InterMat Staff

3x World Team member Mallory Velte (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 65kg Women's Freestyle Entries Elis Manolova (Azerbaijan) 2019 European Champion, 2019 World Bronze Medalist, 2018 U23 World Silver Medalist, 2020 Olympic 10th Place Mimi Hristova (Bulgaria) 2x World 5th Place, 2020 European Champion, 2022 GP of Spain Champion, 2022 Ion Corneanu & Ladislau Simon Silver Medalist For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2021 U20 Greco-Roman World bronze medalist Braxton Amos (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 97kg Greco-Roman Entries Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia) 3x Olympic Medalist (1,2,3), 5x World Medalist (1 x3, 2 x2), 5x European Champion Daniel Gastl (Austria) 2022 European Bronze Medalist, 2022 GP of Germany Champion For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

Pittsburgh's two-time ACC champion Micky Phillippi (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Micky Phillippi has had a slightly different journey through his college wrestling experience than most. As he enters his final season for the Panthers, we discussed his time spanning seven seasons, two schools, four NCAA tournament qualifications, two degrees, three bloodround losses and one recent marriage. Phillippi was a highly sought-after recruit coming out of high school. He was a three-time PA State Champion and put together a career record of 170-12 with wins in prestigious tournaments across the country. He signed with the Virginia Cavaliers and made the move to Charlottesville to join the Hoos. "When I visited UVA and met Coach Garland, it just felt right…with Steve and Jordan (Leen) and Keith (Gavin) as the staff, it just felt like a family and that they really cared about you." Phillippi had a solid redshirt season for the Cavaliers, finishing with a 25-8 record that included a win over All-American Sa'Derian Perry and close losses to multiple-time All-Americans Kaid Brock and Zane Richards. Philippi felt good about his growth on the mat and as a student, but didn't feel that Charlottesville was the right place for him. "The biggest thing was that I was homesick. I come from a big family and it's really important to me--and I wanted to be closer to them." The timing of his decision to leave UVA came with a feeling of serendipity; Keith Gavin was named Head Coach at Pittsburgh in the spring of 2017 and tabbed Jordan Leen as his Associate Head Coach. This made Phillippi's decision to return home to Pittsburgh much easier and allowed him to continue to work with two coaches with whom he had developed very strong relationships. "Coming back to Pittsburgh was like an immediate weight off my shoulders. I get to be close to my family and see my nieces and nephews whenever I want and that is very important to me." At the time of his transfer, he was forced to sit out a year due to the intra-conference transfer and would wrestle a second season unattached. He had another strong season in 2018 going 17-3 with his only losses being to All-Americans Scott DelVecchio and Vito Arujau who competed for Spartan RTC in his greyshirt year. In his first season in the Panther lineup, Phillippi made his presence known to the country at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas where he beat All-Americans Ethan Lizak and Luke Pletcher--who is now an Assistant Coach at Pittsburgh. He fell to Nick Suriano, who would go on to be a National Champion that season, in the finals. "That was the first moment where I could really say that I could beat anyone and that I was totally confident in my technical skills," said Phillippi of his CKLV breakthrough. If his performance at the CKLV wasn't enough to get him in the national spotlight, his 3-1 win over three-time NCAA finalist Daton Fix in the Panther's dual against Oklahoma State did the trick. He added a dual win over All-American Louie Hayes and beat multiple-time All-Americans Tariq Wilson and Korbin Myers to win his first ACC Championship. He entered his first NCAA tournament as the 4-seed and beat Gary Joint (Fresno St) and All-American Austin Gomez (then at Iowa State) for a quarterfinal rematch with long-time rival Luke Pletcher. "Simply, I let the moment get too big", said Phillippi, "I've wrestled Luke so many times and we always had good matches, but I made the quarterfinal match way bigger than I should have and that played a big part in the loss." Phillippi dropped to the bloodround where he matched up with Roman Bravo-Young. "It was a close match and I didn't pull it out--I usually win close matches, but I didn't get that one. Looking at it now with him being a two-time national champ it doesn't look like such a bad loss!" Phillippi entered the 2019-2020 season with a hunger coming off of his bloodround loss. "I was ready to go that year, I felt good physically and mentally and I had a great season". Phillippi put together a nearly flawless regular season, going 23-1 with his lone loss to Sammy Alvarez at the Southern Scuffle. He would go on to beat Louie Hayes and Jaime Hernandez to win his second-straight ACC title and earned the fourth seed for the second straight year going into the NCAA tournament. "Once we started seeing other sports shut down, you could kind of sense that it was coming, but I didn't want to believe it," said Phillippi of the 2020 NCAA Tournament cancellation due to the COVID shutdown. "We didn't have a lot of information and no one really knew what was happening, so I just kept training…I trained through the summer and into the fall and stayed in great shape and ready. I was hoping we were going to find a way to run it back in the fall and get everyone together for the tournament." Pittsburgh's two-time ACC champion Micky Phillippi (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The reality was that the tournament would never happen, and it left Phillippi even more determined going into the 2020-2021 season. In the minimized season, Phillippi was undefeated going into the ACC Championships. He knocked off Louie Hayes in the semifinals, but fell in a close match to Korbin Myers in the ACC finals; both Hayes and Myers would go on to earn All-American honors this season. Philippi entered the NCAA tournament as the fifth seed. He earned a major decision over Ty Smith (Utah Valley) before knocking off ACC-foe Jarrett Trombley (NC State) 6-1 to face Austin DeSanto (Iowa) in the quarterfinals. "I felt great going into the quarters, I'd been there before and felt confident. Once I got in the match I didn't have the right focus and it didn't go well." Phillippi dropped to DeSanto by major, making his second year in a row losing in the quarterfinals and dropping straight into the bloodround. He faced seventh-seeded Lucas Byrd (Illinois) in the blood round and dropped an absolute heartbreaker in Sudden Victory. "There wasn't a good reason; I didn't lock down mentally and it cost me," Phillippi said bluntly about his second loss in the bloodround. Entering the 2021-2022 season, his sixth year of eligibility, Phillippi felt good about the potential for the year, both personally and for the team. This year would be a challenge; however. Phillippi dropped five matches in the regular season; more than his previous three seasons as a starter combined. "I took some losses that I shouldn't have last year, but I was progressing as a wrestler, so I didn't see it as a negative…I was working closely with Jordan and Keith to be ready for the tournament, so the dual matches weren't a big deal." He entered the ACC tournament with a 13-5 record and avenged one of those losses on his way to another ACC finals matchup with Korbin Myers. Phillippi and Myers had another tight match, as had become the custom over the past three years, with Myers pulling out a 4-2 decision to win his second-straight ACC Championship. This loss dropped Phillippi to 2-2 in ACC finals; he is a four-time finalist and two-time ACC Champion. Despite the loss, Phillippi was confident entering the tournament in Detroit. He opened with a 4-0 win over a scrappy Codi Russell (App State) to set up a rematch with Austin DeSanto. "I was 100% sure I would beat DeSanto…and I didn't". In a much tighter match than their previous quarterfinal matchup, DeSanto would earn a decision victory. After a scoreless first, Phillippi had a strong ride to gather over a minute in riding time before a DeSanto escape. "It was going to plan, I had riding time, and I thought I could finish out the second and get an escape in the third to get a 2-0 or 1-0 win. But I tried to hang on in the second instead of finishing out the period and those last 20 seconds cost me." DeSanto scored a takedown at the end of the second to take a 3-0 lead. In the third, Phillippi scored an escape but DeSanto added a second takedown to finish the 5-2 win and drop Phillippi to the consolation bracket. "Those matches are so big and the littlest things make the difference. I lost my focus at the end of the second and it changed the match." He would win back-to-back matches in the consolation bracket over Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) and Richie Koehler (Rider) to make his third straight bloodround appearance. For the third straight season, it would end abruptly for Phillippi, losing by fall to Chris Cannon (Northwestern). "Obviously it's not the legacy I want to have", said Phillippi on his bloodround losses. "I feel like I can be a National Champion and I have one more chance to prove that." As he reflected on those matches you could see a strange mix of frustration and contentment. "It's a tough subject. It's such a high-pressure round--win or lose--it's hard to describe the feeling". Phillippi has leaned on his relationship with Coach Gavin and Coach Leen to grow from the experience. "Coach Gavin summed it up really well for me after this last loss. I'm confident in my skills and my technical ability. I can't make the moment bigger than it is. 'Just wrestle. It's not a big deal' is the advice Keith gave me and I need to remember that this year. At the end of the day, I'm ok with it mentally and God has a plan for me. I'm going to win." Phillippi credits Coach Gavin and Coach Leen for the role they have played in his personal and spiritual growth throughout their time together. "They are both such great leaders and they show it in different ways through their personalities. I'm happy for Jordan with his new job, but I'm going to miss having him in my corner for this season", Phillippi said about Jordan Leen being named Head Coach at Brown, "I have no doubt he'll do well. Phillippi and his longtime teammate Nino Bonaccorsi both elected to come back for their final season of eligibility this year. They will be the core leaders of a strong team with a mix of credentialed veterans and high-upside young guys. "Our coaches have built a great culture. I believe that if you build a good culture, success will follow and that is what we are seeing now." He points to the culture as the reason that Pittsburgh has been so successful on the recruiting trail. "We've got some incredible young guys coming into the lineup, Brock McMillen does the right things and lives the right life and he is going to be successful because of that… People have heard the name Luca Augustine after his performance this spring, but he's going to make an impact this year". Phillippi spoke highly of the recruits that Coach Gavin has brought in the past two seasons. "We are in a great place as a team and we are going to have a great season. I think we'll be fighting for an ACC title." Pittsburgh's two-time ACC champion Micky Phillippi (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Sam Jones (left) and Spencer Woods (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) USA Wrestling has announced two changes to its lineup for the 2022 Senior World Wrestling Championships to be held in Belgrade, Serbia, which begins on Saturday, September 10. Sammy Jones (Colorado Springs, Colorado/New York AC) will compete at 63 kg, while Spencer Woods (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) will wrestle at 82 kg. Jones replaces Jesse Thielke (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), while Woods replaces Ben Provisor (Des Moines, Iowa/New York AC). Both Jones and Woods placed second in Final X in June and are ranked No. 2 on the Greco-Roman National Team. Jones will be competing in his second Senior World Championships, after placing 17th at the 2021 World Championships in Oslo, Norway. Jones was a bronze medalist at the 2014 University World Championships. He won the 2022 Pan American Championships gold medal and added a bronze medal at the 2016 Pan American Championships. Jones is originally from Folsom, Louisiana, and attended Northern Michigan University, where he was a member of the Northern Michigan University – National Training Site team. Jones' weight class will be held in Belgrade on Sunday, September 11 and Monday, September 12. Woods is competing at this first Senior World Championships. He placed 19th at the 2021 U23 World Championships. Woods is originally from Shungnak, Alaska. He attended the University of Maryland, then attended Northern Michigan University, where he was a member of the Northern Michigan University – National Training Site team. He joined the U.S. Army and is currently a member of its World Class Athlete Program. Woods' weight class will be held in Belgrade on Sunday, September 11 and Monday, September 12. U.S. Greco-Roman World Team lineup 55 kg – Max Nowry (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP) 60 kg – Ildar Hafizov (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP) 63 kg – Sammy Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC) 67 kg – Alejandro Sancho (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP) 72 kg – Benji Peak (Marquette, Mich./Sunkist Kids) 77 kg – Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) 82 kg – Spencer Woods (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP) 87 kg – Alan Vera (Jersey City, N.J./NYC RTC/New York AC) 97 kg – Braxton Amos (Mineral Wells, W.Va./Wisconsin RTC/Sunkist Kids) 130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Parker, Colo./Sunkist Kids)

