After winning two straight U.S. Opens, David Taylor finally made his first world team and went on to capture his first world title. Taylor is now sitting in Final X: Rutgers, waiting to see who his challenger will be for the world team spot.

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The makeup of this weight looks drastically different than it did in 2017 and 2018. Taylor won both years, facing J'den Cox in the 2017 World Team Trials finals and then beating Nick Reenan last year at Final X: State College. Cox is back up at 92kg this year, where he won a world title in Budapest, and Reenan is taking the summer off to recover from injuries.

Taylor beat Richard Perry in both Open finals, but we unfortunately may never see Perry on a wrestling mat again. That means Pat Downey is the only person who has placed each of the past two years who is entered. He's currently the #3 pre-seed, as you can see below.

86kg Seeds

1. Sam Brooks, NYAC/Hawkeye WC
2. Myles Martin, Titan Mercury/Ohio RTC
3. Pat Downey, Titan Mercury/NJRTC
4. Nick Heflin, Titan Mercury/Oklahoma RTC
5. Brett Pfarr, Minnesota Storm
6. Kenneth Courts, Titan Mercury/Finger Lakes WC
7. Josh Asper, Navy-Marine Corps RTC
8. Max Dean, Titan Mercury/Finger Lakes WC
9. Nino Bonaccorsi, Pittsburgh Wrestling Club

Right below Downey is Nick Heflin, who missed basically all of last year recovering from injuries. His only losses in 2017 were to Taylor at both the Open and WTT, but he's back down to weight, going 2-2 at the Dan Kolov. He'll have to chest wrap his way though Brett Pfarr in the quarters and Sammy Brooks in the semis; Brooks beat Heflin in November at AWL.

In addition to Brooks win over Heflin, he also beat Myles Martin in two straight matches to win the U23 spot in 2017. That put him at 5-0 lifetime against Martin, as he beat the Ohio State star three times in the 2016-17 college season. Each time in those three freestyle matches, Brooks gave up the first takedown before coming back to win.

After only competing a handful of times in the year or so after graduating from Iowa, Brooks has been much more active lately. Since September, he's made the Ziolkowski finals in Poland, won the Henri Deglane in France, and wrestled at both the Ivan Yarygin and World Cup.

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The five seed Brett Pfarr is 1-3 against Brooks, coming in high school and early college. Two of those wins over Pfarr came at University Nationals in 2015, where Downey beat Brooks on criteria in the consi semis. So, it's been over the course of several years, but the former Hawkeye has had a great deal of success against the field. The two-time All-American made three age level world teams in total: the 2011 Cadet team, the 2013 Junior team, and the 2017 U23 team.

When the entries started rolling in, I saw this as a Downey/Heflin final, which is of course possible if pre-seeds hold as they are on opposite sides of the bracket. Even after watching Brooks wear Heflin down in their match, I chalked much of that up to the pro-Iowa crowd, plus it being Heflin's first match back from injury. But his leg defense got him in trouble at the Kolov, and he was unable to use his chest wrap. If he can get back to the guy who beat Bo Nickal and seriously challenged Taylor, he'll win.

In my mind, Myles Martin is the best wrestler in this bracket. But after watching his matches with Brooks, which to be fair are 18 months old now, and thinking about his upset loss to Max Dean at NCAAs, I'm not as sure. One thing Martin fans should take solace in, the guy's built for freestyle. He is an absolute terror on his feet, who can shoot to both sides, misdirections, duck unders, high and low finishes.

Martin shouldn't have too much problem with Josh Asper in the quarters, who will probably be undersized, but then he'll hit Pat Downey in the semis. That is of course assuming Downey replicates his Dave Schultz finals win over Courts, which I see happening. My initial reaction was Martin beats Downey, but not I'm not so sure.

Look, we all remember Downey losing to Dom Ducharme in the first round last year. He's in a much different place now, in a structured training environment at the NJRTC, traveling around for camps, with a support system around him. That might not be enough to beat Martin, who has a dizzying pace that may give Downey gas tank issues, but I think he will create points off his upperbody stuff.

Brett Pfarr is an excellent example of a guy who we might not have been able to keep in the sport 10 years ago. Like Nick Heflin, he was a guy who grew in college and made the NCAA finals as a senior. He's not favored to make a world team, and frankly none of these guys are as they are in David Taylor's weight, but he's a great wrestler who provides depth, as evidenced by his bronze medal in Cuba in February.

Kenny Courts made the finals of both the Dave Schultz and Cerro Pelado, but did not necessarily pick up any notable wins in the process. NCAA finalist Max Dean was fourth at last year's U23 Trials and third at the 2017 Junior Open. Nino Bonaccorsi made the bloodround in Pittsburgh and was in the finals of the Junior Open a year ago.

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A few interesting entries from the college ranks are Hunter Bolen, Cameron Caffey, and Chris Weiler. Bolen in particular is quite intriguing, as he had a very solid redshirt season and made the Southern Scuffle finals. The reports coming out of Blacksburg about him are excellent, so him being unseeded could be a rude awakening for whoever gets him in the early rounds on Friday morning.

The winner of this weight will get a bye to the World Team Trials finals in Raleigh, NC next month. That will likely be a seven or eight man bracket, as there are four guys currently qualified, two of whom we expect to place Top-7 this weekend in Martin and Downey. I doubt Junior world teamer Louie DePrez will wrestle in the Trials, so that leaves five other placers from this weekend in the field.

So the winner this weekend avoids three matches at WTT, and knows who he will face in the best-of-three finals. None of the top five pre-seeds winning would shock me, though I think Heflin and Pfarr are longer shots. I already said Martin might be the best, and Sammy Brooks is 5-0 all-time against him. I like the underhooks and pace of Brooks to get him out of the top side, while Downey wins a shootout over Martin. I think the NJRTC influence pushes Downey over his former Hawkeye WC practice partner Brooks in the finals on Saturday afternoon.

Nomad's Picks

1) Downey  2) Brooks  3) Martin  4) Pfarr