Champions at this week's tournament in Las Vegas from the eight weight classes to be contested at the UWW World Championships (50 kilos, 55, 60, 66, 74, 84, 96, and 120) all advance to the World Team Trials final match next month. That event will be on May 21st and 22nd in Irving, Texas.
Logan Massa gets in on a shot on Mark Hall at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Based on registration as of late Tuesday evening, here are some of the key names within each of the eleven weight classes.
50 kilos: Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional, Pa.) is the defending Junior World freestyle champion in this weight class and the extraordinarily favored wrestler in this week's tournament. He is the top overall ranked wrestler in the Class of 2017, and also won a UWW Cadet World title in this weight class in 2014. Seven of the other participants in this weight class are multi-time Fargo freestyle All-Americans, led most notably by returning (Fargo) Junior National freestyle champion Jason Holmes (Chandler, Ariz.); others include UWW Cadet National freestyle runners-up in Rhett Golowenski (Tuttle, Okla.) and Mosha Schwartz (Ponderosa, Colo.)
55 kilos: Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.) was champion of this weight class at this tournament last year, and earned the UWW Cadet World Team spot at 54 kilos by beating Spencer Lee last year in Akron. Ranked No. 4 overall in the Class of 2017, Fix was a Cadet World bronze medalist last summer. Five challengers in this weight class either are currently ranked in their scholastic grade level or finished their careers ranked as such.
Among the redshirting freshmen, who graduated high school in 2015, you have No. 25 Nick Piccinnini (Oklahoma State) and Austin Assad (Michigan), with Assad having earned three Junior National freestyle titles in Fargo. From those in high school are a pair of juniors in No. 14 Austin Gomez (Glenbard North, Ill.) and No. 46 Brandon Courtney (Desert Edge, Ariz.), along with Gavin Teasdale (Jefferson Morgan, Pa.), the nation's No. 3 overall sophomore. Gomez placed in this tournament last year, and has multiple Fargo All-American honors to his credit, Courtney was a Junior National freestyle champion at 113 pounds in Fargo last summer, while Teasdale is a two-time UWW Cadet National freestyle champion.
Others still to mention are three Illinois native collegians in Kyle Akins (Buffalo), Brian Rossi (Stanford), and Kris Williams (Nebraska); Josh Kramer (Arizona State); along with Class of 2017 prospects in Bryce and Drew West (Highland Riverside, Iowa).
60 kilos: Anchoring this weight class is Stevan Micic (Michigan), a returning Junior World bronze medalist down a weight class at 55 kilos. This past collegiate season he sat out after transferring from Northwestern; Micic was ranked as the No. 19 overall prospect in the Class of 2014. Arguably the primary challenger in this weight class is still in high school, Yianni Diakomihalis (Hilton, N.Y.), last year's Cadet World champion at 57 kilos; he is ranked No. 2 overall in the Class of 2017.
Another true contender in this weight class is Seth Gross (South Dakota State), a three-time Fargo freestyle champion (including in 2013 at the Junior level) who was one match away from All-American honors in the 141-pound weight class at the NCAA Tournament; he ended high school ranked No. 58 overall in the Class of 2014. Three other top Class of 2014 prospects are in this field, No. 66 Scott Parker (Lehigh), No. 77 Josh Terao (American), and No. 82 Johnny Jimenez (Wisconsin); Parker qualified for the NCAA tournament as a true freshman, while Jimenez earned a bid in this year's tournament.
Four redshirted freshmen in this field were highly touted prospects from the Class of 2015: No. 52 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri), No. 54 Jose Rodriguez (Ohio State), No. 62 Lincoln Olson (Oklahoma State), and No. 93 Eli Stickley (Wisconsin). Two rivals from the Class of 2016 are in this field, No. 20 Mitch McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) and Taylor LaMont (Maple Mountain, Utah), these two wrestlers split finals bouts in both styles at the Junior Nationals in Fargo last summer. Rounding out the notables are a pair of top ten juniors in No. 6 Nick Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.) and No. 8 Kaden Gfeller (Heritage Hall, Okla.); Lee is a two-time UWW Cadet freestyle runner-up, while Gfeller was a three-time All-American in the event.
63 kilos: This is a weight class that is not contested at the World Championships. The lone ranked contestants in terms of their grade level are a pair of top 50 juniors in No. 24 Chris Sandoval (Pueblo County, Colo.) and No. 43 Ben Freeman (Walled Lake Central, Mich.); Sandoval was a Junior freestyle All-American in Fargo last summer, while Freeman was a three-time UWW Cadet freestyle All-American. In terms of the collegiate wrestlers, Zach Davis (Naval Academy) was a NCAA qualifier at 133 pounds.
66 kilos: Returning world bronze medalist Aaron Pico, runner-up at the Olympic Team Trials at 65 kilos, is age eligible for this tournament. Even absent his presence, there is lots of high quality talent in this weight class. Leading the way here is Alec Pantaleo (University of Michigan), who earned All-American honors at 149 pounds in the NCAA tournament this season. Others anchors include five (basically) top 50 wrestlers from the Class of 2015, who were redshirts this past season: No. 9 Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton), No. 10 Sam Krivus (Virginia), No. 15 Fredy Stroker (Minnesota), No. 38 Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State), and No. 51 Vincent Turk (Iowa).
Also here is returning Cadet World champion at 69 kilos, Jared Verkleeren (Belle Vernon Area, Pa.), who is ranked No. 15 overall in the Class of 2017. Another wrestler with World team experience in this weight class is Domenick Demas (Dublin Coffman, Ohio), the No. 27 overall Class of 2017 prospect, a two-time UWW Cadet National champion in Greco-Roman. The other still in high school wrestler of note in this weight class is Joe Lee (Evansville Mater Dei, Ind.), who won a Cadet freestyle title in Fargo last summer, and is No. 23 overall in the Class of 2018.
Griffin Parriott (New Prague, Minn.) placed third in this weight class at this tournament last year, and is the No. 17 overall Class of 2016 recruit; while Ethan Karsten (Platte County, Mo.) is No. 81 overall among the graduating senior group. Last among those that had a grade level ranking coming out of high school is Niko Villarreal (Arizona State), who was No. 45 overall in the 2014 class. Rounding out the list of notables in this weight class is Tristan Moran (Oklahoma State), a Junior National freestyle All-American last summer.
70 kilos: Another weight class that will not be contested at the Junior World Championships, though it is not lacking for quality talent among those entered here this weekend. Leading the way is Michael Kemerer (University of Iowa), who was the No. 11 overall prospect in the Class of 2015. He is joined by three other wrestlers who were ranked highly in that group, all who redshirted this past season: No. 36 Cameron Harrell (Virginia), No. 41 Bryce Parson (Oregon State), and No. 77 Josh Maruca (Arizona State).
Four wrestlers who graduate high school this year, and rank among the top 60 overall prospects in the Class of 2016, are in this field: No. 35 Austin Kraisser (Centennial, Md.), No. 37 Zander Wick (San Marino, Calif.), No. 39 Evan Wick (San Marino, Calif.), and No. 59 Wyatt Sheets (Stilwell, Okla.). Kraisser is a returning placer in this weight class, and was a UWW Cadet National freestyle runner-up in 2014; Zander and Evan were Junior freestyle All-Americans in Fargo last summer, Evan a runner-up; with Sheets also earning Junior All-American honors in Fargo.
Others to note include Zach Kelly (Bucknell), who was ranked No. 28 overall in the Class of 2014; Luke Fortuna (Missouri), a spot starter this season as a true freshman; Quentin Hovis (Seton Catholic, Ariz.), ranked No. 22 overall in the Class of 2017, third last year at the UWW Cadet Nationals; and Josiah Rider (Grand Junction, Colo.), ranked No. 19 overall in the Class of 2018.
74 kilos: Despite all the strong challengers present here, the favorite remains returning World Team member Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.). He is the two-time InterMat High School Wrestler of the Year, and the No. 1 overall Class of 2016 prospect is headed to Penn State. Nine elite Class of 2015 prospects are among the challengers in this field: No. 1 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State), No. 2 Logan Massa (Michigan), No. 6 Fox Baldwin (Virginia), No. 7 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State), No. 16 Joseph Smith (Oklahoma State), No. 21 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh), No. 29 Josh Shields (Arizona State), No. 42 Larry Early (Minnesota), and No. 71 Cole Walter (Lehigh).
