Cadet world champ Aaron Brooks will look to make an impact at the Junior World Championships (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)The United States is king right now in men's freestyle wrestling.
The U.S. captured the team title at the 2017 World Championships and the 2018 World Cup on the Senior level.
And the Americans earned the title at last year's Junior World Championships, edging Russia for the gold trophy.
The United States is thriving internationally right now and that trend is continuing this season.
The U.S. Junior World Team turned in a tremendous performance last summer, collecting medals in seven of eight weight classes en route to the title.
Americans Daton Fix, Mark Hall and Gable Steveson won Junior world titles, Zahid Valencia, Mitch McKee and Ryan Deakin earned silver medals and Kollin Moore a bronze medal for the loaded American team.
It was a star-studded group. Fix, Steveson and Valencia have all tested the waters at the Senior level this season. Fix and Valencia have reached the Final X and are one step away from qualifying for October's Senior World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Steveson came up short in his bid to reach the Final X, but he still showed why he is a star of the future of the U.S. He is right there with the best Senior-level guys in the country.
The good news is that Steveson, who just finished high school and signed with the University of Minnesota, is back on the Junior World Team again this year at heavyweight.
Gable Steveson is a three-time world champion (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Steveson is a tremendous young prospect with a huge upside at the collegiate and international levels. He is very advanced for his age. He also is a two-time Cadet world champion who obviously knows how to perform when the stakes are high. He will be heavily favored to repeat as gold medalist at Junior Worlds.
Fix could still wrestle at the Junior World Championships. He is eligible to request a wrestle-off against Junior World Team Trials champion Brandon Courtney for the Junior World Team spot at 57 kilograms. Fix earned that right as a returning Junior world medalist and top-three finisher at the U.S. Senior Open. That wrestle-off would be after the Final X.
For now, Steveson is the lone medalist back on the Junior World Team. But that doesn't mean the U.S. can't still make a big impact at September's Junior World Championships in Slovakia.
Making a Junior world freestyle team in the U.S. is never easy and this year's squad looks capable of turning in a strong performance.
There are now 10 weight classes instead of eight for the Junior World Championships.
The U.S. team includes Austin Gomez (61 kilograms), Dominick Demas (65 kilograms), Brady Berge (70 kilograms), Mekhi Lewis (74 kilograms), Aaron Brooks (79 kilograms), Lou DePrez (86 kilograms), Jacob Warner (92 kilograms), Daniel (Greg) Kerkvliet (97 kilograms) and Steveson (125 kilograms). Courtney or Fix will be the entry at 57 kilograms.
Brooks is a Cadet world champion who has the capability to be one of the next big standouts for the thriving U.S. program. Brooks is another guy who is extremely advanced for his age. He has made significant strides while training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Warner, coming off a redshirt year at the University of Iowa, definitely looks like a guy who could contend for a gold medal. Warner won a Cadet world bronze medal in 2016. He's a tough, hard-nosed, driven wrestler who can put a lot of points on the board. Warner will make a big impact on the collegiate scene next season.
Another young star on the Junior World Team is Kerkvliet, who powered to a Cadet world championship last year in Athens, Greece. Kerkvliet rolled past the competition at the Junior World Team Trials.
Austin Gomez topped Vitali Arujau to make the Juniro World Team (Photo/Jeff Beshey, The Guillotine)Gomez, who redshirted at Iowa State, is another wrestler who could be a medal contender in Slovakia. Gomez is a past Cadet World Team member. He swept 2016 Cadet world silver medalist Vitali Arujau in the best-of-three series in the finals of the Junior World Team Trials. Gomez is an aggressive wrestler who scored a combined 26 points in his two finals bouts.
Demas is another talented young wrestler. He made the Junior World Team in Greco-Roman last year. He is a versatile and athletic performer who was dominant at the Junior World Team Trials.
The U.S. features another young standout at 70 kilograms in Berge, a past Cadet World Team member. Competing for the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, Berge outlasted Austin O'Connor in a wild and entertaining three-match finals series at the Trials. Berge has the potential to do well at his first Junior Worlds.
Lewis, who redshirted at Virginia Tech this past season, also was dominant at the Junior World Team Trials in a tough weight class. Lewis is new to freestyle and has developed with training with Hokies assistant coach Jared Frayer, a 2012 Olympian.
DePrez looked strong as well with an impressive showing that landed him a trip to Slovakia.
This U.S. Junior World Team may not have quite as much firepower as last year's team. It would take an outstanding performance to match what the 2017 squad did. Last year's team was loaded, but it had its share of surprises as well.
This year's team definitely has the firepower, talent and the potential to win its share of matches and medals at the Junior World Championships. The Junior Worlds traditionally feature an abundance of high-level wrestling and has traditionally set the stage for future successes on the Senior level.
Craig Sesker has written about wrestling for more than three decades. He's covered three Olympic Games and is a two-time national wrestling writer of the year.
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