5x World/Olympic Team Member Ben Provisor (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 82kg Greco-Roman Entries Karapet Chalyan (Armenia) 2020 Olympic 5th Place, 2x European Bronze Medalist, 2019 World 5th Place, 2x Junior World Medalist (1,3) Rafig Huseynov (Azerbaijan) 2021 World Champion, 2020 Olympic Bronze Medalist, 2x World Medalist (1,2), 2x European Champion For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2021 World Champion Amir Zare (photo courtesy of Kadir Caliskan; UWW) 57 KG #1 Ravi Kumar (IND) won the Commonwealth Games over Ebikweminomo Welson (NGR) with Darthe Capellan (CAN) and Ali Asad (PAK) taking bronze. Jore Volk (USA) won the Junior World championships over Merey Bazarbayev (KAZ) with Takhti Cup champion Ahmad Javan (IRI) and Abhishkek Chaka (IND) taking bronze. #11 Gulomyon Abdullaev (UZB) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over #10 Almaz Smanbekov (KGZ) with #9 Rakhat Kalzhan (KAZ) and #16 Aliabbas Rzazade (AZE) taking bronze. Abdullaev moves up seven spots to #4 for avenging his losses from the Asian championships to #9 Kalzhan and Smanbekov. Russian Nationals bronze medalist #5 Ramiz Gamzatov (RUS) was impressive in winning the All-Russian Spartakiad title with a dominating 11-0 tech fall win over fellow Russian Nationals bronze medalist #6 Musa Mekhtikhanov (RUS). Bronze medalists at the All-Russian Spartakiad were Muslim Sadulaev (RUS) and Petr Kopylov (RUS). Major shakeups took place because of the All-Russian Spartakiad, namely the debut of Kopylov into the top ten at #9 after defeating #8 Azamat Tuskaev (RUS) in the quarterfinals after Tuskaev had beaten Russian Nationals runner-up #4 Nachyn Mongush (RUS) in the qualification round. In the aftermath of the All-Russian Spartakiad and the Islamic Solidarity Games plus the confirmation of #11 (61) Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB) cutting down to 57 KG to represent Albania at the world championships, the following changes to the rankings took place. #11 Gulomyon Abdullaev (UZB) moves up seven spots in the rankings to #4 for winning the Islamic Solidarity Games title over Smanbekov and Kalzhan avenging his losses from his 5th place finish at the Asian championship along with his win from last year in the 61 KG Ziolkowski finals over #2 Ravi Kumar (IND). Abakarov takes the #5 spot in the rankings for his win over Kumar in the finals of the 61 KG Dan Kolov tournament, but can't be higher than #4 Abdullaev because of Abdullaev's greater quantity of ranked wins (#2 Ravi Kumar, #8 Rakhat Kalzhan, #13 Almaz Smanbekov, #15 Aryan Tyutrin). The aftermath of the All-Russian Spartakiad had Kopylov debut in the top ten at #9, Tuskaev drop three spots to #11 for his loss to Kopylov and Mongush fall eight spots to #12 for his loss to Tuskaev. 61 KG #3 Akhmed Idrisov (RUS) avenged his loss to 2021 world champion #1 Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) from the Russian National finals in June with a 4-1 victory at the All-Russian Spartakiad to take gold and the number one spot in the rankings. Bronze medalists at the All-Russian Spartakiad were #12 Muslim Mekhtikhanov (RUS) and Cherman Tavitov (RUS). Yuto Nisiuchi (JPN) won the Junior World championships over Armin Habibzadehsaroukolaei (IRI) with Khamzat Arsamerzouev (FRA) and Kumar Mohit (IND) taking bronze. 2021 Asian champion Jahongirmirza Turobov (UZB) is back in the rankings at #16 for winning the Islamic Solidarity Games over #20 Islam Bazarganov (AZE). Bronze medalists at the Islamic Solidarity Games were #17 Recep Topal (TUR) and Majid Dastan (IRI). Turobov's return to the ranking was facilitated not only by his win over #20 Ibazarganov in the finals, but also by his win in the qualification round over Matteo Pellicone champion Topal. Reza Atri (IRI), #19 (65) Eduard Grigoriev (POL), and #11 (65) Islam Dudaev (ALB) have been added to the top ten at #6, #8, and #9 as they have been confirmed as the respective world championship representatives for Iran, Poland, and Albania. Atri is coming off a Takhti cup title and a victory over 2021 world bronze medalist #7 Arsen Harutyunyan (ARM), Grigoriev was a European bronze medalist and beat #5 (57) Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB) while at the European championships, and Islam Dudaev (ALB) is a Yarygin and European bronze medalist with a strong win over #10 (65) Tulga Tumur Ochir (MGL) at the Yarygin. 65 KG #7 Shamil Mamedov (RUS) won the All-Russian Spartakiad over #5 Gadzhimurad Rashidov (RUS) with #6 Aripgadzhi Abdulaev (RUS) and #8 Alik Khadartsev (RUS) taking bronze. Mamedov's path to the finals saw him beat Khadartsev and #10 Ramazan Ferzaliev (RUS), while Rashidov's best win came in the semifinals against Russian Nationals bronze medalist Abdulaev. Mamedov moves up four spots to #3 for his win over Rashidov and the reason for this is Mamedov's overall body of work within the past year (wins over Rashidov, Khadartsev, Ferzaliev, #9 (61) Islam Dudaev, #10 Tulga Tumur Ochir, #13 Ziraddin Bayramov, and #19 Ibragim Abdurakhmanov and Junior World, Yarygin, Umakhanov and Yasar Dogu titles) allow him to jump above Russian Nationals champion #3 Ibragim Ibragimov (RUS) and #4 Gadzhimurad Omarov (RUS) in the ranking plus, Rashidov beat Abdulaev, who beat Mamedov at Russian Nationals in the quarters and Mamedov can now be ranked above Abdulaev because he beat Rashidov who beat Abdulaev. #2 Haji Aliyev (AZE) won the Islamic Solidarity Games title over #5 (57) Zelimkhan Abakarov (ALB) by pin. Bronze medalists at the Islamic Solidarity Games were Morteza Ghiasi Cheka (IRI) and Adlan Askarov (KAZ). Umidjon Jalolov (UZB) won the Junior World championships over Ziraddin Bayramov (AZE) with #13 Sujeet Sujeet (IND) and Yoshinosuke Aoyagi (JPN) finishing with bronze. Jalolov is back in the rankings at #12 for beating Bayramov after Bayramov upset Sujeet in the semifinals. Bayramov slots in at the #13 slot for his win over Sujeet, while Sujeet falls one spot to #14. #18 Bajrang Punia (IND) won the Commonwealth Games title over Lachlan McNeil (CAN) with George Ramm (ENG) and Inayat Ullah (PAK) taking bronze. 2021 70 KG U23 world runner-up #9 (70) Vazgen Tevanyan (ARM) is back in the 65 KG rankings at #11 as he's confirmed as Armenia's world championships representative. Tevanyan won the Takhti Cup back in July and has career wins over #1 Ismail Musukaev (HUN), Aliyev, 2021 70 KG world champion Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (POL), and #15 Yianni Diakomihalis (USA). Dudaev, a bronze medalist at this year's Yarygin and European championships, has been removed from the rankings and put in at #9 at 61 KG as he's the confirmed world championships representative at that weight for Albania. 70KG #6 Kurban Shiraev (RUS) won the All-Russian Spartakiad over #9 (65) Zagir Shakhiev (RUS). Bronze medalists at the All-Russian Spartakiad were #19 Alan Kudzoev (RUS) and Inalbek Sheriev (RUS). Kudzoev (RUS) makes the biggest jump in the rankings to #6 off his performance at the All-Russian Spartakiad with his quarterfinal win over #4 Anzor Zakuev (RUS). Shakhiev (RUS) makes his 70KG ranking debut at #5 after finishing runner-up to Shiraev (RUS) and beating Kudzoev (RUS) in the semis. Inalbek Sheriev (RUS) is back in the rankings at #8 for beating #5 Ruslan Zhendaev (RUS) for bronze at the All-Russian Spartakiad. 2021 world runner-up #11 Ernazar Akmataliev (KGZ) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over Hossein Abouzaripashkolaei (IRI) with Asgar Mammadaliev (AZE) and Bacar N'Dum (GBS) taking bronze. Kanan Heybatov (AZE) won the Junior World championships over Mitchell Mesenbrink (USA) with Mulaym Yadav (IND) and Hossein Mohammad Aghaei (IRI) taking bronze. 74KG #5 Razambek Zhamalov (RUS) won the All-Russian Spartakiad over #6 David Baev (RUS). Bronze medalists of the All-Russian Spartakiad were #9 Timur Bizhoev (RUS) and Artem Umarov (RUS). Naveen Naveen (IND) won the Commonwealth Games over Muhammad Tahir (PAK) with John Ogbonna (NGR) and Jasmit Phulka (CAN) taking bronze. Dzhabrail Gadzhiev (AZE) won the Junior World championships by pin over Ryunosoke Kamiya (JPN). Bronze medalists at the Junior World championships were Jafar Chuliboyev (UZB) and Sagar Jaglan (IND). Gadzhiev is back in the rankings at #20 for winning Junior World's and for his win over Islamic Solidarity Games champion #14 Turan Bayramov (AZE) this year at Azerbaijan nationals. #20 Erfan Elahi (IRI) is out because he lost in the Junior world quarterfinals to 2021 80 KG Cadet world champion Sagar Jaglan. #15 Turan Bayramov (AZE) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over Mohammed Firouzpourbandpei (IRI). Bronze medalists at the Islamic Solidarity Games were #17 Fazli Eryilmaz (TUR) and Ikhtiyor Navruzov (UZB). Bayramov moves up one spot to #14 for winning the Islamic Solidarity Games while Mohammed Firouzpourbandpei debuts in the rankings at #15 for beating 2021 world bronze medalist Eryilmaz and 2019 70 KG world runner-up #18 Nurkhoza Kaipanov (KAZ) on his way to a runner-up finish. 79KG #12 Magomed Magomaev (RUS) won the All-Russian Spartakiad with a 12-1 victory over #17 Gadzhimurad Alikhmaev (RUS) in the finals. Bronze medalists of the All-Russian Spartakiad were #18 Akhmed Usmanov (RUS) and Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS). Khubezhty made a big comeback to the rankings at #9 with an upset win in the quarterfinals over Russian Nationals bronze medalist #5 Radik Valiev (RUS), before falling in the semis to Alikhmaev. Alikhmaev moves up nine spots in the rankings to #8 for his win over Khubezhty on his way to making the finals of the All-Russian Spartakiad. Magomaev moves up six spots to #6 for winning Spartakiad over Alikhmaev. #7 Ali Savadkouhi (IRI) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over Muhammet Akdeniz (TUR) with Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (UZB) and Gadzhimurad Omarov (AZE) taking bronze. Akdeniz debuts in the international rankings at #20 for beating 2021 74 KG Olympic bronze medalist Abdurakhmanov in the semifinals. Sobhan Yari (IRI) won the Junior World championships over Mushegh Mkrtchyan (ARM) with Mukhammad Abdullaev (KGZ) and Otari Adeishvili (GEO) taking bronze. 86KG Alireza Karimimachiani (IRI) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over 2021 world bronze medalist #19 Abubakar Abakarov (AZE). Bronze medalists at the Islamic Solidarity Games were Nurtilek Karypbaev (KGZ) and #20 Osman Gocen (TUR). Karimimachiani followed his Islamic Solidarity Games title with a runner-up finish at the Iranian world team trials to reigning world champion #1 Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI). Karimimachiani returns to the rankings at #4 off the strength of his three past world medals and victories over Sharif Sharifov (AZE), Dato Marsagishvili (GEO), and #4 (97) Batyrbek Tsakulov (SVK). In a battle of reigning Russian National champions, #3 Artur Naifonov (RUS) took a narrow 2-0 win over two-time 79 KG Russian National champion #4 (79) Malik Shavaev (RUS) to win the All-Russian Spartakiad. Bronze medalists at the All-Russian Spartakiad were #5 Dauren Kurugliev (RUS) and Slavik Naniev (RUS). Shavaev makes his debut in the 86 KG rankings at #6 for beating Kurugliev (RUS) in the quarterfinals with Kurugliev falling two spots to #7. Naniev returns to the rankings at #18 for beating #15 Arsenali Musalaliev (RUS) in the qualification round on his way to bronze. Rakhim Magamadov (FRA) won the Junior World championships over Bennett Berge (USA). Bronze medalists at the Junior World championships were Ismail Kucuksolak (TUR) and Aref Ranjbari (IRI). Deepak Punia (IND) won the Commonwealth Games over Muhammad Inam (PAK) with Alexander Moore (CAN) and Jayden Lawrence (AUS) taking bronze. 92KG Ahmad Bazrigaleh (IRI) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over #13 Erhan Yaylaci (TUR). Bronze medalists at the Islamic Solidarity Games were Bobur Islomov (UZB) and 2021 world bronze medalist #10 Osman Nurmagomedov (AZE). Bazrigaleh took a 6-6 criteria win over Nurmagomedov in the semifinals. #16 Guram Chertkoev (RUS) won the All-Russian Spartakiad over #5 Vladislav Valiev (RUS) with #19 Alan Bagaev (RUS) and Magomedmurad Baibekov (RUS) taking bronze. Amirhossein Firouzpourbandpei (IRI) won the 92 KG Junior World title over Andro Margishvili (GEO) with Adlan Viskhanov (FRA) and Sergey Sargsyan (ARM) taking bronze. #1 Kamran Ghasempour (IRI) secured his 2022 world team spot by beating Junior world champion Firouzpourbandpei in the finals of Iranian world team trials. The top ten was shaken up with the addition of Chertkoev moving up eleven spots to #5 after beating Valiev in the finals of the All-Russian Spartakiad and with 2021 92 KG Junior world runner-up Mahdi Hajilouian (IRI) who was added at #9 because he beat #10 Ahmad Bazrigaleh (IRI) in the finals of the Takhti Cup back in July. 97KG #10 Alikhan Zhabrailov (RUS) won the All-Russian Spartakiad over Gadzhimagomed Tazhudinov (RUS) with Igor Ovsyannikov (RUS) and #16 Sergey Kozyrev (RUS) taking bronze. Tazhudinov debuts in the rankings at #10 for beating 2019 Russian Nationals runner-up Ovysannikov in the semifinals after Ovsyannikov beat Russian Nationals champion #8 Aslanbek Sotiev (RUS) in his quarterfinal match. Ovsyannikov slots in at the #11 spot for his win over Sotiev while Sotiev drops four spots to #12. Ben Kueter (USA) won the Junior World championships over Rifak Gidak (TUR). Taking bronze at the Junior World championships were Amirali Azarpira (IRI) and Niraj Niraj (IND). Nishan Randhawa (CAN) won the Commonwealth Games over 2021 Junior World bronze medalist Nicolaas Steyne De Lange (RSA) with Deepak Deepak (IND) and Thomas Burns (AUS) taking bronze. 2021 world bronze medalist #9 Mojtaba Goleij (IRI) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over Mustafa Sessiz (TUR) with Magomed Ibragimov (UZB) and Mamed Ibragimov (KAZ) taking bronze. 125KG Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (IRI) followed up a runner-up finish at Iranian world team trials to reigning world champion #1 Amir Zare (IRI) with a dominant showing at the Junior World championships that earned him gold. In the finals, Masoumi Valadi tech falled Mahendra Gaikwad (IND) 13-2 and tech falled top heavyweight college recruit Nick Feldman (USA) 11-1 in the semifinals. Bronze medalists at the Junior World championships were Merab Suleimanishvili (GEO) and Adil Misirci (TUR). Masoumi Valadi debuts in the international rankings at #13 for his Junior world title plus his victory over Asian champion Yadollah Mohebbi (IRI) at Iranian world team trials. Asian champion Mohebbi (IRI) is back in the rankings at #14 because of his superior resume (victories over 2016 Olympic runner-up Khomeil Ghasemi, two-time world bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski, 2018 world runner-up Zhiwei Deng, 2013 world runner-up Alan Zasieiev, and 2018 Asian champion David Modzmanashvili) compared to the rest of the bottom half of the rankings from August who are primarily there off of beating someone who has a win over Yusup Batirmurzaev or Zhiwei Deng (i.e. #11 Robert Baran beating #12 Anthony Cassioppi at the Ziolkowski after Cassioppi had beaten #16 Kamil Kosciolek when Kosciolek had just beaten #17 Derek White who beat 2018 world runner-up #18 Zhiwei Deng at the Ziolkowski after Deng had beaten #19 Yusup Batirmurzaev who'd fallen ten spots from #9 to #19 for his losses to #13 Alisher Yergali and Deng). Seyed Hashemi Jouybari (IRI) won the Islamic Solidarity Games over Salim Ercan (TUR) with Khasanboy Rakhimov (UZB) taking bronze. Amarveer Dhesi (CAN) won the Commonwealth Games over Zaman Anwar (PAK) with Mandhir Kooner (ENG) and Mohit (IND) taking bronze. #9 Erik Dzhioev (RUS) moves up five spots in the rankings to #4 after winning the All-Russian Spartakiad over 2020 Russian Nationals bronze medalist Vitali Goloev (RUS). Goloev makes his return to the rankings at #5 after his win over #6 Khasan Khubaev (RUS) in the semifinals, when Khubaev had been coming off wins over two-time Russian Nationals champion Alan Khugaev (RUS) in the qualification round and 2022 Russian Nationals champion #4 Alen Khubulov (RUS) in the quarterfinals. Bronze medalists at the All-Russian Spartakiad were #15 Anzor Khizriev (RUS) and Khubaev. Khizriev (RUS) moves up five spots to #10 for his win over #7 Baldan Tsyzhipov (RUS) in the bronze medal match. Along with his victory over Goloev in the finals, Dzhioev beat past Russian Nationals medalists Khizriev (RUS) and Tsyzhipov (RUS) to take his spot as Russia's top heavyweight. Pound for Pound 2021 65 KG Olympic bronze medalist #7 Gadzhimurad Rashidov (RUS) and 2021 61 KG world champion #8 Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) both took major falls in the rankings after losses in the finals of the All-Russian Spartakiad. Rashidov lost to Yarygin champion Shamil Mamedov while Magomedov lost to Russian Nationals runner-up Akhmed Idrisov. Rashidov drops eight spots to #15 while Magomedov drops ten spots to #18. Mamedov and Idrisov both return to the rankings for their wins over past world champions with Mamedov slotting in at #14 and Idrisov taking #17. While it may seem harsh to drop two top-ten standouts so low down the rankings there's sound reasoning behind it. Rashidov's loss to Mamedov is his second domestic loss of this year after his stunner to Russian Nationals runner-up Gadzhimurad Omarov in the semifinals of Russian Nationals in June and following up his loss to the excellent Shamil Mamedov, there have to be repercussions for losing big matches. Rashidov has been excellent from 2017-2021 and has wins over 2021 65 KG Olympic champion Takuto Otoguro (JPN), three-time world champion #16 Haji Aliyev (AZE), and 2019 65 KG world bronze medalist #13 Ismail Musukaev (HUN) but when the rest of the pound-for-pound is competing more frequently and winning more against high-level competition they carry more weight. The same argument applies for #8 Abasgadzhi Magomedov who fell ten spots down to #18 after losing to Akhmed Idrisov in the finals of the 61 KG All-Russian Spartakiad. Magomedov's high placement in the pound-for-pound was predicated on his two-year-long unbeaten run and 2021 61 KG world title. Magomedov's lack of pound-for-pound opponents at 61 KG hurt him when he lost because, while he does have dominance against the 61 KG field, he doesn't have the essential wins to anchor him to a top ten spot when he does take losses.

