InterMat Staff

Post match interviews with most of the winners from Final X: Men's freestyle 57 kg - Spencer Lee 65 kg - Real Woods 70 kg - PJ Duke 74 kg - David Carr 79 kg - Levi Haines 86 kg - Zahid Valencia 92 kg - Trent Hidlay 125 kg - Wyatt Hendrickson Women's Freestyle 53 kg - Felicity Taylor 55 kg - Cristelle Rodriguez 57 kg - Helen Maroulis 65 kg - Macey Kilty 68 kg - Kennedy Blades 76 kg - Kylie Welker

Final X and the Olympic Trials typically feature a changing of the guard. 2025’s version of Final X was no exception. With a delayed wrestle-off pending, the men’s freestyle team will already feature six wrestlers who have never made a Senior world or Olympic team before. Five for the women’s team. Two of the three series that went all three matches featured a younger wrestler usurping an older counterpart who was a world finalist. Most shocking was PJ Duke, the #1 recruit in the Class of 2025, who upset Yianni Diakomihalis in three matches at 70 kg. Match two involved an incredible five-point suplex by Duke. Match three ended in a fall for the wrestler who has to attend his final high school classes on Monday. Right before that, Adaugo Nwachukwo had outlasted Kayla Miracle in the 62 kg women’s freestyle series. The pair clashed in the 2023 edition of Final X with Miracle coming out on top. It was less of an upset than the previous two series, but Zahid Valencia swept four-time world champion Kyle Dake two matches to none at 86 kg. 2025 will be the first time since 2017 that we have a world team without Dake. He’s been a mainstay at 74 kg, making every world/Olympic team at the weight since 2020. Speaking of 74 kg, for the first time since 2010, Dake or Jordan Burroughs will not be the representative at that weight. David Carr pulled out two close wins over Mitchell Mesenbrink to claim that spot. It reversed a result from the US Open finals where Mesenbrink crushed Carr. The men’s freestyle team will also feature two wrestlers who were active in college at the 2025 NCAA Championships - Levi Haines (79 kg) and Wyatt Hendrickson (125 kg). The Hodge Trophy winner Hendrickson is out of collegiate eligibility, but Haines has another year. On the women’s side, three of the six 2024 Olympians did not wrestle on Saturday. Two (Sarah Hildebrandt and Dom Parrish) did not participate in the entire process, while Olympian gold medalist Amit Elor had to withdraw and forfeit due to health concerns. With the trio out of the picture in 2025, in steps first-time Senior World team members Audrey Jimenez, Felicity Taylor, and Alex Glaude. Just because we have some new faces doesn’t mean that it’s a negative. Because of our investment and success at the age-group level, most first-time Senior world team members have international experience and hardware. Five of the six first-time world team members for the men’s team have some sort of medal from the age group level. Only Real Woods does not. Four of the five first-time world team members from the women’s team have won an age group world medal. Only Felicity Taylor has not. Now just because a younger opponent won in the Valencia/Dake, Duke/Diakomihalis, and Nwachukwo/Miracle series doesn’t mean the losers of Saturday’s series’ are done at the Senior level. It just means we’ll have some new blood in Zagreb at the 2025 World Championships. Final X 2026 could have something different in mind.

Final X 2025 is in the books. What a day of action it was! We’ll certainly have more about the competition in the days that follow. For now, here are the final results: Round One Results Men’s Freestyle 74 kg - David Carr over Mitchell Mesenbrink 4-3 79 kg - Levi Haines over Evan Wick 10-0 125 kg -Wyatt Hendrickson over Trent Hillger 10-0 92 kg - Trent Hidlay over Josh Barr 6-1 97 kg - Kyle Snyder over Hayden Zillmer 8-0 65 kg - Real Woods over Joey McKenna 7-3 70 kg - Yianni Diakomihalis over PJ Duke 10-0 57 kg - Spencer Lee over Luke Lilledahl 7-2 86 kg - Zahid Valencia over Kyle Dake 5-3 Women’s Freestyle 55 kg - Cristelle Rodriguez over Everest Leydecker 12-8 62 kg - Adaugo Nwachukwo over Kayla Miracle 14-8 53 kg - Felicity Taylor over Brianna Gonzalez 2-1 59 kg - Abby Nette over Jacarra Winchester 6-4 65 kg - Macey Kilty over Aine Drury 10-0 76 kg - Kylie Welker over Dymond Guilford 2-1 50 kg - Audrey Jimenez over Erin Golston 10-2 76 kg - Kennedy Blades over Brooklyn Hays 10-4 72 kg - Alex Glaude FFT 57 kg - Helen Maroulis over Amanda Martinez 1:50 Round Two Results Men’s Freestyle 74 kg - David Carr over Mitchell Mesenbrink 4-4 79 kg - Levi Haines over Evan Wick 6-1 125 kg -Wyatt Hendrickson over Trent Hillger 20-14 92 kg - Trent Hidlay over Josh Barr 3-2 97 kg - Kyle Snyder over Hayden Zillmer 8-2 65 kg - Real Woods over Joey McKenna 5-4 70 kg - PJ Duke over Yianni Diakomihalis 17-10 57 kg - Spencer Lee over Luke Lilledahl 6-0 86 kg - Zahid Valencia over Kyle Dake 4-1 Women’s Freestyle 55 kg - Cristelle Rodriguez over Everest Leydecker 8-5 62 kg - Kayla Miracle over Adaugo Nwachukwo 4-3 53 kg - Felicity Taylor over Brianna Gonzalez 6-4 59 kg - Jacarra Winchester over Abby Nette 9-7 65 kg - Macey Kilty over Aine Drury 10-0 76 kg - Kylie Welker over Dymond Guilford 9-1 50 kg - Audrey Jimenez over Erin Golston 12-2 76 kg - Kennedy Blades over Brooklyn Hays 5-2 72 kg - Alex Glaude FFT 57 kg - Helen Maroulis over Amanda Martinez 4:43 Round Three Results Men’s Freestyle 62 kg - Adaugo Nwachukwo over Kayla Miracle 8-4 59 kg - Jacarra Winchester over Abby Nette 11-0 70 kg - PJ Duke over Yianni Diakomihalis Fall 4:07

The first round of matches at Final X 2025 has concluded. Below are the results. Wrestlers will need to win two matches in the series of three to earn a spot on the 2025 World Team. Men’s Freestyle 74 kg - David Carr over Mitchell Mesenbrink 4-3 79 kg - Levi Haines over Evan Wick 10-0 125 kg -Wyatt Hendrickson over Trent Hillger 10-0 92 kg - Trent Hidlay over Josh Barr 6-1 97 kg - Kyle Snyder over Hayden Zillmer 8-0 65 kg - Real Woods over Joey McKenna 7-3 70 kg - Yianni Diakomihalis over PJ Duke 10-0 57 kg - Spencer Lee over Luke Lilledahl 7-2 86 kg - Zahid Valencia over Kyle Dake 5-3 Women’s Freestyle 55 kg - Cristelle Rodriguez over Everest Leydecker 12-8 62 kg - Adaugo Nwachukwo over Kayla Miracle 14-8 53 kg - Felicity Taylor over Brianna Gonzalez 2-1 59 kg - Abby Nette over Jacarra Winchester 6-4 65 kg - Macey Kilty over Aine Drury 10-0 76 kg - Kylie Welker over Dymond Guilford 2-1 50 kg - Audrey Jimenez over Erin Golston 10-2 76 kg - Kennedy Blades over Brooklyn Hays 10-4 57 kg - Helen Maroulis over Amanda Martinez 1:50

The following are the results from the true third place bouts at Final X 2025. The winners are now on the national team. Men’s Freestyle 57 kg - Liam Cronin over Nico Provo 10-3 65 kg - Marcus Blaze over Brock Hardy 8-2 70 kg - Ian Parker over Bryce Andonian 7-4 74 kg - Jarrett Jacques over Joey Blaze 6-4 86 kg - Carter Starocci over Parker Keckeisen 4-3 Women’s Freestyle 50 kg - Kendra Ryan by FFT 53 kg - Sydney Petzinger by FFT 59 kg - Alexis Janiak over Xochitl Mota-Pettis 4-4 62 kg - Alara Boyd over SaVannah Cosme 10-0 65 kg - Jennifer Page by FFT 68 kg - Latifah McBryde over Solin Piercy 15-2 72 kg - Kaylynn Albrecht over Skylar Grote 6-4

The coaching change at the University of Northern Colorado that saw Troy Nickerson take the Army West Point job on Monday, re-opened the transfer portal for UNC wrestlers. With that in mind, 2024 All-American Stevo Poulin announced his commitment to transfer to Iowa State this afternoon. In three years of competition for Northern Colorado, Poulin has made the NCAA bloodround twice. This year, he broke through and finished eighth in the nation at 125 lbs. Poulin finished the year with a 24-6 record and his career mark at Northern Colorado finished at 75-19. In 2023, Poulin became just the second Northern Colorado wrestler to win a Big 12 championship. Poulin will join an Iowa State lineup that already features five All-Americans and could have ten projected starters with prior NCAA experience. Before his transfer, redshirt freshman Adrian Meza was penciled in as the Cyclones starter. ISU also will get the services of Christian Castillo (Ames, IA) the #14 recruit in the Class of 2025, who is also projected at 125 lbs. Poulin will have one year of eligibility remaining for Iowa State.

KENT, Ohio – Kent State Vice President and Director of Athletics Randale L. Richmond announced today the hiring of Josh Moore as the seventh head coach in Golden Flashes wrestling history. Moore, who previously served as head coach at Cleveland State University for seven years, returns to Kent State, where he began his coaching career as an assistant coach from 2004-2015. "We are very excited to welcome Josh and his family back to Kent State," said Richmond. "His deep connection to our program and his proven track record of developing championship caliber wrestlers on the mat, in the classroom, and throughout the community makes him the ideal leader for the next era of Golden Flashes wrestling." Moore brings 21 years of Division I coaching experience to the position, including impressive achievements at Kent State and Cleveland State. During his tenure as head coach at Cleveland State, he guided the program to national recognition, helping the Vikings achieve one of the top team GPAs in the nation over the past five years while leading the MAC in Individual Academic All-Americans. His coaching accomplishments include mentoring 10 All-Americans and 69 NCAA Division I qualifiers throughout his career. At Kent State, Moore was instrumental in developing the program's first-ever NCAA champion, Dustin Kilgore, and helped guide the Golden Flashes to four top-25 team finishes at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. "Coming back to Kent State as the Head Coach is truly a dream come true for my family and me," said Moore. "I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity and fired up to bring the energy, passion, and purpose every single day. Ohio wrestling family, Let's build something special-together!" Beyond his coaching success, Moore has demonstrated exceptional leadership in academic achievement and community engagement. He helped Cleveland State Wrestling earn a perfect 1000 Academic Progress Rate (APR) in 2023-2024 and has been instrumental in maintaining team GPAs above 3.25 throughout his career. His fundraising efforts have generated significant support for wrestling programs, including leading Cleveland State as the top Giving Day Ambassador and securing over $200,000. As a competitor, Moore was a two-time NCAA All-American at Penn State University, finishing as the 2004 NCAA runner-up and 2003 third-place finisher. He set several career records at Penn State and was a two-time NWCA First Team Academic All-American. Moore earned his bachelor's degree in Crime, Law & Justice from Penn State University in 2004 and his master's degree in Sports Management from Kent State University in 2009.

We're only one day away from Final X 2025! Here's your place to find all Final X related content from the past few weeks and going forward. Match Previews 57 kg men’s freestyle 61 kg men's freestyle - Delayed until Fargo 65 kg men's freestyle 70 kg men's freestyle 74 kg men's freestyle 79 kg men's freestyle 86 kg men's freestyle 92 kg men's freestyle 97 kg men's freestyle 125 kg men's freestyle 50 kg women’s freestyle 53 kg women's freestyle 55 kg women's freestyle 57 kg women's freestyle 59 kg women's freestyle 62 kg women’s freestyle 65 kg women's freestyle 68 kg women's freestyle 76 kg women's freestyle Additional Content Final X Matchups Quick Thoughts on Each Final X Series 12 True-Third Place Matches Added to Final X Final X Experience for 2025 Qualifiers 2023's Final X Record Book

