InterMat Staff

St. Michael-Albertville

This MMA weekend is packed with former collegiate wrestlers. As always, the Bellator show is loaded, but there are a few smaller shows that also have some impressive wrestling talent. The following is a breakdown of those upcoming fights. If we missed any, please let us know in the comment section. Friday: Bellator 298 Logan Storley vs. Brennan Ward During his collegiate days, Storley was a four-time All-American for Minnesota. His best finish at the NCAA tournament came during his junior season where he finished third at 174 pounds and scored victories over Matt Brown (Penn State) and Robert Koeksh (Nebraska). Storley returned at the same weight for his senior year in 2015 and finished fourth. Eight months after his last NCAA tournament, he made his MMA debut. Storley has gone 14-2 to date with both of his losses coming against Bellator welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov by decision. Last year, he won the interim title over Michael Page but failed to hold the title in the unification match against Amosov. Ward was a Division III All-American during his time at Johnson & Wales. Interestingly enough, he was prevented from reaching the podium a second time by multiple-time Greco world team member Joe Rau. Ward returned from an extensive layoff last year and has won three-straight fights. The recent streak has pushed his professional record to 17-6. Michael Blockhus vs. Eli Mefford Blockhus started his college career at Northern Iowa before ending up at Minnesota. He qualified for the NCAA tournament in all four seasons as a starter. This past season, Blockhus finished 8th at 149 pounds to become an All-American. Despite having one more season of eligibility, Blockhus announced quickly that he was making the transition to MMA. This will be his debut. From 2017 to 2021, Mefford went 8-5 in amateur MMA, but he has found the competition much more challenging on the professional level. Since making his debut in August 2021, he has lost all four of his fights. Jordan Oliver vs. Andrew Triolo Oliver, the 33-year-old wrestler, is getting a bit of a late start to his MMA career. He was a two-time NCAA champion who exhausted his eligibility in 2013. He then became a regular on the freestyle circuit. He finished in the top two at four different U.S. Opens and won the 65 kg title at the 2019 edition of the tournament. In 2021, he won the Olympic Trials at the same weight, but failed to qualify the weight for the Games. He last wrestled against Zain Retherford at the 2022 Final X, where he dropped the three-match series. Last March, he announced he signed with Bellator and this will be his MMA debut. Triolo made his professional MMA debut last year and failed to make it out of the first round against Adamu Isah on the LFA 128 undercard. Per Tapology, that was his only fight to date. Sullivan Cauley vs. Hamza Salim Cauley was a three-time state placer in his native Nevada, and he continued his wrestling career at Arizona State. He bounced between heavyweight and 197 during his time in Tempe between 2014 and 2017. The Ryan Bader protege is 5-1 in MMA and looking to bounce back after losing for the first time this past March. Salim holds a 7-6 record as a professional. He previously fought twice for Bellator in 2020 and dropped a pair of matches against Grant Neal and Christian Edwards. The Storley vs. Ward fight will serve as the main event of Bellator 298, which airs live on Showtime at 9:00pm ET. The rest of the wrestlers will be part of the preliminary card set to begin at 6:00pm ET on the promotion’s YouTube page. Saturday: Brave CF 73 Zach Makovsky vs. Flavio de Queiroz Following an extensive high school wrestling career at Bethlehem Catholic, Makovsky walked onto the wrestling team at Drexel. There he was a four-year starter and finished his career in 2006; the same year he made his professional MMA debut. In 2010, Makovsky won an eight-man tournament to become the inaugural Bellator bantamweight champion. He signed with the UFC in 2013, but he went only 1-4 before being released in 2016. Since then, he has gone 2-2, and his record stands at 21-11. De Queiroz picked up a victory over Igor Taylon last year. That victory stopped a two-fight skid and pushed his overall MMA record to 13-4. The event will go down on Saturday in Bogota, Colombia. The bout will be part of the main card, which airs live on YouTube at 8:00pm ET. Saturday: United Fight League 3 Ryan Loder vs. Lajuan Davis Loder was a four-time NCAA qualifier for Northern Iowa. In 2013, he broke through with a seventh-place finish at 184 pounds to become an All-American. Loder continued to wrestle on the freestyle circuit and placed at the 2015 U.S. Open. He made his professional MMA debut in 2021 and has so far gone 5-1 in the sport. Davis holds an undefeated 5-0 record. In March he scored a decision victory over Zak Borrego who previously lost against Bo Nickal on Dana White’s Contender Series. Chris Mecate vs. Canaan Kawaihae Mecate wrestled for the now-defunct Old Dominion program. He was a four-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time All-American. He finished school in 2016 with a 141-51 collegiate record. Mecate turned professional in MMA in 2020. He lost his second fight, but he has bounced back with a winning streak. Mecate’s record currently stands at 6-1. Kawaihae has gone 8-2 and previously fought for both Bellator and Dana White’s Contender Series. Unfortunately, both of his losses came on the Contender Series, and he has yet to receive a shot in the UFC. UFL 3 will stream live on Rumble at 9:00pm ET.

The final piece of the Senior World Team puzzle will be clear after Saturday as the special wrestle-off at 57 kg in women’s freestyle will take place. Due to an injury to Helen Maroulis, her Final X bout with Xochitl Mota-Pettis was postponed to August 12th in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This won’t be the first time that Maroulis has had to delay a Final X matchup, as she needed to do so in 2018 against Alex Hedrick. The actual result was dominant in Maroulis’ favor; however, at the ensuing World Championships, she was injured and failed to place for only the second time at a World/Olympic-level event since she broke onto the Senior level, for good, in 2011. For now, we’re operating under the assumption that Maroulis will be healthy this weekend. Maroulis, one of the legends of US women’s wrestling, is seeking to make her 13th World/Olympic team. In 2022, Maroulis captured a world silver medal in Belgrade, Serbia, also the host of the 2023 event. That medal gave her an eighth World/Olympic medal. After appearing to be close to the end of her career after the injuries and concussions in 2018, Maroulis has padded her stats with medals in three consecutive tournaments. That silver medal at the 2022 World Championships allowed Maroulis to sit out the world team qualification process until Final X. Mota-Pettis punched her ticket to Final X after a largely dominant performance at the US Open. She had three techs and a wild 12-10 victory over Amanda Martinez in the semifinals. In the finals, Mota-Pettis needed only :44 seconds to tech two-time Final X qualifier Hedrick. It marked a second consecutive appearance in the Open finals, as Mota-Pettis fell to Nanea Estrella in 2022. Just about a week after the 2023 Open, Mota-Pettis was the US representative at 59 kg at the Pan-American Championships. She blew through the field with a pair of 10-0 techs to claim the gold. Maroulis wrestled at 57 kg and lost in the quarterfinals. A Senior world team would be the second world team that Mota-Pettis has made within the last few months. She already locked up a spot on the U23 squad. At that tournament, Mota-Pettis had very little trouble and ended every bout early. This will be a fun, unique matchup. Neither has met each other in the past, so there’s no frame of reference as to how it will unfold. Mota-Pettis has bounced between 57 and 59 kg, but has primarily competed at 59. She has a wide-open style that is entertaining for fans. I’d imagine that even with an opponent like Maroulis, she’ll still try to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at her. Combined with the polished, well-rounded approach from Maroulis could make for some fireworks. Mota-Pettis is a very exciting prospect for the future, but until proven otherwise, you have to go with the experience and talent from the legendary Maroulis. Pick: Helen Maroulis in two matches.

We are just about at the turning point where last season’s results and memories start to fade into the WrestleStat archives and the general wrestling community ramps up the interest and speculation of the upcoming season. And when it comes to Fantasy College Wrestling, drafters need to start thinking about who they want to pick in their 2024 draft. One way to do this is to look at the results of the 2023 season. The 2023 FCW Top-20 at each weight can give you a good idea of who the top Fantasy wrestlers in the country are. Seeing who returns, who leaves, who outplaced who, what teams made these lists more than others… all important information and data to digest. Of course, things can change quickly in college wrestling. Wrestlers can transfer, injuries can happen, and new stars can emerge. But the 2023 FCW Top-20 is a good starting point for your fantasy draft preparation, as you will see some (many, actually) repeat names from the 2022 Top-20 articles and even 2021 Top-20 articles. Take for instance: Pat Glory (PRIN), Yianni Diakomihalis (COR), Keegan O’Toole (MIZZ), and Carter Starocci (PSU). That championship group scored 223 Fpts in the 2023 season. How about these names though: Caleb Smith (APP), McKenzie Bell (RID), Evan Barczak (DREX), and Tyler Stoltzfus (LHU). That group scored 313 Fpts, and none were All-Americans. As you look at the list, keep in mind that not all of the top performers are household names. Some of the wrestlers who scored the most points in 2023 were not All-Americans. This is just one of the things that makes fantasy sports so exciting and unpredictable. So start your draft preparation today by taking a look at the 2023 FCW Top-20. You might just find some hidden gems that can help you win your league in 2024. To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues: 1) The scoring used was Standard Team Scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by Major, etc) 2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition 3) Wins via Forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total 4) Wins or Losses by Medical Forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total 5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season Notes: The top four All-Americans of 174 made the Fantasy Top-5, all posting a PPM above 3.4, and Carter Starocci having the best of those four (4.3 PPM) with only 19 matches, and with only three wins by decision. But you know who beat them out as the #1 Fantasy Wrestler? Tyler Stoltzfus did, with his 42 regular season match count and 2.1 PPM jumping over Labriola by five Fpts. Stoltzfus made the 2022 Top-20, barely squeaking in at #19 with roughly the same match count (38). Only this time in 2023, he had 13 wins by pin compared to his five in 2022. Crazy still, is that Stoltzfus also lost three matches by pin this past season, which is a total of -18 Fpts. While he didn’t have the rocket ship of a start to the season like in 2022 (eight pins in his first nine matches), Donnell Washington did have seven bonus wins in his first nine matches of 2023 (two pins, three techs, and two majors). More matches and more bonus lands Washington at #7. With a change of scenery and down a weight, Rocky Jordan made his return into a Fantasy Top-20 (his last time in the Top-20 was in 2020 at 184 finishing #18). Coming in at #10, Jordan only had two decision losses in the regular season and six techs and one pin. Right behind him, Logan Messer makes his second straight Top-20 in his second year of collegiate competition. Wrestling in just about the same amount of matches as he did in 2022, the difference between when he was #4 to this year’s #11 is solely due to bonus. 40% bonus rate in 2022 compared to 27% this year. In his past four years as a starter, Michael O’Malley has steadily been climbing the Fantasy ranks. In 2020 he was #20, in 2021 (COVID season) he was #10, and in 2022 he was #2 at 174. This season though, with an injury in his first match of the season, it put a halt on a usually productive start. O’Malley only had one match at the Tiger Open, then two MFFs. He would return to the mat until December 20th at the Boilermaker Duals. In the past few years, he would have had about 12 matches to his record in that time. So, with only 14 D1 countable matches wrestled, and only four pins compared to 2022 where he had 11 Pins, his Fantasy stock for the season dipped a little. Dustin Plott started the season out with 10 straight wins, and six of them being by bonus. After the Southern Scuffle, he would lose four times (-12 Fpts) and only have two bonus wins in his next 12 matches. Two returning fantasy wrestlers to the 174 Top-20 both improved their previous season performance, but went in opposite directions in the rankings. Ben Pasuik was #13 in 2022 with 47 Fpts and Nick Incontrera was #11 with 51 Fpts. This past season, Pasuik launched up to #9 in the standings (with 61 Fpts), while Incontrera had 57 Fpts and fell to #13 in 2023. 174 is one of three weights to be composed of only Starters. Who Missed The Cut: Two All-Americans finished off the Top-20, one by four Fpts and the other by 36 Fpts. Ethan Smith (OHST) last made a Top-20 in 2021 where he was #10. Last season, he was just on the outside sitting at #22, and this season he tied Jared McGill (EDIN) with 39 Fpts but slots in behind him at #25 due to PPM. The other AA, Nelson Brands (IOWA), finished at #76 with seven Fpts. With an injury midseason and four of his 10 regular season matches resulting in a loss, it was a tough hole to climb out of, but Brands did have an ADP of 141.6 (the equivalent of a 15th-round pick). Out here in the field, he fought for his meals, and put his back into his matches, but Bailee O’Reilly (MINN) fell one point short of the Top-20. That said, he only lost three matches in the regular season (Plott, Mocco, and Labriola) in his 18 bouts. Hard to hold that against him. If you check his WrestleStat page, Demetrius Romero (UVU) will show seven “L” designations. However, five of those “Ls” were Medical Forfeits and do not count for negative points (in standard WrestleStat Leagues). Granted, two were against non-D1 competitions so it wouldn't count for Fpts anyway. Coming in at #22 with 40 Pts, had he wrestled and won one of the other three (against either Labriola, DeVos, or Troy Fisher) then he would have, been #20. The highest non-starter in the 174 Fantasy ranks comes in at #26 with Iowa State’s Joel Devine. Devine actually tied Tate Picklo (OU) in Fpts with 34, but just edged him out with a 1.4 PPM compared to Picklo’s 1.2. Dillon Sheehy (ARMY) was the next highest non-starter with 33 Fpts at #28, also slightly outdueling Troy Fisher (NU) who tied him in Fpts but had a better PPM (1.5 compared to 1.4). Other notables include Alex Faison (NCST) at #32 with 26 Fpts, Luca Augustine (PITT) at #38 with 23 Fpts, MJ Gaitan (ISU) at #29 with 22 Fpts, Aaron Olmos (ORST) at #57 with 14 Fpts, and Phil Conigliaro (HARV) at #81 with 6 Fpts. Don't see your favorite wrestler on the list? Let me know @FantasyD1Wrestl for the full stats. Previous 2023 Top-20 Articles: Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 125 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 133 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 141 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 149 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 157 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 165

Midlothian

In June, we started a new feature investigating some of the toughest NCAA brackets of all time. In our first two editions of this feature, we looked at the 133 lb weight class from 2019 and the 157 lb weight class from 2009. Now, we’re going back into the 1990’s to look at an excellent 275 lb weight class from 1997. The 1997 275 lb class featured a pair of returning national champions amongst the seven returning All-Americans. The trio atop this weight class would go on to dominate the Senior level for the next decade, each winning a world medal. In addition, a couple of members of this weight class would go on to make names for themselves in the NFL and the WWE. So, get ready to relive one of the better heavyweight brackets of all-time. The Champion: Kerry McCoy (Penn State) The 1997 NCAA tournament saw Kerry McCoy win his second national championship and earn All-American honors for the third time. At the tournament, in Cedar Falls, McCoy posted wins over the eventual fourth, fifth, and seventh-place finishers, along with runner-up Stephen Neal. His victories over Shelton Benjamin and Jason Gleasman both came via major decisions. After the 1997 tournament, McCoy was awarded the Hodge Trophy. He finished his senior campaign a perfect 41-0 with 11 falls. It marked the second time in McCoy’s career that he put together an unbeaten season. Between his sophomore and junior season, McCoy had amassed an 88-match winning streak. A 2003 World silver medalist, McCoy twice made the US Olympic Team, beating Neal in the 2000 Trials and Tolly Thompson in the 2004 Trials. The Runner-Up: Stephen Neal (CSU Bakersfield) Two years after McCoy’s Hodge Trophy, Stephen Neal captured one of his own after winning his second consecutive national championship in 1999. At the ‘97 tournament, Neal dominated on his way to the semifinals, with a major decision, a tech, and a fall. The fall came in the quarterfinals and at the expense of returning All-American Nick Nutter. He would edge Tolly Thompson, 5-4, for his first NCAA final. The previous year, Thompson defeated Neal in the NCAA third-place bout, 4-1. Right after his collegiate career concluded, Neal famously defeated McCoy to make the 1999 World Team and went on to capture gold at both the Pan-American Games and the World Championships in Ankara, Turkey. After failing to make the Olympic Team in 2000, Neal turned his attention to the NFL and wound up starting 81 games and winning three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots during a career that lasted until 2010. 3rd Place: Tolly Thompson (Nebraska) The 1995 NCAA champion Tolly Thompson finished his career as a three-time All-American after taking third as a junior and senior. Thomas made the 1997 semifinals after posting falls in his first three bouts. The first of which came over future-All-American Mat Orndorff, while the last one was against returning NCAA fifth-place finisher Airron Richardson. The two had clashed in the 1996 consolations and Thompson prevailed via a 5-3 margin. After falling by a point to Neal in the 1997 semifinals, Thompson finished his collegiate career with wins over Justin Harty and Bryan Stout to secure third place. Harty was the wrestler who upset a top-seeded Thompson in the 1996 NCAA semifinals. Thompson spent much of the next decade near the top of the domestic freestyle ladder. He finally made his first World Team in 2005 and immediately responded with a bronze medal. Thompson also made the 2006 team, but did not garner any hardware. 4th Place: Bryan Stout (Clarion) The old weight classes at this time went from 190 lbs to 275 lbs, which was a significant jump. Bryan Stout made the move up to 275 lbs in 1997 after earning All-American honors three times at 190. 1996 saw him earn the #2 seed at nationals; however, he ended up placing seventh. At the 1997 tournament, Stout grinded out a pair of five and six-point wins before downing the returning runner-up, Justin Harty. That led to a bout with McCoy in the semifinals, which he lost, 4-2. He’d finish his collegiate career majoring Shelton Benjamin, before falling to Thompson in the third-place bout. To this day, Stout is the only four-time All-American in Clarion’s storied wrestling history. He has three sons that have wrestled Division I, Kellan (Penn State/Pittsburgh), Luke (Princeton), and Mac (Pittsburgh). Luke and Mac are both still active and are both slated to be starters at 197 lbs this season. 5th Place: Shelton Benjamin (Minnesota) One of the many great heavyweights to step through the doors at Minnesota, Shelton Benjamin earned All-American honors twice for the Gophers. After placing fifth in 1997, Benjamin finished up by taking second at the Big Ten tournament in 1998 and third at nationals that same year. Benjamin had a rough draw in 1997 with Trent Hynek in the opening round. Hynek would go on to make the national finals in 1998. After Hynek, Benjamin fell via major decision to McCoy. In order to claim a spot on the podium, Benjamin had to win three consolation bouts, the final of which came in the bloodround against Richardson, a returning AA. The two would meet in the Big Ten finals a year later and Richardson was victorious. He’d finish up his 1997 run with wins over Bill Closson and returning national runner-up, Justin Harty. Instead of making a run at the 2000 Olympics, Benjamin turned his focus toward professional wrestling. It proved to be a wise decision as Benjamin has spent most of the last two-plus decades in that world. Almost half of that time has been spent in the WWE. 6th Place: Justin Harty (North Carolina) A bit of a surprise national finalist (#5 seed) in 1996, Justin Harty wasn’t able to replicate his magic from the previous season, but still made the podium for the fourth time. After a quarterfinal loss to Bryan Stout, Harty bounced back with a bloodround win over Wes Hand to ensure he was a four-time All-American. Beating an Iowa guy was no small feat in the 1997 tournament as the Hawkeyes rolled to 170 team points with five champions and eighth All-Americans. Harty’s Round of 12 win over Hand made him only the second four-time All-American in UNC history (Rob Koll was the first). It wouldn’t be until this past season when another Tar Heel joined the club in Austin O’Connor. 7th Place: Jason Gleasman (Syracuse) The dubious distinction of being the most recent All-American for Syracuse belongs to Jason Gleasman who got on the podium in 1997 and 1998 for the Orange. Three years later, the school would cut wrestling. At the 1997 tournament, Gleasman started with back-to-back wins over opponents from Iowa and Oklahoma State, a feat that was extremely rare in those days. That set the stage for a quarterfinal loss to McCoy. To lock up All-American status for the first time, Gleasman pinned Fresno State’s Darin Priesendorf in the bloodround. Wrestling for seventh place, Gleasman downed EIWA rival Bill Closson, an opponent he pinned at Eastern’s. 8th Place: Bill Closson (Lehigh) The final member of this group of All-Americans was Lehigh’s Bill Closson. Just to crack the top eight, Closson scored wins over a returning All-American (Nick Nutter) and two eventual AA’s Leslie Apedoe and Mat Orndorff. This was the first of two trips to the podium for Closson, who was fourth in 1998. Interestingly enough, Closson got a bit of revenge on two opponents from the 97 tournament in 98. He defeated Gleasman and Shelton Benjamin at nationals his senior year. The Bloodround: #10 Nick Nutter (Ohio State), #6 Airron Richardson (Michigan), #11 Darin Priesendorf (Fresno State), Wes Hand (Iowa) The 1997 bloodround losers consisted of a pair of returning All-Americans from 1996 (Richardson - 5th and Nutter - 7th). Also is Wes Hand, who was eighth in 1998 and a national finalist (opposite Brock Lesnar) in 2000. The semifinal losers (Thompson/Stout) dropped down and assumed the third and fourth place slots, while the bloodround winners were fifth-eighth. Other Notables: Trent Hynek (Iowa State), Leslie Apedoe (VMI), Mat Orndorff (Oregon State) NCAA Finals: Kerry McCoy (Penn State) over Stephen Neal (CSU Bakersfield) 3-2 Third Place: Tolly Thompson (Nebraska) over Bryan Stout (Clarion) 6-4 Fifth Place: Shelton Benjamin (Minnesota) over Justin Harty (North Carolina) 8-4 Seventh Place: Jason Gleasman (Syracuse) over Bill Closson (Lehigh) 5-3 NCAA Semifinals Kerry McCoy (Penn State) over Bryan Stout (Clarion) 4-2 Stephen Neal (CSU Bakersfield) over Tolly Thompson (Nebraska) 5-4 NCAA Quarterfinals Kerry McCoy (Penn State) over Jason Gleasman (Syracuse) 9-1 Bryan Stout (Clarion) over Justin Harty (North Carolina) 5-1 Stephen Neal (CSU Bakersfield) over Nick Nutter (Ohio State) Fall 4:05 Tolly Thompson (Nebraska) over Airron Richardson (Michigan) Fall 4:45 NCAA Bloodround Bill Closson (Lehigh) over Nick Nutter (Ohio State) 4-3 Shelton Benjamin (Minnesota) over Airron Richardson (Michigan) 5-2 Jason Gleasman (Syracuse) over Darin Priesendorf (Fresno State) Fall 5:21 Justin Harty (North Carolina) over Wes Hand (Iowa) 4-1 Top 12 Seeds 1. McCoy 2. Neal 3. Thompson 4. Stout 5. Harty 6. Richardson 7. Seth Brady (Illinois) 8. Gleasman 9. Bob Puzio (American) 10. Nutter 11. Priesendorf 12. Closson Conference Champions ACC: Harty Big 8: Thompson Big Ten: McCoy CAA: Puzio East Regional: Kenneth Hunter (Coppin State) ECWA: Dion Reed (Boston) EIWA: Gleasman EWL: Stout MAC: Jim Guttridge (Ohio) Pac-10: Neal SoCon: Leslie Apedoe (VMI) WAC: Priesendorf Fun Facts - This bracket contained a pair of wrestlers that entered the tournament with NCAA titles already (McCoy - 1994, Thompson - 1995). - Just a year later, Kerry McCoy would make the Senior World Team at 130 kg. In 1999, Stephen Neal took the spot and went on to win a World Championship. McCoy reclaimed the spot at the 2000 Olympic Trials, making the first of two Olympic teams. With Tolly Thompson, you have three wrestlers who’d go on to claim world medals from this weight class. - That big three all claimed at least one NCAA title during their careers. Five total; Thompson (1/95), McCoy (2/94/97), Neal (2/98/99). - This bracket contained six wrestlers that made an NCAA final at one point or another during their collegiate careers. The big three; plus, Justin Harty (1996), Trent Hynek (1998), and Wes Hand (2000). - Six of these wrestlers already had NCAA All-American honors under their belt prior to the tournament, McCoy, Neal, Thompson, Harty, Richardson, and Nutter. - Of all the great wrestlers from this bracket, only Neal, Harty, and Stout were four-time All-Americans. - The trio of McCoy, Neal, and Thompson are the only three wrestlers in this bracket to earn #1 seeds at the NCAA Tournament. The three combined to have the top seed every year from 1994-2000. - 14 wrestlers from this bracket earned All-American honors at least once during their collegiate careers. The eight AA’s from 1997; plus, Nutter, Richardson, Hand, Leslie Apedoe, and Mat Orndorff. - Those 14 AA’s combined to get on the podium 33 times. Comparisons Here is where we compare the 1997 275 lb weight class to the two brackets we’ve previously covered 2009 (157 lbs) and 2019 (133 lbs). Returning NCAA Champions: 1997 (2), 2009 (2), 2019 (0) Total NCAA Champions: 1997 (3), 2009 (4), 2019 (2) Total NCAA Titles Won: 1997 (5), 2009 (5), 2019 (4) Total NCAA Finalists: 1997 (6), 2009 (6), 2019 (5) Total NCAA All-Americans: 1997 (14), 2009 (14), 2019 (14) Total Times Those Wrestlers AA’ed: 1997 (33), 2009 (31), 2019 (31) Number of Wrestlers Seeded #1 at NCAA’s: 1997 (3), 2009 (5), 2019 (4) Number of World Medalists: 1997 (3), 2009 (1), 2019 (2) Number of Hodge Trophy Winners: 1997 (2), 2009 (1), 2019 (0) Conclusion: We gave a slight edge to the 2009 157 lb weight class during our last edition. In many ways, this bracket is very similar. The sheer star power from the top three from 1997 gives it the edge. This bracket produced a pair of Hodge Trophy winners, along with a trio of world medalists, which is extremely rare. The top three from the 1997 heavyweight class were so good that they had a pair of four-time All-Americans that were unable to crack the top three (Stout/Harty).

Minnesota head coach Brandon Eggum (center); flanked by Luke Becker (left) and Trevor Brandvold Kevin Claunch sits down with Minnesota head coach Brandon Eggum to discuss all things Gopher wrestling. As we're right after the two-year anniversary of Gable Steveson winning an Olympic gold medal, coach Eggum rehashes the roller coaster of emotions associated with that classic match. Coach Eggum also talks about some of the leaders and mainstays of the 2023-24 team including, Patrick McKee, Brayton Lee, and Isaiah Salazar. The two wrap-up with an excellent story about a bet between Eggum and legendary Minnesota head coach J Robinson. Brandon Eggum Interview.mp4

The U17 World Championships have come and gone and we have a new crop of world medalists. After looking at the newly minted medalists and the list of previous U17 world medal winners, one thing that stands out is that the list is incredibly impressive. That begs the question, “Does success at the world level correlate to success in college?” Collegiate wrestling is slightly different since it’s folkstyle opposed to freestyle (or Greco-Roman) on the international scene. Also, plenty of wrestlers improve or regress during their time in college, so success is not guaranteed for an elite 17-year-old. With that being said, there’s an incredible correlation between winning a U17 world medal in freestyle and winning at the collegiate level. Of the 27 different wrestlers who have won U17/Cadet world medals from 2011-2018, only three have not qualified for the NCAA Tournament at least once. Digging deeper into those figures, Aaron Pico is the obvious outlier, as he passed over collegiate wrestling for a shot at MMA fame. Pico even came back to wrestling and made the finals of the 2016 Olympic Team Trials. Needless to say, he likely would have done a lot of winning in college. Of those other two, Mason Manville made a Greco world team while in college and Kurt McHenry still has some eligibility remaining. Going further into collegiate results, 20 of the 27 medalists earned All-American honors at least once. That group that qualified for nationals, yet hasn’t AA’ed, includes current wrestlers like Abe Assad and Alex Facundo, who still have opportunities to add to their accomplishments. Below, we have divided the men’s freestyle world medalists from 2011-18 into groups based on their collegiate accolades. The first groups are the most elite and wrestlers in that category fit into any of the others below them (excluding AJ Ferrari who was not a multiple-time AA). The cut-off point for this exercise is 2018 as wrestlers younger than this generally have plenty of eligibility remaining and it skews the data. Multiple-Time NCAA Champions Aaron Brooks (Penn State) - 2017 World Champion Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) - 2015/2016 World Champion Spencer Lee (Iowa) - 2014 World Champion Zain Retherford (Penn State) - 2012 World Champion Gable Steveson (Minnesota) - 2015/2016 World Champion NCAA Champion Vito Arujau (Cornell) - 2016 World Silver Medalist David Carr (Iowa State) - 2016 World Bronze Medalist AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) - 2018 World Bronze Medalist Mark Hall (Penn State) - 2014 World Champion Multiple-Time All-Americans Sam Brooks (Iowa) - 2011 World Bronze Medalist Adam Coon (Michigan) - 2011 World Champion Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) - 2015 World Bronze Medalist Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) - 2017 World Champion; 2018 World Silver Medalist Will Lewan (Michigan) - 2017 World Champion Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) - 2017 World Bronze Medalist Jacob Warner (Iowa) - 2016 World Bronze Medalist Jordan Wood (Lehigh) - 2014 World Silver Medalist NCAA All-American Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) - 2017 World Bronze Medalist Matt Ramos (Purdue) - 2018 World Champion Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State) - 2016 World Bronze Medalist NCAA Qualifier Abe Assad (Iowa) - 2018 World Bronze Medalist Alex Facundo (Penn State) - 2018/2019 World Bronze Medalist Owen Webster (Minnesota) - 2015 World Bronze Medalist Jarod Verkleeren (Penn State/Virginia) - 2015 World Champion Non-NCAA Qualifier Mason Manville (Penn State) - 2014 World Champion Kurt McHenry (Michigan/Penn State) - 2016/2017 World Champion Aaron Pico - 2013 World Champion

After the stunning announcement that Arizona State was moving to the Big 12, Sun Devil head wrestling coach Zeke Jones spoke to the media about the move and all of the different facets of the situation. Coach Jones also gives updates on the team leading up to the 2023-24 season. Below are time stamps for each new topic Coach Jones addresses: 1:50 - Zeke Jones opening statement about leaving Pac-12, the history of the Pac-12 and joining Big 12 3:50 - Position for the move and preparing the wrestlers for the move to Big 12 5:15 - How it will affect recruiting and opening up new markets 7:40 - Concern about longevity of program in the Pac-12 since nearly losing the program in 2008 and does this move help keep the program alive 11:00 - Can the rest of the Pac-12 join the Big 12 and what it may look like 12:00 - Conversations with other Pac-12 schools and where Zeke would like to see them land 14:30 - Discussing the Big 12 move with President Michael Crow and Athletic Director Ray Anderson 16:30 - How the athletes figured out about the Big 12 move 18:00 - Zeke discussing about schools brining in wrestling programs into Big 12 and Big 10 schools and thinking that the wrestling momentum is on the rise 20:15 - Will traveling to Big 12 schools affect the student-athletes 23:30 - Jacori Teemer update 24:45 - What teams are Zeke looking forward to wrestle in the Big 12 the most 29:30 - How can ASU promote Pac-12s goals of academic success, mental health in student-athletes and more with Big 12 schools 33:00 - What type of money will be allocated once ASU joins the Big 12, NIL deals 38:00 - What the projected lineup may look like this upcoming season 42:00 - Valiant Prep, Eloy and pipeline of AZ High schools to ASU 44:15 - Missouri wins the Big 12 their first year back in the conference, does Zeke believe ASU can do it? 47:00 - Will ASU be the villains in the West still or get a new identity in the Big 12, what the atmosphere will be like at Big 12 Championships and duals Aug 7 2023 Zeke Jones Media Availability.mp4

Malvern Prep

Kennett

Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah are all now making the move to the Big 12 while Oregon and Washington are headed to the Big Ten. With all the conference realignment, Arizona State to the Big 12 may be one of the biggest impact moves for wrestling. These teams won’t begin Big 12 competition until the 2024-2025 seasons. Seth Duckworth dove into what the rest of the Pac-12 wrestling teams could end up doing as well. Arizona State Wrestling History Arizona State is the only Pac-12 member to have a national title in wrestling, winning the tournament in 1988. Since bringing on current head coach Zeke Jones in 2014, the team has had two team trophies and four top-ten finishes at the national tournament. The team has had eight NCAA finalists, 34 All-Americans, and 82 NCAA qualifiers with Jones at the helm. In conference competition, the team has won five team titles since 2014. In 2023, they finished 4th at the Pac-12 tournament with 110.5 points. They’ve gone 93-50 in duals since 2014 as well. In just the past four seasons they are even 8-2 against Big 12 teams. Their dual record can be deceiving; however, as even a 7-5 record in 2023 includes a win over current two-time Big 12 Champs Missouri and finished 7th at NCAA’s. In 2020, the team went 9-4 in duals but came back with a trophy with a fourth-place finish. Arizona State’s Future While roster predictions are difficult to project with NIL and the transfer portal, there are some expectations that can be looked at. Right now the Sun Devils roster includes three seniors; Jacori Teemer, Tony Negron, and Anthony Montalvo. Juniors include All-Americans Cohlton Schultz and Kyle Parco, along with Julian Chlebove and Jesse Vasquez. Add in sophomores Richie Figueroa, Emilio Ysaguirre, and Cael Valencia; and the team appears set for the future. The team also had a top-ten recruiting class in 2022 and has been active in the transfer portal. Wrestlers like Schultz, Parco, and Figueroa would be immediate Big 12 title contenders. Chlebove and Vasquez had impressive wins over Big 12 wrestlers as well. While there are sure to be changes to multiple teams in the next season, Arizona State appears that it should immediately be on the upper tier of teams in the Big 12 conference for wrestling. Could any of the other added teams add wrestling? The short answer right now is not likely. These conference realignments are driven by football, and there doesn’t seem to be a hurry to add wrestling for a lot of these programs. Arizona and Colorado both had teams, with Arizona competing from 1979-1981 in the Pac-12 and Colorado wrestling in the Big 8 until 1980. Utah didn’t have a team, but there is a current Big 12 member in Utah Valley representing the state. There is still potential for Big 12 expansion as well. Oregon State and Stanford are still official Pac-12 members, then there are affiliates Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, and Little Rock. Even if the teams aren’t officially brought into the conference, the Big 12 does have many affiliate teams. At the end of the day, this situation is continuously changing and wrestling is an afterthought for the decisions. Arizona State to the Big 12 is currently the most substantial move, and will only strengthen the conference once it officially starts.

Sunday afternoon the 2023 U17 World Championships came to a close. The U17 tournament is always excellent as it features the international stars of tomorrow or at least a few years from now. From a US perspective, there’s plenty to be excited about in the future. First and foremost, the United States came away with a gold medal in all three styles, something that we haven’t accomplished since the reinstatement of this event in 2011. The “reinstatement” will be a reoccurring theme throughout this article as many of the facts happened for the first time since then (which was in 2011). The “gold medalists in each style” nugget is just a teaser of what’s to come with some of the fun facts we’ve discovered relating to the 2023 U17 World Championships. Men’s Freestyle Japan came away with a pair of U17 world champions in men’s freestyle (Yamato Ogawa - 51 kg and Akito Maehara - 60 kg); a feat they had not previously accomplished. Those two titles were the first in men’s freestyle for Japan since 2017 (Ryuto Sakaki - 58 kg). This isn’t entirely unusual because the tournament is an age-level format, but still very rare that the past three U17 World Championships have not featured a repeat champion in men’s freestyle. Pennsylvania native Joe Bachmann competed for Puerto Rico at 48 kg. He became the first wrestler to win a medal (bronze) representing Puerto Rico since the reinstatement of the tournament in 2011. India was held without a champion after having three in the past two tournaments. Manuel Wagin (65 kg - bronze) became the first German to medal at this tournament since Ilja Matuhin (85 kg - bronze) did so in 2014. Alexandru Bors (80 kg - silver) became the first Moldovan wrestler to make the finals since Stefan Tonu (63 kg) did so in 2016. Bors is also the only multiple-time world medalist for Moldovan since the reinstatement. For whatever reason, the US has had trouble at 60 kg. Since the weight class was established in 2018, we have not medaled at the weight. It’s the only weight in that stretch where we’ve gone without a medal. Ignacio Villasenor’s bronze medal at 45 kg broke a run of champions for the United States at 45 kg. Previously, we had the past three champions at the weight. Marc-Anthony McGowan (2019), Bo Bassett (2021), Dom Munaretto (2022). Remember there was a canceled tournament in the middle of that run (2020). With Zack Ryder’s bronze medal at 80 kg, he became just the seventh US men’s freestyler, since 2011, to earn multiple U17 medals. Building off of that last note, Ryder is in Penn State’s recruiting Class of 2024, along with one other multiple-time U17 world medalist, Luke Lilledahl. Three others are currently in the PSU room (Kurt McHenry, Alex Facundo, and Greg Kerkvliet). Surprisingly enough, Paul Kenny (NJ), Marcus Blaze (OH), and Ladarion Lockett (OK) are the first U17 World Champions in freestyle for each of their respective home states since the reinstatement. Ladarion Lockett and Magomed Idrisov (Russia - AIN) were the only two champions to go through the tournament while surrendering only a single point. Lockett outscored the competition 42-1, while Idrisov did so to the tune of 30-1. Women’s Freestyle As per usual, Japan dominated with six champions and eight world finalists. After Japan, India has the longest-running streak with at least one champion. They’ve had at least one every year since 2019. This time Savita extended that streak with her title at 61 kg. The 2023 tournament featured a pair of wrestlers who claimed their second U17 world gold medals. Sowaka Uchida (Japan - 57 kg) and Savita (India - 61 kg). Croatia had their first U17 world champion with Veronika Vilk winning the title at 69 kg. She was also a world medalist last year, taking bronze at the same weight. The host country, Turkey, finished with four world medalists. That topped their previous high of three, a mark hit in each of the last two years. Italy’s Fabiana Rinella became her country’s first multi-time Cadet world medalist taking bronze at 53 kg after a bronze in 2022 at 49 kg. Yeojin Min grabbed a bronze at 57 kg. She is the first U17 world medalist from South Korea in women’s freestyle. Leah Samsonsen became Norway’s first U17 world medalist since 2014, when Grace Bullen struck gold at 60 kg. Norway also had a fifth-place finisher so maybe they’re on the way up, as a country. Also breaking a bit of a drought was Mouda Hamdoun who was Egypt’s first U17 medalist since 2016, when they had a pair of bronze medalists. Morgan Turner’s win over Mona Ezaka (Japan) in the gold medal match at 43 kg, snapped a seven-match losing streak for the US women in gold medal matches against the Japanese. Before Turner, the last US woman to defeat the Japanese in a U17 gold medal bout was Ronna Heaton in 2015. 2023 marked the third time that the United States produced multiple champions. 2018 and 2021 were the other occasions. This was the first year that the US team was without a California native on the roster. The traditional power state topped out at having six team members in 2013 (Marina Doi, Regina Doi, Sariyah Jones, Cadence Lee, Gabby Garcia, and Alyssa LaFrancis). Men’s Greco-Roman Talk about the rich getting richer! Turkey’s line of heavyweight dominance isn’t going anywhere soon. Their heavyweight, Cemal Bakir, captured his second U17 world title and was the only multi-time world champion on the Greco front this year. It also marked the third 110 kg title in five tournaments for Turkey counting Muhammet Bakir in 2018. Greco was the most balanced out of the three styles in terms of championships won. Eight different countries came away from Istanbul with a gold medal. On that note, no country has an active streak of winning gold medals longer than two years. Greece was one of those countries that crowned a gold medalist in Greco-Roman. Arionas Kolitsopoulos claimed the title at 71 kg, making him Greece’s only world champion since the 2011 reintroduction. If you’re wondering, Greece had another medalist, a bronze in 2021, which was their only previous medal since 2011. Japan grabbed a gold medal at 80 kg with Taizo Yoshida. It marked the first time since Ken Matsui in 2017 that the Japanese won a U17 world championship. Gabriel Stan became Romania’s first U17 world medalist since Nicu Ojog did so with a bronze medal at 76 kg in 2015. The inclusion of unattached wrestlers from Belarus and Russia was most evident at the Greco tournament as wrestlers from those two nations combined to win ten medals. The United States went back-to-back years with a U17 world champion (Jordyn Raney/2023 and Joel Adams/2022), which is the first time that feat has occurred. They also have a three-year streak with at least one finalist (Cory Land/2021).

We are just about at the turning point where last season’s results and memories start to fade into the WrestleStat archives and the general wrestling community ramps up the interest and speculation of the upcoming season. And when it comes to Fantasy College Wrestling, drafters need to start thinking about who they want to pick in their 2024 draft. One way to do this is to look at the results of the 2023 season. The 2023 FCW Top-20 at each weight can give you a good idea of who the top Fantasy wrestlers in the country are. Seeing who returns, who leaves, who outplaced who, what teams made these lists more than others… all important information and data to digest. Of course, things can change quickly in college wrestling. Wrestlers can transfer, injuries can happen, and new stars can emerge. But the 2023 FCW Top-20 is a good starting point for your fantasy draft preparation, as you will see some (many, actually) repeat names from the 2022 Top-20 articles and even 2021 Top-20 articles. Take for instance: Pat Glory (PRIN), Yianni Diakomihalis (COR), Keegan O’Toole (MIZZ), and Carter Starocci (PSU). That championship group scored 223 Fpts in the 2023 season. How about these names though: Caleb Smith (APP), McKenzie Bell (RID), Evan Barczak (DREX), and Tyler Stoltzfus (LHU). That group scored 313 Fpts, and none were All-Americans. As you look at the list, keep in mind that not all of the top performers are household names. Some of the wrestlers who scored the most points in 2023 were not All-Americans. This is just one of the things that makes fantasy sports so exciting and unpredictable. So start your draft preparation today by taking a look at the 2023 FCW Top-20. You might just find some hidden gems that can help you win your league in 2024. To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues: 1) The scoring used was Standard Team Scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by Major, etc) 2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition 3) Wins via Forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total 4) Wins or Losses by Medical Forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total 5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season Notes: Two Dragons bookend the Top-20 with Evan Barczak taking the top spot by a nine-point gap. This is the second time Barczak has made the Top-20, last year coming in at #15 with only 45 Fpts. In 2023, he used his career-best 55.6% regular season bonus rate to become the #13 overall Fantasy Wrestler of the season. Second place Izzak Olejnik and third place Peyton Hall, however, are different stories. Both are three-time Top-10 Fantasy Wrestlers at 165, and both had their best finish in 2023. Previously Olejnik had been #7 in 2022 and #4 in 2021, while Hall was #4 in 2022 and #9 in 2021. Another Top-10 staple in the FCW ranks is Princeton’s Quincy Monday. He was one point behind Peyton Hall for third, and only had one loss during the regular season (to Julian Ramirez, #11 on this Top-20). You can do the math on that one. In 2022, Dean Hamiti wrestled 21 regular season matches and finished with 93 Fpts (#1 at 165 and the #3 overall Fantasy Wrestler in 2022). He also had a PPM of 4.4. This season, he wrestled 21 matches again, but finished with 68 Fpts which was good for #7 at 165 this past season. His PPM also dropped to 3.2. Several factors here, with a drop in pins (eight in 2022 and three in 2023), a slight drop in techs (four in 2022 and three in 2023), and two additional losses than his 2022 self. Gardner Webb’s Roderick Mosley started the season going 5-4 against D1 competition, which was all in the month of November. As of December till the end of the season, Mosley went 18-1 and six of those wins were via bonus. The lowest ranked NCAA Champion across all weights to make it into a Top-20 was Keegan O’Toole coming in at #17 (there was one 2023 National Champ that did not make it into the Top-20 at their weight… more on that in a few articles later). It’s surprising, because last season as a True Freshman he finished at #3 with only 17 matches and a PPM of 4.6 (which was tied for 3rd out of any other wrestler in any other Top-20 in 2022). This past season he had an ADP of 4.84 (Average #3 overall) and had a PPM of 4.1, the best of anyone in the 165 Top-20, but with only 13 matches. Four more matches with wins by Major, he would have been #7. O’Toole tied Clarion’s Cameron Pine with 53 Fpts (who had 18 more matches than O’Toole), but a 1.7 PPM which was tied for the lowest in the 165 Top-20. Six losses will do that. Patrick Kennedy and Alex Facundo had very similar seasons: both had 18 matches, Kennedy had a PPM of 3.1 and Facundo 2.9, but Kennedy finished 3 Fpts higher and can be directly related to their match on January 27, 2023. That’s fantasy wrestling, one result is the difference between 15th and 19th place. Who Missed The Cut: The only 165 AA to not make the Top-20 was Cam Amine (MICH), who only had 12 matches in the regular season amounting to 32 Fpts. He finishes as #30 for the 2023 Fantasy season. The #21, #22, AND #23 wrestlers all wrestled 21 regular season matches, but Justin McCoy (UVA) gets the “first man out” nametag over #22 Joshua Ogunsanya (COL) and #23 Brevin Cassella. They finished with 48 Fpts, 44 Fpts, and 42 Fpts respectively. Danny Braunagel (ILL) started the season going 13-3 in qualifying Fantasy scoring matches. After that (after Midlands), Braunagel went 3-5 for a net -6 Fpts, which sunk him to #28 with 35 Fpts. At the beginning of the season, Ohio State had a surprising wrestle-off result at 165 lbs, where Bryce Hepner challenged Carson Kharchla’s place in the Buckeyes lineup. While Kharchla was solid and a bloodrounder, he only wrestled in 12 countable matches and two of those were losses by Pin (-12 Fpts). Placing 47th in the 165 ranks, he finished with 15 Fpts. His counterpart, Hepner, wrestled six matches and accumulated 12 Fpts (good for 52nd). Other notables include Cameron Steed (MIZZ) with 37 Fpts at #26, Braxton Lewis (VMI) at #29 with 33 Fpts in 33 matches, Austin Yant (UNI) with 31 Fpts at #32, and Tyler Swiderski (ISU) coming in at #50 with 13 Fpts. Don't see your favorite wrestler on the list? Let me know @FantasyD1Wrestl for the full stats. Previous 2023 Top-20 Articles: Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 125 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 133 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 141 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 149 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 157

The final American wrestler to step on the mat in Istanbul, Turkey also happened to be the most impressive American at the 2023 U17 World Championships. Ladarion Lockett stepped on the center mat and squared off with Seyedabolfazl Hosseini (Iran) in search of a world title and gold medal at 71 kg. Hosseini got on the scoreboard first after a largely uneventful first period. He was awarded a point after a shot clock violation on Lockett. The Oklahoma native got his offense going in the second period. Lockett was snapped down but continued to wrestle and worked his way into Hosseini’s legs. Hosseini looked content to give up a step-out point; however, Lockett kept working for a takedown at the edge. Late in the finals period, with Hosseini in desperate need of a score, Lockett out-hustled his Iranian counterpart for an insurance score and a 4-1 lead. That’s how the match would end and Lockett had his hand raised as a world champion. Lockett’s win gives the US men’s freestyle team three world champions in 2023, a number they have reached six times since the event was reinstated in 2011. On Saturday, Lockett clinched a medal, but needed a win on Sunday to ensure it was gold. The last member of the US men’s freestyle team to lock up a world medal was the smallest, in Ignacio Villasenor at 45 kg. Villasenor had unattached Russian, Agashirin Agasherinov, standing between him and a world medal. The opening period saw Villasenor do all of his damage with a step-out point while Agasherinov was on the shot clock. A few seconds later, Villasenor’s lead jumped to 2-0. He would make it 3-0 before the break. In the second period, Agasherinov grabbed the only takedown of the contest, but he could get no further. Villasenor prevented any further damage and got the win and the bronze medal. The only other American in action on Sunday was Christian Castillo at 51 kg. Castillo had the opportunity to wrestle back through repechage for a bronze medal; however, he was stopped in his first contest. Castillo led early in his match with Sadraddin Hasanov (Azerbaijan). 4-2 at the break and even 6-4 with a minute remaining in the bout. The key sequence for Hasanov saw the Azeri wrestler toss Castillo to his back to take an 8-6 lead. Hasanov would continue adding to his score and eventually won 12-6. The US men’s freestyle team finished the competition in third place with three champions and six medalists. The unattached Russian wrestlers tallied the highest point total (75), with Iran just a point behind in second. Final Results Men’s Freestyle 45 kg Gold Medal Match: Ahora Khateri (Iran) over Gor Buniatyan (Armenia) 11-0 Bronze Medal Match: Ebubekir Gur (Turkey) over Nurmukhamed Turdaly (Kazakhstan) Fall :58 Bronze Medal Match: Ignacio Villasenor (USA) over Agashirin Agasherinov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 3-2 51 kg Gold Medal Match: Yamato Ogawa (Japan) over Rohit (India) 9-8 Bronze Medal Match: Sasha Petrosyan (Armenia) over Amirmohammad Navazi (Iran) 2-1 Bronze Medal Match: Usman Indirbaev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Sadraddin Hasanov (Azerbaijan) 60 kg Gold Medal Match: Akito Maehara (Japan) over Sajad Pirdayeh (Iran) 4-1 Bronze Medal Match: Jamal Abbasov (Azerbaijan) over Yandro Soto Rivera (Puerto Rico) 6-0 Bronze Medal Match: Iasin Bersanukaev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Zandanbat Batsaikhan (Mongolia) 7-5 71 kg Gold Medal Match: Ladarion Lockett (USA) over Seyedabolfazl Hosseini (Iran) 4-1 Bronze Medal Match: Nurdaulet Seilbekov (Kazakhstan) over Narender (India) 1-1 Bronze Medal Match: Islam Kazharov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Alp Begenjov (Turkmenistan) 5-1 92 kg Gold Medal Match: Sandro Kurashvili (Georgia) over Eyyup Cetin (Turkey) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Samir Dursunov (Kazakhstan) over Vinay (India) 12-1 Bronze Medal Match: Toohid Noory (Iran) over Genki Hoki (Japan) 12-2 US Results 45 kg Bronze Medal Match: Ignacio Villasenor (USA) over Agashirin Agasherinov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 3-2 51 kg Repechage: Sadraddin Hasanov (Azerbaijan) over Christian Castillo (USA) 12-6 71 kg Gold Medal Match: Ladarion Lockett (USA) over Seyedabolfazl Hosseini (Iran) 4-1

