Northern Oklahoma College sent three wrestlers and one coach to the U20 Beach World Wrestling Championships Sept. 26 in Katerini, Greece.
Sam Nam, Lane Gourley, and Waleed Khariri represented NOC at the event as well as NOC men’s coach Bryan Kenney. While they did not place in the beach event, they did have quite an experience representing NOC and the USA.
“Surreal is the best way to describe it,” said Lane Gourley, a sophomore from Little Axe, Oklahoma, who wrestles at 197 for NOC. “I tried to mentally prepare myself not to feel the pressure. I felt good until I got in the circle to wrestle and then it hit me where I was and what I was doing.”
Gourley learned how serious wrestling is in nations like Iran and Ukraine, countries that dominated the event.
“For them, wrestling is who they are,” Gourley said. “For us, we go to school to earn a degree and wrestle. It is all they are and you can tell that when they wrestle their matches. It’s their job, they get paid to wrestle. It’s a career.”
How was it to wrestle with a USA on their chest?
“It’s different than normal because I’ve wrestled with Little Axe, NOC, and Oklahoma gear but this was different because I was representing our country, something bigger than I am.”
“When we first got our gear, it was very prideful,” Gourley said. “When Waleed (Khariri) and I got back to our room, it was very surreal.”
Nam, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, also wrestles at 197 for NOC.
“Like Lane said, the experience was very surreal,” Nam said. “I had a lot of expectations for the three of us to perform well.”
“Wrestling with the USA was one of the best moments for me,” Nam said. “Wrestling for Team USA was about wrestling for your country but also for the community that has helped me to this point.”
Nam agreed with Gourley regarding the serious nature of the wrestlers he saw in Greece.
“For us, if we aren’t wrestling, we go to school or something to do with your life,” Nam said. “Wrestling is not the end all be all but for them, it’s a lifestyle. They live, eat, and breathe wrestling.”
Waleed Khariri, a sophomore from Birdville, Texas, will wrestle at 165 for the Mavs this year.
“It was quite an experience both culturally and athletically,” said. “It was an experience that won’t forget and would love to do again.”
“It was exciting to see a different culture (Greece) from the food, shopping, and of course, wrestling,” he said. “It was so much fun to represent my country in the world championships.”
All three learned techniques that will help in their upcoming season at NOC.
“They wrestle a different style so that was good for us to see how others wrestle from a style and technique and hopefully we can use that here at NOC,” Gourley said.
Nam added, “I learned a lot about positioning and stances and different ways to do things.”
Khariri said, “It was definitely eye opening. I learned so much that I can bring back to my wrestling this season.”
Travel went well for the NOC contingent though Nam had a little trouble boarding the flight to Greece due to a name difference on his ticket.
“I almost didn’t make it on the plane,” Nam joked. “But fortunately, it all worked out.”
NOC men’s coach Bryan Kenney was so excited for the wrestlers who qualified for the event.
“That’s what we want to do at NOC is provide great experiences for the wrestlers in our program,” Kenney said. “(Women’s) Coach (Jayden) Miller and I brought this up when we were hired to start these programs. We want to bring unique experiences to our programs.”
Kenney added that NOC had the second most wrestlers of any school in the beach nationals behind only Colorado Mesa University.
Kenney had previously hosted a beach wrestling tournament in 1999.
“We did it as a fund raiser and it was a lot of fun,” he said. “Part of building a D1 feeder program is having year-round wrestling and that’s something coach Miller and I wanted when we interviewed for the wrestling positions at NOC.”
“We want to provide opportunities in the summer and beach nationals made the most sense this year due to the school calendar,” he said. “We took a group to North Carolina and had a good number qualify for worlds.”
The trip was provided through fund raising by the wrestlers.
“This really puts NOC wrestling on the map,” he added.
“It was so important for our wrestlers to see how other wrestlers train,” he said. “We saw just how seriously some of those athletes take the sport. Plus, the networking opportunities will be great for our wrestlers and program. This will pay off for our program at NOC in the future.”
The wresters qualified through the USA Beach Nationals competition held in North Carolina this past summer.
NOC has one qualifier, Leila Rosas, for the women’s worlds in Alexandria, Egypt later in October.
Northern Oklahoma College, the state’s first public two-year community college, is a multi-campus, land-grant institution that provides high quality, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities and services.
NOC serves nearly 3,100 students through the home campus in Tonkawa, branch in Enid, and NOC/OSU Gateway Program in Stillwater. Of these students about 80% receive financial aid and/or scholarships. 75% of NOC students complete their degree with zero debt.
The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and offers associate degrees in three general areas: Arts, Science and Applied Science; the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs; and the Accreditation Commission for Education and Nursing.
For more information about Northern Oklahoma College please call (580) 628-6208 or visit the NOC website at www.noc.edu.
