InterMat Staff

Expectations couldn’t be higher for the 2024 U20 men’s freestyle team. Just a few days after its team members secured a spot on the team, InterMat wrote an article comparing this year’s squad to great U20 teams of the past. As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons for such high expectations. The kids are good. They’re really good! Friday morning the U20 men’s freestyle team took the mat for the first time in Pontevedra, Spain, and the team got off to a blazing start. All five of the wrestlers who started on Friday won their quarterfinal matches and will wrestle in the semifinals in a few hours. There were different types of performances - as some of the Americans crushed their competition, while others had to grind out their wins. Either way, the US men went 14-0 during the morning session. Two that blew through their opposition were PJ Duke and Zach Ryder. Ryder, an incoming freshman at Penn State, did not surrender a point in his three matches and posted three wins via tech. The deepest he needed to go in one single match was in the Round of 16 - a bout that made it :40 seconds in the second period. In the semifinals, Ryder will face Russia Said Saidulov. Saidulov was a gold medalist at the 2024 European U20 Championships. Duke, the #1 overall recruit in the Class of 2025, showed why he is so highly thought of as he also teched all three of his opponents. Mongolia’s Ankh Erdene Altangerel was the only wrestler to score on him and that came in the second period of a 12-1 match. Duke’s semifinal opponent is also a European U20 gold medalist in Magomed Baitukaev. Baitukaev might be familiar as he was the foe that Meyer Shapiro defeated last year (8-0) at this tournament in the 70 kg quarterfinals. The Russian eventually rebounded for a bronze medal. One of two returning U20 world medalists on the team, Luke Lilledahl, needed to use his grit to move into the semifinals. Trailing on criteria in the second period of his quarterfinal match, Lilledahl secured a go-ahead takedown on U20 Asian champion Ankush of India. Lilledahl held off Ankush’s late attacks and was penalized with a caution, but still held on to win, 4-3. Lilledahl will face Hayko Gasparyan (Armenia) in the semifinals. Gasparyan blitzed one of the tournament favorites, Iranian Milad Valizadeh in a 10-0 tech barely made it to the second period. At 65 kg, Bo Bassett was deadlocked with India’s Nikhil Pilanagoila at four, though he trailed on criteria, early in the second period. During a scramble, Bassett found a cradle and took Pilanagoila to his back for the lead, but more importantly, it would result in a match-ending fall. Bassett moves on to face Japan’s Makoto Hosokawa in the semifinals. This is the first world-level event for Hosokawa, but he has claimed Asian U20 silver and bronze medals in the past. The largest member of the American contingent to compete today was Oregon State’s Justin Rademacher at 97 kg. Rademacher’s stout defense came into play repeatedly on Friday. In a Round of 16 match that was closer than the score may indicate, Radmacher continually stuffed Japan’s Genki Hoki and scored off of his counterattacks. In the quarterfinals against an opponent that didn’t offer much in the way of offense, Rademacher played the tactical game against Ramini Gulitashvili (Georgia) and earned the first two points of the contest after shot clock violations. He put an emphatic exclamation point on the win with a big double leg late in the contest - sealing a 4-0 win. Rademacher has perhaps the toughest semifinal match of the crew. He’ll face 2023 world champion Rizabek Aitmukhan (Kazakhstan). Aitmukhan won his Senior world title at 92 kg and was a U20 silver medalist last year. In 2024, Aitmukhan made the Asian Senior finals. Action from Pontevedra resumes at 10:45 am Eastern.

And we’re back for another edition of the Friday mailbag and the first of September. College football is in full swing, the NFL just kicked off last night with some teams that nobody cares about, baseball is down to the last few weeks with the Mets making things interesting, and Junior Worlds presently going on. What a time to be alive. Or what a time to be dead if you hate sports. And if you do, why are you reading this? But since you are, let’s get to it! What’s the best/most hype/most intimidating high school dual meet entrance style and song? AC/DC, Metallica, Welcome to the Jungle? Running the circle? Just walking to the edge? We ran out to “Fantasy” by Aldo Nova and I still get hyped when I hear it. Coach Sganga Mother Tell your children not to walk my way Tell your children not to hear my words What they mean What they say Mother Mother Can you keep them in the dark for life? Can you hide them from the waiting world? Oh mother Crank that in your gym and see how confident the other team feels. Plus, you’re literally telling the other team's moms that you are about to hurt their children. Or pick something that doesn’t predate the Berlin Wall falling down, but they just don’t make good jock rock like they used to. My other option is that god-awful Steal My Sunshine by Len and hope the other team just leaves on account of bloody ears. The public is betting on Iowa, the big money is on State...so who you got? Burger King of Kings Is this true? Do you actually have a read on the public and the big money? Is the big money coming from all the new Hawkeye wrestlers? Why is your rivalry game so early? Does Iowahave any offense yet? And why am I asking the questions? Give me State and the under and sleep like a baby. How/when does Ferrari’s season end? Natty? Podium? Jail? Let’s Go Exploring Jail seems like a stretch, but I have to assume he at least stays out of trouble for the season. Technically, it was only a car accident that halted him last time followed by a three-year break for a variety of reasons. Regardless of what did happen or didn’t happen, he’s back now and obviously a major title contender at 197. But remember, he’s yet to actually wrestle for a full season as 2021 was a short season and 2022 was cut short for him. Is he the same guy after three long years off? Will he get the proper competition being out in a very small conference? Will CSUB hit all the big tournaments for the best competition? Does Starocci or Keckeisen go up to 197? Nobody knows these answers, but the AJ Ferrari return is likely the biggest storyline of the upcoming season. The Citadel football recently beat Charleston Southern in the inaugural Low Country Boil Bowl where the winner receives a trophy that is then filled with boiled seafood. What are some food-related rivalry trophies that wrestling could implement to take things to the next level? Richard Mann As someone who can’t stand the sight or smell of seafood, that sounds extremely unappealing. But wrestlers are constantly dieting so I’m not sure a trophy filled with the local cuisine is the best idea. What even is the local cuisine of some of these places? Gas station hot dogs for Bedlam? The Hardees Cup for North Carolina and North Carolina State? A pasta bowl for Rutgers and Princeton? Scrapple for the winners of the Keystone Classic? Do I have to keep going or can I move on with my day? I think I’ll just move on with my day. Hopefully, these questions get better as the season approaches or I’ ’ll be bagging groceries. Shoot, they don’t even have bags anymore so that turn of phrase doesn’t even apply anymore. Either way, enjoy week one of the NFL season. I’m about to smoke the Mat Scout in fantasy football.

