2017 Junior and Senior World Team Trials

2017 World Team Trials Bracket Breakdown

2017 World Team Trials Bracket Breakdown

We go through each of the eight brackets for the 2017 senior men's freestyle world team trials

Jun 10, 2017 by Wrestling Nomad
2017 World Team Trials Bracket Breakdown
You've had your appetizer, and now it's time for the main course. After a phenomenal day of junior action, tomorrow we finally get to see our senior men's freestyle World Team Trials from Lincoln, Nebraska.

You can view the full brackets on FloArena, but we also wanted to do a little bracket breakdown. Given that the largest field is only 10 wrestlers, it's pretty hard to pick anything out that isn't already fire, but here are some really special ones for which we are especially excited.

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57kg

The first thing that jumps out to me is the NCAA semis rematch between Darian Cruz and Thomas Gilman. We thought Gilman would start off with Alan Waters (FLAPGATE), but with Jesse Delgado not competing, we get this equally awesome match instead. Cruz ended Gilman's perfect senior season en route to Lehigh's first national title since Zach Rey in 2011. Also standing out in the early rounds is the 3/6 quarterfinal of Nathan Tomasello against Frankie Perrelli, a rematch of the third place match from the U.S. Open in which Tomasello scored six points in the final minute.

Both halves of this bracket are ridiculous. We could see Gilman vs Graff, or Cruz vs Nico, or Gilman vs Nico out of the top half. So many great combinations. And then the bottom half will be Garrett/Waters winner, which as a reminder Nahshon teched Waters in Vegas but lost to him twice in college. Winner there gets Perrelli/NaTo winner, and we've never seen Nahshon against Tomasello. Perrelli beat Nahshon 15-8 at the Dave Schultz in February.

The Six Guys Who Could Win 57kg

61kg

Just like at the Open, expect bucketloads of points again at this weight. With only eight guys, we're starting at the quarterfinals. The fun one in the top half is Jayson Ness vs Cody Brewer, which Ness won in the third place bout at the Farrell 12-2. But I think we have a different Brewer now, and also Ness had a rough performance in Vegas so we're unsure if Ness is at the same level. The winner gets Kendric Maple, so either way there is intrigue. We either get a match of the top two seeds from the Open, or a battle of two former national champs from Oklahoma. The Brewer/Maple match was 8-5 heading into the last minute and ended up 14-7.



Down in the bottom half, Josh Kindig vs Joe Colon popped out and whatever the over is, I'm taking it. These 61kg guys live their lives by the maxim, "life's too short to take the under." Winner there gets either Seth Gross or Brandon Wright. Gross was the junior world teamer last year and a hip tip extraordinaire, taking on a guy who the tournament of his life in Vegas. Can Wright keep his heater going?

65kg

Now that Frank Molinaro is sitting in the best-of-three finals, the question becomes: what is Zain's path to the finals? He starts off with Jaydin Eierman, who had a throw against Jordan Oliver that you could argue should have went in his favor. Eierman is obviously the underdog, but has a free wheeling style that will be fun to watch no matter what.

In the semis, he'll be looking at veteran Kellen Russell. The two-time NCAA champ for Michigan has not had stellar results lately, but has a US Open title on his resume and has far more freestyle experience than Retherford. This one could go similar to Zain's Beat the Streets match, where it stays close until the final minute.  Russell is a former US Open Champ with wins over Logan Stieber, Jordan Oliver and Frank Molinaro.  His freaky defense could pose problems for Kellen. 

The challenge tourney finals could feature Retherford against two seed BJ Futrell. It's a match we've never seen before and may never see again. Futrell didn't go to the Open, but this might be the healthiest he has been in a long time. The 2014 world University silver medalist won a medal at every event he wrestled in this year, and is the final hurdle before a potential three match series of Nittany Lions past and present.

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70kg

Another eight man bracket (which I nailed the seeds, btw). How about this one? Jimmy Kennedy vs Dylan Ness to kick us off, with Kennedy going in as the heavy favorite but Ness likes to do crazy things. College fans can nerd out on Jason Nolf against Alec Pantaleo, which I think we see next year because I'm not sure Pantaleo will be going 149 again. Pantaleo has made huge leaps in freestyle, so it will be a good start for Nolf if he can make the adjustments necessary from Vegas to get himself into the top three this weekend.

Out of the bottom half, Nazar Kulchytskyy is the two seed, and for good reason after teching his way to the finals in Vegas; he'll start off with Tommy Gantt. The other quarter is Chase Pami against Jason Chamberlain. Pami is competing in his first trials since 2014, and coming off seven straight wins to get third at the Open. He'll be squaring off with Schultz runner-up Jason Chamberlain, who has good head hands defense and remains strong despite bumping up from 65kg. This one could be a low scoring counter battle.

74kg

As Willie predicted, 74kg only ended up being a six man bracket. The top half features a Kevin LeValley vs Isaiah Martinez quarterfinal for the right to wrestle Kyle Dake. So it is either the guy who handed Dake his last collegiate loss, or the guy who was supposed to be the next four-time champ (before Vincenzo came alone).

Out of the bottom half, we start off with Anthony Valencia against Chance Marsteller. We've seen this one twice before in freestyle, both going Valencia's way. The first was a 9-4 win by Valencia at the last chance Olympic trials qualifier, and more recently Valencia flattened Chance in 52 seconds at the Open. Marsteller has since won 12 in a row by tech at the University Nationals and University Duals. The winner gets Alex Dieringer in the semis, and both of those guys gave Ringer tight matches in April.



86kg

The challenge tourney juice for 86kg lies in the semis. The top half can be the lightning rod Pat Downey against the people's favorite, David Taylor. On the bottom side, we'll be looking at two guys who are MASSIVE for this weight, both of whom love to go upperbody in Nick Heflin and Rich Perry.

This weight lost a little bit of heat with this year's NCAA finalists Bo Nickal and Gabe Dean both sitting out, but there are still fun matchups. Perry vs Josh Asper is a battle of former training partners that just barely went in Perry's favor at the Bill Farrell. Austin Trotman won both the Farrell and the Schultz, and gets matched up with one of the most exciting guys from the Open in Nick Heflin. Downey gets Kyle Crutchmer, his fifth place opponent from Vegas, in round one. Former Greco world team member Joe Rau starts off with the Magicman.

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97kg

Somehow, the field with Kyle Snyder waiting at the end is the largest. The potential top half quarterfinal is last chance qualifier champ Hayden Zillmer, the 98jg Greco runner-up, going upperbody with Open champ Kyven Gadson. A Gadson win likely pits him against Nathan Burak, which means a semifinal featuring two guys who beat Snyder in folkstyle.

Bottom half semi will feature either Micah Burak or senior level newcomer Ty Walz against the Gorilla Killah himself, Dustin Kilgore. The 2011 NCAA champ Kilgore missed the Open, but won both the Dave Schultz and Bill Farrell this season.

125kg

Our other six man bracket comes at heavyweight. Zach Rey is the top seed, awaiting the winner of Justin Grant and Tony Nelson. If you remember, Grant knocked off Bobby Telford in the first round of last year's Olympic trials.

A three-time All American for Iowa, Telford sits in the bottom half against 2015 junior world bronze medalist Nathan Butler of Stanford. The winner there takes on two seed Dom Bradley in the semis. The last time Rey and Bradley wrestled was the finals of the 2015 WTT challenge tourney, a 1-1 match in which both got hit for shot clock points, but Rey scored last.