Every year there are guys who make their Senior Level debut as a highly anticipated contender in their weight class. Last year it was Daton Fix and, to no one’s surprise, he was in the finals of the US Open and ultimately went on to contend for the World Team spot at Final X.

This year we have some guys that will be making their first Senior Level appearances at the Open and will have plenty of eyes on them from the jump.

Vito Arujau (57kg)

After the shock wore off of seeing him at 125 pounds this year for Cornell where he went on to finish as an All-American, there’s no surprise to see him here at 57kg. Arujau has been a World Team member and contender for quite some time. As a Cadet he finish as a World silver medalist. He also made the U23 World Team at 61kg by beating Roman Bravo-Young in the finals but was unable to compete due to injury. Nonetheless, Arujau will be stepping up to the senior level this year and will bring some action to an already loaded weight class.

Jesse Degado (57kg)

Delgado came back to wrestling in 2017 and was bronze at the Cerro Pelado in his Senior Level debut. But since then we haven’t seen him much at all. Certainly his folkstyle ways don’t work well in freestyle, but if he gets on the attack it could be a problem for many in this weight class.

Bryce Meredith (65kg)

Money Meredith is coming through and I am really intrigued to see him wrestle at the Open. His long lanky style in folkstyle was always a problem for a lot of guys to handle. He made his senior level debut at the Alans tournament, but it was at the Dave Schultz Memorial International that he had his best finish as he placed third. He will be in arguably the deepest weight of the Open with a ton of great competitors.

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Yianni Diakomihalis (65kg)

Because of his injury inducing NCAA title run last year, Yianni D wasn’t able to wrestle his favorite style for a year. It would be an absolute understatement to say he’s excited to be getting back to it in Vegas this weekend. The two-time NCAA and Cadet World Champion is definitely a guy that most have in the mix to do some damage this weekend. And after a year of waiting to see one of the baddest dudes around we get to see him in full Yianni mode.

Dom Demas (65kg)

He’s just a lot of fun to watch. Demas pulls the trigger like none other in folkstyle and we’ve seen him do some Greco damage as well. He made the Junior team last year and will now be stepping up in one of the toughest classes at the tournament. Hopefully he keeps doing Demas-like things this weekend because it will being points and happy fans.

Michael Macchiavello (92kg)

A handful of days kept him from keeping his spot on the U23 World Team. After claiming his spot on the team he found out that he was too old to compete at the Championships so that pushed back his first international freestyle experience. But then at this year’s Dan Kolov he brought back bronze. 

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Derek White (125kg)

Little is known about the Cowboy Bulk Job’s freestyle ability. From what I could find, his last freestyle tournament was back in 2013 when he placed 3rd in Fargo. So full on senior level debut for White going down in Vegas.