Saturday at the 2023 U17 World Championships featured the first set of medal matches in men’s freestyle and the last five weight classes got underway. In those medal matches, the United States shined going 4-4 with two gold medals and two bronzes. Paul Kenny at 48 kg set the tone for the rest of the men’s freestyle team when he captured gold early in the finals. His opponent, Yamato Furusawa (Japan) got on the board off of a shot clock point in the opening stanza. The second period saw Furusawa get in on a single leg; however, Kenny was deftly able to work his way out of bounds without surrendering a point. Furusawa would later go on the shot clock and couldn’t convert. The ensuing point proved to be the difference as the match ended 1-1 with Kenny holding criteria. The next gold medal match featured another American with Marcus Blaze taking on Ankush at 55 kg. Blaze struck first as he go in on a single leg and wouldn’t let Ankush retreat out of bounds before gathering both legs for a takedown. Ankush returned the favor as he quickly got in on a single leg, but in this instance, Blaze was able to prevent a takedown, only surrendering a step-out point. That 2-1 lead for Blaze would be the score at the break. In the second period, Blaze would extend his lead after a pair of step-out points. Ankush would finally get a takedown of his own with approximately :45 remaining to pull within a point, 4-3. For the remainder of the bout, Ankush pushed forward, but it wasn’t enough, as Blaze prevented any further scoring. Blaze was declared the winner, 4-3, and captured the gold medal at 55 kg. A big 6-0 lead after the first period in the 65 kg bronze medal match was enough for Brock Mantanona to earn a win over France’s Khizir Dasiyev. Dasiyev would get a four-pointer and a late step-to to make the score 6-5, but he could get no closer. After three nail-biters, things were much less dramatic at 80 kg, as Zack Ryder blew through Ismayil Asadli (Azerbaijan) to capture his second consecutive U17 world bronze medal. Ryder secured a fall after moving the score to 14-2 following a double leg to Asadli’s back. The star from the final five wrestlers that started their tournament today was Oklahoma native Ladarion Lockett. The 71 kg star made the world finals without surrendering a point in four matches leading up to the finals. To clinch a medal and his spot in the gold medal match, Lockett needed only :52 seconds to dispose of Narender (India) 10-0. He’ll face off with Iran’s Seyedabolfazl Hosseini, the 2023 U17 Asian champion, tomorrow. There are two other US wrestlers with medal possibilities tomorrow. At 45 kg, Ignacio Villasenor advanced to the semifinals before losing to Iran’s Ahora Khateri (Iran), 5-2. He’ll fall into a bronze medal match with repechage determining his opponent. Repechage is the name of the game for 2022 U17 World silver medalist Christian Castillo. Castillo was narrowly edged 5-4 by Rohti (India), who would advance to the finals at 51 kg. He’ll have Sadraddin Hasanov (Azerbaijan) in repechage to open the day on Sunday. Final Results Men’s Freestyle 48 kg Gold Medal Match: Paul Kenny (USA) over Yamato Furusawa (Japan) 1-1 Bronze Medal Match: Joe Bachmann (Puerto Rico) over Marian Rusu (Romania) 15-5 Bronze Medal Match: Sam Sayar (Iran) over Azymberdi Ashyrgulyyev (Turkmenistan) 10-0 55 kg Gold Medal Match: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Ankush (India) 4-3 Bronze Medal Match: Akhmad Musakhadzhiev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Arshak Lulukyan (Georgia) 12-2 Bronze Medal Match: Amirreza Teymorizad (Iran) over Oubayda Itaev (France) 10-0 65 kg Gold Medal Match: Sina Khalili (Iran) over Magomed Alibakharchiev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Brock Mantanona (USA) over Khizir Dasiyev (France) 6-5 Bronze Medal Match: Manuel Wagin (Germany) over Vladimir Azaryan (Armenia) 13-13 80 kg Gold Medal Match: Magomed Idrisov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Alexandru Bors (Moldova) 2-0 Bronze Medal Match: Zack Ryder (USA) over Ismayil Asadli (Azerbaijan) Fall 2:53 Bronze Medal Match: Konstansine Petriashvili (Georgia) over Dovletgeldi Myradov (Turkmenistan) 6-4 110 kg Gold Medal Match: Yusif Dursunov (Azerbaijan) over Yedige Kassimbek (Kazakhstan) 4-2 Bronze Medal Match: Rakhman Malakhmedov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Balazs Csipkes (Romania) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Henrik Haykyan (Armenia) over Aleksandre Abramishvili (Georgia) 11-0 US Results 45 kg Qualification: Ignacio Villasenor (USA) over Frederick Bachmann (Puerto Rico) 6-0 Quarterfinals: Ignacio Villasenor (USA) over Dhanraj Shirke (India) 10-0 Semifinals: Ahora Khateri (Iran) over Ignacio Villasenor (USA) 5-2 48 kg Gold Medal Match: Paul Kenny (USA) over Yamato Furusawa (Japan) 1-1 51 kg Round of 16: Rohit (India) over Christian Castillo (USA) 5-4 55 kg Gold Medal Match: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Ankush (India) 4-3 60 kg Round of 16: Jamal Abbasov (Azerbaijan) over Ben Davino 5-0 65 kg Bronze Medal Match: Brock Mantanona (USA) over Khizir Dasiyev (France) 6-5 71 kg Qualification: Ladarion Lockett (USA) over Victor Soto Rivera (Puerto Rico) 10-0 Round of 16: Ladarion Lockett (USA) over Felix Schmitt (Germany) 10-0 Quarterfinals: Ladarion Lockett (USA) over Nurdaulet Seilbekov (Kazakhstan) 8-0 Semifinals: Ladarion Lockett (USA) over Narender (India) 10-0 80 kg Bronze Medal Match: Zack Ryder (USA) over Ismayil Asadli (Azerbaijan) Fall 2:53 92 kg Qualification: Aeoden Sinclair (USA) over Bence Veress (Hungary) Fall 1:02 Round of 16: Toohid Noory (Iran) over Aeoden Sinclair (USA) 5-3

Gable Steveson certainly left his mark on the wrestling world. He is only 23 years old, and he has already won a pair of NCAA titles, two Hodge trophies and an Olympic gold medal. Despite all the success, Steveson was more than ready to move on to the more theatrical version of the sport known as professional wrestling. He famously signed with WWE while still in college and left his shoes on the mat following his second title win. At the time, it seemed like a storybook ending of one career and the beginning of a prodigious new one. However, things have not exactly turned out that way. Despite being signed with the professional wrestling company, Steveson returned to freestyle this year and looked perhaps even more dominant as he won both the U.S. Open and Final X. There is talk that he might make a run at the 2024 Olympics or even use his final season of eligibility and return for one more college season. On top of all that, Steveson finally had his first professional wrestling match last weekend at the NXT-branded Great American Bash show. There are a variety of questions swirling around the Minnesota wrestler. Will he stick with professional wrestling? Will he return to college? Will he make another run at the Olympics? Will he switch to MMA? To truly appreciate where we are, and where we might be headed, let’s start again. The following is a timeline of Steveson’s involvement with professional wrestling and how that impacts his future choices. 1/16/2019 - Steveson trains with former Gopher wrestler Brock Lesnar in the Minnesota room. During his collegiate career, Steveson would regularly appear with Lesnar and his storyline manager Paul Heyman. 5/17/2020 – Steveson tweets “I will rule the WWE soon” and then deletes the post. He would eventually post the same a week later. 10/27/2020 - Minnesota posts an article about both Steveson brothers and how their dream is to be in WWE. 8/30/2021 - The WWE announces Bobby Steveson has signed and will be part of the Performance Center’s latest class. 4/8/2021 – Steveson is shown in the crowd with WWE executives Canyon Ceman and Stephanie McMahon at an NXT live show. NXT is WWE’s developmental brand. Wrestlers usually spend a few years there before moving up to the so-called main roster. 8/6/2021 – Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer reports, “There is a lot of speculation [Steveson] will start with WWE after the Olympics and not return to college for his senior year.” 8/12/2021 – During an appearance on the Pat McAfee podcast, Steveson, now an Olympic gold medalist, alludes to potentially signing with the UFC, WWE, or even an NFL team. 8/21/2021 – Steveson along with fellow Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock were honored during WWE’s SummerSlam show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. 9/9/2021 – ESPN reported that Steveson had signed a multi-year deal with WWE. The deal was an NIL deal that would allow him to return to Minnesota for another year of college wrestling and train for professional wrestling at a “remote training facility.” 9/13/2021 – During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Steveson said, “There's a very good chance that I go straight to the main roster and not go to NXT. I'm open for anything. With the way things are going, I think I'm going to jump straight to the main roster.” 10/4/2021 – Steveson was drafted by the Raw brand. Wikipedia describes the WWE Draft as “a process used by American professional wrestling promotion WWE while in a brand extension, or brand split, is in effect…the company divides its roster into brands where the wrestlers exclusively perform for each brand’s respective television show. To date, Steveson has not wrestled for the Raw brand. 12/13/2021 - During an episode of Raw, Steveson is shown ringside and fist-bumped fellow former collegiate wrestler Bobby Lashley. 12/22/2021 - Bobby Steveson makes his WWE debut under the name of Damon Kemp. His match against Andre Chase was taped for WWE’s 205 Live show. 3/19/2022 - Steveson leaves his shoes on the mat after winning his second NCAA title for Minnesota and plans to move on to WWE full-time. 4/3/2022 – At WWE’s pinnacle event, Wrestlemania, Steveson entered the ring to celebrate with a victorious tag team. He was then accosted by 2012 Olympian Chas Betts who performs under the name Chad Gable. After some back and forth, Steveson suplexed the other Gable and celebrated. 9/5/2022 - Meltzer reported in his newsletter, “Everything is cold on Gable Steveson. His brother is doing great and they wanted to debut him some time ago, but it hasn’t happened because reviews on his training progress haven’t been good. They were going to fast-track him after he finished his last season in March, but he hasn’t even been around or talked about.” 10/6/2022 - ESPN reported that Steveson is now training full-time at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. after receiving treatment for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. 12/9/2022 – Steveson appeared on an episode of WWE’s SmackDown show. He joined fellow Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle and sprayed milk on former Greco wrestlers Chad Gable (Chas Betts) and Otis (Nikola Bogojevic). 3/9/2023 – In an interview with MMA Fighting, Steveson expressed a desire to return for the 2024 Olympics without leaving WWE. “I would love a second run,” he said. “I feel I have a lot more left in the tank to showcase. I want to prove USA right and keep moving forward overall and become one of the best American amateur wrestlers ever, and I hope I can achieve the Bruce Baumgartner status of having a bunch of medals and having the accolades to show and be a part of WWE and be an entertainer, too.” 4/29/2023 – After announcing his return to freestyle wrestling only a few weeks before the U.S. Open, Steveson dominated the field and qualified for Final X. In the Open finals, he dominated rival Nick Gwiazdowski with a 10-0 match termination victory. 6/10/2023 – Steveson scored a pair of one-sided wins over Mason Parris at Final X to earn a spot on the 2023 World Team. He is expected to compete in Serbia in September. 6/12/2023 – In an article posted by Sports Illustrated, Steveson explained that he would like to return to the Olympics and 2024, but still spoke about his pending debut with WWE. "I am still doing my thing," Steveson said. "I have changed my diet, my body appearance. I wanted to be the best thing ever so when I did go on TV, it was going to be a sight that nobody has seen before. My time is coming and it's coming sooner than a lot of people think." 7/4/2023 – Steveson appeared on the NXT television show as a cornerman for wrestler Eddy Thorpe. Following the match, Steveson suplexed a bunch of folks and celebrated. One of the wrestlers he threw was world bronze medalist G’Angelo Hancock who is also a developmental wrestler with WWE. 7/25/2023 – Steveson announces on NXT television that he will have his first professional wrestling match against veteran Baron Corbin on NXT’s Great American Bash show on July 30. 7/30/2023 – After years of build-up, Steveson finally has his first professional wrestling match against Corbin on the Great American Bash show. The bout ended in a “count out” after both wrestlers failed to re-enter the ring. They continued to brawl and were eventually separated by security. InterMat spoke with Mike Sempervive of Wrestling Observer radio following Steveson’s debut match. The review was rather blunt. “If that’s as good as he is, at this point, there was no reason to do it,” Sempervive said. “Joe Ariola [former Buffalo wrestler also signed to WWE] and his brother (Damon Kemp) are naturals. He’s not. And I get he’s been doing whatever pro training he’s been doing, but he’s obviously not going to be able to split time and be successful at this.” It is still early in his professional wrestling career, but with all the hype, it is natural for fans to feel some disappointment. However, it is interesting to note that his freestyle wrestling does not appear to be suffering due to his time in both sports. In some ways, he looked more dominant than ever. Is it realistic to continue to pursue both simultaneously? Will he ultimately choose to turn his back on professional wrestling and return to college? There have been so many surrounding Steveson’s future for so long, and in many ways, we are not any closer to an answer.

