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Greco-Roman world event beckons Owen

Mike Vlahovich - Staff writer, Spokane.net

Spokane _ Fortunately for Tommy Owen, the passport he got when he was 13 is still valid.

The Spokane prep wrestler has been named to the United States National Greco-Roman team that will compete in the FILA World Junior Championships next month in Nantes, France.

The 17-year-old Owen, just completing his junior year at University High, is one of three high school athletes on the nine-wrestler team and its youngest competitor.

"It's a pretty big deal for me," said Owen. "I'll probably never do it again."

Owen finished second at 127.75 pounds (58 Kg) during the 2000 FILA Junior National Championships and World Team Trials for wrestlers age 20 and younger, in Lincoln, Neb., in mid-May.

His conqueror, Zack Allen from Shawnee, Kan., is injured and unable to compete.

"Tommy's the luckiest guy in the world," said his father, John, former wrestling coach at North Idaho College. "We had some concerns about the trip because he is so young, but USA Wrestling team coach Bruce Burnett said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Owen leaves this weekend for the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for two weeks of training before flying to France. World competition is July 3-9.

"I wasn't thinking I was going to win nationals," said Tommy Owen. "It was to get good experience against older guys. I just got lucky down there."

Greco-Roman (as opposed to freestyle, the format more commonly used in Washington high schools) is a wrestling style that limits moves entirely to the upper body. Owen won his way to the national finals by scoring early, including in the semifinals when he compiled six points in the match's first 30 seconds.

"Greco has always pretty much come natural for me," said Owen, who won Washington state high school championships as a freshman and sophomore and who was second this year. "It's pretty much what I'm best at."

When Owen was 13 he made the Cadet National team that competed in a series of dual matches in Poland, winning against all his opponents.

The stakes are considerably higher this time. He'll compete against the best junior wrestlers in the world.

"This World Team stuff is a little more serious," said his father. "He might be two and barbecue."

But at least he already had his passport from the Poland trip.

"We were lucky," John Owen said. "It doesn't expire until 2002."