Poway

Greenwood

Berks Catholic

Ponderosa

Thursday at the U20 World Championships saw the first American win gold at the 2024 event. Cristelle Rodriguez continued her dominance in the gold medal match at 55 kg - needing less than a minute to pin Mongolia’s Khaliun Byambasuren. Rodriguez nearly got a takedown after shooting within seconds of the opening whistle; however, Byambasuren was able to momentarily stop her. That wouldn’t last for long as Byambasuren tried to throw Rodriguez. Not only did Rodriguez hold her ground, but she countered with a huge throw of her own. Rodriguez was awarded four points for the throw, but the most important development was that Byambasuren remained on her back, very close to a fall. Rodriguez kept the pressure on and never let Byambasuren off her back. The official signaled for the fall at only :57 seconds into the contest. The fall capped off an excellent two days for Rodriguez. She never went the full six minutes in any of her four matches - finishing with two falls and two techs. An early takedown in the semifinals to European U20 champion Tuba Demir (Turkiye) accounted for the only points she surrendered the entire tournament. Rodriguez now has won medals at both the U20 and U17 levels. In 2019, Rodriguez earned a silver medal at the U17 World Championships in the 49 kg weight class. With Rodriguez’s world title, the US women have won at least one gold medal in the last four U20 World Championships. The American women will have another opportunity to come away with a gold medal on Friday as Jasmine Robinson stormed her way to the 72 kg gold medal match today. As difficult as it may be to believe, Robinson’s path to the finals might have been more impressive than Rodriguez’s. Robinson pinned all three of her opponents in a combined time of two minutes and 25 seconds. Her semifinal win over Hungary’s Noemi Osvath Nagy was her “longest” match of the day at only 1:23. Robinson might have been able to end that match even quicker, but her freight train double leg blasted Osvath Nagy out of bounds and she had to settle for a four-point lead. A few moments later, Robinson tried another double and finished high. Osvath Nagy’s arm was out and susceptible to a half nelson, which Robinson sunk in deeply. She patiently waited for the official to call the fall. With a gold medal in the balance, Robinson will face China’s Yuqi Liu - a 2024 Asian U20 champion. Liu was very overwhelming herself. All three of her pre-finals matches ended 10-0 in the opening period. Robinson’s finals appearance has clinched her second career world medal. A year ago, she was a bronze medalist at the U17 World Championships at 69 kg. Another American to grab some hardware on Thursday was Naomi Simon at 76 kg. Simon squared off with Japan’s Chisato Yoshida in a bronze medal match. After Simon controlled the mat for the first minute and a half Yoshida was put on the activity clock. Almost simultaneously, the clock expired as Simon was finishing off a takedown from a front headlock, giving her a 3-0 lead. In the next sequence, Simon avoided a headlock attempt from Yoshida, spun behind and hit a gut wrench at the edge of the mat. The officials initially gave Yoshida a takedown, but after a review, it was overturned and deemed a takedown, then exposure for Simon and a 7-0 lead. With around :30 remaining in the bout Yoshida went into desperation mode. She tried a head pinch and then a neck wrench, both of which were unsuccessful and ultimately, led to a Simon takedown to ice the match at 9-0. The other American in the gold medal finals on Thursday, Alexis Janiak, wasn’t as fortunate. She ran into a Japanese opponent (Sakura Onishi) who was a buzzsaw all tournament. Onishi got a quick takedown and transitioned into a series of leg laces that quickly ended the match after only :43 seconds. The American women have already clinched four medals with a fifth as a possibility on Friday. Carissa Qureshi has been pulled into repechage at 57 kg. She’ll face India’s Neha Sharma with a berth in the bronze medal match looming. Also on Friday, the US men’s freestyle team will take the mat for the first time. 57, 65, 70, 79, and 97 kg will start their tournaments.

2024 Olympian Darian Cruz is on the move as he was announced as a new assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania today. Cruz recently represented Puerto Rico at the Olympic Games and advanced to the 57 kg bronze medal match before losing to India’s Aman Sehrawat, 13-5. Cruz qualified for the Olympic Games after getting to the finals of the Pan-American Olympic Qualifier. In the semifinals, Cruz downed the American representative Zane Richards. Richards had defeated Cruz 8-2 in late-2023 at the Pan-American Games. The move isn’t too far away from Cruz’s current home - which also happens to be his hometown. A high school star at Bethlehem Catholic, Cruz wrestled collegiately at Lehigh and has previously trained out of the Lehigh Valley Wrestling Club. At Lehigh, Cruz earned All-American honors on three occasions, highlighted by a national championship in 2017 at 125 lbs. At that tournament, Cruz shocked top-seeded Thomas Gilman (Iowa) in the semifinals, before defeating fellow Pennsylvania District XI native Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) for the title. Cruz also won an EIWA championship in each of his final three years with the Mountain Hawks. The Penn was looking for new staff members after Mark Hall retired from competition and moved to Oklahoma to work as the Sooners Director of Operations. Former associate head coach Bryan Pearsall also left for Oklahoma, but to take a job as the recruiting coordinator for David Taylor at Oklahoma State. Penn also added Matt Valenti and Doug Zapf of their staff this offseason. Cruz’s addition should bolster the University of Pennsylvania’s lightweights. The Quakers have a pair of returning national qualifiers slated to handle the two lightest weights with Max Gallagher at 125 and Ryan Miller at 133 lbs.