Friday was a big day in Istanbul at the U17 World Championships as the women’s freestyle portion of the event wrapped up, after the first five men’s freestyle weights got underway. The US women’s freestyle team finished the tournament in second place as a team and saw six young women earn world medals. As of Friday morning, four women had the opportunity to earn medals and managed to push through and claim bronze medals. Jaclyn Bouzakis (40 kg), Haylie Jaffe (61 kg), and Jasmine Robinson (69 kg) each finished with a bronze medal at their respective weight classes. Bouzakis only needed 1:27 to put ten points on the board and pin Nurana Asadli (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete). Jaffe used a second-period surge to take a 6-2 victory over local favorite Beyza Akkus (Turkey). Also beating an opponent from the host country was Jasmine Robinson, who pulled out a clutch win over Elif Kurt. Robinson and Kurt were deadlocked at one point a piece (with Kurt ahead on criteria) late in the final stanza. Robinson pulled out a throw for four points in the final :20 seconds to grab a 5-1 win. Not only did Robinson’s throw clinch a bronze medal for the Texas native, but it put the United States ahead of India for second place. A match later Veronika Vilk (Croatia) pinned Srishti (India), which clinched a second place finish for the Stars and Stripes. The six world medals are the most by a women’s freestyle Cadet/U17 in a tournament that included Japan. They had seven at the 2021 tournament (without Japan). The US men’s freestyle team got off to a great start as four of the five wrestlers active on Friday advanced to the semifinals. Two of those four (Paul Kenny - 48 kg and Joey Blaze - 55 kg) were victorious and will wrestle for gold medals tomorrow. The other two (Brock Mantanona - 65 kg and Zack Ryder - 80 kg) have bronze medal hopes. Heavyweight Sampson Stillwell was eliminated after his Armenian counterpart fell in the semifinals. Final Results Women’s Freestyle 40 kg Gold Medal Match: Koharu Akutsu (Japan) over Rachana (India) 4-3 Bronze Medal Match: Shokhista Shonazarova (Uzbekistan) over Klara Winkler (Germany) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Jaclyn Bouzakis (USA) over Nurana Asadli (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) Fall 1:17 46 kg Gold Medal Match: Natsumi Masuda (Japan) over Muskan (India) 11-6 Bronze Medal Match: Hava Konca (Turkey) over Daniella Hossein Beky (Norway) Fall 2:24 Bronze Medal Match: Diana Rybchenko (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Meiramgul Akhmetzhan (Kazakhstan) 2-0 53 kg Gold Medal Match: Sakura Onishi (Japan) over Olga Ovchinnikova (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Fabiana Rinella (Italy) over Karlee Brooks (USA) 7-4 Bronze Medal Match: Sakibjamal Esbosynova (Uzbekistan) over Amelia Tomala (Poland) Fall 1:21 61 kg Gold Medal Match: Savita (India) over Konami Ono (Japan) 9-6 Bronze Medal Match: Haylie Jaffe (USA) over Beyza Akkus (Turkey) 6-3 Bronze Medal Match: Leah Samsonsen (Norway) over Leonie Steigert (Germany) 5-3 69 kg Gold Medal Match: Veronika Vilk (Croatia) over Srishti (India) Fall :55 Bronze Medal Match: Jasmine Robinson (USA) over Elif Kurt (Turkey) 5-1 Bronze Medal Match: Liliana Kazmina (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Evelin Ujhelji (Serbia) 3-0 US Results Women’s Freestyle 40 kg Bronze Medal Match: Jaclyn Bouzakis (USA) over Nurana Asadli (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) Fall 1:17 53 kg Repechage: Karlee Brooks (USA) over Liliana Kapuvari (Hungary) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Fabiana Rinella (Italy) over Karlee Brooks (USA) 7-4 61 kg Bronze Medal Match: Haylie Jaffe (USA) over Beyza Akkus (Turkey) 6-3 69 kg Bronze Medal Match: Jasmine Robinson (USA) over Elif Kurt (Turkey) 5-1 Men’s Freestyle 48 kg Qualification: Paul Kenny (USA) over Oliwier Orzechowski (Poland) 11-0 Round of 16: Paul Kenny (USA) over Azymberdi Ashyrgulyyev (Turkmenistan) 4-2 Quarterfinals: Paul Kenny (USA) over Yeraly Zhetpissov (Kazakhstan) Fall 3:38 Semifinals: Paul Kenny (USA) over Sam Sayar (Iran) 8-8 55 kg Qualification: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Amirreza Teymorizad (Iran) 2-1 Round of 16: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Azatberdi Ashyrgulyyev (Turkmenistan) 12-1 Quarterfinals: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Oubayda Itaev (France) 10-0 Semifinals: Marcus Blaze (USA) over Samvel Gevorgyan (Armenia) 11-0 65 kg Qualification: Brock Mantanona (USA) over Almas Sabyr (Kazakhstan) 14-6 Round of 16: Brock Mantanona (USA) over Ankh Altangerel (Mongolia) 16-5 Quarterfinals: Brock Mantanona (USA) over Zafarbek Kamolov (Uzbekistan) 13-2 Semifinals: Magomed Alibakharchiev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Brock Mantanona (USA) 14-2 80 kg Round of 16: Zack Ryder (USA) over Askhab Khajiyev (Kazakhstan) 2-1 Quarterfinals: Zack Ryder (USA) over Saurabh Yadav (India) Fall :59 Semifinals: Alexandru Bors (Moldova) over Zack Ryder (USA) 4-1 110 kg Round of 16: Henrik Haykyan (Armenia) over Sampson Stillwell (USA) 13-3

Zane Richards makes methodical improvements to his game that fueled his Final X win over Thomas Gilman The only detail Zane Richards seemed to miss at Final X was the time of his flight home. Richards was machine-like in how he maneuvered and calculated his every move to beat Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Gilman in their best-of-three series, and he worked constantly for 12 minutes of match time to stay in favorable positions. Richards was far more successful than most anticipated and took the best-of-three series with a 4-3 win in Round 1 and a late four-point move to pull off an 8-6 victory in Round 2. In doing so, Richards won the spot at 57 kilograms on the United States world freestyle team. Richards said he made an appearance at the Beat the Streets gala later that night, met up with friends and started making his way to the airport for his flight back to Illinois. And while he did end up getting to the gate on time, it was a much closer call than it needed to be. “I read the itinerary wrong,” Richards said. “I thought the shuttle time was the flight time, so I messed that up, which is great.” That lapse in Richards’ attention span flew in the face of his biggest strengths as a wrestler, which include his mat IQ, his preparation and the cold, hard science behind his six-year rise from a very good collegiate wrestler at Illinois to jumping level after level on the senior circuit. While Richards was in tune with every detail in his quest to get the most out of himself, an occasional non-wrestling detail is known to slip through the cracks. When he got back home, Richards said he caught up with friends, family and coaches. He had a nice dinner, did a little laundry and tackled the sizzling task of paying his quarterly taxes as he reacclimated to daily life. There was undeniably extra juice in his step as he tackled those tasks as the new, undisputed top 57-kilogram wrestler in the United States. “My life was good beforehand and it’s still pretty good night now,” he said. Airport shuttles notwithstanding, Richards can use his diligence and brain power to simplify life’s daily complexities, just as he does with his wrestling. He is familiar with the art of wrestling freely, but supports his movements with a steady collection of data points before, during and after matches. Richards knows his game plans and can say with sobering honesty whether he did or didn’t execute them at a high enough level. After all, the science of getting better has no time to coddle his feelings. In the immediate aftermath of the wins over Gilman, Richards was more looking forward to tapping into all that information than he was celebrating what he achieved. The ultimate conquest wasn’t just to make the U.S. world team, but to win a world title. And in a more macro sense, his goal continues to be extracting every single ounce of improvement he can. The biggest wins of his career were no exception. “I don't think there's ever a quote-unquote perfect match,” Richards said. “There's very close and that's part of being human. But it’s a moment to learn and be excited for the fact that you have some of the best data you could possibly grab. So why not invest time into analyzing it a little bit and trying to get the most out of it?” Perhaps the most critical sequence of Richards’ series win over Gilman was the perfect marriage of intuition and information. With 45 seconds on the clock in Round 2, Richards trailed 6-4 and was pressing forward. He was moving Gilman out of his stance, but wasn’t yet at a desperation point to throw something big at him. At the same time, Richards was acutely aware of the idea that Gilman could choose to take his own shot and try to kill clock that way. Richards was ready for it and stretched Gilman out on a show-me shot. He then took him where his weight was carrying him for a takedown and exposure for that 8-6 lead. In the flow of the position, which lasted less than two seconds from Gilman’s shot to his four-point counter, Richards ran the numbers and saw zero downside in blocking Gilman out with his right leg and dragging him to the mat. He could feel in the moment that option offered the most favorable outcome of any move he could make. From Richards’ point of view, the better he prepared, the more ready he would be to capitalize when a big opportunity presented itself in a clutch situation. At Final X, that was his moment. “You've done so many reps to prepare for that moment,” Richards said. “You get repetitions to where it's so rehearsed that your body can operate, even when it's tired. You know how to operate in those stressful situations. Then, moments of inspiration can occur to where, ‘Oh, there's a chance here, if I do this well, I can score four and the drawback is nothing.’ “There's no drawback for me attempting this takedown in this direction because I either score two or four. Conveniently, it was four in that situation.” And with that, Richards delivered one of the more stunning results at Final X, just as he did at the U.S. Open two months earlier when he took down NCAA champ Nick Suriano to set up the opportunity against Gilman. Their Final X pairing marked a rematch from the 2020 Olympic Trials, when Gilman teched Richards on his way to repping the U.S. in Tokyo. Much has changed since then, not the least of which is the methodical way Richards has sharpened his entire skill set to secure the opportunity he has now. He grasps the reality that his name doesn’t give American wrestling fans the same warm, fuzzy feeling that Gilman or even Suriano would at 57 kilograms, but he’s no less deserving of his chance. Richards has growing confidence that not only can he represent the United States well at the World Championships in September, but he can keep winning bigger and bigger matches there and beyond. The science behind his training has given rise to more confidence, and the results have started to follow after years of chipping away at it. “I believe in myself,” he said. “I know I can do these things. I know I can win. And as much as I say those things and think those things, what's really important is I go and I do the things as best as I can to make sure my behavior is in line with what I value.” The joy of getting better, of course, always comes back to numbers for Richards, and he has used them to fuel his steady climb into the elite tier of U.S. wrestlers. Just don’t ask him for his flight info. “You enjoy how there are struggles, but in those moments of struggle, there's opportunity to learn,” Richards said. “It's exciting to know that, ‘Man, there's something I'm missing here. But if I can find that one piece of the puzzle, I can move up a couple of percentage points, and then I could start beating this guy that has been plaguing my nightmares forever.’”

