Wrestling: Minisink's Ryder returns from Rome with bronze medal
Minisink Valley wrestler Zack Ryder is a household name in the Section 9 wrestling world and even throughout New York state. But now he’s made his mark worldwide.
Ryder earned the bronze medal in the freestyle 80-kilogram weight class at the 2022 United World Championships in Rome on July 30.
The journey did not get off to a promising start, however. In his first-ever international matchup, the defending New York state champion at 160 pounds fell in the first round to Iran's Reza Kamal Soleimanian, who would ultimately finish as the runner-up in the division.
Ryder said he likes to watch film, but was unable to get film on his first opponent. He said he stuck with his practice, training and recovery routine to come back strong the following day, as he watched film on his next opponents and he wrestled back and won three matches to take the bronze. He defeated Bulgaria's Slavi Rumenov Stamenov, Ashkab Khajiyev of Kazakhstan and Muhammadamin Abduloev of Tajikistan.
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“It was very hard, because your dream of being a world champ got crushed,” Ryder said. “So I just had to get my mental right, and I had to come back and wrestle back three matches to get bronze.”
Minisink Valley coach Kevin Gallagher watched every match on a livestream. Gallagher said Ryder just started wrestling freestyle a year ago.
“It’s really incredible,” he said. “When you sit back and you think about that he won a bronze medal in the World Championships — the world. Out of the whole world, he’s the third best guy in his weight class in the world. That’s pretty, really incredible when you think about that. Not Section 9, not New York state, not even the country, it is just really incredible when you think about it.”
And a big reason why Ryder has done so well is because of the support and backing by his family. Ryder’s mother, Laura, and father, Darren, went along with their son, before Minisink Valley teammate Ethan Gallo, and his father Dan, who was Ryder’s first coach, along with his wife, Jamie Gallo joined.
Ryder brought home plenty of valuable experience.
“I learned that the other wrestlers from other countries are definitely different than Americans, and you definitely have to wrestle them a lot differently than you would wrestle anybody from the United States,” he explained.
Ryder explained what it meant to place third in the world.
“It means a lot that all of my wrestling and hard work that I put in went to use,” he said. “I’m not too happy about bronze, some people would love to get that, but I wanted the gold and I’ll get it next year.”
And Gallagher feels that Ryder’s experience wrestling with the world’s best will be a benefit and help him perform even better this upcoming season for Minisink Valley.
“Absolutely,” Gallagher said. “I think the workout partners and the coaching he is getting in the offseason. He has some of the best coaches in the United States he’s working with now. Once you get to that level, you get to work with the best workout partners, the best coaches. So he’s going to keep getting better. And just his leadership and his humility. Knowing Zack, he’s going to be the same Zack he was before he left. He’s going to be the same hard worker, he’s going to be the same great teammate and just a fun teammate. So we’re looking forward to having him back, and he has two more years, which is absolutely incredible.”
MKramer1@th-record.com
Twitter: @MKramerTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Wrestling: Minisink's Zack Ryder takes bronze in World Championships
