Thursday, April 25, 2002 | 11:27 a.m.
At a glance
Super heavyweight Kerry McCoy this weekend will attempt to become the first freestyle wrestler in his weight category to win at least three consecutive titles since Bruce Baumgartner's amazing string of 14 straight (1983-96).
Besides the two gold medals he has already won at the Las Vegas United States National Wrestling Championships, the 27-year-old has earned two silver and two bronze medals in eight national appearances.
"Ultimately, any time I step on the mat to compete, I want to be better than the last time," McCoy said about what continues to drive him. "I don't look at it as defending anything.
"I'm going out to win. If you get in the mentality of defending something, you tend to try not to lose instead of trying to win."
McCoy will begin his quest for a three-peat starting Friday at the Las Vegas Convention Center when the U.S. Freestyle Nationals, the U.S. Greco-Roman Nationals, the U.S. Women's Nationals and the U.S. Veteran's Nationals start.
Earlier this month, McCoy went undefeated (5-0) in helping Team USA win the Northern Quest 2002 World Cup of Wrestling, the team equivalent of the World Championships.
The former Penn State wrestler has finished fourth at the World Championships twice, fifth at the 2000 Olympics and won the NCAA championship twice (1994 and 1997).
Those accomplishments notwithstanding, McCoy said one of his greatest moments in the sport happened on the sidelines.
In his second season as an assistant coach at Lehigh University, McCoy helped two wrestlers, John Trenge and Rob Rohn, make it to this year's NCAA championships in March.
Trenge finished second to highly decorated four-time NCAA champion Cael Sanderson at 197 lbs. while Rohn won in the 184 lb. weight division.
Sanderson, who went an unprecedented 159-0 in four years at Iowa State, will be here defending his first national freestyle championship at 185 lbs. Trenge is entered in the same weight category.
After graduating with a degree in marketing in 1997, McCoy became an an assistant at his alma mater. He agreed to coach at Lehigh in summer 2000, right before the Olympic trials.
"That was a real payoff," McCoy said proudly of his two Lehigh proteges. "I've had a lot of high points in my career, but that is the first time the two guys I spent a lot of time with made it to the NCAAs.
"As a team we finished seventh and had a great year. This was just the icing on the cake."
Now, McCoy has his sights set on making it to World Championships himself, which will be held Sept. 4-7 in Tehran, Iran.
The winners of the nationals, which run through Saturday night, advance to the finals of the U.S. World Team trials while the top seven finishers qualify for the trials, where they will have to wrestle their way to the finals.
"This being the first step for qualifying, it's important to do well," McCoy said. "That's the only reason why I continue to compete to put myself in position to compete at the World Championships or if it is an Olympic year, at the Olympics."
If he stays healthy, McCoy plans on wrestling until 2004 to make one last attempt at a gold medal.
Coaching helps keep him in shape and prepared for the rigors of competition.
"If you're going to be a competitive athlete, you've go to be able to train all the time," McCoy said. "As a coach, I'm always wrestling.
"Physically, you're in there battling with the guys, and mentally you're always reinforcing the good and bad things with them which helps you as well."
McCoy, one of the few African-Amercians in the sport, tries to help other minorities by setting a good example.
When he was growing up in Long Island, N.Y., McCoy admits that he was one of the millions of kids longing to play in the NBA.
Once he started wrestling in the seventh grade, however, he changed his mind.
"If I can help to deter someone from a negative lifestyle or put them in a situation where they can improve themselves, I'll do it," he said. "I believe wrestling takes you to the next level because there is so much discipline and endurance involved.
"Especially for minorities, not only in sports, but in life, things aren't always going to be smooth sailing. But you've got rise above it. You have to work for it. That's the example I try to set. It's not impossible to be successful, it takes hard work."
In a battle of nationally respected stars, Stevenson stopped Dustin Schlatter of Urbana, Ohio, 8-5 in the gold-medal finals Wednesday.
Pitsch was dominant in the finals with an 11-0 technical fall over Jacob Curby of LaGrange Ill., in 5:18. He was named Outstanding Wrestler for his achievements.
On the local front, Cimarron-Memorial's Daniel Saager posted a 3-2 match record in the 140-pound division. He was the only Las Vegas wrestler to win more than one match.
A total of 357 entries from 28 states entered this year, an increase from last year's tournament of 46 participants.
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