By Allen Smith
PSWC Vice President
September 8, 2023
Well, summer is winding down, and we’re not far off from the college wrestling season (official start date is November 1). Before that is the Senior World Championships, held in Belgrade, Serbia from September 16 through September 24. All three senior disciplines will be contested, Men’s Freestyle, Women’s Freestyle, and Greco-Roman. There are TEN weight classes in each – thought I’d mention that as the Olympics next year in Paris will only have six.
The Nittany Lion Wrestling Club is well-represented in the USA squad, with five of the ten Men’s Freestyle wrestlers. In addition, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Uzbekistan, 74kg) and Jennifer Page (USA, Women’s Freestyle, 59kg) will be in Serbia competing from the NLWC. We are truly blessed to have this level of wrestling in central Pennsylvania!
This note will focus on Men’s Freestyle, though I will post the starters below for the other disciplines. If you’ve never seen the USA women wrestle, and get a chance to see them, do so – they are worth the watch.
Men’s Freestyle
57 kg: Zane Richards
61 kg: Vito Arujau
65 kg: Nick Lee
70 kg: Zain Retherford
74 kg: Kyle Dake
79 kg: Chance Marsteller
86 kg: David Taylor
92 kg: Zahid Valencia
97kg: Kyle Snyder
125 kg: Mason Parris
Weight classes 61kg, 70kg, 86kg and 125kg will be wrestled Sept. 16 & 17
Weight classes 57kg, 74kg, 79kg, and 92kg will be wrestled Sept. 17 & 18
Weight classes 65kg and 97kg will be wrestled Sept. 18 & 19
In each case, the qualification rounds through to the semi-finals of the championship bracket are wrestled the first day of each wrestling for each weight class, while repechage bouts and medal matches are wrestled on day 2. Flowrestling will cover the action, with their broadcast starting at 4:30am each morning (Belgrade time zone is 6 hours ahead of EDT).
The rest of the USA representative’s (Women’s Freestyle & Greco-Roman);
Women’s Freestyle
50 kg: Sarah Hildebrandt
53 kg: Dominique Parrish
55 kg: Jacarra Winchester
57 kg: Helen Maroulis
59 kg: Jennifer Page
62 kg: Kayla Miracle
65 kg: Macey Kilty
68 kg: Emma Bruntil
72 kg: Amit Elor
76 kg: Adeline Gray
Men’s Greco Roman
55 kg: Brady Koontz
60 kg: Ildar Hafizov
63 kg: Xavier Johnson
67 kg: Alejandro Sancho
72 kg: Patrick Smith
77 kg: Kamal Bey
82 kg: Spencer Woods
87 kg: Zachary Braunagel
97 kg: Josef Rau
130 kg: Cohlton Schultz
