FREE PRESS SSSPORTSPORTS Colby Free Press Friday, June 29, 2007 Page 7 Former Trojan still scoring points By Kyle Klingman promise of more offense. He won W.I.N. Editor the period, 2-1, and never let Lawal back in the match. He won the sec- Daniel Cormier promised more ond period 1-0 to get the victory. In offense this time around and, fortu- the second match he did the same, nately for everyone, he delivered. winning 1-0, 1-0 to make his fifth That’s because at this year’s U.S. consecutive World Team. Nationals in April, Cormier de- Yet, the Cormier who stepped on feated Mo Lawal — a friend and at this year’s World Team Trials was former teammate who moved up different from years past. Strug- from the 185 pound division — in a gling with his weight at times, the 1-0, 1-0 yawn-fest that went to the former Oklahoma State All-Ameri- Daniel Cormier, top, has allowed clinch in both periods. can wasn’t sure he wanted to stay just one point to Mo Lawal in their Cormier is a former Colby Com- with wrestling through another three matches at the U.S. Na- munity College wrestler. He won Olympic cycle. tionals and U.S. Team trials in national championships in 1998 Competing at the 264.5-pound Las Vegas. and 1999 at Colby before transfer- division in a tournament earlier this ring to Oklahoma State University. year, Cormier took it upon himself The stage was set for a rematch to keep his weight at 227 instead of when Lawal won the Challenge 235 during competitions. And it Tournament, earning the right to was apparent during his two-match face Cormier who received an au- series with Lawal that Cormier was tomatic bid to the finals. hitting his shots as quickly and as However, for the first 1:46 of the cleanly as he has in several years. first period it looked like those in “He’s not lazy,” said Cormier’s attendance might be lulled to sleep coach John Smith, who also again with another battle of attri- mentored Cormier at Oklahoma tion. State. “He’s far from lazy. He just But that all changed when Lawal likes to eat. He comes from Louisi- hit an electrifying shot and scored ana and he likes spicy food and he the first point of the match on a likes to eat a lot of it. pushout. “He did a good job over the last PHOTO COURTESY OF W.I.N. MAGAZINE “That lit a fire under me,” said three months. He’s worked a little Cormier. “Mo set the stage and it bit harder and he has more direc- was going to be a battle. It was a tion. His work translated to the mat. battle. I’m not going to go the It’s the best I’ve seen him wrestle in clinch. It was 0-0 late in the period about three years.” so Mo went ‘Daniel, this isn’t go- Cormier hopes to wrestle better ing to go clinch, clinch’ and got a in three months when he attempts to point and set the tone. I knew I was win his first medal at the World going to have to step up if I was Championships. going to be able to compete with • This article was originally him.” printed in Wrestling International With eight seconds to go in the Newsmagazine (W.I.N.). June 22. period, Cormier scored two points Colby Free Press contributed to this on a body lock, making good on his story. 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