Pictured: Oregon State commit Manny Saldate Week one of the college football season kicked off last weekend which is always fun. From a wrestling standpoint, that means that fall visits, oftentimes centered around football games, are off and running. I imagine in the coming days/weeks the verbals will start rolling in as more and more recruits have the opportunity to visit their future home campuses. Before the football boost, there were a handful of nationally-ranked recruits that have made recent commitments. Here are some of the latest. For all the current recruits that have committed, check InterMat’s commitment page. #100 Manny Saldate (SLAM Academy, Nevada) Oregon State continues to reel in recruits from the Class of 2025. At this point, they have four Big Boarder’s and five total commitments. Nevada’s Manny Saldate gives Chris Pendleton’s squad a pair of wrestlers currently ranked in the top-100 nationally. Saldate is a three-time Nevada 5A state champion who is a fixture on the national scene. Over the summer, Saldate placed in both styles in Fargo, at the Junior level, taking eighth in freestyle and third in Greco. With those placements, Saldate has now gotten onto the medal stand five times during his Fargo career. Earlier this year, Saldate also finished in the top-eight in both styles at the UWW U17 Trials. He was a finalist in Greco and seventh in freestyle. It was his first time placing in freestyle after cracking the top-eight in Greco in each of the previous two years. During the 2023-24 high school season, Saldate was third at both the Powerade and the Doc Buchanan Invitational. The first few years of Pendleton’s tenure at Oregon State have produced huge recruiting classes, so Oregon State doesn’t have a pressing need in Saldate’s weight range (133/141); however, more talent across the board is always welcomed. Saldate, along with, #78 Adrian Reyes (Clovis, CA), #118 Koy Davidson (Fort Dodge, IA), and #148 Jeff Lopez (Clovis West, CA) give the Beavers a really strong start to recruiting in the Class of 2025. #140 Max Nevlin (St. Peter’s Prep, New Jersey) A commitment from New Jersey state placewinner, Max Nevlin, gives Campbell a trio of Big Boarder’s amongst their 2025 verbals. Nevlin is a three-time New Jersey state qualifier, who made the podium for the first time in 2024 with a fifth-place finish at the 157 lb weight class. Nevlin also has some national credentials to his name as he was third in 16U freestyle in Fargo in 2022. Later that year, he was fourth at the Beast of the East. Nevlin appears to project at the 174 lb weight class for Scotti Sentes’ team. For the long haul, Campbell doesn’t have an entrenched starter at that weight, though they do have some recruits from the Class of 2024. Nevlin joins #93 EJ Solis (South Dade, FL) and #193 Max Brady (Mariner, FL) as members of Campbell’s Class of 2025. Campbell’s 2024 recruiting class was tabbed by InterMat as the #22 group in the country. #149 Cole Evans (Perrysburg, Ohio) We’ve already touched on West Virginia’s recruiting in previous updates, but we’ll have to do it again as the Mountaineers received a verbal commitment from their fourth Big Boarder of 2025, Cole Evans. Evans is a three-time Ohio state qualifier and two-time champion. As a freshman, Evans won the DI 106 lb bracket by defeating current UVA recruit Adam Butler (St. Edward) in the finals. Evans had a huge jump to 132 lbs in his sophomore year and qualified for the state tournament, but missed out on the podium. That year, Perrysburg had state champions at the two weights below Evans. As a junior and back towards his normal weight, Evans won the 126 lb weight class at the DI classification. On his way to the title, he downed Brown recruit Khimari Manns (St. Edward) in the semifinals and top-200 recruit Phoenix Contos (Waite) in the championship finals. Though Evans doesn’t have any major national credentials just yet, he narrowly missed out on placing at the 2023 Walsh Ironman. Evans advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over Oklahoma recruit Sebastian DeGennaro (Jensen Beach, FL) before losing a one-point match to JJ McComas (Stillwater, OK). In the bloodround he was edged by Navy recruit Andrew Binni (Canon-McMillan, Pennsylvania) in the ultimate tiebreaker rideout. For now, we have Evans in the 133/141 lb range at the collegiate level, though he could grow into 149 lbs. Though there are already Class of 2025 recruits at 133 and 141 lbs for WVU, they are weights of need in the long term. NR Elliott Humphries (Northfield Mt. Hermon, Massachusetts) One of the breakout stars from Fargo has recently given a verbal commitment to Penn. Elliott Humphries went 2-2 and missed the podium for Northfield Mt. Hermon at the 2024 National Prep Championships. A few months later, Humphries made the Fargo Junior freestyle finals at 165 lbs. In the opening round at Fargo, Humphries shocked #30 Jordan Chapman (Cranford, NJ) in a 20-19 barnburner. It was one of three wins over ranked opponents on his way to the raised center mat. Despite not placing at National Preps, Humphries now holds a national ranking of #12 at 165 lbs. Penn’s Class of 2025 already includes five members of the Big Board and a pair of top-100 recruits. The Quakers did not receive a national ranking for their 2024 Class; however, they were ranked in each of the previous three years.

Women’s wrestling kicked off on Wednesday at the U20 World Championships and the US team started off strong with two women in world finals and another in the hunt for bronze. The two wrestlers that advanced to Thursday’s gold medal matches both happen to be veterans of the U20 world scene. Cristelle Rodriguez and Alexis Janiak were on the 2023 U20 world team and their experience helped propel them to wrestle for world titles tomorrow. Rodriguez was 12th in 2023 and outwrestled that placement already - and then some! The NAIA national champion from Doane actually wasn’t seriously tested during any of her three bouts at 55 kg on Wednesday. Rodriguez needed just over a minute to dispatch Poland’s Amelia Tomala, 11-0. In her second match, Rodriguez came out hot again breezing through Russian, Ekaterina Chikanova with a first takedown in only :38 seconds. Rodriguez continued to pour it on with a 9-0 lead early in the second period. She would put an emphatic stamp on her victory with a big, four-point finish to a leg attack and a 13-0 victory. In the day’s second session, Rodriguez continued to dominate despite surrendering a takedown and her first points of the event to European U20 champion Tuba Demir (Turkiye). Rodriguez got to her offense with a single leg and switched to a double leg with a strong finish for four points and nearly secured a fall after the two hit the mat. Late in the opening period, Rodriguez stopped a Demir shot and threw her an opponent by for a takedown and a 6-2 lead. Early in the second period, Demir attempted a throw, which Rodriguez anticipated, putting Demir to her back. Rodriguez sunk in a deep half and was able to notch the fall. Rodriguez will face Mongolia’s Khaliun Byambasuren in tomorrow’s gold medal match. Byambasuren got to the finals on the strength of a 3-1 semifinal win over Japan’s Karina Honda. The only returning U20 medalist on the women’s team this year is Alexis Janiak - who is now a two-time U20 medalist after her run to the finals on Wednesday. Janiak was a bronze medalist at 59 kg last year. She returned to that same weight class in 2024. Like Rodriguez, Janiak wasn’t overly challenged on Wednesday; however, she did need to wrestle the full six minutes in all three of her matches. Despite the lack of close scores for Janiak, it didn’t mean that she didn’t have to dig deep to earn her wins. In the semifinals against Uladzislava Kudzin (Belarus - AIN), Janiak had to fight back from a 2-0 deficit early in the second period. Janiak scored a takedown off of a low double leg and held both legs for a leg lace. She was able to get four turns to quickly take a 10-2 lead. That is how the bout would end and Janiak earned a spot in tomorrow’s gold medal match. That was almost a carbon copy of Janiak’s quarterfinal win over Viktoria Borsos (Hungary). Borsos led 3-1 with about a minute and a half remaining in the bout, but surrendered a takedown to Janiak who also broke the match open with leg laces. She would win, 11-3. Janiak will take on Japan’s Sakura Onishi for the gold. Onishi advanced to the finals after a pair of 10-0 techs and a fall in the semifinals. The other American woman in the medal hunt is Naomi Simon at 76 kg. Simon nearly was able to pull off a comeback win in the quarterfinals against Ukraine’s Mariia Orlevych, but just fell short at 9-8. Orlevych was able to win her next match, pulling Simon into medal contention. Simon will face Japan’s Chisato Yoshida in a bronze medal match tomorrow. At 50 kg, Anaya Falcon posted a first-round win, but was defeated in her second match and has been eliminated from the medal chase. The remainder of the women’s team will take the mat tomorrow. That group includes two-time U20 team member Reese Larramendy (65 kg) and U17 world bronze medalist Jasmine Robinson (72 kg).

