HERNING, Denmark --- Zeke Jones walked into a room in the MesseCenter late Monday afternoon and plopped down in a chair.
"Tough day at the office," Jones said, shaking his head.
It was a frustrating day for the first-year U.S. National Freestyle Coach as the American squad failed to win a medal on the first day of the World Championships on Monday at the MesseCenter in Herning.
Americans Danny Felix (55 kg/121 lbs.) and Trent Paulson (66 kg/145.5 lbs.) suffered first-round matches while Jake Varner (96 kg/211.5) won two matches before falling in the quarterfinals. All seven members of the U.S. team are competing in the Worlds for the first time.
None of the wrestlers who beat the Americans advanced to the finals, eliminating all three U.S. wrestlers from their first World Championships.
"It was a tough day," Jones said. "Inexperience got to us today. All the matches we lost were all very winnable. I think experience caught up to us overall. Danny and Trent were in bouts with guys who have wrestled for Olympic medals. Those guys they wrestled have a lot of experience and it showed.
"Jake was very capable of winning a medal. He made a critical error by trying a foot sweep at the end of the first period. It was a game of inches. All of our guys were on the wrong side. Hopefully, this experience will get us on the right side of these matches."
Varner, the reigning NCAA champion at 197 pounds and a senior-to-be at Iowa State, beat Hungary's Daniel Ligeti in the first round before he downed Japan's Takao Isokawa in the second round.
Varner then ran into 2007 World silver medalist Saeid Abrahami of Iran in the quarterfinals. Varner dropped a 1-0, 1-0 decision. Abrahami then lost to Olympic and World champion Khadshimourad Gatsalov of Russia in the semifinals. That eliminated Varner, who finished ninth in the final standings.
"Against the Iranian, I went for a takedown late in the first period with a foot sweep, and I got caught off balance and he got the takedown," Varner said. "Second period, I gave up the one takedown and that was the match. This tournament was a great experience for me. I learned a lot and it was fun. I know I need to score more points."
Felix ran into Azerbaijan's Namig Sevdimov in the first round and fell in two straight periods to the fifth-place finisher from the 2008 Olympics.
"It's hard to grasp right now, it's disappointing," Felix said. "I'm not disappointed with my effort. I just made a mistake and it cost me the match. It's a tough situation to deal with right now."
Paulson had the lead late in the match before Kazakhstan's Leonid Spiridonov scored a pushout late in the match to prevail.
"It was pretty frustrating to have to sit there and watch, especially when you come here with a goal of winning this," said Paulson, an NCAA champion for Iowa State. "We had great training camps and our coaches did a great job of preparing us. They had us peaking at the right time. I know what to expect now and what wrestling in this atmosphere is like. It will help me for sure. I've always known I'm right there with the best guys. I just need to get it done next time."
Winning World titles on Monday were North Korea's Kyong-Il Yang at 55 kg, Iran's Mehdi Taghavi at 66 kg and Gatsalov at 96 kg. Gatsalov won the World Championships for the fourth straight time.
Day 2 of the seven-day tournament will see three more U.S. freestyle wrestlers take the mat. Shawn Bunch (60 kg/132 lbs.), Jake Herbert (84 kg/185 lbs.) and Tervel Dlagnev (120 kg/264.5 lbs.) are scheduled to wrestle on Tuesday.
U.S. FREESTYLE RESULTS FROM MONDAY'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
55 kg/121 lbs. - Danny Felix, Morgantown, W.Va.
LOSS Namig Sevdimov (Azerbaijan), 3-0, 1-1
66 kg/145.5 lbs. - Trent Paulson, Ames, Iowa
LOSS Leonid Spiridonov (Kazakhstan), 1-1, 3-0, 2-1
96 kg/211.5 lbs. - Jake Varner, Bakersfield, Calif.
WIN Daniel Ligeti (Hungary), 1-2, 2-0, 1-0
WIN Takao Isokawa (Japan), 1-0, 1-0
LOSS Saeid Abrahami (Iran), 1-0, 1-0
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