By Jason Bryant

TheOpenMat.com

Tony Ramos sat at home watching the U.S. Open last month with the intention of taking the year off from competition and weighing his competitive options.

Then his fiancée Megan suggested he give this year a shot.

With suggestions like that, Ramos’ upcoming marriage should be one of good advice as he beat Sam Hazewinkel in two straight matches to claim his first berth on the 2014 U.S. World Team on Saturday night at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

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“I thought I was going to take the year off,” said Ramos. “During the U.S. Open, I was sitting down watching it. I thought about doing, but as soon as she said you have to do this, I said let’s do it. I thank her a lot too.”

One certainty for Ramos was his intent to go down to 57kg, an Olympic weight, rather than wait until Fargo to try to make the team at 61kg, a weight closer to his college weight of 133 pounds.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do yet. Me, Terry and Tom (Brands), we all sat down. I didn’t know if I wanted to make the drop or not, but I’m a competitor and when you see people winning you know you can beat, it drives you even harder,” said Ramos.

Ramos took an early lead in his first victory, getting a takedown and then following it up with two one-point leglaces. He’d win the first 4-0. In the second, Ramos struck first with a one-point lift, only to see Hazewinkel match it with a one-point reversal. Ramos’ first takedown gave him some breathing room, but a bad shot by Hazewinkel was immediately capitalized upon with a quick by Ramos.

“Wrestling is wrestling,” Ramos said. “It doesn’t matter the style, it’s about scoring points. Who cares about the rules, you just find a way to win.”

It’s been eight years since Alyssa Lampe last wrestled in Wisconsin. As a high school senior in 2006, Lampe lost in the finals of the Wisconsin Division II state championship. On Saturday, she’d beat Victoria Anthony at 48kg two matches to one and came back from a potentially catastrophic fall.

“It was little bit of a blow to my ego. I had been confident the whole time,” said Lampe, who started off the series by jumping out to an 8-0 lead before holding on for a 10-6 win. The second match saw Anthony pin Lampe early in the second period. The third match was a sound 5-0 win where Lampe avoided Anthony’s arsenal of inside trips and head throws.

“It was awesome,” said Lampe about winning in Madison. “The last time I wrestled here was 2006. It was great to be back in my hometown. I heard people cheering for me.”

The fans in attendance all stayed to watch the Wisconsin native make her third World Team.

Olympians Jake Varner and Tervel Dlagnev are back on the World Team after picking up decisive victories at 97kg and 125kg. Varner bulled past Dustin Kilgore 7-2 and 5-2 to make his third World Team.

“He’s a tough kid. Big strong kid,” said Varner of Kilgore. “Got to be smart with guys like that. He got a couple of takedowns on my shots. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Like Ramos, Varner wasn’t sure what he was going to do this year. After looking sharp in winning the U.S. Open, the California native just wants to have fun.

“Once you win something big like the Olympics or Worlds, your motivation may wander a little bit. That’s why I needed a little time off. (The coaches) are always preaching going out and having fun,” said Varner. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. My plan was to end in 2012 with some World Titles and an Olympic gold medal. I only got one of those. Two Olympic golds sound better than one.”

Dlagnev, a 2009 World bronze medalist, blanked Zach Rey 5-0 in both matches. Sitting out until the best-of-three finals was something Dlagnev was familiar with and believed it could have been a factor.

“When you get to watch, you don’t have to get amped up until the finals,” said Dlagnev. “I’ve been there before, so I know how to get my body hot. Sitting out it more mental. It gives me more time to get my mind clear.”

Alli Ragan and Veronica Carlson both made their second straight World Teams in women’s freestyle. Ragan topped 2012 Olympian Kelsey Campbell 4-2 and 10-0 at 58kg. Ragan is a recent graduate of King University and has moved to train full-time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

“Switching styles must be hard,” said Ragan, referring to her male counterparts moving from folkstyle to freestyle. Women’s college wrestling is all freestyle.

“I don’t know how they do that. College got me a bunch of matches. I got a lot of confidence there and brought it to the senior level,” she said.

Carlson, the U.S. Open runner-up to Randi Miller, was training the past month to face the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, but when Miller didn’t weigh in, it didn’t faze the Illinois native.

“I want to say before my matches, my mentality didn’t change,” said Carlson. “I put a lot of emphasis on my training in the last month particularly to beat her and her body type. Not that those types of things didn’t come into play, but my training was definitely directed towards wrestling her. When that didn’t come into play, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t training for this competition, my other stuff had to come into play.”

Competition continues on Sunday with the last six weights in men’s and women’s freestyle.