The top prospect in the high school Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, has vowed to keep fans abreast of his recruiting with daily Wednesday updates. Well, today is Wednesday and true to his word, Bassett has posted an updated graphic which has eliminated three more schools from consideration. Earlier this year, Bassett posted a graphic that contained the logos of approximately 80 schools, most of the DI variety, but some DII’s as well, to signify that he’s totally open in the recruiting process. After more than a month of removing schools from the list, he’s down to 20. These three schools were removed from this week's graphic: American, North Carolina, Wisconsin The following schools remain on Bassett’s graphic and therefore in contention for his services: Air Force, Arizona State, Cornell, Iowa, Iowa State, Lehigh, Michigan, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pitt-Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Virginia Tech. These three schools were removed from last week's graphic: Clarion, Little Rock, Minnesota The following schools were removed from the 8/21 graphic: Penn, Oklahoma, Oregon State The following schools were removed from the 8/14 graphic: Bucknell, Virginia, Wyoming The following schools were removed from the 8/7 graphic: Brown, Northern Colorado, Purdue The following schools were removed from the 7/31 graphic: California Baptist, Michigan State, Navy The following schools were removed from the 7/24 graphic: Army West Point, Campbell, Edinboro, Harvard, Illinois, North Dakota State, South Dakota State The following schools were removed from the 7/17 graphic: Cal Poly, Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Millersville, The Citadel, and West Virginia The following schools were removed from the 7/10 graphic: CSU Bakersfield, George Mason, Hofstra, Northwestern, Rider, UW Parkside, West Liberty The following schools were removed from the 7/3 graphic: Appalachian State, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Drexel, Kent State, Ohio, and St. Cloud State The following schools were removed from the 6/26 graphic: Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Northern Illinois, Sacred Heart, SIU Edwardsville As you would expect, most traditional DI power programs are still in the hunt for the two-time Super 32 and Ironman champion. Bassett recently competed at the U20 Pan-American Championships and dominated for a gold medal. In three matches, Bassett posted two falls and a tech. Bassett will also be in action this week at the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. Bassett has already been selected to take part in a Who's #1 rematch with Daniel Zepeda. The event will take place close to home, at Pitt-Johnstown, on September 29th. In 2021, Bassett captured gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the U17 Pan-American Championships. That same year, at the U17 World Championships, Bassett claimed a gold medal in freestyle and was 12th in Greco. He’ll compete this year just in freestyle.

