Nastiest Weight Of The Week: 60KG At UWW Juniors

Nastiest Weight Of The Week: 60KG At UWW Juniors

Although the field for United World Wrestling (UWW) Juniors at 60kg isn't complete yet, it's already looking like the weight to watch this weekend. Featurin

Apr 25, 2016 by Christian Pyles
Nastiest Weight Of The Week: 60KG At UWW Juniors
Although the field for United World Wrestling (UWW) Juniors at 60kg isn't complete yet, it's already looking like the weight to watch this weekend. Featuring wrestlers who have garnered accolades at the Fargo National Wrestling Championships, NCAA Nationals and even the World Championships, this deck is stacked and has the potential to get even nastier.

Catch this weight class and every single match of UWW Juniors (along with the Western Regional/Veterans Nationals) live on FloWrestling this weekend!

No. 4, Kaden Gfeller - The Oklahoma State champion has placed in a number of competitive fields, including Fargo Juniors last year, where he took third and fell only to two-time Fargo champion Austin Assad. Gfeller is a former Fargo Cadet champion and is among the class of 2017's top recruits.

No. 6, Nick Lee - The Penn State commit is looking to make his first splash at the UWW Junior level. Lee is an Indiana State champion who, along with his brother, Joe, are both testing the UWW junior waters. He made the cadet world finals in 2014 before losing to Iowa’s Carter Happel.

Lee nearly made history against undefeated Chad Red:

No. 3, Taylor LaMont - Here’s another monster high schooler in the mix. LaMont places (or wins) everywhere he goes. The four-time Utah state champion is especially skilled in the international styles. A Fargo junior champion in freestyle and Greco-Roman, LaMont also made numerous cadet world teams in Greco-Roman. Look for LaMont to utilize underhooks to control matches. His ability to threaten upper-body throws makes him a danger to any and all competitors in the 60kg field.

LaMont plows through Fargo champion Mitchell McKee:
#4 Mitchell McKee - The Minnesota commit has won just about everywhere, especially in the international styles.  He's won multiple Fargo titles in both Freestyle and Greco.  He's beaten the likes of Kaid Brock, Luke Pletcher, Taylor LaMonta and Josh Alber.  His top game is fantastic as he's always a threat to end a match with his lethal trap arm gut.

Seth Gross - The South Dakota State redshirt freshman is coming off of a quality first-year campaign. Known for his scrambling and funk, Gross will need to adjust some of those tactics for this UWW junior field. He knocked off NCAA finalist Bryce Meredith along with Jimmy Gulibon and Steve Bleise all in the last two weeks of competition. Having competed at 141 lbs, he’ll be quite large for this weight class. Gross finished in the round of 12 this year at NCAAs, where he fell just one match short of All-American status.

Jaydin Eierman - The Missouri redshirt is coming off a strong campaign for the Tigers that included victories over Josh Alber, Austin Eicher, Zach Synon, Nathan Kraisser and Luke Welch. Eierman is an unreal scrambler with a variety of attacks. He could be the darkhorse that wins the entire tournament. 

No. 2, Yianni Diakomihalis - This entertaining Cornell recruit is the reigning cadet world champion at 58kg. He has perfectly melded his counter game, leg attacks and flexibility within the confines of freestyle, and the results have been incredible. Diakomihalis's first run in the UWW junior space will be a great litmus test. The four-time New York state champion's talent is unquestioned, but how he will handle the physicality and power of some of these more experienced freestylers remains to be seen. Diakomihalis hasn’t tasted defeat since dropping a thriller to Luke Pletcher at Who’s #1. With another year of freestyle training under his belt, Diakomihalis is sure to be a force moving forward and could be the guy on top when all is said and done.

Diakomihalis wins cadet Worlds:

Stevan Micic - Unquestionably the most credentialed here in the freestyle realm, Micic is coming off a junior world bronze last summer, and has continued to train and get tons of freestyle reps. He took an Olympic redshirt this year at Michigan, and was on the cusp of qualifying for the Olympic Trials. He took out three quality NCAA wrestlers in Zach Sanders, Frank Perrelli and Dan Mitcheff this year. A year ago, Micic fell to high school sophomore Daton Fix in the finals at 55kg. He avenged that loss later at the Junior World Team Trials. When you combine Micic's experience, skill set and junior-level accomplishments, it's not hard to consider the Wolverine a favorite. 

Micic takes out Daton Fix at the Junior World Team Trials: