Kearney, Neb. - Former Nebraska-Kearney wrestler Tervel Dlagnev picked up a silver medal at the 2012 Ivan Yarygin Memorial Grand Prix in Siberia this past weekend.

The event was held in the Russian town of Krasnoyarsk,where temperatures hovered around -35 this weekend.

Considered to be the toughest freestyle wrestling tournament of the year, Dlagnev (Coloumbus, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) was one of two Americans to medal. He placed second in the 120 kg/265.4 lbs. class with Jake Varner coming in third at 96 kg/211.5 lbs.

Dlagnev, who placed third in this tournament in 2011, won all of his preliminary matches to reach the final, where he was defeated by 2008 Olympic silver medalist Bakhtiyar Akhmedov of Russia.

“Tervel was in position to win. He really dominated until the finals but made a couple of mistakes that cost him. The funny thing was he was great in the second position clinch going 2-2 but lost a critical first position clinch which cost him a period. Knowing Tervel, he'll go home and fix them,” National Freestyle Coach Zeke Jones told USA Wrestling.

The U.S. had a delegation of four athletes. Also competing but falling short of medals were Sam Hazewinkel at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Brent Metcalf at 66 kg/145.5 lbs.

"In measuring the 2008-2012 cycle, we had a losing record in 2009 and 2010 and finally turned the corner in 2011. This year, we had a 50% medal success rate where last year we had six guys wrestle for medals but only came away with one. That's good. It means we're improving. Next time, we need 100% medal rate,” said Jones.

Only 10 U.S. men's freestyle wrestlers have ever won this event, and all 10 were Olympians during their career. The last U.S. men's freestyle champion at the Ivan Yarygin Memorial was Steve Mocco at 120 kg in 2009.

The next tournament for Dlagnev, and many top flight American wrestlers, will be the U.S. Olympic Trials April 21-22 in Iowa City, Ia.

120 kg/264.5 lbs.
Gold - Bakhtiyar Akhmedov (Russia)
Silver - Tervel Dlagnev (USA)
Bronze – Soslan Gagloev (Russia) & Magomedgadzhi Nurasulov (Russia)