I’ve stepped back a bit from InterMat lately, but there’s a topic I enjoy/hate following, which is conference realignment. And it’s making the rounds in sports news right now. We’re a few weeks from the start of football and the #1 thing everyone in sports is talking about is conference realignment as Colorado jumped ship from the PAC-12 to the Big 12 and, as I write this on Thursday, it looks like the PAC-12 is now on the verge of collapse as Arizona State, Arizona, and Utah are rumored to be in talks of joining the Big 12 while Oregon and Washington are in similar conversations with the Big 10. If that happens, the PAC-12 conference will drop to just four members. Oregon State, Stanford, Cal, and Washington State. It’s unknown what would happen to those schools if that were to go down. The PAC-12 could somehow grab a few new members from the Mountain West and use their brand name to stay alive as a conference. Many believe Washington State and Oregon State will get absorbed by the Mountain West, and it’s really unclear what could happen with Cal and Stanford. Admitting that no one really knows what will happen in all of this, there’s one thing I believe. In the scenario that the PAC-12 falls, the best thing for the sport of wrestling would be for the Mountain West conference to start sponsoring the sport. The Mountain West already has two teams with wrestling. Air Force and Wyoming. Both are currently affiliate members in the Big 12 conference for wrestling and have had a lot of success in it. Oregon State and Stanford both have wrestling programs and would need a home. The affiliate PAC-12 schools of Cal-Poly, CSU Bakersfield, and Arkansas Little-Rock would also need homes. The most reasonable solution for all of that? Add wrestling in the Mountain West. You would have three core members with Oregon State, Wyoming, and Air Force. You could add homes for the three current PAC-12 affiliates, and even if Stanford doesn’t join the Mountain West as a full member. Again, we have no idea what would happen here, but there are rumors they could remain an independent athletic department if they don’t join the Big Ten. That would add the brand of one of the best academic schools in the country to the Mountain West. I would also explore bringing in California Baptist. They joined the Big 12 because the PAC-12 denied their admission to the conference. They don’t make any geographic sense and travel would be much easier on them in this Mountain West version of wrestling. Making a swap with them and Little Rock could be a reasonable move to think about as Little Rock makes more geographical sense in the Big 12 also and would put the Big 12 at twelve wrestling schools. This conference of Oregon State, Wyoming, Air Force, California Baptist, CSU Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and Stanford would be strong. Could reasonably be considered part of the “Power Five” of college wrestling programs. Again, nothing may happen here. The PAC-12 may stay together in some form or another, and in some ways that would be better for wrestling if they do. But if it does fall, the Mountain West conference could be a savior for the sport of wrestling in the western United States if they choose to sponsor it.

Thursday marked the first day that medals were awarded in women’s freestyle at the U17 World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey and the American team left with three. That total matched the number that the 2022 squad accumulated across all ten weights. The 2022 team put three in the finals but did not win any gold medals. That wasn’t the case today as not one, but two, US women struck gold. Morgan Turner (43 kg) kicked off the festivities with a clutch performance to claim the first world title. Piper Fowler finished off the session with another gold medal at 73 kg. In the interim, Heather Crull was dominant in a bronze medal-winning effort. The US women’s freestyle team will finish with multiple world champions for only the third time (2018 and 2021) since the Cadet/U17 World Championship event was reinstated in 2011. Turner’s gold medal bout started out in methodical fashion. She got on the scoreboard against Mona Ezaka (Japan) via a shot clock violation, which accounted for the only scoring in the opening stanza. Ezaka would take the lead with a shot clock point of her own in the second. With Turner trailing, she picked up the pace, but was pushed out of bounds for Ezaka to extend her lead to 2-1. With only :11 seconds remaining and a fresh restart, Ezaka dove in on a leg attack. Turner stuffed the attempt and spun almost all the way around her Japanese opponent for a takedown while sinking in a half-nelson along the way. The clock expired as the official gave Turner two points, which was later white-paddled. Though she appeared defeated, Ezaka was initially ruled the victor. The US corner challenged the ruling which was overturned and Turner was given the two points and declared the winner, 3-2. With Turner’s triumph, it snapped a seven-match losing streak by U17 women against Japan in gold medal matches. Ronna Heaton, in 2015, was previously the most recent American to defeat Japan for gold. Right after Turner’s heart-stopping win, there was a less-dramatic medal-winning performance from Crull. Needing less than :30 to secure her first takedown, Crull added another and a pair of points from exposure to lead 6-0 over Lonisa Reka (Kosovo) within the first minute. After pushing the bout to technical superiority territory, Crull got the fall and clinched a bronze medal at 49 kg. Like Turner, Fowler’s gold medal match started off slowly as a shot clock violation from Lotta Englich (Germany) accounted for the first point of the bout. Fowler appeared to be in trouble later in the first as she was extended underneath the German after a shot attempt. The American managed to build up into a better position, locked up a double leg, and finished a takedown to lead 3-0 at the break. In the second period, Fowler found herself on the shot clock and forced Englich into a front headlock. Fowler locked up a cradle and exposed the German to lead 5-0. The cradle wasn’t particularly tight and allowed Englich to slip out and catch Fowler on her back. After a few tense seconds, Fowler was able to bridge and turn off of her back out of danger. Englich could not get any closer to scoring, which meant Fowler was a 5-2 victor and a world champion. There may be more medals on the horizon with the second half of the women’s team, who started their tournament Thursday morning. The American squad saw three women advance to the semifinals and all ended up with opponents from India. Unfortunately, all suffered the same fate. They were beaten by their Indian counterparts and will have to rebound and try again for a bronze medal tomorrow. At 40 kg, Jaclyn Bouzakis struck first as she secured a takedown against India’s Rachana. Frequently, Rachana would use her length advantage to tie up Bouzakis’ wrists in a front headlock position. In the first of these exchanges, Bouzakis came out on top. Late in the first, in that same predicament, Rachana managed to get exposure to take a 2-2 lead. After the break, Bouzakis got a takedown after a sequence that mirrored her first; however, Rachana wrestled through the position and got a reversal to inch within a point at 5-3. The pair got into the familiar front headlock position late in the contest and again it was Rachana who scored to take a 5-4 lead. With less than :10 remaining in the bout, Bouzakis was left to look for a reversal to go ahead on criteria. She was dangerously close at the final whistle, but ultimately came up short, 5-4. Bouzakis will wrestle for a bronze medal tomorrow against the winner of a repechage match between Ainaz Abdykadyrova (Kyrgyzstan) and Nurana Asadli (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete). At 61 kg, the defending U17 world champion, Savita, made her presence felt early and often. Haylie Jaffe attempted to get off to a fast start but was hit with a takedown down early in the first period. Savita never let up and led 6-0 at the halfway point. The Indian star continued her onslaught and the match was stopped via tech fall in the second period with a 10-0 score. Jaffe will have to wait for repechage to generate a bronze medal opponent as she’ll face either Beyza Nur Akkas (Turkey) or Sofya Zmazneva (Kazakhstan). After two dominating performances, Jasmine Robinson met the Asian U17 champion Srishti (India) at 69 kg. Srishti looked ready for Robinson’s blast double from space and even retaliated with her own, for four points, in the first period. The second period saw Robinson adjust her strategy and go upper-body, tossing Srishti in a lateral throw for four points, taking the lead. A similar throw at the edge did not warrant the full four points but extended Robinson’s advantage to 5-4 after a step out. Down by a point, Srishti turned up the pace and worked her way into a takedown to take a late 6-5 lead. Desperate, Robinson tried a headlock in the waning seconds, which did not connect and led to a final score by Srishti. The Indian will advance to the world finals after an 8-5 victory. Robinson will have to wait to see who emerges from repechage to challenge for a bronze medal. She’ll take on the winner of Viktorija Irkle (Latvia) and Elif Sevval Kurt (Turkey). Final Results 43 kg Gold Medal Match: Morgan Turner (USA) over Mona Ezaka (Japan) 3-2 Bronze Medal Match: Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (Uzbekistan) over Alina Mazharouskaya (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Aleksandra Berezovskaia (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Maria Gkika (Greece) 5-1 49 kg Gold Medal Match: Rinka Ogawa (Japan) over Sviatlana Katenka (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) 11-0 Bronze Medal Match: Heather Crull (USA) over Lonisa Reka (Kosovo) Fall 1:29 Bronze Medal Match: Tana Tiuliush (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Drishti (India) 4-4 57 kg Gold Medal Match: Sowaka Uchida (Japan) over Eylem Engin (Turkey) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Neha (India) over Yeo Jin Min (South Korea) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match: Viktoria Boynova (Bulgaria) over Aziza Keldibekova (Kyrgyzstan) 5-4 65 kg Gold Medal Match: Chisato Yoshida (Japan) over Duygu Gen (Turkey) 5-1 Bronze Medal Match: Mouda Hamdoun (Egypt) over Maryia Makarchanka (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) Fall 3:48 Bronze Medal Match: Margarita Salnazarian (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Mukhayyo Rakhimjonova (Uzbekistan) Fall 3:43 73 kg Gold Medal Match: Piper Fowler (USA) over Lotta Englich (Germany) 5-2 Bronze Medal Match: Elmira Yasin (Turkey) over Asaloy Amangeldieva (Uzbekistan) 6-0 Bronze Medal Match: Aliaksandra Kazlova (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Ako Uchiyama (Japan) 2-0 US Results 40 kg Quarterfinals: Rachana (India) over Jaclyn Bouzakis (USA) 5-4 43 kg Gold Medal Match: Morgan Turner (USA) over Mona Ezaka (Japan) 3-2 46 kg Qualification: Valeria Tsitova (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Rianne Murphy (USA) Fall 1:06 49 kg Bronze Medal Match: Heather Crull (USA) over Lonisa Reka (Kosovo) Fall 1:29 53 kg Round of 16: Karlee Brooks (USA) over Elmira Saparbekova (Kazakhstan) 12-1 Quarterfinals: Sakura Onishi (Japan) over Karlee Brooks (USA) 6-0 61 kg Round of 16: Haylie Jaffe (USA) over Emilia Swierczewska (Poland) 11-0 Quarterfinals: Haylie Jaffe (USA) over Ekaterina Radysheva (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 7-0 Semifinals: Savita (India) over Haylie Jaffe (USA) 10-0 69 kg Round of 16: Jasmine Robinson (USA) over Ai Sakai (Japan) 12-0 Quarterfinals: Jasmine Robinson (USA) over Nigina Rajabova (Uzbekistan) Fall 1:34 Semifinals: Srishti (India) over Jasmine Robinson (USA) 8-5 73 kg Gold Medal Match: Piper Fowler (USA) over Lotta Englich (Germany) 5-2

