Sept 6 World Championship Previews

Zain Retherford became the last of 30 Americans to qualify for the 2019 UWW World Championships and the former two-time Hodge Trophy winner and three-time NCAA champ from Penn State will return for his second World tournament this month in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

He will be joined by Greco-Roman’s Ryan Mango, who becomes the second wrestler from his family to qualify for the Worlds, and women’s freestyler Jacarra Winchester, who just missed out on landing a spot the 2018 finals and an eventually medal in last year’s World Championships.

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The following are closer looks at these Americans and are part of WIN’s preview of Team USA for at the Worlds.

Men’s Freestyle

65 K / 143.5 pounds

Zain Retherford

Competing Sept. 19-20

Zain Retherford (front) left Final X Rutgers believing that he had defeated Yianni Diakomihalis for the 65-kilogram World Team berth. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 24 (born May 21, 1995); native of Benton, Pa.; resident of State College, Pa.; Nittany Lion Wrestling Club; 3-time NCAA champ at Penn State (2016-18), 2-time Hodge Trophy winner (’17-18).

International Experience:Competed in 2017 Worlds (1-1 record, did not place); also won a 2012 Cadet World championship in 2012.

2019 Final X:originally defeated Yianni Diakomihalis (a 2-time NCAA champ from Cornell) in best-of-three matches, 10-4, 6-6, at Rutgers in June, but an independent arbitrator determined in August that the second win was not ruled correctly. That set up another meeting on Sept. 2, when Retherford won 2-1 in Wilkes-Barres, Pa.

Projected Top-4 Seeds by UWW:1. Bajrang Punia (India), ’18 World silver; 2. Takuto Otoguro (Japan), ’18 World gold; 3. Selahattin Kilicsallayan (Turkey), ’19 European silver; 4. Sayatbek Okassov (Kazakhstan), ’19 Asian silver; Also Gadshimurad Rashidov (Russia), ’18 World silver at 61K.

Greco-Roman

63 K / 138.75 pounds

Ryan Mango

Competing Sept. 14-15

Ryan Mango (top) joins his older brother Spenser, a former World Team member, as members of his family to compete at this level in Greco-Roman. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 28 (born Aug. 17, 1991); native of St. Louis, Mo.; resident of Colorado Springs, Colo.; U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program; 2-time All-American at Stanford; younger brother of eight-time World/Olympic wrestler Spenser Mango.

International Experience:first Senior World tournament; also finished second in 2013 World Team Trials and third in 2016 Olympic Trials.

2019 Final X:defeated Xavier Johnson (U.S. Marine Corps) in best-of-three matches, 11-2, 6-5, in Lincoln.

Projected Top-4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Stepan Maryanyan (Russia), ’18 World gold; 2. Erbatu Tuo (China), ’19 Asian gold; Shinobu Ota (Japan), ’16 Olympic silver; 4. Slavik Galstyan (Armenia), ’18 Worlds 8th.

Women’s Freestyle

55 K / 121 pounds

Jacarra Winchester

Competing Sept. 17-18

Jacarra Winchester (left) qualified for his second straight Worlds at Final X Lincoln. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 26 (born Oct. 19, 1992); native of San Leandro, Calif.; resident of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Titan Mercury WC/OTC; 2015 WCWA champ from Missouri Valley

International Experience: competed in one Senior Worlds; finished fifth in 2018 (2-2 record)

2019 Final X:defeated Dominique Parrish (Titan Mercury WC) in best-of-three matches, 10-0, 8-3, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top-4 Seeds by UWW:1. Zaina Sidakova (Belarus), ’18 World silver; 2. Marina Sedneva (Kazakhstan), ’18 World bronze; 3. Bediha Gun (Turkey), competed in ’16 Olympics and ’17/’18 Worlds; 4. Jacarra Winchester (United States).

Other World Championships Daily Previews by WIN. Click on the date to view a preview of those wrestlers in three different styles: