PRTC Wrestling

Mitcheff and Bethea Results at the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier

2016-04-04

Danny Mitcheff finished in 2nd place at the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier this past weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa at the UNI Dome. Mitcheff had a tremendous tournament racking up three consecutive tech falls on his road to the finals. Mitcheff scored at least 11 points in three out of four matches, including an 11-0 technical fall over Andrew Hochstrasser, an opponent that beat Mitcheff in the semi-finals of the US Open one year ago. Mitcheff has dedicated the past few years to chasing his Olympic dream, but was halted by NC State Assistant Coach Obe Blanc in the finals. With only the champion of the tournament advancing to this week’s Olympic Trials in Iowa City, Mitcheff will be forced to be a spectator for the competition. Danny has done an outstanding job with his training and participation with the RTC and Beat The Streets Philadelphia programs. His contributions have been greatly appreciated. The Pennsylvania RTC is confident that Mitcheff’s best wrestling is still ahead of him.

Mitcheff Results:

Mitcheff over Ludwin TF 11-0

Mitcheff over Kuhn TF 11-0

Mitcheff over Hochstrasser TF 12-2

Blanc over Mitcheff TF 11-0

Canaan Bethea finished the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier with a 1-2 record. He drew a tough Josh Asper in the first round, and fell into the consolations where he picked up a solid victory over Anthony Bonaventura in the next round. His third opponent would be his final match of the tournament, as he dropped a 15-8 nail biter to Frank Richmond. Bethea went on a few scoring bursts in the match, but was unable to overcome the front-headlock turns from Richmond. Bethea’s effort was evident in his training and in his competition. After just graduating last May, his international career is only in the beginning stages. He will make the trip to Iowa City to help prepare fellow Pennsylvania RTC teammate Richard Perry for his shot at Olympic glory. Canaan is a valuable contributor to Beat The Streets Philadelphia, and is also a co-founder of Beat The Streets Trenton. Bethea is an elite human-being, on and off of the mat.

Bethea Results:

Asper over Bethea Dec 7-0

Bethea over Bonaventura Dec 9-1

Richmond over Bethea Dec 15-8

Mitcheff and Bethea to Compete at the Last Chance Qualifier

2016-03-31

This weekend, Pennsylvania RTC resident athletes Danny Mitcheff and Canaan Bethea will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete at the Last Chance Qualifying tournament. The field will be loaded with top athletes from across the country competing for the last remaining spot at the Olympic Trials. Only the winner in each weight class will secure the coveted spot at the Olympic Trials.

Danny and Canaan have made tremendous progress over the year and the PRTC wishes both the best.

Strong Prtc Showing at the Bill Farrell International

2015-11-24

After several months of training at home in University City, Philadelphia, PA, as well as the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO, our athletes finally got to shine at the 1st Olympic Trials Qualifier, The Bill Farrell International. With that said, the field was very tough having top ranked wrestlers from USA and International senior levels entered in at each weight class. Dan Mitcheff 57 KG, Canaan Bethea 86 KG, and Richard Perry 86 KG all made their debuts representing the PRTC.

Starting the PRTC off at 57kg Dan Mitcheff had an impressive day. First match 6-0 win against Canada. Second match 10-0 tech against Mark McKnight. Third match Danny ends up getting caught on his back against Ali Nasser of USA. He goes on to wrestle back and beat Alan Walters 7-0, then 10-0 tech against Frank Perrelli before losing 12-2 to Dan Dennis who placed 3rd.

Next Canaan Bethea our recent signee from UPenn (Finished 7th at University Nationals) not only makes his debut at the international level but receives a bye in the first round. He then unfortunately gets paired against his training partner Richard Perry who knows him all to well and gives Canaan his first loss. Canaan wrestling tough in his second match gets caught in a gut wrench that ended the match for him. Canaan is young and has a bright future ahead of him!

Richard Perry nearly had a perfect day. He opens up with a 10-0 tech against Andrew Sorenson. Next match he wrestled Bethea. Perry then avenges a loss from last years Nationals by defeating Ryan Loder which sends him to the Semis. Perry loses a one-point heart breaker which had the room on their feet to top ranked Ed Ruth. The match went back and forth with questionable calls that ultimately cost Perry the loss. Despite his loss, Perry stayed focused and rallied to win two tough matches earning himself a bronze medal!!!

All in all it was a strong showing and lets us know what we need to do to put ourselves in a position to get on the this year’s Olympic Team. Next stop US NATIONALS in LAS VEGAS! #PRTC

Canaan Bethea Joins the Pennsylvania Rtc as a Full-time Athlete

2015-10-29

Canaan Bethea joins the Pennsylvania RTC as a Full-Time Athlete

We are proud to announce that Canaan Bethea is now training at the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center. We are supporting him in his dream to compete at the U.S. Open and Olympic trials, in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics.

Canaan has a history of being one of the best wrestlers in the nation. In High School Canaan’s career record was 126-12, setting the county win record. During that spend he won four county championships, becoming just the third four time county champ in Mercer county history. Canaan went on to finish second at the NJ State tournament and fifth at NHSCA High School Nationals.

In college Canaan won the Wilkes Open (2011), the Simonson Open (2011), Keystone classic (2012), and the Franklin and Marshall Open (2015). During his time at Penn, Canaan also placed 5th and 2nd at the EIWA championship, qualifying for the NCAA tournament in 2013 and 2015. As a senior Canaan advanced to the round of 12 at the NCAA tournament. Canaan concluded his college career with a 7th place finish at Fila University Nationals.

Canaan’s next competitions will be November 7th at the Bill Ferrall International Open, and December 17th at U.S. Senior Nationals and Olympic Trials qualifier.