From the first whistle sounding off on Thursday to the last whistle on Sunday night, United States wrestlers dominated the whole way. It was a performance that made USA wrestling fans proud, and as expected as it was, the performances were still very impressive.
Greco-Roman
It started on Thursday when the Greco-Roman team showed up in a big way. Thursday had seven weights scheduled, and the US team picked up five medals, including four gold medals from Brady Koontz (55 KG), Randon Miranda (60 KG), Samuel Jones (63 KG), and Pat Smith (72 KG) with a bronze medal coming from Nicholas Boykin (97 KG) to wrap up night one. On Friday, only three weights were wrestled in Greco-Roman, but the US still picked up two bronze medals from RaVaughn Perkins (77 KG) and Tyler Cunningham (82 KG). With those excellent individual performances, it gave the United States a run-away team title over Mexico and Cuba.
Women’s Freestyle
Women’s Freestyle kicked off their action on Friday with four weights in action, which were all round Robin brackets. The US picked up four medals on Friday, including two gold medals from Forrest Molinari (65 KG) and Skylar Grote (72 KG). Jaccara Winchester (55 KG) picked up a silver medal, and Xochitl Mota-Pettis (59 KG) also picked up a bronze. Saturday saw the remaining six weights in action, and the US saw the similar success they had on Friday. The US picked up an additional four medals, including three gold medals from Sarah Hildebrandt (50 KG), Dom Parrish (53 KG), and Dymond Guilford (76 KG) in a loaded bracket. Kayla Miracle (62 KG) picked up a silver medal for her efforts, but she forfeited the last match due to an injury. She has accepted her birth into Final X, so hopefully, she will be healthy by then. The US Women won their team race over Canada and Mexico, beating Canada by 25 points.
Men’s Freestyle
Saturday marked the start of the Men’s Freestyle tournament. Two weights were wrestled on Saturday, and the US picked up two gold medals from Jordan Burroughs (79 KG) and J’den Cox (97 KG). Sunday was the final day of competition and included eight weights in action. The US picked up seven medals, including six gold medals from Thomas Gilman (57 KG), Daton Fix (61 KG), Joey McKenna (65 KG), Kyle Dake (74 KG), Zahid Valencia (86 KG), and Kyle Snyder (97 KG). Nick Gwiazdowski (125 KG) took home silver after losing to form Oregon State heavyweight Amari Dhesi (Canada). The only Men’s Freestyle wrestler to not place was Zain Retherford (70 KG) due to him forfeiting out of the tournament due to illness.
Takeaways
Greco-Roman
The US team picked up seven medals including four gold medals and three bronze medals. As a team, the US went 22-6 overall for the weekend with Pat Smith and Randon Miranda picking up the most wins with 4 wins respectively.
Women’s Freestyle
The women picked up eight medals with five of those medals being gold, two being silver, and one being a bronze. Overall, US women went 24-6 for the weekend. Dymond Guilford had the most wins of anyone on Team USA with 4 total wins on her way to winning gold. Sarah Hildebrandt was one of the most dominant wrestlers outscoring her opponents 32-0 and being on the mat for just over 1 period in her combined three matches.
Men’s Freestyle
The men showed the most dominance by winning nine medals with eight of those being gold and one being a silver. The US went 27-1 overall for the weekend with Jordan Burroughs collecting the most wins on the weekend with four. It is hard to pinpoint who exactly was the most dominant wrestlers for the US since they were all so good, but I will go with Daton Fix. Fix outscored his opponents 31-0 with his final match ending by fall. Fix really showed off that inside leg trip that he has patented and opponents had no answer for it.
Overall
I mean, what was there not to like about this weekend? The US showed up and mainly dominated every weight that they wrestled in. Although some of the perceptions about the competition at Pan-Americans, the wrestling was so good even from our international foes. The United States is leaps ahead of the rest of the competition, and some can try to argue that, but they would be wrong. When a single country takes home 24 medals out of 30 weights, it classifies as pure dominance. Although the spotlight is on the US, Canada had a great showing this weekend and their women’s team. Canada’s women have been progressively increasing their performance level in recent years, and this weekend shows that the improvements are continuing. Looking at some of the results, Karla Godinez Gonzalez (55 KG) looked impressive, including her win over Jacarra Winchester in the finals after Jacarra looked virtually unbeatable early on. Canada had seven total medalists at the Pan-Americans, including three gold medals. Canadian wrestling is improving, and who would not like to see a little US vs Canada rivalry in the years to come?
NCAA Wrestlers Dominate
Despite our US representatives at the Pan-American Championships, there were multiple wrestlers with NCAA ties competing this weekend. Puerto Rico was loaded with former NCAA talent who picked up silver medals, including former Lehigh wrestler Darion Cruz (57 KG), former Northwestern and Rutgers wrestler Sebastian Rivera (65 KG), and former Michigan State great Frank Gomez (74 KG). Canada also had a former NCAA wrestler who won gold in Amari Dhesi and wrestled at Oregon State.
For full results visit Pan-American Results