Mekhi Lewis Wins Junior Gold, Team USA Finishes Second
Mekhi Lewis Wins Junior Gold, Team USA Finishes Second
Mekhi Lewis won a world title and Team USA finished in second place overall at the 2018 Junior World Championships.
Mekhi Lewis is a world champ in just his third freestyle tournament ever. The redshirt freshmen at Virginia Tech won America's only gold medal of the tournament.
???@M_lewiss22 pic.twitter.com/fuabWdFGuh
— USA Wrestling (@USAWrestling) September 23, 2018
Lewis was the only gold medalist for Team USA at the 2018 Junior world championships, who finished in second place overall in men's freestyle. On day seven in Trnava, Slovakia, Lewis defeated Abubakr Abakarov of Azerbaijan by a 5-1 score in the finals.
En route to the gold medal match, Lewis beat Erik Reinbok of Estonia 10-0, pinned Matthew Bartlett of South Africa in 1:04, and teched Asian junior silver medalist Bat-Erdene Byambasuren of Mongolia 12-1 in the semifinals.
Aside from Lewis, two other Americans made the world finals. Aaron Brooks followed up his 76kg Cadet world title from a year ago with a 79kg silver medal in his first year of Junior eligibility. Despite getting less than two weeks notice that he'd be going, Zach Elam also got silver at 97kg. The incoming freshman at Missouri was a 2017 Fargo champ and will be a heavyweight for the Tigers.
Other medalists for the United States were Daton Fix at 57kg, who won his third medal at the Junior world championships, and Brady Berge at 70kg.
Final Team Scores
| Country | 57kg | 61kg | 65kg | 70kg | 74kg | 79kg | 86kg | 92kg | 97kg | 125kg | Total |
| RUS | 25 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 25 | 25 | 182 |
| USA | 15 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 25 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 6 | 115 |
| IRI | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 25 | 8 | 10 | 98 |
| AZE | 6 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 91 |
| IND | 20 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 84 |
| KAZ | 2 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 15 | 0 | 66 |
| MDA | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 65 |
| TUR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 25 | 15 | 10 | 8 | 62 |
| GEO | 4 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 57 |
| UKR | 0 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 48 |
USA Junior World Medals
74kg: GOLD - Mekhi Lewis (Southeast RTC)
79kg: SILVER - Aaron Brooks (USOTC)
97kg: SILVER - Zach Elam (Team Central WC)
57kg: BRONZE - Daton Fix (Titan Mercury/Cowboy RTC)
70kg: BRONZE - Brady Berge (Nittany Lion WC)