The women’s division in RAF (Real American Freestyle) got a huge addition today as the organization announced the signing of 2024 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt has a coaching position on the women’s national team and was presumably retired; however, it appears that she will compete in some fashion for RAF. Last year, Hildebrandt became only the fourth American woman to win a gold medal in freestyle wrestling. She did so with a 3-0 shutout of Cuban Yusneylis Guzman Lopez in the 50 kg weight class. Hildebrandt has been a dominant force domestically at the two lightest weight classes for the United States for almost a decade. Between 2016 and 2024, the only time that Hildebrandt missed a World/Olympic team was went she suffered a gruesome arm injury during the 2017 World Team Trials. Since Hildebrandt is not participating in Final X this year, we will have a representative other than her at 50 kg for the first time since 2019. Speaking of Final X, Hildebrandt has been perhaps the most dominating wrestler in the history of the event. She is 4-0 in series’ and did not surrender a single point in any of her eight individual matches. She outscored the competition 64-0 with 3 tech falls. Hildebrandt is a two-time Olympic medalist and a four-time world medalist. She earned a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics and has two silver and two bronze medals from the world championships. Hildebrandt is now the second woman to sign with RAF - joining fellow Olympic medalist Kennedy Blades. RAF’s inaugural event will take place on August 30th from Cleveland, Ohio. More information about tickets and an actual card will be found here as the information is released. With Hildebrandt’s addition, the RAF roster now looks like this: Ben Askren Beau Bartlett Kennedy Blades Aaron Brooks David Carr Kyle Dake Austin Gomez Seth Gross Wyatt Hendrickson Trent Hidlay Parker Keckeisen Will Lewan Matt Ramos Nathan Tomasello Zahid Valencia Evan Wick Real Woods

It's been a while since we heard from Olympic Bronze medalist Aaron Brooks. In this conversation he talks about how he was sidelined by double pneumonia, his plans to move up to 97kg, what it's like being in the PSU room as guys are getting ready for Final X and how to prepare for Zahid Valencia and Trent Hidlay. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 0:30 - Where has he been? 4:20 - Rewatching Olympic semis loss 6:00 - Going up to 97kg 8:12 - Conversations w/ coaches & Kyle Snyder about moving up 10:05 - Future plans + when will he compete again? 11:00 - Final X: PSU training + Working with Barr & Dake 14:06 - Breaking down Zahid Valencia & Trent Hidlay 15:34 - Vibe in PSU room prepping for Final X? 16:53 - Structure changes in the PSU room 18:33 - Carter Starocci making NCAA history

The signings continue to roll in for RAF (Real American Freestyle) who yesterday announced that Penn State’s three-time NCAA All-American Beau Bartlett has signed with the upstart league. Bartlett also was in the news this week as he announced he was moving from State College to train at the New York City RTC which operates primarily out of Columbia University. Bartlett finished in the top three at the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years. His highest NCAA placement was a finals appearance in 2024. Though he wasn’t able to win a national title, Bartlett has wins over Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez in each of his two NCAA championship-winning seasons. In 2024-25, Bartlett wrapped up his career at Penn State with a robust 100-20 record. The bulk of those losses came in his first two seasons, when he bumped up to 149 lbs for team purposes. His three All-American finishes took place at 141 lbs. During the summer of 2021, Bartlett went to Ufa, Russia for the U20 World Championships. He ended up coming home with a bronze medal in the 65 kg weight class. RAF’s inaugural event will take place on August 30th from Cleveland, Ohio. More information about tickets and an actual card will be found here as the information is released. With Bartlett’s addition, the RAF roster now looks like this: Ben Askren Beau Bartlett Kennedy Blades Aaron Brooks David Carr Kyle Dake Austin Gomez Seth Gross Wyatt Hendrickson Trent Hidlay Parker Keckeisen Will Lewan Matt Ramos Nathan Tomasello Zahid Valencia Evan Wick Real Woods

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Bald Eagle Area