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Injury idles Gutches for Trials Will wrestle this week�s survivor at later date for Olympic spot Les Gutches, the 2000 U.S. Nationals freestyle wrestling champion at 187.25 pounds, has received an extension on his championship series for a position on the U.S. Olympic wrestling team due to injury. Gutches, the former South Medford High and Oregon State standout, injured his back in training and could not compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials which began Thursday and run through Saturday at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. As national champion, Gutches is allowed to request an extension of the championship series to a later site and date. Meanwhile, the New York Athletic Club�s Charles Burton, of Bloomington, Ind., moves from the Freestyle Challengers Tournament into Gutches� spot for Saturday�s best-of-three finale. The winner still must face Gutches in a best-of-three series. Extended series at the Olympic Trials are rare. The most recent occurred in the 1988 Greco-Roman Trials series at 180.5 pounds between John Morgan and Jeff Steubing. Morgan, the national champion, was injured and received an extension. In the special wrestle-off series, Morgan won two matches to one, to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team. The other 15 U.S. Nationals champions (seven in freestyle and eight in Greco-Roman) entered the tournament and made weight and will compete in Saturday�s finals series for a spot on the U.S. team. On Thursday, two-time Olympic wrestler Matt Ghaffari took his first step toward a rematch with 2000 national super heavyweight champion Rulon Gardner for a berth in the Sydney Games. The 38-year-old Ghaffari, who has represented the United States six times in the World Championships, won a 7-0 decision over Paul Devlin of the U.S. Army in his opening match of the Greco-Roman challenge tournament portion. He must win two more bouts for a shot at Gardner in Saturday�s finals. Gardner beat Ghaffari 1-0 in overtime in April. There were no upsets in Thursday�s preliminary, semifinal and consolation rounds of the Greco-Roman event. Former Oregon wrestler Greg Gibson, 46, a U.S. Marine stationed at Quantico, Va., and the only American to win World medals in three styles of wrestling � freestyle, Greco-Roman and Sambo � dropped a 10-0 decision to Randy Couture of Gresham. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA