USA at the Worlds: Sept. 19-20

USA at the 2019 UWW World Championships

Competing Sept. 19-20

Men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling, together,  will take place on the sixth and seventh days of the 2019 UWW World Championships, which will be held Sept. 14-22 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The following is a closer look at three Americans, who hope to compete over two days.

Each weight will take place on two days; matches through semifinals on day 1, beginning at 1 a.m. EDT, and placement matches on day 2, repechage bouts beginning at 1 a.m. EDT and placement matches at 10 a.m. EDT.  All matches can be found at Trackwrestling.com.

62 K / 136.5 pounds

Kayla Miracle

Kayla Miracle beat 2018 World bronze medalist Mallory Velte to claim her first World Team berth. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 23 (born April 26, 1996); native of Culver, Ind.; resident of Iowa City, Iowa; Sunkist Kids WC/Hawkeye WC; 4-time WCWA champ at Campbellsville

International Experience: First Senior World tournament; also competed in seven age-group Worlds; two Cadet Worlds (8th in 2011 and silver medal in 2012), three Junior Worlds (bronze in 2014 and 8th in 2015, bronze in 2016) and U23 Worlds (fifth in 2017 in 2018)

2019 Final X:defeated 2018 World bronze medalist Mallory Velte (Titan Mercury WC) best-of-three matches, 12-2, 4-0, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Taybe Yusein (Bulgaria), ’18 World gold; 2. Lais Nunes De Oliveria (Brazil), six-time World/Olympic team member; 3. Yukako Kawai (Japan), ’18 World silver; 4. Marianna Sastin (Hungary), ’13 World gold.

68 K /149.75 pounds

Tamyra Mensah-Stock

Tamyra Mensah-Stock

Bio:Age 26 (born Oct. 11, 1992); native of Katy, Texas; resident of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Titan Mercury WC/OTC; 2-time WCWA champ at Wayland Baptist

International Experience:2018 bronze medalist competed in two Senior Worlds, also did not place in 2017 (1-1); also competed in 2014 University Worlds (silver).

2019 Final X: defeated Alexandria Glaude (Titan Mercury WC) best-of-three matches, pin, 10-0, at Rutgers.

Projected Top 4 Seeds at UWW: 1. All Cherkasova (Ukraine), ’18 World gold; Tamyra Mensah (United States); 3. Maryia Mamashuk (Belarus), ’16 Olympic silver; 4. Battsetseg Soronzonbold (Mongolia), ’19 Ivan Yarygin gold.

Men’s Freestyle

57 K / 125.5 pounds

Daton Fix

Daton Fix, an NCAA runner-up as a redshirt freshman at Oklahoma State this past winter, qualified for his first World team by beating Thomas Gilman in Lincoln, Neb., in June. (Justin Hoch photo)

Bio:Age 21 (born March 11, 1998); native of Sand Springs, Okla.; resident of Stillwater, Okla.; Titan Mercury WC/Cowboy RTC; will be a redshirt sophomore at Oklahoma State/finished second in ‘19 NCAAs.

International Experience:First Senior World Tournament; Also competed in six age-group World Championships; two Cadet Worlds (10th in 2014 & bronze in 2015); three Junior Worlds (bronze in 2016, gold in 2017, bronze in 2018); dnp in 2017 U23 Worlds.

2019 Final X: defeated 2017 & ’18 World Team member Thomas Gilman in best of three matches – 9-1, 2-3, 6-3 – in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:  1. Suleyman Atli (Turkey), ’18 World bronze; 2. Zavur Uguev (Russia), ’18 World gold; 3. Yuki Takahashi (Japan), ’17 World gold, ’18 World bronze; 4. Nurislam Sanayev (Kazakhstan), ’18 World silver.

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65 K / 143.5 pounds

Zain Retherford

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 officiated 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.