Perrysburg

The transfer portal has long since closed so that means that transfer season has been over for months right….right? That is definitely not the case as there has been plenty of movement on the transfer front within the last few weeks. As we have discovered in this transfer portal era, even though there’s a rule in place, there typically seem to be some sort of ways to get around them. Iowa stole the headlines last week as the Hawkeyes added multi-time All-Americans Jacori Teemer and Stephen Buchanan - both of which could open the preseason as the top-ranked wrestlers at their respective weight classes (157 and 197). Adding the pair has led to a handful of wrestlers leaving Iowa City, so in this instance, South Dakota State benefited by adding a Big Ten finalist (Zach Glazier), a national qualifier (Cobe Siebrecht), and a couple other former Hawkeyes (Drake Rhodes and Cade Siebrecht). Additionally, Aiden Riggins left for in-state rival, Iowa State, and Bradley Hill has moved on to Oklahoma. And technically, these wrestlers didn’t enter the portal! We think (and think being the key word) this may be the final transfer portal update before the start of the 2024-25 season; however, plenty can change over the next few weeks. Here’s the updated list of transfers to DI schools: Arizona State: Max Acciardi (197) - California Baptist Arizona State: Aziz Fayzullaev (184) - Northwest College Bellarmine: Nathan Higley (141/149) - George Mason Brown: Jacob Joyce (125) - Stanford California Baptist: Tristan Kemp (285) - West Virginia California Baptist: Carter Schmidt (174) - Iowa State Cal Poly: Joel Jesuroga (149) - Iowa Cal Poly: Korbin Shepherd (133/141) - Missouri Chattanooga: Bretli Reyna (149) - Iowa Chattanooga: Connor Strong (184) - Penn CSU Bakersfield: Gerrit Nijenhuis (174) - Oklahoma Drexel: Malachi Bordovsky (141) - Iowa Western Drexel: Giuseppe Hoose (184) - Oklahoma Edinboro: Colton Camacho (125/133) - Pittsburgh Edinboro: Ryan Michaels (149) - Pittsburgh Edinboro: Cheaney Schoeff (133) - Indiana Franklin & Marshall: Michael Duggan (157) - Bloomsburg Hofstra: Kyle Mosher (174) - Columbia Illinois: Ramazan Attasauov (125/133) - Iowa State Illinois: Jason Kraisser (157) - Iowa State Illinois: Danny Nini (157) - North Carolina Indiana: Logan Frazier (133) - Virginia Tech Indiana: Angelo Rini (133) - Columbia Iowa: Stephen Buchanan (197) - Oklahoma Iowa: Kyle Parco (149) - Arizona State Iowa: Jacori Teemer (157) - Arizona State Iowa State: Evan Bockman (184) - Utah Valley Iowa State: Christian Carroll (197) - Oklahoma State Iowa State: Aiden Riggins (174) - Iowa Lehigh: Rylan Rogers (174/184) - Michigan Little Rock: Branson Britten (184) - Northern Colorado Little Rock: Brock DelSignore (184) - NC State Little Rock: Jaivon Jones (149) - Northern Illinois Little Rock: Jordan Williams (149) - Oklahoma State Lock Haven: Caden Dobbins (165) - Bloomsburg Lock Haven: James Lledo (184) - Pittsburgh Lock Haven: Nick Stampoulos (157) - Buffalo Michigan: Jacob Cardenas (197) - Cornell Michigan: Chase Saldate (157) - Michigan State Michigan State: Jay Nivison (174) - Buffalo Michigan State: Kyle Rowan (141) - Stanford Michigan State: Cody Phelps (133) - Western Wyoming Minnesota: Tommy Askey (157) - Appalachian State Minnesota: Cooper Flynn (125) - Virginia Tech Minnesota: Clayton Whiting (174/184) - Missouri Morgan State: Xavier Doolin (285) - Northern Colorado Morgan State: Darrien Roberts (184) - Oklahoma North Carolina: Nolan Neves (285) - Columbia North Carolina: Ethan Oakley (133) - Appalachian State North Carolina: Josh Ogunsanya (174) - North Carolina North Dakota State: Michael Baker (197) - Columbia North Dakota State: Andrew Blackburn-Forst (285) - Northern Colorado North Dakota State: Kyle Burwick (133) - Nebraska North Dakota State: Tristan Daugherty (125) - Buffalo North Dakota State: Peyton Moore (133) - Missouri North Dakota State: Devin Wasley (184) - Minnesota North Dakota State: Bradley Whitright (197) - North Idaho Northern Colorado: AJ Heeg (174/184) - Oklahoma State Northern Colorado: Clayton Ulrey (157/165) - Virginia Tech Northern Illinois: Markel Baker (133) - George Mason Northern Illinois: Devon Dawson (285) - North Dakota State) Northern Illinois: Spencer Mooberry (197) - North Dakota State Ohio: TJ England (133) - Clarion Oklahoma: Fernando Barreto (133) - North Dakota State Oklahoma: Cleveland Belton (133) - Oregon State Oklahoma: Gaven Sax (174) - North Dakota State Oklahoma: Carter Schubert (165) - California Baptist Oklahoma State: Cam Amine (165) - Michigan Oklahoma State: Caleb Fish (165) - Michigan State Oklahoma State: Dean Hamiti (165/174) - Wisconsin Oklahoma State: Wyatt Hendrickson (285) - Air Force Oregon State: Sean Harman (174) - Missouri Oregon State: Ethan Stiles (157) - Nebraska Pittsburgh: Nick Babin (125) - Columbia Pittsburgh: Mateo de la Pena (165) - California Baptist Pittsburgh: Chase Kranitz (184) - Buffalo Pittsburgh: Evan Tallmadge (125) - Navy Rider: Sammy Alvarez (149) - Oklahoma State Rutgers: Dagen Condomitti (157) - Oregon State Sacred Heart: Braxton Appello (125) - Ohio State Sacred Heart: Felix Lettini (157) - Wisconsin SIU Edwardsville: Ben Lunn (141) - Minnesota SIU Edwardsville: Luke Odom (157) - Illinois SIU Edwardsville: Griffin Ray (165) - Nebraska South Dakota State: Zach Glazier (197) - Iowa South Dakota State: Drake Rhodes (165) - Iowa South Dakota State: Cade Siebrecht (149) - Iowa South Dakota State: Cobe Siebrecht (157) - Iowa The Citadel: Tyler Badgett (157) - Pittsburgh The Citadel: Billy Janzer (184) - Rutgers Utah Valley: Terrell Barraclough (165) - Penn State Utah Valley: Tanner Frothinger (141) - Nebraska Utah Valley: Bridger Ricks (125) - Western Wyoming Virginia: Charlie Darracott (165) - Stanford Virginia: Justin Phillips (174) - California Baptist Virginia Tech: Connor McGonagle (133) - Lehigh Virginia Tech: Tyler Stewart (285) - Morgan State Virginia Tech: Lennox Wolak (174) - Columbia West Virginia: Tommy Maddox (133) - Buffalo Wisconsin: Massoma Endene (197) - Wartburg Wisconsin: Wyatt Skebba (125) - Central Michigan Wyoming: Jared Hill (157) - Oklahoma Wyoming: Sam Mitchell (285) - Buffalo Wyoming: Brant Whitaker (165) - Missouri

The first day of competition from the U20 World Championships saw the US Greco team put a pair of wrestlers into the world finals, for the first time in seven years, and two others with medal hopes still alive in repechage. Things took a turn on Tuesday as the two finalists both fell in their respective gold medal matches and the final five Greco wrestlers took the mat and were eliminated from medal contention. The best development for the American Greco contingent came at heavyweight as Aden Attao won three matches to claim a bronze medal at 130 kg. Attao joins fellow big man Cohlton Schultz as the most recent American to win multiple world medals in Greco-Roman at the U20 age group. Attao started his run through repechage with an 8-0 victory over Puerto Rico’s Ethan Vergara. In his second bout, Attao faced a much stiffer challenge in Turkiye’s Cemal Bakir - a European U20 silver medalist earlier this year. Attao got on the board first as Bakir was hit was passivity and the American gained the opportunity to work from par terre. Eschewing a typical gut wrench, Attao sunk in a reverse lock around the front of Bakir, but managed to take him across his back for a set of exposure points and a 3-0 lead. Still in the opening period, Bakir used a throw-by to secure a takedown then locked up a gut wrench and turned Attao for a second set of points. He would lead by a 4-3 margin heading into the second period. In the final stanza, Attao was deemed passive and Bakir was given the point and the favorable position in par terre. That didn’t result in any additional points and the pair stood up, with Bakir leading 5-3. Attao pressed the action for the remainder of regulation, but was unable to score. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Bakir headbutted Attao. The judge called for a caution and two; however, it was not awarded. The American corner challenged the ruling which was overturned and two points were awarded to Attao. Criteria made him the winner at 5-5. For the bronze medal, Attao faced Russian Aleksandr Melekhov who was wrestling under the Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) distinction. Trailing 3-0 in the first period, after two step-out points and a passivity call, Attao pummeled and fought for positioning and each had an over/under tie. It was Attao who was able to win the position and tossed Melekhov for four points, but more importantly, was able to gain a fall. That ensured Attao would win a second world medal in three years. Unfortunately, both of the wrestlers who qualified for Tuesday’s gold medal matches, Isaiah Cortez (55 kg) and Otto Black (63 kg), fell via tech in their finals. Both will come away with silver medals. The pair, combined with Attao, gives the Americans three medals in Greco-Roman, a number they also achieved in 2019. Wednesday marks the first day of competition in women’s freestyle. The 50, 55, 59, 68, and 76 kg weight classes will begin action.

The ankle bands have been removed and gently placed in the center of the wrestling mat for the last time. Last week, Jason Nolf made a bit of a surprising announcement when he declared that he was retiring from the sport of wrestling. Nolf has a much-deserved reputation as one of the most entertaining and outstanding collegiate wrestlers of his generation. During his career at Penn State, Nolf was an integral part of four national title-winning teams and garnered three individual championships himself, amongst four NCAA finals appearances. Despite a lofty recruiting ranking (fourth in the Class of 2014), a very strong redshirt campaign, and an excellent start to his career, Nolf really introduced himself to the collegiate wrestling community with a shocking pin of Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) in their 2015-16 dual. Martinez was a returning national champion at the weight and was unbeaten in his career, up to that point. For the bulk of Nolf’s career, he was the second part of a back-to-back, 1-2 punch, with Zain Retherford, in the middle of Penn State’s lineup that was as good as any we’ve ever seen. Nolf also came in during the same recruiting class as Bo Nickal and the pair both finished with tons of bonus points and three national titles a piece. The final tally on Nolf’s impressive collegiate career includes a sparkling 117-3 career record with bonus points in nearly 86% of his matches. Despite the recent run of legendary wrestlers through State College, Nolf finished his Penn State career as the all-time leader in pins with 60 - just one ahead of Nickal. His winning percentage (.975) is the fifth highest in school history though one of his losses came via injury default. While we didn’t realize it at the time, Nolf’s competitive career came to an end at Penn State’s Bryce-Jordan Arena at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials. Nolf made the finals after beating the legendary Jordan Burroughs; however, he was beaten in the best-of-three finals by fellow Nittany Lion Wrestling Club teammate Kyle Dake. Since the Trials, Nolf has participated in grappling events and plans to continue down that road, while also getting into coaching. Nolf’s retirement reminded me that he’s one of the best wrestlers of the last 25 years to not own a Hodge Trophy. In fact, Nolf has put up two of the best seasons of the last decade for wrestlers who did not win the Hodge. Unfortunately, being on the same team and in the same era as wrestlers like Retherford and Nickal blocked Nolf from taking home college wrestling’s most coveted trophy. So, taking it a step further, who are others who put up incredible single-season numbers, yet did not win the Hodge Trophy in that particular season? An exercise like this is always made easier by our friends at WrestleStat. Unfortunately, as you go further back, there are less reliable stats, which means we have less information on the older wrestlers on this list. Below are some of those unfortunate wrestlers who had excellent years, but were overshadowed by other greats. They are listed with some of the key numbers signifying their dominance and some sort of a fun fact related to their season in question, plus the Hodge winner from that year. Remember, we’re only listing wrestlers who excelled in the categories valued in Hodge criteria. Kyle Snyder never won because he generally wrestled a limited schedule. Yianni Diakomihalis and J’den Cox had incredible careers but didn’t always compare to the Hodge winners when it came to bonus points and falls. Others may have taken a loss or two before the NCAA Tournament. Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa - 2024) Stats: 31-0; National champion at 184 lbs. 90% bonus point rate (28 bonus-point wins), 2 falls, 12 techs, 14 major decisions. Miscellaneous: Scored bonus points in all five of his NCAA wins. Hodge Winner: Aaron Brooks (Penn State) Carter Starocci (Penn State - 2023) Stats: 24-0; National champion at 174 lbs (third title). 67% bonus point rate (16 bonus-point wins), 4 falls, 3 techs, 9 major decisions. Miscellaneous: Had a fall over Mikey Labriola in the NCAA finals. Hodge Winner: Mason Parris (Michigan) Jason Nolf (Penn State - 2019) Stats: 31-0; National champion at 157 lbs (third title). 87% bonus point rate (27 bonus-point wins), 15 falls, 5 techs, 6 major decisions, 1 injury default. Miscellaneous: Pinned nine of his first 11 opponents Hodge Winner: Bo Nickal Bo Nickal (Penn State - 2018) Stats: 31-0; National champion at 184 lbs (second title). 74% bonus point rate (23 bonus-point wins), 16 falls, 1 tech, 6 major decisions. Miscellaneous: Pinned NCAA champion Myles Martin in the national finals to secure team title for Penn State. Hodge Winner: Zain Retherford (Penn State) Jason Nolf (Penn State - 2017) Stats: 27-0; National champion at 157 lbs. 93% bonus point rate (25 bonus-point wins), 14 falls, 8 techs, 3 major decisions. Miscellaneous: Michael Kemerer was the only wrestler that Nolf did not hang bonus points on. He defeated Kemerer by five and six points in their two meetings. Hodge Winner: Zain Retherford (Penn State) Zain Retherford (Penn State - 2016) Stats: 35-0; National champion at 149 lbs. 89% bonus point rate (31 bonus-point wins), 16 falls, 8 techs, 7 major decisions. Miscellaneous: Closest NCAA match was a 10-1 major decision over Brandon Sorensen in the finals. Hodge Winner: Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State - 2015) Stats: 32-0; National champion at 165 lbs (second title). 84% bonus point rate (27 bonus-point wins), 11 falls, 4 techs, 12 major decisions Miscellaneous: Ended the year on a 48-match winning streak and put together his first undefeated season Hodge Winner: Logan Stieber (Ohio State) Ed Ruth (Penn State - 2013) Stats: 33-0; National champion at 184 lbs (second title). 79% bonus point rate (26 bonus-point wins), 12 falls, 4 techs, 10 major decisions Miscellaneous: Finished the year on a 68-match winning streak Hodge Winner: Kyle Dake (Cornell) Ed Ruth (Penn State - 2012) Stats: 31-0; National champion at 174 lbs. 84% bonus point rate (26 bonus-point wins), 10 falls, 7 techs, 9 major decisions Miscellaneous: Majored Nick Amuchastegui in the NCAA finals. Amuchastegui’s win via injury default in 2011 was Ruth’s only career loss at the NCAA Tournament. Hodge Winner: David Taylor (Penn State) Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State - 2011) Stats: 29-0; National champion at 133 lbs. 83% bonus point rate (24 bonus-point wins), 11 falls, 6 techs, 7 major decisions Miscellaneous: Prevailed in an excellent weight class that featured 11 current/future All-Americans and five current/future national finalists. Hodge Winner: Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) Keith Gavin (Pittsburgh - 2008) Stats: 33-0; National champion at 174 lbs; 45% bonus point rate (15 bonus-point wins), 6 falls, 2 techs, 7 major decisions Miscellaneous: Gavin was the only undefeated national champion in 2008; however, he did not win the Hodge. One-loss Brent Metcalf was awarded the Hodge. Hodge Winner: Brent Metcalf (Iowa) Cole Konrad (Minnesota - 2007) Stats: 35-0; National champion at 285 lbs (second title), 13 falls Miscellaneous: Finished his career on a 76-match winning streak with a fall in the NCAA finals. Hodge Winner: Ben Askren (Missouri) Greg Jones (West Virginia - 2005) Stats: 26-0; National champion at 184 lbs (third title) Miscellaneous: Gave up 10 career takedowns in 130 matches Hodge Winner: Steve Mocco (Oklahoma State) Stephen Abas (Fresno State - 2002) Stats: 35-0; National champion at 125 lbs (third title), 12 falls Miscellaneous: Finished career on a 95-match winning streak Hodge Winner: Cael Sanderson (Iowa State)