We are just about at the turning point where last season’s results and memories start to fade into the WrestleStat archives and the general wrestling community ramps up the interest and speculation of the upcoming season. And when it comes to Fantasy College Wrestling, drafters need to start thinking about who they want to pick in their 2024 draft. One way to do this is to look at the results of the 2023 season. The 2023 FCW Top-20 at each weight can give you a good idea of who the top Fantasy wrestlers in the country are. Seeing who returns, who leaves, who outplaced who, what teams made these lists more than others… all important information and data to digest. Of course, things can change quickly in college wrestling. Wrestlers can transfer, injuries can happen, and new stars can emerge. But the 2023 FCW Top-20 is a good starting point for your fantasy draft preparation, as you will see some (many, actually) repeat names from the 2022 Top-20 articles and even 2021 Top-20 articles. Take for instance: Pat Glory (PRIN), Yianni Diakomihalis (COR), Keegan O’Toole (MIZZ), and Carter Starocci (PSU). That championship group scored 223 Fpts in the 2023 season. How about these names though: Caleb Smith (APP), McKenzie Bell (RID), Evan Barczak (DREX), and Tyler Stoltzfus (LHU). That group scored 313 Fpts, and none were All-Americans. As you look at the list, keep in mind that not all of the top performers are household names. Some of the wrestlers who scored the most points in 2023 were not All-Americans. This is just one of the things that makes fantasy sports so exciting and unpredictable. So start your draft preparation today by taking a look at the 2023 FCW Top-20. You might just find some hidden gems that can help you win your league in 2024. To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues: 1) The scoring used was Standard Team Scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by Major, etc) 2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition 3) Wins via Forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total 4) Wins or Losses by Medical Forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total 5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season Notes: In 2022, Peyton Robb went down a weight and seemed to jump a level. In Fantasy though, it only amounted to a finish at #63. This past season? He’s your top 157 Fantasy Wrestler with 94 Fpts and a 4.1 PPM (in 23 matches). That’s the second-best PPM in the whole weight, only to bested by #3 Austin O’Connor on the 157 Fantasy ranks (4.6 ppm in 16 matches). Sandwiched between the top two wrestlers, Kendall Coleman started the season winning six of his first nine matches by bonus, and solidifying himself as the #2 with a pin in his final match of the regular season. Remember in the previous article I mentioned the Quaker switcheroo? The second part of that was Anthony Artalona who bumped up and finally made a Fantasy Top-20. Artalona was 5th with 65 Fpts, but had he completed his pin against Cobe Siebrecht (IOWA) instead of getting pinned, it would have been a 12-point swing and landed him as #3 instead. National Finalist Levi Haines and Stanford standout Daniel Cardenas were the only two true freshmen to make the Top-20, both wrestling 21 matches and almost identical PPMs (Haines with a 3 PPM and Cardenas 2.8 PPM). The difference looks to be that, despite both taking a loss, Haines had eight bonus matches against D1 competition to Cardenas’ four. Both had an ADP of over 118. The two non-starters of the Top-20 also had very similar seasons in that #12 Caleb Dowling (19-6 against D1 competition) and #20 Cole McComas (19-7 against D1 competition), but it was the extra loss by McComas and the almost 50% bonus rate by Dowling that was the difference in placement. Sometimes in Fantasy Wrestling, all that matters is getting the “W” on the bout sheet. That's what Peter Pappas did, wrestling 22 matches and only securing four bonus wins (one being a FFT to start the season). The transfer from Edinboro to George Mason hadn’t won more than 13 D1 wins in a regular season (2020), and this past season he had 18 along with his first qualification for Nationals. Josh Humphreys may have just made his first podium appearance at Nationals, but it’s not the first time he's made the Top20 in Fantasy Wrestling for a season. In 2022 he finished at #10 with 53 Fpts in 18 matches. This past season, he accumulated 47 Fpts in only 12 matches (due to injury) which got him to eek into the Top-20. He missed the full month of January, where Lehigh had six duals, and the way he was wrestling he could have gone 6-0 in those matches. An additional 18 Fpts would have landed him at #5. Who Missed The Cut: All-Americans Will Lewan (MICH) and Bryce Andonian (VT) not only met in the 7th place match at Nationals, but also met back-to-back in the fantasy rankings going #27 and #28. Lewan finished with 31 Fpts in 21 regular season matches while Andonian had 30 Fpts with only nine matches. #21 Jarrett Jacques (MIZZ) started the season with seven straight wins, with four of them being via tech. After that, however, Jacques only recorded one bonus win (a pin over Rider’s Jake Silverstein at the Scuffle) in his next 12 matches where he also had three losses. He finished with 45 Fpts. Kaden Gfeller (OKST) slots one spot back behind Jacques with 43 Fpts and the lowest bonus rate of his career (16.7% in the regular season and 10.3% for the entire season). The second-highest wrestler from Central Michigan in 2023 for Fantasy was Corbyn Munson at #23. He went 2-2 at the Michigan State Open to start the season (winning by major & tech and losing by tech & pin for a net -2 Fts, and a short streak at the Cleveland State Open, but where he jumped up the ranks was in the last stretch of the season (also known as “Dual Szn”), going 9-2. He finished with 37 Fts and four Fpts better than Wyoming’s Jacob Wright. Other notables include Tanner Peake (DAV) who finished with 32 Fpts, the same amount as Jacob Butler (formerly of OU) but with a 0.5 PPM better than Butler to get the #25 spot. #29 goes to Indiana’s Derek Gilcher with 30 Fpts, Jason Kraisser (ISU) edges out Cobe Siebrecht (IOWA) 29 to 27 Fpts to finish #31 and #32 respectively, and Paddy Gallagher (OHST) ends the 2023 fantasy season at #50 with 17 Fpts in 16 matches. Don't see your favorite wrestler on the list? Let me know @FantasyD1Wrestl for the full stats. Previous 2023 Top-20 Articles: Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 125 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 133 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 141 Top-20 Fantasy Wrestlers at 149

Wednesday at the U17 World Championships marked the first day of competition in women’s freestyle. The United States had a strong showing that resulted in a pair of young women in tomorrow’s finals. A third will be competing in a bronze medal match. The 2022 women’s team featured three medalists (all silver’s) a number that was almost achieved with only the first five competitors wrestling on day one. In addition, the Greco-Roman portion of the competition wrapped up; though the American team did not have any wrestlers remaining in medal contention. The US Greco squad finished in ninth place on the strength of a gold medal showing from Jordyn Raney at 55 kg. Illinois native Morgan Turner was the first American to make the finals after a 4-2 victory over Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (Uzbekistan). Turner wasted little time in the first period, as she jumped out to an early lead on the strength of a takedown off of a blast double leg. She’d add to her lead a short time later after exposing Nurmukhammadova during a low leg attack. In the second period, Turner was close to securing a second takedown on two occasions, but was narrowly stopped by Nurmukhammadova. The Uzbek woman got on the scoreboard with a pair of points off of exposure that could have gone Turner’s way. Nurmukhammadova continued to push for a winning score during the closing seconds but was stonewalled by Turner. Prior to the semifinals, Turner notched a pair of 10-0 tech’s. Tomorrow’s gold medal matchup will feature Turner taking on Japan’s Mona Ezaka, a 2022 U17 World silver medalist at 40 kg. Also in 2022, Ezaka earned a silver medal at the Asian U20 Championships. The second finalist for the United States is Tennessee’s Piper Fowler at 73 kg. Fowler pitched a pair of shutouts in her first two wins, before meeting Aliaksandra Kazlova (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) in the semifinals. Tied at two after a period, yet trailing on criteria, Fowler got to work early in the second with a double leg at the edge for four points. At the one-minute mark, Fowler got another takedown, this time off of a sucker drag. During the last :20 seconds, Fowler withstood a barrage of headlock attempts from Kazlova’s, getting a takedown on the final attack. That made the final score 10-2 in Fowler’s favor. Fowler will meet Germany’s Lotta Englich in Thursday’s gold medal match. Englich was a bronze medal winner at the U17 European and World Championships last year. Earlier in 2023, Englich was fifth in Europe. The final American wrestling for a medal tomorrow is Indiana’s Heather Crull at 49 kg. Crull had a tech and a 13-8 victory in the quarterfinals before falling to Sviatlana Katenka (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-1 in the semifinals. Crull’s bronze medal opponent has already been determined. She’ll square off with Lonisa Reka (Kosovo). Reka was eighth at the U17 European Championships earlier this year. Everest Leydecker (57 kg) and May Prado (65 kg) both had the misfortune of losing to quality opponents, who later fell to the Japanese entrant at their respective weights, which eliminated them. Medal Round Match (Greco-Roman) 45 kg Gold Medal Match - Turan Dashdamirov (Azerbaijan) over Rustem Abatsiev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 5-4 Bronze Medal Match - Alireza Amirighasroddashti (Iran) over Kadyrbek Almanbetov (Kyrgyzstan) 5-1 Bronze Medal Match - Yurik Mkhitaryan (Armenia) over Nika Tsetskhladze (Georgia) 9-0 51 kg Gold Medal Match - Ilia Kandalin (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Artur Broyan (Armenia) 9-0 Bronze Medal Match - Manu Yadav (India) over Husniddin Ulugbekov (Turkmenistan) 9-0 Bronze Medal Match - Koba Karumidze (Georgia) over Dostonbek Oripov (Uzbekistan) 3-1 60 kg Gold Medal Match - Roman Karimov (Azerbaijan) over Saba Surmanidze (Georgia) 4-3 Bronze Medal Match - Mingiian Goriaev (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Varun (India) 15-6 Bronze Medal Match - Kiryl Valeuski (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) Yerdaulet Lassim (Kazakhstan) 12-8 71 kg Gold Medal Match - Arionas Kolitsopoulos (Greece) over Ahmadreza Mohamdian (Iran) 6-5 Bronze Medal Match - Abdurakhman Abdulkadyrov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Dias Seitkaliyev (Kazakhstan) 10-0 Bronze Medal Match - Alkan Akar (Turkey) over Luka Lomadze (Georgia) 5-1 92 kg Gold Medal Match - Saba Purtseladze (Georgia) over Saipula Gadzhimagomedov (Russia - Individual Neutral Athlete) 7-7 Bronze Medal Match - Gabriel Stan (Romania) over Maxim Ukraintsev (Kazakhstan) 9-0 Bronze Medal Match - Mikayil Ismayilov (Azerbaijan) over Aliakbar Asgharivaladi (Iran) 3-1 USA Results Women’s Freestyle 43 kg Qualification: Morgan Turner (USA) over Saadat Guliyev (Azerbaijan) 10-0 Quarterfinals: Morgan Turner (USA) over Alina Mazharouskaya (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-0 Semifinals: Morgan Turner (USA) over Nilufar Nurmukhammadova (Uzbekistan) 4-2 Gold Medal Match: Morgan Turner (USA) vs. Mona Ezaka (Japan) 49 kg Qualification: Heather Crull (USA) over Nik Aktas (Turkey) 10-0 Quarterfinals: Heather Crull (USA) over Lucja Korcz (Poland) 13-8 Semifinals: Sviatlana Katenka (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) over Heather Crull (USA) 10-1 Bronze Medal Match: Heather Crull (USA) over Lonisa Reka (Kosovo) 57 kg Qualification: Neha (India) over Everest Leydecker (USA) 5-0 65 kg Round of 16: Mukhayyo Rakhimjonova (Uzbekistan) over May Prado (USA) 8-0 73 kg Round of 16: Piper Fowler (USA) over Ako Uchiyama (Japan) 6-0 Quarterfinals: Piper Fowler (USA) over Laia Horta Gallardo (Spain) 13-0 Semifinals: Piper Fowler (USA) over Aliaksandra Kazlova (Belarus - Individual Neutral Athlete) 10-2 Gold Medal Match: Piper Fowler (USA) vs. Lotta Englich (Germany)

NC State's 4x All-American Trent Hidlay sits down with ACC correspondent Robbie Wendell to discuss Saturday's Wrangle in the Wild III event. Trent talks about the origin of the event, between him and older brother Hayden, and runs down some of the participants. This year's card features former DI national qualifiers, an All-American, a Final X participant along with other talented local products and youth wrestlers. After talking Wrangle, Trent and Robbie hit on all of the relevant current news surrounding the NC State program. Trent Hidlay Wrangle in the Wild.mp4