Two Hawkeye Wrestling Club members are top-three seeds in the upcoming Olympic Trials in Carver-Hawkeye. Both former Hawkeyes, Daniel Dennis and Tony Ramos, will vie for the 57-kg spot on the U.S. team.
The pair had just one year of overlap during their time at Iowa. Dennis was a senior the year Ramos was a true freshman. During that time, the 133-pounders became friends, and Dennis was a mentor to Ramos. Now, however, that relationship has changed drastically.
Ramos noted that while it’s been said two wrestlers can be “friends off the mat and enemies on the mat,” it has been difficult for the two of them, because both are real competitors who have to train alongside each other.
“We were really close going through college … It’s changed a lot now,” Ramos said. “I wouldn’t say we’re not friends, but there’s not as much interaction going on. We both know what’s at stake. Someone’s got to crush someone’s dreams, and that’s just the way it is.”
While both of their backgrounds stem from wrestling, Dennis and Ramos had two very different ways of getting to the Olympic Trials.
After his stunning loss in the 2010 national championship match, Dennis stepped away from wrestling. Dennis was up 4-2 with just seven seconds left in the third period, but lost 6-4 with a takedown and two near-fall points by his opponent, Jayson Ness.
Dennis traveled to and lived in California for a while later that year, and despite his technical “retirement,” he was never too far from the sport. Whether it was helping out at an MMA gym or with a high-school team, Dennis couldn’t seem to kick his habit.
A few years passed before others decided it was time for Dennis to get back into wrestling. Iowa assistant coach and fellow 2010 fifth-year senior Ryan Morningstar as well as Royce Alger, a two time NCAA champion for Iowa, were two of the biggest motivators for Dennis to start training once again.
“Royce Alger can be about as annoying as anyone you’ve ever met. He really shone with [getting me back],” Dennis said. “He was relentless. He annoys the hell out of me … which can be a good thing.”
That time allowed Dennis to get become healthy, both physically and mentally, again. He wrestled at 61 kg in the 2015 U.S. Open and the U.S. World Team Trials, where he took fourth and second, respectively.
Later that year, Dennis worked his way down to the 57-kg class and took first at the U.S. Senior Nationals in order to qualify for the Olympic Trials.
Ramos, on the other hand, is just two years out of a national title his senior year. The No. 1 ranked 57-kg wrestler didn’t take much time off after his college career ended, either.
In his first tournament out of college, Ramos did not place at the 2014 World Championships in Uzbekistan. He bounced back right away to win both the Canada Cup and the U.S. World Team Trials, which earned him a spot on Team USA.
His success continued in 2015, when he won the U.S. World Team Trials, the U.S. Open, and the Grand Prix of Paris.
Tom and Terry Brands serve as advisers for the Hawkeye Wrestling Club, so they have seen the work both Dennis and Ramos have put in over the past couple of years to get to the Olympic Trials.
Tom Brands likened the Dennis/Ramos rivalry to him and Terry Steiner, who was in the same weight class as Brands for their Olympic Trials in 1996 and 2000.
“I don’t think those guys really look at it as ‘me against him,’ even though it, hopefully, eventually, is,” Brands said. “I think they both look at it as getting ready to be the best they can be and moving forward to get what they want to get.”
Follow @cbomb12 on Twitter for Iowa wrestling news, analysis, and updates.