St. Peter's Prep

Southeast Polk

The Binghamton Bearcats have had Kyle Borshoff as head coach for seven years. Entering his eighth season at the helm, the program has improved in many aspects. The overall GPA has been on the rise. The performance on the mat has been on a steady incline. He’s been a busy man building the program’s brand into what it is today thanks to his cerebral approach to wrestling and other wrestling-adjacent hobbies. Before he was involved with the Binghamton program. He was a successful athlete at American University in Washington DC. Borshoff earned All-American honors in 2009 and 2010 while qualifying for NCAA’s three times in total. The upstate New York native’s father is also a Binghamton Athletic Hall of Fame member. It’s the perfect place for Kyle to thrive, almost as if it was destined. Kyle’s father, Tim Borshoff, was an NCAA finalist in 1975. He was Binghamton’s first to achieve this feat, helping the team finish in fifth place. It also earned him the Athlete of the Year award. Kyle’s father still attends every match. “Watching wrestling is his hobby. Others play golf – not my dad.” Kyle explained. He continued, “I am always meeting people who knew my dad. His coach started the wrestling program at the university. I guess there’s some pressure on me!” Kyle said in a half-serious, half-joking manner. Coach Borshoff saw his father get inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001. He still remembers his speech to this day. Hall of Fame inductions must run in the family. Due to his success on the mat, Kyle was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame at his alma mater. Kyle’s father was present at his induction. It’s not every day that a father and son are able to see one another get inducted into the Hall of Fame – especially at two great institutions. Coincidentally, both schools are in the EIWA conference. Kyle Borshoff is not only an excellent wrestler, coach, father, and mentor. To add to the list, he’s recently been promoted to a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Jiu-jitsu is a hobby he’s recently got back into within the last two years. The first time he ever “rolled” was when he was an assistant at American right after college with an athlete he coached named David Terao. It was a hobby Terao enjoyed and also excelled at. Terao was (and still is) a very high-level judo athlete. If you do not remember Terao, be sure to watch his matches from NCAA’s in 2016 when he claimed fourth place. He was one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch! The entire arena was “ooh-ing and aah-ing” at every wild sequence during his matches. Terao, a Hawaii native, is still training to compete at the 2028 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Borshoff really took a liking to jiu-jitsu because it’s similar to wrestling in many aspects, but also different. Once he was named the head coach at Binghamton, he was less involved in it. He had more responsibilities as a head coach and family man. His curiosity grew more thanks to a particular wrestler on his team named, Dimitri Gamkrelidze. Dimitri only wrestled his senior year in high school – but he excelled at Judo and Sambo while dabbling in jiu-jitsu. His work ethic and skill set helped him improve every year as he ended his career with an eighth-place finish at EIWA’s. Regarding Terao and Gamkrelidze, Borshoff stated “It made me think differently about wrestling. How can this guy (Gamkrelidze) be competitive in D1 wrestling with only one year of wrestling experience?” Coach started doing BJJ (rolling) three to four weeks at Broome County Martial Arts, which is owned and operated by Tamden “The Barn Cat” McCrory. McCrory had a very respectable MMA career – fighting in both the UFC and Bellator. Borshoff has found that BJJ athletes really benefit from working with him because he gives a different feel compared to typical jiu-jitsu grapplers. The inverse assumption can be made as well. BJJ athletes who can wrestle, benefit wrestlers. Borshoff’s preference is Gi BJJ. For those unfamiliar, there is Gi BJJ and No Gi BJJ. The Gi is the (in layman’s terms) fancy robe they wear as they compete. The Gi can be used to help take opponents any position needed to get a submission. So, how do these correlate? Think about the main position in BJJ. Most athletes prefer to be on their back – which is the exact opposite of wrestling. If you get into certain positions enough times, you can figure out how to maneuver your opponent in a certain way you may not have felt before. For instance, when you feel an athlete try to pull you onto them in BJJ, something can click in your “wrestling mind” on how to utilize that action, or reaction, in wrestling to force your opponent onto their back. The difference in rules, such as leg locks, submissions, and choke outs, make you aware of positions you may not worry about in wrestling. This particularly comes in handy during a play-wrestle session when both wrestlers are feeling unorthodox positions and working to get comfortable in uncomfortable situations. “The biggest crossover between the two is takedown defense. You see foot sweeps too. Things like hip position and grip too are familiar to most wrestlers.” Borshoff explained positions that overlap the two disciplines. He continued, “Taking guard (in BJJ) is similar to a leg pass (in wrestling) where you can end up in a double boots position.” At the risk of pissing off jiu-jitsu diehards, he stated that a high-level wrestler who walks into a BJJ practice can hold their own most of the time and pick it up very quickly. In his experience, these high-level wrestlers seem to learn quicker than average due to body awareness and the positions discussed. We discussed wrestlers like Jason Nolf's success in various forms of grappling and numerous UFC champions who have wrestling backgrounds. You can bet that some of Borshoff’s techniques he teaches to his wrestlers incorporate BJJ. Occasionally, to switch things up, they’ll do a jiu-jitsu workout while wearing a gi. He hopes to expand this discipline to his team to the point where they really think about wrestling from a different angle. With the increasing popularity of BJJ, more wrestlers are finding themselves doing it as a hobby. Borshoff is at the forefront of integrating these sets of skills into wrestling as a way to not only cross-train, but to improve wrestling skills as well. There was one point Coach Borshoff made that stuck with me. How can wrestling learn from BJJ? “Literally anyone can walk into a gym and learn BJJ. We can teach it to a 90-year-old woman. Wrestling does not have that capability. There is nowhere for adults to go and physically learn wrestling.” It’s my opinion that this is a niche that needs to be filled if wrestling wants to gain popularity amongst the general population. Why are there so few clubs, gyms, etc. that teach wrestling? It’s proven to be the best baseline for MMA. Maybe that’s a topic for another day. Until then, keep an eye out for the Bearcats of Binghamton. The success on and off the mat is noticeable. Head Coach, Kyle Borshoff, has played a huge part in that with his willingness to think outside the box and approach the sport in a unique fashion. photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com

