town from Nevada — where most people in your state don't even know where it's at — if you keep your goals straight and work hard, I don't think there's anything that's not attainable."

It was closing in on 11 a.m. when the other Greco-Roman wrestlers wound up their stretching routines and stopped putting each other in wrestling holds on the mats they had rolled out in the sprawling South Point ballroom.

Bryce Saddoris, an impressive young man with or without the wrestling singlet, was talking about life in Spring Creek, where it was mostly about family and friends, and maybe going to the bowling alley and definitely going to church. And usually you'd make a little time to hunt and fish. After the chores were done or whatever.

But he said he wasn't going to lie, going to college at the Naval Academy was difficult, and then signing up for a five-year stint in the Marines was no piece of cake, either, even if he does work out of a warehouse now, and even if other Marines now call him "sir."

When he saw his teammates huddling up on one of the temporary wrestling mats, he politely excused himself.

Tough, disciplined guys gathered in a tight cluster. Soft words were spoken. And then the amateur wrestlers did a community fist bump and shouted "USA!" in a much louder voice.

-- Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him: @ronkantowski.