June 4 Final X Preview: Dake postpones match with Dieringer

MFS-79k/174lb            Kyle Dake vs. Alex Dieringer

Dake clinched an automatic Final X spot at this weight class after the four-time NCAA champion (2010-13) from Cornell won a World championship last October in Paris. But the 28-year-old native of Ithaca, N.Y., and a current assistant coach at his alma mater announced on June 4 he would have to postpone this match to a later date because of injury.

In an instagram post, Dake wrote, “I had a freak accident that required surgery and kept me off the mat for some time. We are waiting to get details for the wrestle-off date and I will keep you posted. I will continue to train as intelligently and diligently as I can towards becoming the 2019 79kg World Champion.”

Dake has seen very little mat action since the 2013 Dan Hodge Trophy winner outscored four foes 37-0, including a 2-0 victory over Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan in the 2019 UWW World finals.

Dieringer, the former three-time NCAA champion and 2016 Dan Hodge Trophy winner from Oklahoma State, qualified for Final X when he dominated the field at the U.S. Open in April and the World Team Trials Challenge tournament in May at Raleigh, N.C. During challenge tournament, the 26-year-old native of Port Washington, Wisc., defeated Arizona State’s two-time NCAA champ and 2018 Final X competitor Zahid Valencia, 12-1 and 12-2, in the best-of-3 championship series.

Last year marked the first time Dake qualified for a Senior-level World/Olympic team after he settled for second place in the 2016 Olympic Trials and 2013, ’15 and ’17 World Team Trials. Dieringer, who finished third at the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Team Trials, wrestled at the 2013 Junior World Championships, where he earned a silver medal.

GR-67k/147.5lb            Ellis Coleman vs. Jamel Johnson

Coleman, the 27-year-old native of Oak Park, Ill., earned the Final X berth when he defeated Hayden Tuma in the finals of the 2019 U.S. Open in Las Vegas in April. Johnson earned at least two bouts vs. Coleman when he also defeated Tuma in the World Team Trials Challenge tourney in Raleigh. The native of Winston-Salem, N.C., who will turn 28 on June 9, had lost to Tuma at the U.S. Open.

Coleman, a member of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, will be shooting for a spot on his fourth World Team after also qualifying for the 2013, ’17 and ’18 World Championships. (He was also a member of the 2012 Olympic Team.)  Coleman pinned his first foe Edgaras Venckaitis (Lithuania) at last October’s World Championships but then lost consecutive bouts to Artem Surkov (Russia) and Mamadassa Sylla (France).

Johnson was a past member of the Army’s WCAP program before switching to the U.S. Marines a year ago and rejoined Jason Loukides, his former college coach at North Carolina-Greensboro, which dropped its varsity program in 2011.

Coleman also earned two bronze medals in the 2010 and ’11 Junior World Championships. It was at the second Junior Worlds that he performed the Flying Squirrel move where he jumped over his opponent and eventually scored a takedown for the victory. Johnson has never wrestled at World Championship but did claim a bronze medal in the 2012 World University Championships.

WFS-57k/125.5lb            Becka Leathers vs. Jenna Burkert

The Titan Mercury Wrestling Club’s Leathers earned the automatic Final X spot at this weight when she defeated Burkert, 7-5, at the U.S. Open. And Burkert (Army’s WCAP) earned a Final X rematch vs. Leathers when she dominated Arian Carpio, 11-2 and 10-0, at the World Team Trials Challenge tournament.

Leathers, a 22-year-old native of Choctaw, moved up to 57 kilos after wrestling at 55 kilos in 2018, when she lost to Jacarra Winchester at Final X Lincoln. One year earlier, the 2016 WCWA champion from Oklahoma City University claimed a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships at 55 kilos. Leathers, a 2015 Junior World bronze medalist, did represent the USA at the U23 Worlds, where she claimed eighth at 57 kilos.

Burkert, a 26-year-old native of Rocky Point, N.Y., has dropped down to 57 kilos after wrestling at 59 kilos in 2018, where she filled in for an injured Alli Ragan in the 2018 UWW World Championships. (Burkert had lost to Ragan, 4-0 and 5-0, in last year’s Final X.) That marked the second World Team for Burkert, who also represents the Army’s WCAP program. In the 2014 Worlds, she lost her only bout to Japan’s Katsuki Sakagami at 60 kilos.

To get a Subscription to WIN’s Monthly Print or Digital Magazine so you get the Final X coverage, click here.

Next week, WIN will examine the 15 Final X matches in Lincoln, Neb., which will take place on Saturday, June 15

Men’s Freestyle

Greco-Roman

Women’s Freestyle