Jump to content

Article: Indiana natives in the hunt for World Team spots


Recommended Posts

The spring is always “rather throw you than know you’ season and while our state freestyle and Greco championships are complete the regional and national events are just getting started. Last week saw two Indiana natives make the World Team for women. Kayla Miracle, now wrestling out of Iowa City, won the U23 Trials along with Yorktown’s Alara Boyd making her first Junior World Team.

This weekend we will have the Junior World Team Trials and the final spots for the seniors for Final X determined in Raleigh, North Carolina. There will be a handful of Indiana natives looking to make the World Team and we’ll highlight them for you here.

Junior Men’s Freestyle
Bracket Link
Three Indiana natives from the class of 2018 will be looking to join Alara Boyd in Tallinn, Estonia in mid-August. Leading the way will be Lucas Davison who will not wrestle until the best of three series on Saturday. He won the Junior Open, thus giving him an automatic berth in the finals. His biggest competition will be Arizona State’s Kordell Norfleet and North Carolina’s Brandon Whitman. Note that Indiana fans saw Whitman at the Dream Team Classic last year against Mason Parris.

Speaking of Parris, it seems as if he will be entered at heavyweight. He did not wrestle at the open and thus could see his seed affected by that. He also has very limited freestyle credentials, but he is training with Adam Coon, so that should help him. His biggest competition will be Iowa’s Anthony Cassioppi who is sitting until the best of three on Saturday. Cassioppi is also a two-time IHPO champion if you’re keeping track at home.

Brayton Lee is another contender for a trip to Tallinn at 70kg(154lbs). He was second at the open to Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso and should come in as the challenge tournament top seed. Lee’s budding rival, Jacori Teemer, looks to be dropping to 65kg which will make this weight a little “easier.” However, he will have to fend off Missouri true freshman All-American Brock Mauller along with Peyton Robb, and former Dream Teamer Jared Franek. Even without Teemer this is still a really tough weight class.

Thomas Penola had a great redshirt season for Purdue and continued doing well with a 6th place finish in Vegas. At 86kg, he will have to navigate a deep field of top level talent. Currently he is not registered, so we won't know for sure until Friday morning if he is attending the event.

The schedule for Juniors starts on Friday at 10am with the challenge tournament. The winner of the challenge tournament will wrestle Saturday in the best of three series against the Junior Open champion.

Senior Greco-Roman
One former and one current Indiana Hoosier will be wrestling on the Greco side of things. Current Hoosier sophomore Liam Cronin will be at 60kg, while former Former Hoosier upperweight Lucas Sheridan will be at 97kg where he has been one of the top guys in the country recently. 

Senior Women’s Freestyle
With Sarah Hildebrandt automatically advancing to Final X due to her silver medal at last year’s World Championships there is only one Indiana native to watch here. Kayla Miracle made the move from Kentucky to Iowa last year and it seems to have paid dividends. She won the US Open and thus will be in the best of three finals on Sunday. Just last week she earned what seems to be her 100th spot on a World Team by winning the U23 trials. She will be looking to make her first senior world team after advancing to Final X last year and losing to eventual world bronze medalist Mallory Velte.

The schedule for the women’s freestyle portion begins on Saturday with the challenge tournament. The best of three finals will be on Sunday starting at noon.

Senior Men’s Freestyle
Men’s freestyle is always exciting and provides a great crop of dream match-ups throughout the weekend. This weekend we will have four guys with Indiana ties looking to earn a spot in Final X in either Lincoln, Nebraska or Piscataway, New Jersey.

Current college star Ben Harvey is entered at 79kg after finishing 7th at the US Open. Harvey was a state runner-up at Cathedral and made the round of 12 for Army West Point this past season. He is currently a Junior and has one more year of NCAA eligibility left. The 79kg weight class is highlighted by the likes of three-time NCAA champion Alex Dieringer, three-time NCAA finalist Mark Hall, and freestyle extraordinaire Chance Marsteller. Harvey will likely be one of the lower seeds due to his US Open placement.

Another state runner-up still making an impact is Riley Lefever. Before he won four DIII NCAA titles for Wabash he was a runner-up for Carroll High School…the one in Fort Wayne. He has been training in State College, Pennsylvania with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club for the past two years. He placed 6th at the US Open and is likely going to slot in at the 5th seed in the challenge tournament at 92kg. He will likely see Ohio State’s Kollin Moore in the round of 8 and then Hayden Zillmer in the semi-finals.

Two others with ties to Indiana to keep your eye on is Indiana University All-American Nate Jackson. He is being coached by former three-time Indiana state champion Reece Humphrey at the New Jersey RTC. He will be entered at 86kg. Last, but not least we always like to keep tabs on Gable Steveson. Even though he is eligible for the Junior age group he has once again entered the Senior division. He didn’t wrestle at the US Open so he will get knocked down a little with his seed. The winner of the challenge tournament here will see Adam Coon in the best of three finals on Sunday.

The schedule for the men’s freestyle will start with the challenge tournament bracket on Saturday and finish with the best of three finals on Sunday. The challenge tournament should be about a 7-10 man bracket for most weight classes. You can follow along on FloWrestling.com and as always check out our social media, especially Twitter(@IndianaMat) for updates throughout the weekend.

Full Schedule
Friday May 17
Session I
UWW Junior Freestyle: 1st Round, Quarterfinals and Consolation Rd. 1-2
10:00 am – 2:00 pm – UWW Junior Freestyle (2 MATS)

Senior Greco-Roman: 1st Round, Quarterfinals and Consolation Rd. 1-2
10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Senior Greco-Roman (2 MATS)

Session II
UWW Junior Freestyle: Semi-Finals, Finals, Consolation Rd. 3-Semis
4:00 pm – 8:30 pm – UWW Junior Freestyle (2 MATS)

Senior Greco-Roman: Semi-Finals, Finals, Consolation Rd. 3-Semis
4:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Senior Greco-Roman (2 MATS)

Saturday May 18
Session III
Senior Women’s Freestyle: 1st Round, Quarterfinals and Consolation Rd. 1
10:00 am – 12:00 pm – Senior Women’s Freestyle (2 MATS)

Senior Men’s Freestyle: 1st Round, Quarterfinals and Consolation Rd. 1-2
10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Senior Men’s Freestyle (2 MATS)

Session IV
UWW Junior Freestyle: Best 2 out of 3 Championship, 3rd Place, True 3rd (If Necessary)
1:30 pm – 5:15 pm – UWW Junior Freestyle (2 MATS)

Senior Greco-Roman: Best 2 out of 3 Championship, 3rd Place, True 3rd (If Necessary)
1:30 pm – 5:15 pm – Senior Greco-Roman (2 MATS)

Session V
Senior Men’s Freestyle: Semi-Finals, Finals and Consolation Rd. 3, Cons-Semis.
5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Senior Men’s Freestyle (2 MATS)

Senior Women’s Freestyle: Semi-Finals, Finals and Consolation Rd. 3, Cons-Semis.
5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Senior Women’s Freestyle (2 MATS)

Sunday May 19
Session VI
Senior Men’s Freestyle: Best 2 out of 3 Championship, 3rd Place, True 3rd (If Necessary)
12:00 pm – 3:45 pm – Senior Men’s Freestyle (2 MATS)

Senior Women’s Freestyle: Best 2 out of 3 Championship, 3rd Place, True 3rd (If Necessary)
12:00 pm – 3:45 pm – Senior Women’s Freestyle (2 MATS) 
 


View full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.