2x Senior World Team member Yianni Diakomihalis (photo courtesy of Kadir Caliskan/UWW) Shortly after Cornell's Yianni Diakomihalis and Kyle Dake won their Final X matchups in New York in June, the Big Red program hosted a reception to celebrate the achievements of all their former and current wrestlers who made world teams. Coach Mike Grey proudly relayed that Diakomihalis and Dake would compete in the senior world championships, then added that Diakomihalis, Vito Arujau and Jacob Cardenas also made the U23 world team. Diakomihalis raised an eyebrow at the first mention of being on both teams, but he held onto that thought for a couple days until he got Grey one-on-one. What started as an inadvertent slip turned into a legitimate idea and later a concrete plan for Diakomihalis to wrestle at Senior Worlds in September and U23s in October, which is what he plans to do. “He lists off the U23 team and he says my name again, and I was like, ‘Huh,'” Diakomihalis said. “And then I was like, well, whatever. I let it go, then we got back to Ithaca and I talked to him a couple days later. I'm like, ‘Hey, did you say I'm wrestling U23s?' And he was like, ‘Yeah, why not?' And I was like, ‘OK, I guess so.'” Grey stands by the fact that he wasn't committing Diakomihalis to anything when he made that announcement, but was only maximizing his marketing pitch to an audience that deserved to know the full scope of Diakomihalis' achievement. At the same time, Grey and his pupil come from a shared belief that any world tournament experience is good experience. Diakomihalis has the highest of goals in freestyle and countless reasons to believe he can get to the top of the international mountain sooner than later. In order to do that, Diakomihalis can benefit from more mat time against the best in the world, which is a big perk to doubling up and competing in U23s. “The more you can feel Haji Ajiyev, the more you can feel Musukaev again, the more he can feel all the heavy hitters, the better off he's going to be,” Grey said. “So, I think it's a plus for him to be able to wrestle in both these tournaments.” A three-time NCAA champ, Diakomihalis won a pair of Cadet World titles prior to arriving at Cornell and competed last fall in his first Senior world tournament, where he went 1-1 in Oslo, Norway. Diakomihalis also won the Poland Open in June 2021 and the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in France that January. He has been as busy overseas as any wrestler in America, which will continue through the fall before spilling into his quest for a fourth NCAA title. Double duty puts a little extra pressure on the training process, but it doesn't mean Diakomihalis is working twice as hard. Diakomihalis at the Yasar Dogu with Mike Grey (right) and Jeff Buxton (photo courtesy of Kadir Caliskan/UWW) As much as he has focused on fine-tuning his game, Diakomihalis has also worked to refine his processes. He refuses to borrow the cliché about working smarter versus harder and instead knows that there are times when both are required. “I feel like now we've gotten really dialed in with the way I'm training, the timing, what I'm eating, how I'm doing my strength and conditioning, how I'm wrestling,” he said. “We got really dialed in on stuff in the last year. “Is it more of a grind or less of a grind? I'm probably not working a lot harder, but it feels more focused than it does more intense because it is so much more focused. I feel like I'm in a really good spot.” Part of Diakomihalis' process to refine his wrestling also applies to his training. Known for his freakish ability to wiggle out of virtually any situation, he can roll, scramble and contort his body in ways that few can. It's what makes him the incredible wrestler he is, but to fall in love with those skills can also prohibit growth while also exposing Diakomihalis to unnecessary injury risk. The idea now is, yes, to use those scrambling skills because they are a special weapon when Diakomihalis needs them. But, in both his training and competition, he's trying to keep it simpler when he can. To reach another level in his wrestling, Diakomihalis has been stressing more of the fundamentals and less of the flash. “I think a lot of it for me, it's just really small things, my positioning, how I hand-fight,” he said. “A lot of it is on the front end. Once we're in the position, historically, I've done well. I'm a good scrambler. I'm good on the leg. I'm a good finisher, but it's like, my setups aren't great. My head-hands defense has never been great. “Those kinds of things really matter at the highest level. Yeah, maybe on a lower-end guy, I can just dive in there and grab his leg and figure it out, but the best guys in the world, I'm never going to be able to fly in there and do that. So, it's that front-end stuff, my positioning, how I hand-fight, what I'm doing with my hands, what I'm doing with my feet. That kind of stuff has been a big difference maker for me.” All of that, if Diakomihalis executes, should add up to better attack positions and improved baseline defense. Diakomihalis came out of his most recent competition at the Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series event in Tunisia feeling like he didn't execute those concepts well enough. He lost by an 8-2 final to India's Sujeet Sujeet in the 65-kilogram final and missed a chance to make one final statement before he shipped off to Serbia for worlds. Diakomihalis has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is capable of beating anybody in the world at any given time. But he also knows that, at 23 years old, *can* is starting to mean less and less. Diakomihalis' job now is to *do* and string together his best tournament yet. In the days leading up to the front end of his world championships doubleheader, Diakomihalis is comfortable and confident, but his corner understands what's at stake. “I know this is his second world team in a row, which is great and he needs to continue to do that, but he's got to win medals,” Grey said. “I mean, that's it. You're not an up-and-comer when you win medals, right? There's no way around it. You've got to win flippin' medals. And if you do that, then you're no longer an up-and-comer. You're the guy. “I really believe that this is going to be his year to get out there and get the monkey off the USA's back and medal at that weight class. I just think he's in a great spot right now. His training is going very well. He's in a good mental space and is enjoying himself.”

2020 Olympian Alex Sancho (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 67kg Greco-Roman Entries Ishak Ghaiou (Algeria) 2x African Silver Medalist Slavik Galstyan (Armenia) 2019 World Bronze Medalist, 2x European Bronze Medalist, 2014 Junior World Bronze Medalist For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

Top-ranked pound-for-pound American men's freestyle wrestler Kyle Dake (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) 57 KG Thomas Gilman takes the top spot as the returning world champion and Olympic bronze medalist and won Final X over #2 Vito Arujau. Zane Richards takes the #3 spot after beating #4 Jakob Camacho to make the national team at Final X. Jakob Camacho takes the #4 spot after finishing runner-up to #2 Vito Arujau at Senior World Team Trials, where he avenged his semifinal loss from the US Open to U.S. Open champion #5 Matthew Ramos. Ramos has won the US Open with wins over Camacho and #10 Anthony Molton and took 4th at the Senior World Team Trials after a semifinal loss to Camacho and a loss in the third place match to Richards. Anthony Noto takes the #6 slot for winning the U23 World Team Trials with victories over #9 Greg Diakomihalis in the semifinals and #7 Trevor Mastrogiovanni in the finals. Trevor Mastrogiovanni takes the #8 spot in the rankings after a runner-up finish at the U23 World Team Trials, where he registered a strong win over Ryan Miller in the semifinals after Miller had beaten US Open and U23 World Team Trials 5th place finisher Caleb Smith in the quarterfinals. Timothy Levine takes the #8 slot in the rankings for wins over the US Open fourth-place finisher, U23 World Team Trials third-place finisher Diakomihalis along with the U.S. Open and U23 World Team Trials 5th place finisher Caleb Smith. Diakomihalis takes the #9 spot for taking fourth in the U.S. Open and third at the U23 World Team Trials with a win over U.S. Open top seed Gabriel Townsell in the repechage bracket of the Senior World Team Trials and victories over Caleb Smith and Miller at U23 World Team Trials. Molton takes the final spot in the rankings at #10 for a runner-up finish in the Open where he defeated top seed Townsell in the quarterfinals. Molton did not place at the Senior World Team Trials after losses to Camacho and Richards. While Molton does a high placement at the US Open (runner-up to Ramos), his sole big win over Gabriel Townsell lost its strength when Townsell went on to take losses to Caleb Smith at the US Open consolation quarterfinals, Aden Reeves in the round of 16 at World Team Trials and to Diakomihalis in the blood round of the Senior World Team Trials. 61KG Seth Gross holds the number one spot in the rankings after winning a three-match series against returning world runner-up #2 Daton Fix. Fix, a world championships representative in 2019 at 57 KG and the world runner-up in 2021 at 61 KG, takes the number two spot in the rankings after finishing runner-up at Final X to Gross. 2018 world bronze medalist Joe Colon returned to competition for the first since competing at the 2021 Senior World Team Trials last September and won the Poland Open over Taras Markovych (UKR). Colon earns his number three spot in the rankings based on his elite wins over 2018 61 KG world champion Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez (CUB), 2018 Final X champion Nahshon Garrett, Gross, and 2022 U.S. Open champion #4 Nico Megaludis. Megaludis takes the #4 spot after winning the US Open with wins over Gross and #7 Josh Rodriguez and following it with a third place finish over Rodriguez at the Senior World Team Trials after a pin loss to Gross in the semifinals. Austin DeSanto takes the #5 spot in the rankings after a win over Senior World Team Trials runner-up #6 Daniel DeShazer to take bronze in the US Open. DeShazer fills the #6 spot in the rankings for a runner-up finish at the Senior World Team Trials, where he beat the US Open runner-up #7, Josh Rodriguez, in the semifinals. Josh Rodriguez takes the #7 spot in the rankings after a runner-up finish in the US Open where he beat 2019 world fifth-place finisher Tyler Graff and DeShazer and followed it with a fourth-place finish at the Senior World Team Trials with losses to DeShazer in the semifinals and Megaludis in the bronze medal match. 2019 Final X champion and world fifth place finisher Graff takes the #8 spot for a 6th place finish in the U.S. Open after a semifinal loss to Rodriguez and failing to place in the U.S. World Team Trials with losses to DeShazer and Megaludis. Graff has victories over Megaludis and Colon from 2019 Senior World Team Trials and Final X. Nic Bouzakis holds down the #9 spot in the rankings for winning Junior World Team Trials over U.S. Open bronze medalist Jesse Mendez. Jesse Mendez takes the final spot in the rankings at #10 for taking third at the U.S. Open with a victory over 2021 Senior National runner-up Josh Kramer and taking second at Junior World Team Trials to Bouzakis. 65KG 2021 world championships representative Yianni Diakomihalis holds down the #1 spot after making his second Senior world team by winning Final X over #4 Evan Henderson. Joey McKenna holds the #2 spot after finishing third at Senior World Team Trials and the reason for this is Joey has a superior resume than Final X runner-up #4 Evan Henderson due to his 2019 Senior Nationals and 2021 World Team Trials wins over Diakomihalis along with his 2021 Olympic Trials victory over #1 (70) Zain Retherford and he avenged his World Team Trials quarterfinal loss to #3 Ian Parker to take third. Ian Parker holds down the #3 spot for beating McKenna and #6 Kendric Maple in the U.S. World Team Trials on his way to a fourth-place finish. Parker finished third in the U.S. Open after quarterfinal loss to runner-up #10 Matthew Kolodzik. Final X runner-up Evan Henderson takes the fourth spot in the rankings for wins over 2021 US Olympic Trials bronze medalist #5 Nick Lee and US Open champion Maple. Nick Lee fills the number five spot in the rankings for victories in 2021 at the Olympic Trials over Diakomihalis and #1 (70) Zain Retherford. Lee cannot be higher in the rankings as he has losses to Henderson in the semifinals of the World Team Trials and to McKenna in the consolation semifinals of the Senior World Team Trials. Maple takes the number six spot for winning the US Open and notching victories over #9 Beau Bartlett and #10 Matthew Kolodzik. Cole Matthews takes the number seven spot for beating number eight Dylan D'Emilio and number nine Ridge Lovett to win the U23 World Team Trials. Beau Bartlett takes the final spot in the rankings at number ten for his win over US Open runner-up Matthew Kolodzik at the Senior World Team Trials. The group of Matthews, D'Emilio, Lovett, and Bartlett is contingent on the roller coaster that was Matthew Kolodzik's performances in the US Open and Senior World Team Trials. In the US Open, Kolodzik makes the finals with fantastic wins over #3 Ian Parker and Henderson then loses to Maple in the finals. Kolodzik goes into the US World Team Trials as the number five seed, loses in the quarters to #5 Nick Lee and then loses in the bloodround by 15-5 tech to #9 Beau Bartlett. Bartlett follows that up by being eliminated by #6 Kendrick Maple in the World Team consolation quarterfinals then loses in the quarters of U23 World Team Trials to D'Emilio and loses in the consolation semifinals to Lovett who goes on to take bronze over Jordan Decatur. So it follows then that the order should be Matthews, D'Emilio, Lovett, and Bartlett. 70KG Zain Retherford holds down the number one spot in the 70 KG rankings after winning Final X in a three-match series over 2021 65 KG Olympic Trials champion #2 Jordan Oliver. Tyler Berger slots in at third in the rankings for taking third at the World Team Trials over #5 Sammy Sasso and for his win over #4 Ryan Deakin in the consolation semifinals of the Trials. Deakin slots in at fourth based on the strength of a US Open title in 2019 over two-time world medalist James Green, a 2019 Final X runner-up finish and was a 2021 World Team Trials runner-up to James Green where he knocked off #6 Alec Pantaleo. Deakin beat Sasso to make the semifinals of the World Team Trials and then lost to #2 Jordan Oliver and lost again in the consolation semifinals to Berger. Sammy Sasso takes the number five spot in the rankings off his fourth-place finish at World Team Trials where he beat US Open champion #6 Alec Pantaleo and US Open fourth place finisher #7 Doug Zapf. Pantaleo who boasts elite international wins over 2021 65 KG Olympic runner-up #2 (65) Haji Aliyev (AZE), 2021 70 KG World bronze medalist #19 Zurab Iakobishvili (GEO), and 2019 65 KG world runner-up Daulet Niyazbekov, put together an excellent start of the U.S. freestyle season with a US Open title over Oliver, but could not repeat his title-winning efforts and didn't place at World Team Trials after beating Berger in his opening match then losing to Retherford and Sasso in the championship and consolation semifinals. Zapf takes the number seven spot in the rankings for taking third at the US Open with wins over #5 Sammy Sasso, #8 Michael Blockhus, and Anthony Ashnault. Zapf failed to place at World Team Trials after a quarterfinal loss to Retherford and a consolation quarterfinal loss to Berger. Yahya Thomas takes the number seven spot in the rankings after winning the U23 World Team Trials over #9 Jonathan Millner. Jonathan Millner fills the number nine spot in the rankings after a runner-up finish at the U23 World Team Trials where he beat Drew Roberts in the semifinals after Roberts had upset Ed Scott in the quarterfinals. Michael Blockhus is at number ten in the rankings based on a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open, where he beat Brock Mauller after Mauller had beaten Ed Scott when Scott was coming off a win over #8 Yahya Thomas. 74KG Reigning world champion Kyle Dake holds down the number one spot in the rankings after winning Final X against Yarygin runner-up #2 Jason Nolf. David Carr is at #3 for taking third at World Team Trials and winning his true third-place match over World Team Trials runner-up #4 Joey Lavallee at Final X. Joey Lavallee is at #4 after a runner-up finish at the World Team Trials, where he beat US Open runner-up #5 Josh Shields and #6 Tommy Gantt and losing his true third match at Final X to make the national team against Carr. Shields takes the number five spot in the rankings based on a runner-up finish at the US Open off a strong win over #6 Tommy Gantt. Gantt takes the #6 spot in the rankings for finishing fourth at the World Team Trials, where he beat US Open bronze medalist #7 Collin Purinton. Purinton is at number seven in the rankings for taking third in the US Open with victories over #8 Andrew Cerniglia and #9 Peter Pappas. Cerniglia had an excellent run to the US Open semifinals where he beat Lavallee, Purinton and #10 Josh Ogunsanya, but losses to #2 Jason Nolf and #7 Collin Purinton in the championship and consolation semifinals relegated him to a fifth-place finish and eighth in the US domestic rankings. Patrick Kennedy secures the number nine spot in the rankings for winning the U23 World Team Trials with strong victories over Peyton Robb, Peyton Hall, and Josh Ogunsanya. US Open fourth-place finisher Peter Pappas takes the number ten spot in the rankings for beating Josh Ogunsanya in the consolation quarterfinals after Ogunsanya had upset two-time All-American Cam Amine of Michigan. 79KG Reigning world champion Jordan Burroughs lays claim to the top spot in the 79 KG rankings after winning a three-match series against #2 Chance Marsteller at Final X. Chance Marsteller earns the number two spot in the rankings for a Final X runner-up finish, a World Team Trials title and 5th place finish at the US Open. This season, Marsteller defeated the likes of #3 Vincenzo Joseph, #4 Carter Starocci, and #5 David McFadden. Vincenzo Joseph is number three in the rankings for runner-up finishes at the World Team Trials and US Open where he won matches over the likes of #2 Chance Marsteller, #6 Alex Dieringer, and #7 Taylor Lujan. Joseph's only losses this domestic season were to #5 David McFadden in the US Open finals and to Marsteller in a three-match series in the World Team Trials finals. Carter Starocci is number four in the rankings off a true third finish at Final X and a third-place finish at World Team Trials where he beat McFadden and #6 Alex Dieringer. Starocci finished third at the 2021 World Team Trials as well where he beat #9 Evan Wick, #2 (74) Jason Nolf and Marsteller. Starocci's only loss at the World Team Trials was to Marsteller in the quarterfinals. McFadden takes number five in the rankings for a US Open title where he beat Marsteller and Joseph that was followed by a fourth-place finish at World Team Trials where he beat 2019 74 KG Final X runner-up #7 Isaiah Martinez and #10 Brayden Thompson, but lost in the semifinals to Marsteller and #4 Starocci for bronze. Dieringer is number six in the rankings after a third-place finish at the US Open and making the semifinals of the World Team Trials. Dieringer took wins over Marsteller, Martinez, #8 Taylor Lujan and Wick against losses to Joseph in the US Open and World Team Trials semifinals and to Starocci in the World Team Trials consolation semifinals. Martinez takes the number seven spot in the rankings for beating US Open fourth place finisher Lujan in the World Team Trials consolation quarters. Martinez failed to place due to losses from Dieringer and McFadden in the championship quarterfinals and consolation semifinals. Taylor Lujan fills the number eight spot in the rankings off a fourth-place finish at the US Open, where he beat Thompson and Wick. Brayden Thompson takes the number nine spot for finishing fifth at the US Open, where he upset 6th seeded Michael O'Malley and winning a Junior World Team Trials title over Luca Augustine. Wick takes the final spot in the rankings at number ten for placing seventh at the U.S. Open and beating Isaiah White in the blood round after White had upset U23 World Team Trials runner-up O'Malley the match before. 86KG 2021 Olympic champion David Taylor owns the top spot in the ranking for winning Final X over #2 Zahid Valencia. Zahid Valencia is at number two for finishing runner-up at Final X and winning World Team Trials over #3 Mark Hall. Hall is at number three for winning the true third match at Final X against #4 Trent Hidlay and for winning the US Open over #6 Marcus Coleman. Hidlay took third at World Team Trials by beating #5 Drew Foster and Coleman, lost the true third match at Final X to Hall and won U23 World Team Trials over Trent Munoz to lock down the number four spot in the rankings. Foster is ranked fifth for beating US Open runner-up #6 Marcus Coleman and #7 Andrew Morgan at World Team Trials on his way to a fourth-place finish after losses to Hall and Hidlay in the semifinals and third-place match. Coleman is number six in the rankings for finishing runner-up at the US Open, where he beat second-seeded Nick Reenan and #8 Owen Webster. Reenan is not ranked because he went 79 KG for the World Team Trials and went 0-2 with losses to #9 (79) Brayden Thompson and #8 Taylor Lujan. Andrew Morgan is seventh in the rankings for beating US Open fourth place finisher #9 Caden Steffen and #10 Owen Webster at World Team Trials. Caleb Hopkins is number eight in the rankings for beating Open fourth place finisher Steffen in the blood round at World Team Trials after Hopkins had finished sixth at the US Open due to a consolation semifinal loss to Steffen and a loss in the fifth place match to Webster. Caden Steffen is ranked #9 for beating Morgan and Hopkins in the US Open, which was subsequently followed by losing to both Morgan and Hopkins at World Team Trials. Webster is #10 for beating #8 Caleb Hopkins twice at the U.S. Open; in the championship quarterfinals and in the fifth place match. Webster went 0-2 at World Team Trials with losses to #4 Trent Hidlay and #7 Andrew Morgan. 92KG Returning world bronze medalist J'den Cox won the top spot in the rankings by coming out on top of a three-match series against #2 Nate Jackson at Final X. Nate Jackson is number two in the rankings after his runner-up finish at Final X and title at World Team Trials over #4 Isaac Trumble. Jay Aiello is number three for winning the true third match at Final X against World Team Trials runner-up Trumble. US Open runner-up Isaac Trumble is fourth in the rankings for finishing runner-up at the World Team Trials to Jackson and losing his true third match against Aiello. Trumble's best wins of this season were avenging his US Open finals loss to #5 Cam Caffey in the World Team Trials semifinals and beating U.S. Open third place finisher #7 Max Shaw in the US Open semifinals. Caffey is fifth in the rankings off the strength of a US Open title with victories over Trumble and Battista that was followed up by a fourth-place finish at World Team Trials off losses to Jackson in the semifinals and Aiello in the bronze medal match. Battista is sixth in the rankings off a 4th place finish in the US Open, where he lost to #7 Max Shaw that he then avenged in the repechage bracket of World Team Trials. Max Shaw is seventh for finishing third at the U.S. Open and beating Battista and following it up by going 0-2 at World Team Trials with losses to Jackson and Battista. Jacob Cardenas is at number eight for winning the U23 World Team Trials. Christopher Smith is ninth in the rankings for finishing fifth in the U.S. Open. Jacob Koser is tenth in the rankings for finishing sixth in the U.S. Open. 97KG 2021 Olympic and World runner-up Kyle Snyder is number one in the domestic rankings for winning Final X over #2 Kollin Moore. Michael Macchiavello is third in the rankings for finishing runner-up to #2 Kollin Moore at World Team Trials and winning the US Open. Macchiavello had wins this season over #5 Ethan Laird and #6 Timothy Dudley. Ben Kueter is fourth in the rankings for winning Junior World Team Trials and the Junior World championships. While some may take issue with his lack of domestic Senior competition, Kueter's win over Rifat Gidak in the JR world finals after Gidak had upset the returning U23 world champion Amirali Azarpira in the semifinals is better than any win that athletes ranked fifth through tenth have. Ethan Laird is fifth in the rankings for taking third at World Team Trials over #6 Timothy Dudley and avenging his loss from in the fifth place match of the U.S. Open to #7 Samuel Mitchell. Dudley is sixth in the rankings after a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open and World Team Trials. Mitchell is seventh in the rankings for beating Laird at the U.S.Open. Tanner Sloan is eighth in the rankings for winning the U23 World Team Trials. Nick Stemmet is ninth for finishing runner-up at the U23 World Team Trials. Duncan Lee is tenth for finishing in seventh place at the U.S. Open. 125KG Hayden Zillmer is number one in the rankings for winning Final X over two-time world bronze medalist #2 Nick Gwiazdowski. Dom Bradley is number three in the rankings for taking third at World Team Trials and finishing runner-up at the US Open to Zillmer. Ty Walz is number four for taking bronze at the U.S. Open and fourth at World Team Trials and notching wins over #5 Tony Cassioppi and #8 Demetrius Thomas. Tony Cassioppi is fifth in the rankings for beating #6 Derek White at World Team Trials and beating #9 Zach Elam in the U23 World Team Trials finals. White is sixth in the rankings for beating #7 Christian Lance at World Team Trials. Lance is seventh in the rankings for taking sixth in the US Open, where he beat made the quarterfinals and lost to #8 Thomas, then beat White in the blood round then lost to Walz and Lucas Davison. Lance avenged his loss to Davidson at World Team Trials but was beaten by #6 Derek White and eliminated in the repechage bracket. Thomas is eighth in the rankings for getting fourth at the U.S.Open where he beat Lance and Davison, but followed it up with a loss in the round of 16 of World Team Trials to Lance and was eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals by Walz. Elam is ninth in the rankings for finishing runner-up to Cassioppi at U23 World Team Trials and beating #10 Tyrie Houghton in the semifinals after Houghton had upset the Senior US Open fifth-place finisher, Lucas Davison, in the quarterfinals. Pound for Pound Kyle Dake is number one in the pound-for-pound rankings based on his three world titles (‘18 & ‘19 at 79KG, ‘21 at 74KG) and his Olympic bronze medal plus his wins over #2 David Taylor, #3 Jordan Burroughs, #8 J'den Cox, #14 Zahid Valencia, #17 Alex Dieringer and #24 Jason Nolf. The rest of the top five is all returning World/Olympic medalists in #2 David Taylor, #3 Jordan Burroughs, #4 Kyle Snyder, and #5 Thomas Gilman as their elite domestic and international wins warrant their top five status. Seth Gross is at sixth in the pound-for-pound rankings based on his wins over #7 Daton Fix and #5 Thomas Gilman. Daton Fix is seventh for past wins over #6 Seth Gross and #5 Thomas Gilman. Fix's consistency from 57-61KG and coming off a world silver medal weighs more heavily for me than #8 J'den Cox's resume that's dependent on good wins from six years ago (#1 Kyle Dake at Olympic Trials) and five years ago (#2 David Taylor at 2017 World Team Trials) coupled with unranked losses (Illia Archaia of Ukraine at the 2021 Yasar Dogu) plus losing to #5 Kyle Snyder and failing to win world's hurts his pound for pound status. Chance Marsteller is at ninth for going through the meatgrinder that was 79 KG this season and managing to take a match off of returning 79 KG world champion #3 Jordan Burroughs at Final X and winning matches against #13 Vincenzo Joseph, #15 Carter Starocci, and #15 David McFadden. Zain Retherford completes the top ten at tenth after making his third world team by beating #11 Jordan Oliver at the 70KG Final X and while there is an understandable push for #12 Yianni Diakomihalis to be top ten, both Zain and JO have avenged their losses to him from 2019 and are deserving of pound for pound spots ahead of him based off that. Vincenzo Joseph is in at thirteen for wins over Marsteller and #17 Alex Dieringer this season. Joseph was a runner-up to Marsteller in the World Team Trials finals. Zahid Valencia is in at fourteen for runner-up finishes to Dake at 2018 79 KG Final X and finishing runner-up to Taylor this year at 86 KG Final X. Valencia is the consensus number two at 86 KG and currently ranked ninth internationally and boasts a pound for pound win over #17 Alex Dieringer, so being right in the middle of the rankings at #14 is a perfect spot for him. Two-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci is in the rankings at fifteen for beating #16 David McFadden and #17 Alex Dieringer at 79 KG World Team Trials and Starocci also took third in 2021 at World Team Trials where he beat #9 Chance Marsteller and #24 Jason Nolf. Joey McKenna is in at eighteen for beating Retherford at the 2021 Olympic Trials and beating Diakomihalis at 2019 Senior Nationals and taking a match over Yianni at the 2021 World Team Trials. Vito Arujau sits at #19 for putting together runner-up finishes at the 2021 57 KG Olympic Trials and this year at Final X, both to Gilman. Arujau's win that anchors him to the pound for pound is Fix at the 2021 Olympic Trials. Nate Jackson sits at number twenty in the rankings after a runner-up finish at Final X at 92 KG, where he took a match against #8 J'Den Cox. Kollin Moore is in at twenty-one for three straight World/Olympic Trials runner-up finishes going back to 2021 when he was runner-up to #4 Kyle Snyder at the 97 KG 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, runner-up to #8 J'den Cox at the 2021 92 KG World Team Trials, and runner-up this year to #4 Kyle Snyder at 97 KG Final X. 125 KG Final X champion Hayden Zillmer is twenty-two in the rankings for beating two-time world bronze medalist #23 Nick Gwiazdowski to secure the 125 KG world championships spot. 74 KG Final X runner-up Jason Nolf slots in at twenty-four in the rankings. While that may seem low for someone of the skill caliber of Nolf, Nolf has just begun to establish himself as a serious international contender in freestyle and has been stuck behind the likes of #1 Kyle Dake and #3 Jordan Burroughs and hasn't been able to get any particular signature wins to his name due to the difficulty of the weight classes he's been in. Nolf also has a loss to #15 Carter Starocci from the 2021 79 KG World Team Trials. As it stands, Nolf's best current wins domestically are David Carr and Isaiah Martinez and his best international wins are #9 Timur Bizhoev (RUS) and Khetag Tsabolov (SRB). Very solid but in weights with pound-for-pound standouts like Burroughs and Dake, it's hard to break through with that. Joe Colon finishes the rankings at #25 based on his 2018 61 KG world bronze medal, victory over 2018 61 KG world champion Yowlys Bonne Rodriguez (CUB) and two wins over #6 Seth Gross.

2022 World Team member Jesse Thielke (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 63kg Greco-Roman Entries Abdeldjebar Djebbari (Algeria) 2x African Champion Hrachya Poghosyan (Armenia) 2021 U23 World Bronze Medalist, 2x European 5th Place For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2022 NCAA semifinalists Daton Fix (left) and Michael McGee (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) I've been on this train for a few years now. Almost all conferences have various matchups between each other in basketball, baseball, and other sports. Wrestling had tried that with the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but it's been awhile since those went away. I have believed they could, and I think fans would have some interest in the event. It's now officially happening between the Big Ten and EIWA. With the Big Ten announcing this event, I thought I would expand a little on how the Big 12 could possibly do something similar. My initial thought, a few years ago, was why not just have schools schedule programs from other conferences and call it the Big 12. vs. the ACC or MAC vs. PAC 12, etc… No real additional effort as far as scheduling it all as a group, just put the “conference vs. conference” tag on it to add some interest and possibly get fans a little more into it. Ex. Oklahoma State fans would be engaged in watching Iowa State wrestle and vice versa as it is for the conference as a whole. I think that concept works and could certainly be applied here as long as you have a few schools from each conference willing to schedule each other for it. The other angle is what the Big 10 and EIWA are doing here. Get a few teams from each conference involved, then schedule them all to come to a site and wrestle each other. I think, and obviously others do as well, that this concept works too. What I would try is something like this. Big 12. Vs. ACC or PAC 12. Get groups of schools from a specific region and have them host. Ex. Iowa, Colorado, and Oklahoma have two Big 12 schools. North Carolina has three ACC schools and Virginia has two. PAC 12 has three schools in California and the Big 12 has a California school. Year one. The state of Oklahoma hosts. They could do it in Norman or Stillwater or even at a neutral site like the BOK center of the PAYCOM Center (PAYCOM CEO Chad Richison is a former wrestler). Year 1. Both Oklahoma schools compete along with a few other Big 12 schools vs. the ACC or PAC 12. Year 2. Do the same thing but in another region with more than one program and bring in a few other schools that are available. Ex. The state of Virginia hosts with various other ACC schools competing against some from the Big 12, and on and on if it's something that draws interest. I tweeted this and it's a pretty good example of a few specific teams, but you could certainly interchange some of that and it would still conceptually work. Conference realignment has become such a huge part of the dialogue in college sports these days that fans of schools are legitimately engaged and interested in the success of their schools' conference vs. other conferences. Why not capture that interest in wrestling? Use it to build the wrestling brands of the programs in each of these conferences and build interest in the sport. We've all seen decent ideas in wrestling fail, but I truly believe this is something that “could” work if implemented correctly.

2021 World Silver Medalist Kayla Miracle (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 62kg Women's Freestyle Entries Tetiana Omelchenko (Azerbaijan) 4x European Bronze Medalist, 2017 U23 World Bronze Medalist, 2019 World 7th Place Lais Nunes de Oliveira (Brazil) 2021 World 5th Place, 2x Pan-American Champion, 2022 Zouhaier Sghaier Silver Medalist For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2021 EIWA Finalist Nick Palumbo (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Welcome to a new, regular feature for InterMat! Every day, for the next few months, we'll look into the recent history of a DI wrestling program with our "Ten Years of…" feature. Even if you're a die-hard supporter of a particular school, there will be good information you may have forgotten. For others, it's a quick way to learn about a program you may not be familiar with. We're going in alphabetical order for this one, so next up is...Sacred Heart! NCAA Qualifiers (2) 2021 #24 Nick Palumbo (157 lbs), #33 Joe Accousti (184 lbs) EIWA Finalists 2021: Nick Palumbo (157) Dual Record 2021-22: 1-9 2021: 0-2 2019-20: 8-6 2018-19: 5-7 2017-18: 2-10 2016-17: 3-12 2015-16: 2-15 2014-15: 1-12 2013-14: 3-11 2012-13: 0-11 Head Coaching History John Clark (2017 - Present) Andy Lausier (2012-2017) Best Lineup (Comprised of Wrestlers from 2013-2022) 125 - Ryan Burns 133 - Gerard Daly: 2016 EIWA 7th Place 141 - Paul Klee 149 - Kyle Brady 157 - Nick Palumbo: 2021 NCAA Qualifier, 2021 EIWA Runner-Up 165 - Brandon Levesque 174 - Conan Schuster: 2015 EIWA 6th Place 184 - Joe Accousti: 2021 NCAA Qualifier, 2021 EIWA 6th Place 197 - Robert Hetherman 285 - Ray Sherwood: 2016 EIWA 8th Place For past teams: Air Force American Appalachian State Arizona State Army West Point Binghamton Bloomsburg Brown Bucknell Buffalo Cal Poly Campbell Central Michigan Chattanooga Clarion Cleveland State Columbia Cornell CSU Bakersfield Davidson Drexel Duke Edinboro Franklin & Marshall Gardner-Webb George Mason Harvard Hofstra Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa State Kent State Lehigh Lock Haven Maryland Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Missouri Navy NC State Nebraska North Carolina North Dakota State Northern Colorado Northern Illinois Northern Iowa Northwestern Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oregon State Penn Penn State Pittsburgh Princeton Purdue Rider Rutgers

2019 World Champion Jacarra Winchester (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 55kg Women's Freestyle Entries Karla Godinez Gonzalez (Canada) 2022 Pan-American Gold Medalist, 2022 GP of Spain Silver Medalist, 2022 Zouhaier Sghaier Silver Medalist, 2019 U23 World 5th place Mengyu Xie (China) 2019 Asian Gold Medalist, 2019 World 10th Place, 2022 Ian Corneanu & Ladislau Simon Memorial Bronze Medalist For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2022 NCAA All-Americans Rocky Elam (left) and Yonger Bastida (photo courtesy of Mark Lundy; LutteLens.com) Wrestling season is a few months away but we're starting to see some schedules trickle out and I felt this would be a good time to look at some duals that we should see every year involving Big 12 programs. Oklahoma State-Oklahoma Bedlam. Two of the sport's most historic programs and one of the most heated in-state rivalries in all of college sports. The thing here is this could be in jeopardy with OU on their way out of the conference and on their way to the SEC; though, of course, they may stay in the Big 12 for wrestling. Whatever happens with realignment, this rivalry will hopefully continue as it's really a great one for the sport. Iowa State-Northern Iowa Naturally, there may be a bit of a theme to the in-state rivalries in this story, but I think the unique and interesting thing regarding this one is the fact that Iowa doesn't wrestle Northern Iowa. So this makes this rivalry even bigger than it normally would be. Plus, it's the only in-conference matchup in the state of Iowa, so all the way around, this is a great matchup between two excellent programs that you really want to see each season. North Dakota State-South Dakota State The “Dakota Marker”. Another built-in rivalry that crosses all sports for these schools. One that gets both fanbases interested regardless of what's going on. Two solid programs that should be competitive every year and create a great wrestling environment. West Virginia-Pitt This is the only one that includes a team not in the Big 12 with Pitt. But the “Backyard Brawl” is a must for West Virginia every year. Regardless of what they have scheduled in conference every season, we should hope to see WVU-Pitt scrap every season. Northern Colorado-Air Force I don't know how heated of a rivalry this could become, given Air Force's status as a service academy and not a state school. But with two Big 12 teams, and the only Division 1 wrestling programs in the state of Colorado, this one has some of the right ingredients to blossom into a good annual matchup for each school. Both crowned their first Big 12 Champions last year with Andrew Alirez(UNCO) winning 141 and Wyatt Hendrickson(Air Force) winning heavyweight. And their dual last year came down to a tie going to criteria and giving Northern Colorado the one-point edge over Air Force 19-18. It's not Bedlam or the Cy-Hawk series or some of the other big in-state rivalries we see in the sport, but if cultivated correctly this could be a solid matchup every year to really draw in the Colorado wrestling fans and community. Utah Valley-Cal Baptist I'm taking a bit of a unique angle with this one. These two programs don't have a long history or any tight connection, they've only wrestled two times ever with Utah Valley winning both. But with both being the furthest west programs in the Big 12 and no clear rivals to line up with? Why not establish one now? Wyoming-Oklahoma State The Cowboys vs. The Cowboys, Pistol Pete vs. Pistol Pete, John Smith vs. Mark Branch. A lot of great built-in storylines with this one that creates a bit of a unique rivalry between the two. Missouri-Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State In my opinion, all four of these teams should wrestle each other every year. Conference realignment has made a mess of things, but these old Big Eight/Big Twelve rivalries hold a lot of weight for fans. And routinely having these matches and keeping these rivalries is big for every one of these programs and for the sport. I'm glad Missouri's back in the conference, I hope OU gets to stay, and I hope we see a lot of these matchups every single year.

