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BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Campbell University wrestler Ville Heino has been selected to wrestle at the World Championships in Las Vegas representing his native country Finland with the possibility of earning a spot on the Olympic national team.
"Ville is from Finland so he has been in quite a few European Championships over on that side of the globe," said Campbell head coach Cary Kolat. "You have Azerbaijan, the Russians, and the Ukrainians who are all really strong in wrestling so he has seen the level of competition and he understands it, but this will be his first world championships."
Heino was chosen to represent the Finnish at the world championships in the 86 kilogram/189 pound weight class in the freestyle bracket. He is set to wrestle throughout the day on Friday, Sept. 11, with the first session starting at 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST.
Last year Heino posted a 19-11 overall record in 2014-15, earning a career high in wins for a season. He finished 6-1 in the SoCon and 8-2 in dual matches. Now a rising junior, Heino is looking to improve from last year and he is hoping that kicking off the year with the world championships will help him get in gear for the 2015-16 season.
This is the first time that Heino will attend the World Championships and the first for a Campbell wrestler.
"I am really excited of course. I have worked really hard for this. I have already wrestled in the Junior World Championship and it is really nice to get the chance now to wrestle at the senior level," said Heino.
"He will be in the best tournament in the world with the best guys and it is going to be a whole different level than he has ever been involved in. He has been involved in age group competitions over there, the Junior Worlds, the Cadet Worlds and things of that nature," said Kolat. "Now this is the open level, he could face guys from 17 years old all the way up to 34 years old. He will be packed in the gym with some of the best in the world. Position will be a big deal; the international style of wrestling is not like the collegiate style where conditioning is a major part. Conditioning is still a part but these guys have excellent position and they make very few mistakes. When they do you need to capitalize on it and as yourself you can only make one or two mistakes a match if that or the match can get away from you very quickly."
Heino has spent the summer training in Europe and competing against various opponents in preparation. On June 17, 2015, Heino competed in the European Games where he faced Aleksandr Hushtyn from Belarus and Piotr Ianulov of Moldova. Heino finished 13th at the games after falling to both opponents who went on the finish seventh and second, respectively, at the games.
"I went back to Finland in early June. After that I was wrestling in Azerbaijan where the first European Olympic Games were held. After that we had a couple of training camps in Hungary and now I am coming back to Campbell," said Heino.
Results
"Campbell has helped me a lot, especially Coach Kolat. He is a world medalist himself and there are so many things that I can learn and have learned from him already," Heino said.
"This is great, we are really excited for him to be representing Finland and Campbell at the World Championships and he will be the first wrestler from Campbell to compete at the World Championships," said Kolat.
Click the following link for more information about the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nev.
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 ***
Women's Freestyle 60KG and Men's Freestyle 61KG, 86KG, 97KG
Session # 1: Preliminaries, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 Finals and Repechage | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Session # 2: Bronze and Gold Medal Matches | 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
***All times noted as Pacific Time (PT)