Valencia and Massa have wrestled Hall within the last month, each losing narrowly in tightly contested but high-scoring bouts. Of the Class of 2015 prospects listed here, Smith was the only non-redshirt in the group, and he earned All-American honors at the NCAA tournament in the 157-pound weight class. Two other wrestlers in this weight class were ranked upon graduation from high school, or are ranked at present: Kimball Bastian (Utah Valley) graduated as the No. 27 overall wrestler in the Class of 2014, while Jake Allar (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.) is ranked No. 34 overall in the Class of 2017.
79 kilos: The third of the weight class not to be contested at the Junior World Championships is this one. The field in this weekend's event features a pair of redshirting freshmen, who graduated high school among the top 100 Class of 2015 prospects, along with a highly touted Class of 2016 wrestler. Leading the way is Beau Breske (Hartford Union, Wis.), the No. 12 overall Class of 2016 prospect, who is a three-time Fargo freestyle champion (2015 at the Junior level) and a two-time UWW Cadet National freestyle All-American. Those who graduated high school in 2015 as ranked wrestlers are No. 40 Myles Amine (Michigan) and No. 74 Josh Ugalde Maryland).
84 kilos: Myles Martin (Ohio State) won the 174-pound weight class at the NCAA tournament last month in New York City as a true freshman. However, he is not the favorite in this weekend's tournament. That position is held by Zahid Valencia (Arizona State), who had three wins over Martin in the 2014-15 wrestling season; Zahid earned a pair of folkstyle wins in October and December of 2014, before also winning a UWW Junior National title over Martin in May 2015. Valencia, who was the No. 3 overall Class of 2015 prospect, redshirted this year at Arizona State; with Martin ranked right behind as No. 4 overall. A third top ten Class of 2015 prospect is in this weight class, Bobby Steveson (Minnesota), No. 8 overall and a Junior National freestyle champion in Fargo during the summer of 2014.
Others to watch here include a trio of elite wrestlers from the Class of 2014 and 2016. The 2014 group is led by Michael Pixley (Grand View), a multi-time Fargo champion, who was No. 13 overall; he is joined by No. 46 Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin) and No. 51 Nick Fiegener (Cal Baptist). Christensen qualified for the NCAA tournament this year, while Fiegener qualified for the Division I tournament in 2015 as a true freshman at Cal Poly before transferring. The 2016 group features returning Junior National freestyle All-Americans in No. 28 Ben Darmstadt (Elyria, Ohio) and No. 29 Nathan Traxler (Marmion Academy, Ill.), along with No. 41 Josh Hokit (Clovis, Calif.). Also here is returning UWW Cadet National freestyle champion Jelani Embree (Warren Lincoln, Mich.), the No. 25 overall wrestler in the Class of 2017 however did not compete in the World Championships last summer.
96 kilos: Eight wrestlers who were ranked among the top 100 seniors in the Class of 2015 anchor this field, led by No. 5 Lance Benick (Arizona State), a 2013 Cadet World participant in freestyle at 85 kilos. Others include No. 32 Kollin Moore (Ohio State), No. 37 Mason Reinhardt (Wisconsin), No. 57 Andrew Marsden (Oklahoma State), No. 64 Hunter Ritter (Wisconsin), No. 90 Jacob Seely (Northern Colorad), No. 92 David Chadd (Wisconsin), and No. 94 Angus Arthur (Adrian College). Arthur placed fourth at 197 pounds at the NCAA Division III tournament last month, and was a 2013 UWW Cadet World Team member at 76 kilos in both styles. Another touted wrestler in this weight class is Chase Singletary (Blair Academy, N.J.), who is ranked No. 9 overall in the Class of 2017.
120 kilos: Only two wrestlers in this field are/were among the top 100 recruits in their grade level, Patrick Grayson (University of Nebraska) and Gannon Gremmel (Dubuque Hempstead, Iowa); Grayson was ranked No. 95 overall in the Class of 2015, with Gremmel positioned No. 43 in the Class of 2016. Gremmel was a Cadet National freestyle champion in 2014, and a UWW Cadet freestyle All-American in that same year. A couple others to watch are Jake Gunning (Buffalo), who just missed out on the NCAA tournament this year, along with past Fargo All-Americans in Christian Colucci (Lehigh) and Dan Stibral (North Dakota State).
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