USA Senior Nationals Preview: Greco-Roman
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
This continues my preview series for 2020 Senior Nationals, USA Wrestling’s national championship event held as something of a placeholder since the Olympic Trials were delayed until 2021. The women’s freestyle preview is here in case you missed it.
The Greco field is bigger than the women’s freestyle field, and all six weights have enough competitors that placing in the top eight will require winning matches, not just signing up. The Out of the Woodwork award goes to Lelund Weatherspoon, a 2016 NCAA All-American for Iowa State. Weatherspoon hasn’t wrestled since his college career ended in March 2017, and has no meaningful Greco experience. I don’t know what he’s doing here or why he chose Greco over freestyle, but I’m excited to see it. West Cathcart also deserves a shout because he stopped wrestling from 2016 until early 2019 and would easily make the all-name team.
60 kg
For my money this is the best weight class in the Greco division. It has several age-level world team members and a few well-known college wrestlers as well. The biggest name is probably Taylor LaMont, a junior world bronze and NCAA qualifier for Utah Valley. He’s had a great back-and-forth with Randon Miranda; most recently, Miranda beat him in three matches for the 2019 junior world team spot. The 55 kg U23 spot last year was contested between Brady Koontz, who goes to Ohio State, and Liam Cronin, who was at Indiana but has since transferred to Nebraska; both are in the field here. Other college wrestlers include Mosha Schwartz of Northern Colorado, who placed at the 2019 US Open, Chance Rich of Cal State Bakersfield, Alex Thomsen of Nebraska, and Brady’s’ twin brother and Ohio State teammate Dylan Koontz . Travis Rice is a young wrestler who wrestles exclusively Greco rather than splitting time with folkstyle and freestyle like a lot of the others. Elijah Varona is also a good wrestler, though he’s giving up a lot of size.
In making picks here, I generally favor the guys who are every bit of 60 kg, rather than those who are coming up from 55. I also like guys who are able to focus more of their training on Greco. This weight is going to have some great matches in both the early rounds and the consolations that give us some entertainment and some information about these guys’ respective Greco futures.
Picks: Miranda, LaMont, B. Koontz
67 kg
This weight class is heavier on Greco mainstays, including placers from last year’s Senior Nationals and US Open. Nolan Baker had a great tournament last year, beating both Xavier Johnson and Jamel Johnson to finish 4th. Benji Peak is a guy who feels like he’s been around for years but is still young and getting better. Morgan Flaharty, Lenny Merkin, and Jessy Williams all have some senior-level experience, and if nothing else they’ll add depth to the bracket and make the medal rounds tougher. Calvin Germinaro, last year’s Senior Nationals runner-up, shook things up by jumping in at the last minute. He made a run as the 10 seed last year, and I have a hard time judging whether he really made a jump or if he slightly overperformed in a bracket where the margins are very small. He and Baker have split matches in the past, and I think they’re roughly co-favorites here.
We also have some folkstyle standouts in Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett and Brock Hardy. Neither have a ton of experience, but the number of entries from their team suggests they’ve made a real commitment to their upper-body wrestling. Also in the field is Anthony Abidin, a former Cornhusker who now coaches at Army.
Picks: Germinaro, Baker, Peak
77 kg
Once again, the bracket was turned on its head by a late registration, this time from 2019 world team member Pat Smith. Although he was number one on the ladder last year, wrestlers coming in from 72 or 82 for the Olympic year means the battle for making the Olympic team will be intense, and it’s another weight where the margins are small. One of his top challengers will be Kendrick Sanders, who made Final X at 82 and once hit a powerbomb in a match. Tommy Brackett is also a good youngster who’s focused on Greco. Burke Paddock and Alec Ortiz are experienced guys who serve as something of a bridge between the very top of the weight and the younger guys trying to break through. Some of the guys from the latter group are college wrestlers Tyler Eischens of Stanford and Fritz Schierl of Ohio State, who have done well domestically at the junior and U23 levels. Nebraska has yet another competitor in Peyton Robb, who was one of the most dangerous upper body wrestlers in the NCAA ranks last year.
Picks: Smith, Sanders, Paddock
87 kg
The biggest name at 87 is 2019 world team member Joe Rau. In March, he finally broke through and qualified the weight for team USA for the upcoming Olympics, earning himself a bye to the final best-of-three at the Trials in the process. The most likely winner at this weight, though, is Alan Vera, who formerly represented Cuba and has transferred to the US. Vera beat Rau 9-0 in January 2019 and won the Bill Farrell last November. A tier behind Vera and Rau, Marcus Finau is an established Greco wrestler who finished 7th at 2019 Senior Nationals, and George Sikes and Christian DuLaney are on the rise. This division doesn’t have the same depth as some of the lower weights, but it does have the aforementioned Weatherspoon to make things interesting.
Picks: Vera, Rau, Sikes
97 kg
One of the biggest stars in American Greco, Tracy Hancock, didn’t enter this event. What we lose in star power, though, we get back in intrigue, since there’s no clear-cut favorite at the top. Nick Boykin and Chad Porter are the most credentialed, both placing at 2019 Senior Nationals at this weight. Jeremiah Imonode was an NCAA qualifier at Army and has had some success in the international styles in the past few years. Top prospect Braxton Amos of Wisconsin is making his senior-level debut, which will be very interesting to see. Folkstyle standouts Nick Bonaccorsi from Pittsburgh and Kordell Norfleet from Arizona State are also entered despite lacking Greco experience.
Picks: Boykin, Porter, Amos
130 kg
The heavyweight field is anchored by rising star Cohlton Schultz, who already has two junior world medals and a Final X appearance to his name. After him it’s a steep drop-off, but West Cathcart, Donny Longendyke, and Conor Karwath all placed at last year’s Senior Nationals and are very respectable competitors. All three should be placers here; the only question is the order. We have even more college competitors in this weight, including AJ Nevills of Fresno State, Austin Emerson of Nebraska, and Luke Luffman of Illinois. Some of these guys were successful in Greco in high school but have only wrestled folkstyle since they began college, so I’m eager to see how the time away has affected them.
Picks: Schultz, Cathcart, Longendyke