Northfield Mt. Herman

Great Bridge

Labor Day was not a day of rest for some of the best young wrestlers in the world as Monday marked the first day of competition at the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. The focus, on the first day of action from Spain, was on Greco-Roman - as five of the ten Greco weights were conducted all the way to the finals. Day one was excellent from an American perspective, as a pair of US wrestlers advanced to Tuesday’s gold medal matches - Isaiah Cortez (55 kg) and Otto Black (63 kg). Cortez had to grind his way through his first three matches with close wins in each contest. After a one-point victory in the qualification round, Cortez posted three-point wins in the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals. His quarterfinal opponent, Maxim Sarmanov (Moldova) was a European U20 silver medalist earlier this year. In the semifinals, Cortez took care of business quickly and didn’t need to win any nailbiters. Facing Kazakhstan’s Aibek Aitbekov, Cortez got on the board early with a passivity point on his opponent. From the par terre position, Cortez took advantage and never looked back. He locked up a trapped-arm gut wrench and proceeded to take Aitbekov to expose his back and then the opposite direction, time and time again, until he ended the match with a 9-0 tech. Cortez will advance to tomorrow’s gold medal match and take on Iran’s Ali Ahmadi Vafa. Last year, Ahmadi Vafa fell in the bronze medal match in the U20 World Championships at this weight class. On his way to the semifinals, Ahmadi Vafa picked up a win over the American entry, Zach Silvis. Earlier this year, Ahmadi Vafa was a gold medalist at the Asian U20 Championships. Black needed a strong second-period rally in the quarterfinals, against Turkiye’s Enes Ulku, just to advance to the semi’s. Trailing 5-0, Ulku was called for passivity and Black was allowed to work from par terre. Black locked up a gut wrench and brought Ulku to his feet and tossed him for four points. A caution on Ulku gave the American an additional two points, a 7-5 lead, and another par terre restart. Quickly, Ulku reversed the position for a point and then brought Black to his feet for a throw attempt. Though Black landed on top of Ulku, the Turkish wrestler was given two points. Black’s corner challenged the ruling which ended up being overturned. The pair would resume action with :06 remaining in the match and Black was able to hold on for a 7-6 victory. In the semifinals, Black was paired with Armenia’s Yurik Hoveyan. Once again, Black would have to battle back from an early deficit as Hoveyan got a quick first-period takedown. After the takedown, Hoveyan was working for a gut wrench; however, Black stuffed the attempt and hopped over for a reversal. The American then locked up a gut of his own for a two-point exposure and a 3-2 lead. That’s how the score would look heading into the waning seconds of the bout. A desperate Hoveyan tried a half-hearted flying squirrel attempt and Black caught him and tossed him to the mat for four points and an exclamation point on a 7-2 victory. Black has locked up a medal and will wrestle for gold tomorrow against Erzu Zakriev who is a Russian but is competing under the AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete) designation. Zakriev was a gold medalist at the European U20 Championships this year and did not surrender a point during his title run. In that tournament, Zakriev earned wins over Hoveyan (7-0) and Ulku (9-0). Black is a Class of 2024 graduate who has signed with the University of Iowa. Cortez is a high school senior who has committed to Cornell’s gigantic Class of 2025. This will be the first world medals of any sort for both wrestlers. Black did advance to the bronze medal match at the U17 level in 2021 but suffered a loss. Cortez and Black aren’t the only Americans wrestling for medals tomorrow, Aydin Rix McElhinney (77 kg) and Aden Attao (130 kg), both have been pulled back into tomorrow’s repechage. Attao was a U20 world bronze medalist in 2022 and was seventh in 2023. Both will need to win a pair of repechage matches just to advance to the bronze medal match. Ryder Rogotzke was the other American in action at 87 kg. Rogotzke was beaten in his first bout by Romania’s Patrik Gordan; however, Gordon was defeated in the semifinals - which crushed any repechage hopes for Rogotzke. With five more Greco-Roman weights starting on Tuesday, this tournament already has to be considered a success from an American standpoint. This will only be the second time that the United States has had multiple finalists in Junior/U20 Greco-Roman. The last time this occurred was in 2017 when Cevion Severado (50 kg) and Kamal Bey (74 kg) both wrestled for gold.

Oklahoma head coach Roger Kish sits down with James Hackney to discuss his first year in Norman, a talented recruiting class, the upcoming season, a renewed rivalry with Oklahoma State and more. The Sooners could unveil a 2024-25 lineup that includes seven past national qualifiers and gets a boost from a recruiting class that was ranked third in the nation by InterMat. For the full interview:

SLAM Academy

August 30 United Fight League 5 (YouTube) Hunter Azure (Montana State Northern) vs. Vince Morales August 31 Delta Fighting Championship 8 (TrillerTV) Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) vs. Loren Thibodeaux September 7 UFC Fight Night (ESPN+) Andre Petroski (UNC/Bloomsburg/Kutztown) vs. Dylan Budka September 7 Bellator Champions Series 4 (MAX) Raufeon Stots (Nebraska Kearney) vs. Marcos Breno Jordan Newman (Wisconsin-Whitewater) vs. Imamshafi Aliev Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs. John MaCalolooy Josh Hokit (Fresno State) vs. Sean Rose September 14 UFC 306 (ESPN PPV) Ode Osbourne (Carroll) vs. Ronaldo Rodriguez September 14 Bellator Champions Series 5 (MAX) Johnny Eblen (Missouri) vs. Fabian Edwards Archie Colgan (Wyoming) vs. Manoel Sousa September 28 PFL Europe 3 (DAZN) Roger Huerta (Augsburg) vs. Rob Whiteford October 5 UFC 307 (ESPN PPV) Aljamain Sterling (Cortland) vs. Movsar Evloev (brother of Olympic champ Musa Evloev) Carla Esparza (Menlo) vs. Tecia Pennington October 12 UFC Fight Night (ESPN+) Pat Sabatini (Rider) vs. Jonathan Pearce October 19 PFL Super Fights (ESPN PPV) AJ McKee (Cerritos) vs. Paul Hughes