Both wrestlers won the Hodge Trophy and both looked to have promising futures ahead on the international level.
Both guys have excelled in freestyle, and beaten Olympic and world champions in international tournaments.
But neither wrestler had made a U.S. World or Olympic team on the senior level.
That trend appeared to be ending when Dake and Taylor looked sharp in winning their first matches of the best-of-three finals series at the Freestyle World Team Trials on Saturday night in Lincoln, Neb.
But Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Jordan Burroughs rallied to win two matches against Dake at 163 pounds while Olympic bronze medalist J'den Cox came back to win twice against Taylor at 189.
That's how tough the Trials were this year. The event, which is one of the most underrated on the schedule, always features outstanding wrestlers with a small field that only includes the very best this country has to offer.
2017 U.S. World Team (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)The eight champions at the Trials qualified for August's World Championships in Paris, France.
Point blank, this may be the best team the United States will enter at the World Championships since it last won the world team title in 1995. The Americans have a legitimate shot at bringing home the gold team trophy in France.
Here are 10 takeaways from what will go down as an exciting and memorable event in Lincoln:
Logan ready for another run
It wasn't as easy as many people, including me, expected it to be. But Logan Stieber is ready to take a shot at repeating as world champion at 134 pounds. Stieber swept past NCAA champion Kendric Maple, earning a hard-fought win in the first bout of the best-of-three finals. Stieber is a stud who is hungry to make his mark again on the world stage.
No ice cream this time
Reigning Olympic and world champion Kyle Snyder was thrown and pinned in the 2015 NCAA finals by Kyven Gadson, who famously declared in an ESPN interview that he just wanted some ice cream immediately following the match. There would be no repeat in Lincoln. Snyder rolled to a pair of decisive wins over Gadson, who is a very strong freestyler. Snyder is just on a whole other level, and looks poised to win another world title at 213 pounds this year.
Can we please add overtime?
It happened again. The hometown crowd stood and cheered as their guy roared back to tie a match. That's what Jordan Burroughs did in the first match of his finals series with Kyle Dake. Burroughs came back to tie it 6-6, but Dake won on criteria because he scored with a four-point move. It is ridiculous this keeps happening. No athletic event should end with a tie score. Have an overtime, and make someone legitimately win the match. United World Wrestling is worried overtime will make tournaments too long, and some of that makes sense, but no athlete should have their hand raised when they don't outscore their opponent. It's just silly and downright dumb to not have an overtime. Please come up with a way to add overtime.
Nick Gwiazdowski comes out for his finals match at the Freestyle World Team Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Gwiz ready to make an impact
American wrestling fans love the way heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski wrestles. He's an aggressive wrestler who can attack the legs and score points. He's also very big and very mobile. He's a tough matchup for foreigners who want to slow down the pace. Gwiz still isn't overly experienced internationally, but he's a fast learner who can definitely win some matches on the world stage. U.S. big man Tervel Dlagnev won a bronze medal at his first worlds in 2009.
Please put the World Team Trials on television
No offense to the NCAA tournament, an event I love dearly, but the quality of wrestling at the World Team Trials is far superior to college wrestling's showcase event. So why isn't this event on television for everyone to see? Why do people have to pay to watch a stream of it on the Internet? The entire NCAA tournament is shown live on ESPN. It's sad that a lot of people missed out on the Trials because it isn't as accessible as it should be. Get this event on TV, and market it and promote it. These guys are too good to not be seen by more people. There has to be some sponsors out there who would be willing to pay to put this event on TV. It is difficult to grow the sport unless your big events are showcased better.
James Green defeated Jimmy Kennedy to make his third straight World Team (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Veteran Green is no longer green
James Green owns the 154-pound weight class in the U.S. now. He made his third straight world team and has an excellent chance to improve on his bronze-medal performance from the 2015 worlds. Green is lethal with his leg attacks, but he's also very stingy defensively. He's also very tough mentally, and he wrestles with sound tactics and techniques. He is another American who could hear the Star-Spangled Banner being played in late August.
Zain Train powers down the tracks
Zain Retherford is a Cadet world champion, NCAA champion and Hodge Trophy winner. His progression continued with a tough, gritty win over Olympic fifth-place finisher Frank Molinaro, who is a very physical wrestler who competes with a style similar to many Europeans. This day was going to come for Retherford and it may have arrived earlier than expected since he is still in college. But that doesn't mean the Zain Train won't excel at 143 pounds in France. He's another star in the making out of the loaded Penn State program.
Thomas Gilman and Tony Ramos shake hands after the finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Gilman finally walked the walk
Thomas Gilman even admits it. He is not afraid to speak his mind or call out an opponent. But the ultra-confident Gilman fell short at the NCAA tournament as the top seed was upset by eventual champion Darian Cruz of Lehigh in the semis. Gilman ended his college career with a third-place finish this year after losing to Nico Megaludis in the 2016 finals. The good news for Gilman is he's better at freestyle than folkstyle. He avenged both of those losses in an unreal and unlikely performance at the Trials. Gilman rolled past Cruz in his first match and dominated Megaludis in the semis. He also beat No. 1 seed Tyler Graff in the quarterfinals of the challenge tournament and then downed Nathan Tomasello in the finals. He then swept another guy who likes to talk, two-time World Team member and former Iowa teammate Tony Ramos, in two straight matches to make his first senior world team. Gilman also has made Cadet and Junior world teams for the U.S. Gilman's magical day included five wins over NCAA champions, plus he beat an NCAA runner-up in Graff. It was an amazing showing for the No. 8 seed at 125 pounds, but it wasn't completely unexpected.
'Underdog' J'den Cox 'upsets' Taylor
Virtually nobody was picking J'den Cox to make his first world team before the Trials started. Even though Cox won an Olympic medal in Rio and had a bye into the finals of the Trials, David Taylor was the guy who was going to finally break through. Taylor had beaten two Olympic champs at the World Cup and has had a tremendous season. That continued when he handled Cox in the first match at 189 pounds. But Cox dug down, made some adjustments and won the next two bouts. Injured late in the final bout, with a knee injury, Cox still gutted it out to win the series. If he is healthy, Cox is a legitimate contender for world gold. Let's hope his injury isn't as serious as was originally feared. He's a tough matchup with his speed, power and amazing resolve. The good news for the U.S. is that if Cox can't go at the World Championships, the U.S. would still have a very strong entry in Taylor. It is too bad the Americans can only enter one guy per weight class in Paris because the U.S. has some studs who didn't qualify for Worlds.
Jordan Burroughs works to secure a takedown against Kyle Dake in their third match (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Burroughs vs. Dake did live up to the hype
Unlike the U.S. Open finals, the Jordan Burroughs-Kyle Dake matchup at 163 pounds did live up to the hype at the Trials. The two stars had three exciting matches as Burroughs' home crowd of Nebraska Cornhusker faithful cheered him on. Burroughs came back like the great champion he is to win the final two bouts to make his fifth straight world team. He previously won world titles in the odd-numbered years of 2011, 2013 and 2015. It's 2017 now, and that obviously could be a good omen. Not to mention the fact Burroughs is eager to bounce back from losing twice at the 2016 Olympics. Burroughs returned to his aggressive ways that have made him a legend in this sport. If he stays in that mode in Paris, he will definitely be in the mix to win his fourth world title. The key is to not let defensive-minded foes slow the pace of matches down and keep Burroughs from getting to his attacks.
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