Jake Deutschlander (bottom) of the Hyde School in Bath is preparing to depart this week for Riga, Latvia, where the Minnesota native will represent Team USA as a Greco-Roman wrestler at the Latvian National Championships.
The senior from Minnesota will compete in the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament Dec. 14-21 in Riga, Latvia.
According to a Hyde School press release, Deutschlander is the first student-athlete from the private school to be selected for a USA national team in any sport.
“I am just really grateful to have been selected, proud to represent my country, and just hoping to do my best against this level of competition,” Deutschlander said.
Deutschlander, who is the youngest American to qualify for the tournament, earned his place on the team by virtue of his extensive experience competing in Greco-Roman wrestling. Most recently, he finished as the national runner-up in his weight class (160 pounds) at the USA Wrestling ASICS Vaughan Junior National Championships last July in Fargo, North Dakota.
The Latvian tournament includes an international training camp prior to the event and will bring together Junior (ages 16-19) and Senior level wrestlers from all over Europe, the traditional hotbed of Greco-Roman wrestling.
Past participants have included the national teams of Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Austria, Belarus, Finland, France and Uzbekistan.
Hyde coach Logan Kidwell had high praise for Deutschlander for his dedication and unselfishness as a member of the team.
“Jake is an incredibly coachable student of the sport who will not be outworked,” he said. “His success has been inspirational and his leadership on our team has been instrumental to the development of our younger wrestlers, and I am proud to wish him our best and I know that he and we will gain tremendously from this experience on the USA National Wrestling Team.”