Bakersfield College head wrestling coach Brett Clark left for the Veterans World Wrestling Championships in Athens, Greece early morning on Oct. 11 with a simple plan:

“I want to win. I wouldn’t be going if I didn’t think I could win…I think I have a good shot to win and so does my son [Jason],” Clark said.

Clark weighed in at 130 kg, or 286 pounds, and wrestled in Division A’s freestlye on Thursday where he took on Greece’s own Nikolaos Sotiriadis

Clark trounced Sotiriadis 5-0 by fall and then beat Poland’s Adan Krolak 8-3 in the semifinal, putting him in the gold medal match against Ali Darzinezhadrami of Iran.

Clark fell short, however, as Darzinezhadrami defeated him 5-2 giving Clark the silver medal.

Two days later, Clark hit the mat again in the Division A Greco portion and in his opening match swept past Turkey’s Unlu Mehdi.

In the semifinal match against Sami Ilvesoksa of Finland, Clark was defeated by technical fall, 8-0, but still giving him an opportunity to possibly double medal.

Clark capped off his first appearance at the Veteran’s World Wrestling Championships with a 4-2 overall record and his second medal as Clark beat Germany’s Senn Manuel 4-0 in the bronze match.

Medals in hand, Clark completed his goal of making his friends, family, Bakersfield, and himself proud.