Team USA had a dominant showing in the men’s freestyle division at the junior world championships winning 8 medals and crowing 2 champions. This would lead to a 2nd place finish behind Iran.
All Team USA Medalists:
57kg- Luke Lilledahl (Silver)
61kg- Nic Bouzakis (Bronze)
65kg- Jesse Mendez (Silver)
70kg- Meyer Shapiro (Gold)
74kg- Mitchell Mesenbrink (Gold)
79kg- Matthew Singleton (Bronze)
86kg- Bennett Berge (Bronze)
97kg- Camden McDanel (Bronze)
Overview:
Meyer Shapiro and Mitchell Mesenbrink were the two brightest spots for Team USA both bringing home a gold medal. Shapiro was dominant in his own right not really at risk of losing in any of his matches while Mesenbrink teched his way through the bracket to win gold.
Luke Lilledahl fell in the finals to Yuto Nishiuchi of Japan 5-0 after a comeback victory over Abdullayev of Azerbaijan in the semifinals. This is the 3rd age-level medal at the world championships for Lilledahl as he won a silver and gold medal at the 2021 and 2022 cadet world championships respectively.
Nic Bouzakis would fall in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Kumar Mohit of India 12-11 and on the repechage side dominated in his two matches winning both in the first period by tech to come back for a bronze medal.
Jesse Mendez had a couple of close matches in the tournament before falling to Mohammad Shakeri of Iran in the finals 5-2. He would claim a win over eventual bronze medalist Abdullah Toprak of Turkey in the semifinals 3-1.
Matthew Singleton had a good showing at the world championships winning a bronze medal, he fell to eventual runner-up Sagar Jaglan of India in the semifinals 16-6 but claimed a win over Ahmet Yagan of Turkey 9-7 to win bronze.
Bennett Berge looked performed well with a bronze medal as well, he fell in the semifinals to eventual champion Rakhim Magamadov of France 9-2 but won his bronze medal match with little to no issue 11-0.
Camden McDanel’s sole loss would come at the hands of Abolfazl Babaloo of Iran in the semifinals 5-2. McDanel would come back for bronze and put on a convincing 8-2 scoreline against Kazakhstan’s Kamil Kurugliyev.
Final Team Standings:
1). Iran 165 Points
2). United States 152 Points
3). India 102 Points
