USA Wrestling as a whole has only been growing more and more stacked year by year and the competition is cutthroat. No real room for error at the world team trials as it could cost you your spot fairly easily. There have been some very talented wrestlers who have yet to make a world team and we will be looking through who they are.
57kg- Nick Suriano
There is nobody that wants to take out Thomas Gilman more than Nick Suriano. Suriano came back to college this season with the sole intentions of taking out Spencer Lee, and when it came out that Lee would be out for the season that somewhat ruined his plans even with taking home that second national title.
Gilman handed Suriano his first collegiate loss 3-2 way back in January of 2017. That season would end up being cut short due to Suriano suffering a broken ankle. Suriano wants this match more than anything right now after all that has happened with the Olympic Trials and him not being able to compete and we shall see if he gets it.
61kg- Roman Bravo-Young
Who knows he may have been the world team member last year if he tried to make the team. If he tries this year he beat Fix two years in a row and Fix has seen immense success at the senior level in these past few years.
Bravo-Young’s quickness along with training at Penn State may just be what gets him to that next level.
65kg- Nick Lee / Joey McKenna
Both of these guys were dominant on the senior level at the Olympic Trials with their only losses coming to eventual champion Jordan Oliver.
Lee is coming off winning his 2nd National Title and he did so in dominant fashion 10-3 and he also defeated Yianni Diakomihalis the returning world team member 16-8 last time they wrestled. McKenna has multiple wins over Diakomihalis as well and they will be coming for him hard.
This weight class is being dominated by younger guys right now and honestly any one of them could win it.
70kg- Ryan Deakin / Alec Pantaleo
Both of these guys have been beyond impressive in their senior level careers so far and they have a long way to go and a good amount of time left.
Deakin fell short to James Green twice in the finals of the world team trials but is coming off of a national title performance so he definitely has the confidence coming into this tournament where he will have his work cut out for him.
You could very well say that Pantaleo is the best guy here with his wins over Oliver and Green but it should be interesting to see how he performs and if he can get it done here.
79kg- Alex Dieringer / Jason Nolf / Carter Starocci / Evan Wick / Isaiah Martinez / Chance Marsteller
So pretty much the entire country wants to be the one to knock off Jordan Burroughs, will it happen? Probably not but the depth of this country is just getting deeper and deeper and it is very obvious. Some of these guys have wrestled Burroughs to solid competitive matches and will be looking to capitalize this year at the trials.
86kg- Myles Martin / Zahid Valencia
Have no real idea where Zahid Valencia stands but if he is competing this would be just him. In all honesty this is a case of having someone as good as David Taylor in your weight class and just not being able to break through. That being said they will probably just stay the course until Taylor announces retirement.
92kg- Kollin Moore
Kollin Moore has been working at it showed in his performance recently at the Rudis+ card. With how he has been looking at recent events you could very well say he is one of the best in the world.
The problem lies in the fact that he has to beat J’den Cox to make the team who is also one of the best in the world currently ranked 2nd at 92kg. Some news came out after the Rudis+ card saying that there was still a chance that Cox would be up at 97 for the world team trials which would give Kollin Moore a big edge on the competition.
97kg- Kyven Gadson
Gadson has looking increasingly better in recent years as he looks to have his motivation back. He has not made a world team yet but that is really no fault of his, being in the same weight class as a guy who will go down as one of the greatest to ever do it isn’t to great of a draw.
That being said Gadson has a few wins over Snyder and never say never.
125kg- Mason Parris / Greg Kerkvliet
Nobody beats Gwiz most likely here but Parris has done it once so I would not count that out. Kerkvliet has been taking it to Parris this season so I would not count him out either. Parris might not wrestle and the same with Kerk due to injuries and if they do not it will most likely be Gwiz cruising to his 5th world team.
