YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – His Kubasaki team finished second by a 14-point margin to powerhouse Shonan Military Academy in Saturday’s Nile C. Kinnick Invitational “Beast of the Far East” wrestling tournament.

But first-year coach Ron Geist’s Dragons and nine other teams gained something far more valuable – preparation for next month’s Far East tournament in Korea, and being able to measure where they and their opponents rate halfway through the season.

“Any time that you’re really challenged to the maximum, even if you lose, you learn something,” Geist said after Kubasaki, the most decorated program in Far East tournament history with 21 team titles, earned three “Beast” golds and scored 60 team points.

Shonan, with a tournament-high four golds, topped the field with 74 points. The Japanese military school has finished first twice and second twice in the last four years at “Beast.”

“Even if you’re not wrestling, to just sit back and watch them work is amazing,” said coach Richard Huffer of defending Far East individual freestyle team tournament champion Kinnick. “It gives our guys an opportunity to go up against really good wrestlers.”

Even without Shonan, the chance to measure 10 of the 14 teams expected at Far East makes the trip to “Beast” worth it, two coaches said.

“It’s a marker of … at least a good portion of the competition that we’ll see at Far East,” said coach Jeff Elliott of reigning Far East dual-meet tournament champion Kadena. “It’s a great indicator of how well the other teams here are going to do.”

“This is a way for us to gauge ourselves a little more, what we need to work on,” said Duane Wacha, coach of American School In Japan. The four-time champions are returning to Far East this year after DODDS-Pacific lifted a six-year ban on international schools last spring.

“We’re so happy to be back at Far East. It makes it more exciting.”

Two of Kubasaki’s gold medals came at Shonan’s expense. Steven Walter made quick work of Ren Suzuki at 101 pounds, while Matt Payne caught Hayato Yuki with a head-in-arm hold at 180. Jon Goddard won the Dragons’ other gold at 141 by pinning Yokota’s Michael Littman.

Third-place Kadena picked up two golds: 148-pounder Jacob Bishop with a technical fall over Yokota’s Josh Chamberlain and 215-pounder Aaron Ahner surviving a three-period decision against Kubasaki’s Jacob Wood.

Zama American’s Michael Spencer repeated his 168-pound title with an emphatic pin over Jeffrey Koo of Tokyo’s St. Mary’s International. Newcomer Cameron Namocot of sixth-place Robert D. Edgren dominated Kai Novelli of Yokota at 122 pounds.

Fourth-place St. Mary’s earned a pair of golds. Kelly Langley caught Edgren’s Keith Johnson trying a reverse gut wrench for a pin at 129, while heavyweight Chidi Agbo survived a round-robin competition against four other wrestlers.

ornauerd@pstripes.osd.mil.

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