2020 Olympic champion David Taylor (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Welcome to another edition of the Jagger Friday Mailbag. As we approach Labor Day weekend it sort of feels like the proverbial calm before the storm as the action starts to heat up next weekend. And what a way to kick off the fall season of wrestling. We start off with Who's Number One on early Friday evening and go straight into a week's worth of the Senior World Championships. Big Bossman Earl has already kicked off some previews and Seth Petarra will have some pumpkin spice rankings on the way to get you warmed up. So get that last family time in this weekend as the temperature drops in these next few months, the amount of wrestling shall rise. But first some questions. Who pulls off a better head wrap, Jordan Burroughs or Nico Megaludis? Jkos11 The easy answer is to say Burroughs since his head wrap is synonymous with winning world titles and doing laps with Old Glory. But like you said, Nico liked the tweet so I awarded him the title of best head wrap. Sorry JB, you can't win 'em all. Where should Christian Carroll end up? Wyoming to be Eagan trained? JL Vice I think you picked the wrong Cowboys there. Let's face it, Oklahoma State hasn't had the best summer. Bringing in Carroll could be just the jolt that this still very talented team needs to get back on track. Can he do a Cowboy cut job and get down to 197? How about a Cowboy bulk job and anchor the lineup at heavyweight? Either spot fills a huge need for JT Realmuto's uncle. Lots of hubbub about this Premier League and the clubs that compete in it. For us non-football fans, can you please give us a Senior-level wrestler that could correspond best with each club? UWW Creative My dear friend Mr. Creative is trying to bust my chops over my complaints about constant soccer talk lately. Look, I'm not a soccer guy. Never will be. Sorry, it's just not my sport and I don't know anything about it or how to compare it to Senior wrestlers. But I know someone who does. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you my good buddy and rising chess star of the Michigan circuit @Oldestgreatest with a comprehensive list of your favorite association football clubs as wrestlers. Take it away, OG! Manchester City-David Taylor. Highly successful, nice and smooth, can score in bunches. Liverpool-Hassan Yazdanicharati. In your face, aggressive style, extremely loud and possibly annoying fanbase. Chelsea-Deepak Punia. Inexplicably popular. Not that good. Tottenham-Frank Chamizo. Great on the counterattack, doesn't control the pace the way you'd like, can be inconsistent but high upside. Arsenal-Jordan Oliver. Very smooth, attacking style, sometimes a mixed bag of results. Manchester United-Kyle Snyder from 2-3 years ago. Much analysis about why he's fallen off (when he hasn't). Some haters reveling in his losses. West Ham-Andrew Howe. Meat and potatoes style, always very solid. Never reached the very top internationally, but was up there for a while. Leicester-Alex Dieringer. Very good, but hasn't quite made a world team/Champions League, has struggled with injuries. Brighton-Ilyas Bekbulatov. The hipster's favorite for a few years now, but yet to appear on the biggest stage. Wolverhampton-Nick Gwiazdowski. Like the soccer Wolves, the Wolfpack wrestler has been a solid contender for years Newcastle-Adam Batirov. Had totally fallen off the radar until suddenly oil money came calling. Crystal Palace-Hayden Zillmer. Was always hanging around, made a big leap in the last year. Brentford-Doug Zapf. Not well known, but smart and scrappy. Aston Villa-Evan Henderson. Been around forever, had recent success working with a new coach. Southampton-Zane Richards. Good wrestler/team that people tend to forget about, but that I really like. Everton-Zach Sanders. Been around forever. Has a dedicated fanbase. Occasionally pulls off the big upset. Leeds-Austin Desanto. Very aggressive style, in a lot of entertaining matches. Widely hated by outsiders. Fulham-Dan Vallimont. Seemed to be on the bubble of Trials qualification/the Premier League every year. Bournemouth-Alexandru Chirtoaca. Not quite good enough for the elite, but not as bad as their most humiliating loss might suggest. Nottingham Forest-Anzor Boltukaev. Went crazy going all in on one year, almost paid off. Whoa! Oldest and Greatest coming through! Bet you didn't see an Alexandru Chirtoaca reference coming! Also my first guest writer! Also the last soccer talk you'll find here! Thanks for this, OG. I asked and you more than delivered. Is it time to maybe name an heir to the mailbag? Nah, I still got plenty left in the tank! I'm interested in your opinion on non-wrestling topics. What is the go-to football snack for each game time? Luke Wise Now, this is the kind of football talk I can get behind. Call me old-fashioned but there's nothing I love more than ten straight hours of eating and watching football. Depending on where you live, the season can span various stages of weather and that usually affects my snacking. The first few weeks are still basically summer so there's still a lot of fruit and ice cream between grilling. Then in the fall, it's never difficult to find donuts and cider from various pumpkin farms spread across North Jersey. Those are all the rage around here nowadays. Come November, you're going to want to go with whatever leftover Halloween candy you have or can steal from your kids. Later in the month, there's usually no shortage of pies for Thanksgiving. Then you get to the Christmas season and it's just cookies mixed in with green and red M&M's until you need an emergency dentist appointment. Of course, if you're currently wrestling, these options may not work out so well for you. Sorry. I did my time cutting weight. You'll get your chance one day to also throw dieting out the window. Until then, keep your hands out of my candy bowl and go burn some calories shoveling snow. Alright all you Jagoffs and Jaggettes, it's Labor Day Weekend and I work a laborious job so it's time for me to wrap this up and head into the weekend right. Come back next week as I list the criteria for the Jagger Hodge Award and break down the movie The Wrestler. Much like Matt Damon's appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, we simply ran out of time. Many thanks to @Oldestgreatest for the soccer comparisons, thanks to Earl for patiently waiting for me to finish so he can post this, and thanks to Willie for giving me the opportunity to write this column. We're going on a year now and I still can't believe I do this. Jagger out!

130 kg World Team Member Cohlton Schultz (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 130kg Greco-Roman Entries David Ovasapyan (Armenia) 2x U23 World Medalist (2,3), 2022 European 7th Place, 2021 World 11th Place, 2018 Junior World Silver Medalist Sabah Shariati (Azerbaijan) 2016 Olympic Bronze Medalist, 2022 Matteo Pellicone Silver Medalist, 2015 World 5th Place For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

60 kg World Team Member Ildar Hafizov (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 60kg Greco-Roman Entries Abdelkarim Fergat (Algeria) 4x African Champion Gevorg Gharibyan (Armenia) 2020 European Gold Medalist, 2021 World 5th Place For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2022 53 kg World Team member Dom Parrish (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 53kg Women's Freestyle Entries Leyla Gurbanova (Azerbaijan) 2022 Bolat Turlykhanov Cup Bronze Medalist, 2x Junior World Medalist (1,3) Samantha Stewart (Canada) 2021 World Bronze Medalist, 2022 Matteo Pellicone Bronze Medalist, 2016 Pan-American Champion For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2019 NCAA Champion Anthony Ashnault (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Welcome to a new, regular feature for InterMat! Every day, for the next few months, we'll look into the recent history of a DI wrestling program with our "Ten Years of…" feature. Even if you're a die-hard supporter of a particular school, there will be good information you may have forgotten. For others, it's a quick way to learn about a program you may not be familiar with. We're going in alphabetical order for this one, so next up is...Rutgers! NCAA Qualifiers (62) 2022 #23 Dylan Shawver (125 lbs), #22 Joey Olivieri (133 lbs), #3 Sebastian Rivera (141 lbs), #12 Mike Van Brill (149 lbs), #33 Connor O'Neill (174 lbs), #20 John Poznanski (184 lbs), #14 Greg Bulsak (197 lbs) 2021 #3 Sebastian Rivera (141 lbs), #10 Mike Van Brill (149 lbs), #26 Jackson Turley (174 lbs), #6 John Poznanski (184 lbs), #33 Billy Janzer (197 lbs) 2020 #16 Nic Aguilar (125 lbs), #10 Sammy Alvarez (133 lbs), #31 Mike Van Brill (157 lbs), #21 Billy Janzer (184 lbs), #17 Jordan Pagano (197 lbs) 2019 #3 Nick Suriano (133 lbs), #33 Peter LiPari (141 lbs), #1 Anthony Ashnault (149 lbs), #16 John Van Brill (157 lbs), #29 Joe Grello (174 lbs), #21 Nick Gravina (184 lbs) 2018 #4 Nick Suriano (125 lbs), Scott DelVecchio (133 lbs), Eleazar DeLuca (149 lbs), #15 John Van Brill (157 lbs), #6 Richie Lewis (165 lbs), #14 Nick Gravina (184 lbs) 2017 Scott DelVecchio (133 lbs), #5 Anthony Ashnault (141 lbs), #15 Ken Theobold (149 lbs), #13 John Van Brill (157 lbs), Jordan Pagano (174 lbs), Nick Gravina (184 lbs), Matt Correnti (197 lbs) 2016 Sean McCabe (125 lbs), #16 Anthony Giraldo (133 lbs), #4 Anthony Ashnault (141 lbs), Tyson Dippery (149 lbs), #9 Richie Lewis (157 lbs), #7 Anthony Perrotti (165 lbs), Phil Bakuckas (174 lbs), #15 Nick Gravina (184 lbs), Hayden Hrymack (197 lbs), #12 Billy Smith (285 lbs) 2015 Scott DelVecchio (133 lbs), #7 Anthony Ashnault (141 lbs), Ken Theobold (149 lbs), #13 Anthony Perrotti (157 lbs), Billy Smith (285 lbs) 2014 Vinnie Dellafave (133 lbs), Ken Theobold (149 lbs), Anthony Perrotti (157 lbs), Billy Smith (285 lbs) 2013 Vinnie Dellafave (133 lbs), Trevor Melde (141 lbs), Scott Winston (157 lbs), Nick Visicaro (165 lbs), Greg Zannetti (174 lbs), Dan Rinaldi (184 lbs), Billy Smith (285 lbs) NCAA Champions Nick Suriano (133 - 2019) Anthony Ashnault (149 - 2019) NCAA All-Americans 2022: Sebastian Rivera (141 - 3rd), Greg Bulsak (197 - 8th) 2021: Sebastian Rivera (141 - 4th), Jackson Turley (174 - 8th), John Poznanski (184 - 4th) 2019: Nick Suriano (133 - 1st), Anthony Ashnault (149 - 1st) 2018: Nick Suriano (125 - 2nd), Scott DelVecchio (133 - 6th) 2017: Anthony Ashnault (141 - 6th), Ken Theobold (149 - 7th) 2016: Anthony Ashnault (141 - 4th), Anthony Perrotti (149 - 8th) 2015: Anthony Ashnault (141 - 8th) 2014: Anthony Perrotti (157 - 8th) NWCA All-Americans Sammy Alvarez (133 - Second Team) Nic Aguilar (125 - Honorable Mention) NCAA Round of 12 Finishers John Van Brill (2018 - 157) Richie Lewis (2018 - 165) Scott DelVecchio (2017 - 133) Nick Gravina (2017 - 184) Billy Smith (2016 - 285) Big Ten Champions 2019: Nick Suriano (133), Anthony Ashnault (149) 2017: Anthony Ashnault (141) 2016: Anthony Ashnault (141) Dual Record 2021-22: 16-5 2021: 0-4 2019-20: 10-7 2018-19: 12-6 2017-18: 8-7 2016-17: 12-5 2015-16: 16-5 2014-15: 14-7 2013-14: 11-5 2012-13: 16-4 Conference Tournament Placement Big Ten 2021-22: 9th 2021: 10th 2019-20: 12th 2018-19: 8th 2017-18: 11th 2016-17: 8th-tie 2015-16: 5th 2014-15: 11th EIWA 2013-14: 3rd 2012-13: 5th NCAA Tournament Team Placement 2021-22: 20th-tie (28.5 points) 2021: 28th 13th-tie (37.5 points) 2019-20: No Tournament 2018-19: 9th (51.5 points) 2017-18: 11th (42.5 points) 2016-17: 19th (24.5 points) 2015-16: 15th (30 points) 2014-15: 31st-tie (9.5 points) 2013-14: 34th (11.5 points) 2012-13: 35th-tie (7.5 points) Head Coaching History Scott Goodale (2007 - Present) Best Lineup (Comprised of wrestlers from 2013-22) 125 - Nick Suriano: 2x NCAA Qualifier (#3 and #4 seeds), 2x NCAA All-American (1st, 2nd), 2019 Big Ten Champion, 2022 NCAA Champion for Michigan 133 - Scott DelVecchio: 3x NCAA Qualifier, 2018 NCAA All-American (6th) 141 - Anthony Ashnault: 4x NCAA Qualifier (#1, #4, #5, and #7 seeds), 4x NCAA All-American (1st, 6th, 4th, 8th), 3x Big Ten Champion 149 - Ken Theobold: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#15 seed), 2017 NCAA All-American (7th), 2014 EIWA 3rd Place 157 - Anthony Perrotti: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#7 and #13 seeds), 2x NCAA All-American (8th x2), 2014 EIWA 3rd Place 165 - Richie Lewis: 2x NCAA Qualifier (#6 and #9 seeds), 2018 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 2018 Big Ten 3rd Place 174 - Jackson Turley: 2021 NCAA All-American (8th) 184 - John Poznanski: 2x NCAA Qualifier (#6 and #20 seeds), 2021 NCAA All-American (4th), 2021 Big Ten 3rd Place 197 - Greg Bulsak: 2022 NCAA All-American (8th), 3x NCAA Qualifier for Clarion 285 - Billy Smith: 4x NCAA Qualifier (#12 seed), 2016 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 2014 EIWA Runner-Up Recruiting Number of Big Boarder's Per Year 2022: #12 Brian Soldano (NJ), #43 PJ Casale (NJ), #59 Luke Gayer (CA), #71 Jon Fongaro (NJ), #236 Brandan Chletsos (PA) 2021: #10 Dean Peterson (NJ), #24 Kyonte Hamilton (NJ), #54 Joey Olivieri (NJ), #69 Anthony White (NJ), #190 Dylan Weaver (NJ), #245 Michael Cetta (NJ), #266 John O'Donnell (NJ) 2020: #40 John Poznanski (NJ), #44 Connor O'Neill (NJ), #63 Dylan Shawver (OH), #164 Andrew Clark (NJ) 2019: #5 Jojo Aragona (PA), #30 Jackson Turley (VA), #33 Ryan Vulakh (PA), #36 Sammy Alvarez (NJ), #47 Robert Kanniard (NJ) 2018: #34 Nic Aguilar (CA), #41 Billy Janzer (NJ), #97 Jake Benner (NJ) 2017: #26 Stephen Glasgow (NJ) 2016: #43 Kevin Mulligan (NJ), #54 Joe Grello (NJ), #56 Matt Correnti (NJ), #113 Brett Donner (NJ), #128 Brandon Paetzell (NJ), #137 Alex Mackall (OH) 2015: #69 Ronnie Gentile (NJ) 2014: #51 Anthony Giraldo (NJ), #81 Wesley Bernard (IN), #97 Vinny Corsaro (IN) 2013: #8 Anthony Ashnault (NJ), #56 Tyson Dippery (PA), #107 Taylor Jackson (FL), #185 Corey Stasenko (NJ), #193 Nick Gravina (NJ) For past teams: Air Force American Appalachian State Arizona State Army West Point Binghamton Bloomsburg Brown Bucknell Buffalo Cal Poly Campbell Central Michigan Chattanooga Clarion Cleveland State Columbia Cornell CSU Bakersfield Davidson Drexel Duke Edinboro Franklin & Marshall Gardner-Webb George Mason Harvard Hofstra Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa State Kent State Lehigh Lock Haven Maryland Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Missouri Navy NC State Nebraska North Carolina North Dakota State Northern Colorado Northern Illinois Northern Iowa Northwestern Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oregon State Penn Penn State Pittsburgh Princeton Purdue Rider

Three-time World/Olympic medalist Sarah Hildebrandt (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 50kg Women's Freestyle Entries Patricia Bermudez (Argentina) 6x Pan-American Medalist, 2016 Olympic 5th Place Mariya Stadnik (Azerbaijan) 4x Olympic Medalist (2x 2nd, 2x 3rd), 6x World Medalist, 2x World Champion, 7x European Champion For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

Two-Time World Team member Alan Vera (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo/UWW) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 87kg Greco Roman Entries Bachir Sid Azara (Algeria) 4x African Champion, 2022 Dan Kolov/Nikola Petrov 5th Place, 2020 Olympic 7th Place Michael Wagner (Austria) 2022 GP of Spain Bronze Medal, 2021 European 9th Place For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

Two-Time World Team member Kamal Bey (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo/UWW) With the U17 World Championships in July and U20's in August, it means that we are on the precipice of the Senior World Championships, which take place September 10-18th from Belgrade, Serbia. Final X determined the Americans who will compete at world's and, for the most part, the rest of the world has made it official who will participate, as well (A country can change their entry up until 24 hours before their style starts weigh-ins). So who should our Americans look out for in the quest for gold? Below we have credentials for all of the current entries, along with seeds for the 2022 tournament, medalists from 2021, and information about the US entrant. 77 kg Greco Roman Entries Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia) 2021 World Champion, 2022 European Champion, 2x Junior World Medalist (1st, 2nd), 2021 European U23 Champion Rohan Kalisch (Austria) 2021 World 27th Place For the full article, Subscribe to InterMat's Rokfin Page

2021 NCAA Finalist Jesse Dellavecchia (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Welcome to a new, regular feature for InterMat! Every day, for the next few months, we'll look into the recent history of a DI wrestling program with our "Ten Years of…" feature. Even if you're a die-hard supporter of a particular school, there will be good information you may have forgotten. For others, it's a quick way to learn about a program you may not be familiar with. We're going in alphabetical order for this one, so next up is...Rider! NCAA Qualifiers (44) 2022 #30 Richie Koehler (133 lbs), #16 Quinn Kinner (141 lbs) 2021 #31 Jonathan Tropea (125 lbs), #24 Richie Koehler (133 lbs), #17 McKenzie Bell (141 lbs), #4 Jesse Dellavecchia (157 lbs), #27 Jake Silverstein (165 lbs), #7 Ethan Laird (285 lbs) 2020 #4 Jesse Dellavecchia (157 lbs), #23 Dean Sherry (174 lbs), #16 Ethan Laird (197 lbs), #31 Ryan Cloud (285 lbs) 2019 #27 Anthony Cefolo (133 lbs), #14 Jesse Dellavecchia (165 lbs), #30 Dean Sherry (174 lbs), #32 Ethan Laird (197 lbs) 2018 JR Wert (125 lbs), #4 Chad Walsh (165 lbs), Dean Sherry (174 lbs) 2017 BJ Clagon (157 lbs), #5 Chad Walsh (165 lbs), Michale Fagg-Daves (184 lbs), #8 Ryan Wolfe (197 lbs) 2016 Rob Deutsch (133 lbs), BJ Clagon (149 lbs), #15 Chad Walsh (157 lbs), #12 Conor Brennan (165 lbs), Ryan Wolfe (197 lbs), Mauro Correnti (285 lbs) 2015 Rob Deutsch (133 lbs), Chuck Zeisloft (141 lbs), #15 BJ Clagon (149 lbs), #14 Chad Walsh (157 lbs), Conor Brennan (165 lbs), Ryan Wolfe (197 lbs) 2014 #11 Rob Deutsch (133 lbs), Chuck Zeisloft (133 lbs), Ramon Santiago (165 lbs), Conor Brennan (174 lbs), Clint Morrison (184 lbs) 2013 Jimmy Morris (133 lbs), Zac Cibula (157 lbs), Ramon Santiago (165 lbs), Donald McNeil (197 lbs) NCAA Champions None NCAA All-Americans 2021: Jesse Dellavecchia (157 - 2nd) 2017: Chad Walsh (165 - 7th), Ryan Wolfe (197 - 7th) 2016: Chad Walsh (157 - 5th) 2015: BJ Clagon (149 - 5th) NWCA All-Americans Jesse Dellavecchia (157 - First Team) Ethan Laird (197 - Honorable Mention) NCAA Round of 12 Finishers Ethan Laird (2021 - 285) Chad Walsh (2018 - 165) BJ Clagon (2017 - 157) Conor Brennan (2016 - 165) Ryan Wolfe (2016 - 197) Conference Champions MAC 2022: Richie Koehler (133), Quinn Kinner (141) 2021: Jesse Dellavecchia (157) 2020: Jesse Dellavecchia (157) EWL 2019: Dean Sherry (174), Ethan Laird (197) 2018: Chad Walsh (165), Dean Sherry (174) 2017: BJ Clagon (157), Chad Walsh (165), Ryan Wolfe (197) 2016: Rob Deutsch (133), Conor Brennan (165), Ryan Wolfe (197) 2015: Rob Deutsch (133), BJ Clagon (149), Chad Walsh (157), Connor Brennan (165), Ryan Wolfe (174) 2014: Rob Deutsch (125), Ramon Santiago (165), Conor Brennan (174) CAA 2013: Ramon Santiago (165) Dual Record 2021-22: 4-10 2021: 4-1 2019-20: 12-3 2018-19: 8-5 2017-18: 13-5 2016-17: 13-1 2015-16: 12-9 2014-15: 13-8 2013-14: 14-8 2012-13: 10-8 Conference Tournament MAC 2021-22: 8th 2021: 3rd 2019-20: 4th EWL 2018-19: 2nd 2017-18: 2nd 2016-17: 2nd 2015-16: 1st 2014-15: 2nd 2013-14: 4th CAA 2012-13: 2nd-tie NCAA Tournament Team Placement 2021-22: 35th (5.5 points) 2021: 20th (22 points) 2019-20: No Tournament 2018-19: 37th-tie (7 points) 2017-18: 45th-tie (3 points) 2016-17: 21st-tie (20 points) 2015-16: 24th (19 points) 2014-15: 27th (15.5 points) 2013-14: 37th (9 points) 2012-13: 40th (4.5 points) Head Coaching History John Hangey (2017 - Present) Gary Taylor (1978 - 2017) Best Lineup (Comprised of wrestlers from 2013-22) 125 - Rob Deutsch: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#11 seed), 3x EWL Champion 133 - Richie Koehler: 2x NCAA Qualifier, 2022 MAC Champion 141 - Quinn Kinner: 2022 NCAA Qualifier (#16 seed), 2022 MAC Champion 149 - BJ Clagon: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#15 seed), 2015 NCAA All-American (5th), 2x EWL Champion, 2017 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher 157 - Jesse Dellavecchia: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#4 x2 and #14 seeds), 2021 NCAA All-American (2nd), 2020 NWCA First Team All-American, 2x MAC Champion 165 - Chad Walsh: 4x NCAA Qualifier (#4, #5, #14 and #15 seeds), 2x NCAA All-American (5th, 7th), 3x EWL Champion 174 - Conor Brennan: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#12 seed), 2016 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 3x EWL Champion 184 - Clint Morrison: 2014 NCAA Qualifier 197 - Ryan Wolfe: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#8 seed), 2017 NCAA All-American (7th), 3x EWL Champion, 2016 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher 285 - Ethan Laird: 3x NCAA Qualifier (#7 and #16 seeds), 2020 NWCA Honorable Mention All-American, 2021 NCAA Round of 12 Finisher, 2019 EWL Champion Recruiting Number of Big Boarder's Per Year 2022: #24 Hunter Mays (NJ) 2021: #27 David Szuba (NJ), #178 Matt Hoelke (NJ) 2020: #104 Shane Reitsma (NJ), #147 Angel Garcia (PA), #196 Tyler Klinsky (NJ) 2018: #31 Frankie Gissandanner (NY) 2016: #125 Evan Fidelbus (PA) 2013: #12 BJ Clagon (NJ), #80 Wayne Stinson (NJ), #98 Chad Walsh (NJ), #157 JR Wert (VA) For past teams: Air Force American Appalachian State Arizona State Army West Point Binghamton Bloomsburg Brown Bucknell Buffalo Cal Poly Campbell Central Michigan Chattanooga Clarion Cleveland State Columbia Cornell CSU Bakersfield Davidson Drexel Duke Edinboro Franklin & Marshall Gardner-Webb George Mason Harvard Hofstra Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa State Kent State Lehigh Lock Haven Maryland Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Missouri Navy NC State Nebraska North Carolina North Dakota State Northern Colorado Northern Illinois Northern Iowa Northwestern Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oregon State Penn Penn State Pittsburgh Princeton Purdue

(photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The California RTC has made big waves on the West Coast wrestling scene recently. You may have heard of the California RTC College Combine - an event in a league of its own, with a men's AND women's combine. This provides the opportunity for women to be recruited, in an event of their own. “Coaches from every division, coast to coast, are coming in to check out all this talent,” said Jimmy Overhiser, Director of Operations of the California RTC. This event is already full for the men's combine - there's a few slots left (as I write this) for the women's combine. California is an under-recruited area of the country - a “gold mine,” if you will, of untapped talent waiting to be mined and forged into the fires of competition. “We want to serve the youth of California to get the opportunities they deserve with recruitment for college wrestling. They may not be able to make the trips out east, so we're bringing the process to them.” A goal of this event for the RTC is to make college wrestling more accessible across socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, as California and the surrounding states are diverse areas. “Our program takes pride in fostering community, culture, and empowering the next generation of student-athletes to be the best versions of themselves, we want them to attain success on and off the mat.” While at the combine, student-athletes will have the opportunity to learn about the college admissions process, financial literacy, and can attend a recruitment fair where they can meet coaches from Cali JuCo, NJCAA, NCAA DI/DII/DIII, and NAIA programs. Without spoiling too much about some of the talent that's going to be on display at the combine, those registered include five former and current Team USA members, Fargo Champions, State Champions, and many more highly sought after prospective-student athletes. Keep an eye out for some hammers from Cali this year, the recruits of today are the champions of tomorrow. The Combine is set for September 17th and 18th. For more information about the event check the California RTC website.