By Allen Smith, PSWC Membership Committee Co-Chair
As action is set to begin in the U23 Men’s Freestyle championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, it is time to give additional information on the tournament. First, here’s some information on the Greco-Roman and Women’s Wrestling teams…
Greco-Roman has completed their tournament, and USA wrestlers earned two Bronze Medals. To be honest, the USA Greco-Roman team has not done well on the world stage in many years.
Women’s Freestyle action is not yet finished, as they have three weight classes yet to wrestle, all starting tomorrow morning. Thus far, the women have won three medals, two Silvers and one Gold, with another wrestler alive in repechage and with a chance to get to the Bronze Medal match tomorrow morning.
OK, let’s talk U23 Men’s Freestyle. I’ll be up early, early Friday morning. The plan is to not miss a single USA bout over the next four days. My report outs will probably be sent mid to late afternoon each day…at least that’s my hope. Wrestling starts at 4:00am EDT each day. A more detailed schedule is as follows;
Friday, Oct. 24: Mitchell Mesenbrink (74kg) and Josh Barr (92kg) are in action as part of the two weight classes that kick off Men’s Freestyle action. The qualification rounds (which include bouts up to and including the quarterfinals) start at 4:00am. The semifinals start at 10:45am. Beyond that, repechage action for these two weight classes start at 4:00am on Saturday morning, and the medal matches will be held Saturday at 12:00 noon our time (repeated below).
Saturday, Oct. 25: Luke Lilledahl (57kg), PJ Duke (70kg), Levi Haines (79kg) and Daniel Herrera (125kg) are in action this day as part of the next four weight classes. The qualification rounds start at 4:00am, as does the repechage action for 74 and 92kg. Semifinals for 57, 70, 79 and 125kg start at 11:00am. Then at noon, the medal matches for 74 and 92kg take place.
Sunday, Oct. 26: Jax Forrest (61kg), Marcus Blaze (65kg), Rocco Welsh (86kg) and Garavous Kouekabakilaho (97kg) are in action this day as part of the final four weight classes in Men’s Freestyle. The qualification rounds start at 4:00am, as do the repechage bouts for 57, 70, 79 and 125kg. Semifinals for the four weight classes that began earlier start at 11:00am. Then at noon, the medal matches for 57, 70, 79, and 125kg take place.
Monday, Oct. 27: The final day of wrestling will see the 61, 65, 86 and 97kg weight classes wrap up the action. Unlike previous days (because there are fewer bouts), repechage action starts at 10:15am (woohoo, I can sleep in!!). That is followed by the medal bouts at 12:00 noon for the same weight classes.
The scoop on the USA U23 Men’s Freestyle contingent is interesting. We all know the talent level, at least for the Penn State wrestlers, even though Blaze and Duke have yet to wrestle a folkstyle (college) bout. The World Championships is a different animal, as it includes the best of the best world-wide, and is in freestyle – not that this fact matters much as today’s young wrestlers grow up wrestling both styles. Several outlets and individuals have provided their guesses on the outcome overall, and the consensus is 7 or 8 total medals, with 3 or 4 of them being Gold. To be honest, a result similar to that would easily win the Men’s Freestyle team title. To give a bit of recent history, the USA as a team finished outside the top three from 2017 through 2021. Then in 2022, the USA finished third. That was followed by a first place finish in 2023 when USA wrestlers ended Men’s Freestyle action with four Golds and 2 Bronze Medals (including Gold by Aaron Brooks). In 2024, the USA dropped to fifth. Having said all that, this year’s team has loads of potential, so we’ll see how they perform on the mat. Confidence is high.
More to come. U-S-A, U-S-A!!
Allen
