2022 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament

Projecting The 2022 World Team Trials Seeds

Projecting the top 8 seeds at the 2022 World Team Trials in men's freestyle.

May 13, 2022 by Jon Kozak

Projecting The 2022 World Team Trials Seeds

The 2022 World Team Trials are set to go down in Coralville, Iowa May 21-22. This tournament will set the top two wrestlers at every weight who will wrestle-off for the world team spot in June at Final X. Seeds for the trials likely won't be released until a few days prior to the tournament, but because of its importance, we decided to predict what the top 7-8 seeds at each weight will look like. Take a look at those projections for men's freestyle below.

May 21-22, 2022, 3:00 PM UTC

2022 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament

57 kg

Sitting In Final X - Thomas Gilman

Projected Seeds:

Matthew Ramos
Vito Arujau
Zane Richards
Anthony Molton
Jakob Camacho
Greg Diakomihalis
Caleb Smith
Gabriel Townsell

As the US Open champ, Matt Ramos has the #1 seed locked up at trials. After that, it’s clear that Vito Arujau will come in as the #2 seed based on his second-place finish at the Olympic Trials. Without Tomasello and Suriano, the weight really opens up with Zane Richards as the most experienced and accomplished wrestler who will likely earn the #3 seed with his win at the Bill Farrell and his fourth-place finish at the Olympic Trials. Look for the rest of the seeds to follow the finish at the US Open.

Zane Richards win over Vito Arujau at the 2019 US Open:

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61 kg

Sitting In Final X - Daton Fix

Projected Seeds:

Nico Megaludis and Josh Rodriguez should come in at the top 2 seeds based on their performance at the 2022 US Open. After that, seeds become more challenging to project because of forfeits at the US Open. If wrestlers are punished for forfeiting, we’ll likely see Jesse Mendez and Daniel DeShazer slide up to the 3 and 4 respectively. However, I’m projecting the seeding committee considers the overall resume of wrestlers and matches that were actually contested. If that’s the case, Gross and Graff will fall in at the 3 and 4 seed based on their finish at the 2021 World Team Trials. DeShazer will likely hold ahead of Mendez based on his win in the round of 16 over Mendez despite forfeiting in the third and fourth place match.

Nico Megaludis' win over Seth Gross from the 2022 US Open:

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65 kg

Projected Seeds:

We know Kendric Maple will hold the top seed at World Team Trials but what will the seeding committee do with 2-4? Though Nick Lee holds a win over Yianni from the Olympic Trials, Lee didn’t wrestle at the world team trials. Because of that, I believe Yianni will earn the #2 seed as the remaining world team member and for his wins over Joey McKenna (who placed second at both the Olympic and World team trials). After the top 4, seeds at the trials should fall in line based on head-to-head results over the past 2 years and seeding at the US Open. Kolodzik jumps ahead of Henderson based on his win at the US Open and though Parker finished third, Henderson and Lugo forfeited out and should hold their seed over Parker.

Highlights of Kendric Maple's win over Matt Kolodzik in the 2022 US Open Finals:

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70 kg

Projected Seeds:

The top 4 seeds are clear at 70kg - Pantaleo won the US Open, Deakin made the finals of the World Team Trials last year, and Jordan Oliver defeated Zain Retherford at last year’s world team trials. The next 4 seeds get a little challenging to project but if forfeits aren’t punished, we should see the above order that follows the seeding order from the US Open. Doug Zapf is the only wrestler from the US Open to improve his seed because of his head-to-head wins over Anthony Ashnault and Sammy Sasso.

Pantaleo's win over Jordan Oliver in the finals of the 2022 US Open:

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74 kg

Sitting In Final X - Kyle Dake

Projected Seeds:

The seeding at 74kg follows almost the exact order from the results at the 2022 US Open. Nolf obviously came away as the champion with Shields as the runner-up who defeated Gantt in the semi-finals. The only notable addition from the US Open is the 2021 NCAA Champ and 2019 junior world champ David Carr. He slides in at the #4 seed based on his head-to-head loss to Tommy Gantt at last year’s Olympic Trials.

Jason Nolf's win over Josh Shields in the finals of the 2022 US Open:

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79 kg

Sitting In Final X - Jordan Burroughs

Projected Seeds:

Like 74kg, the seeds at 79kg should follow the results from the 2022 US Open. Though Isaiah Martinez didn't qualify at the US Open, his only loss was to David McFadden before he forfeited out of the tournament. Martinez should slot in ahead of Lujan based on a head-to-head win over him from last year's world team trials. The big-time addition comes from the entry of 2-time national champ Carter Starocci. He should slot in at the #6 seed behind Taylor Lujan due to Lujan’s 6-4 win over Starocci from last year’s world team trials. Another wild-card is the entry of Nick Reenan at 79kg. While he placed 3rd at the US Open, he doesn’t have any relevant results against this field.

Scoring highlights of David McFadden's win over Vincenzo Joseph:

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86 kg

Sitting In Final X - David Taylor

Projected Seeds:

As the US Open champ, Mark Hall will get the #1 seed and Zahid Valencia should earn the #2 seed based on this third-place finish at last year’s Olympic Trials. After that, Pat Downey registered and will slide in at the #3 seed based on his 4th place finish at the Olympic trials. It's also worth noting Downey defeated Aaron Brooks at those trials, 11-0. The big question is - does Downey show?

After that, Hidlay will likely earn the #3 seed as he placed third at last year’s world team trials with a head-to-head win over Myles Martin and took home second at the 2021 Senior nationals. After Foster slides in at #6, Coleman and Webster should get the final 2 seeds based on their finish at the US Open.

Zahid Valencia's win over Mark Hall from the Matteo Pellicone in March 2021:

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92 kg

Sitting In Final X - J’den Cox

Projected Seeds:

Cam Caffey
Nate Jackson
Isaac Trumble
Jay Aiello
Max Shaw
Michael Battista
Christopher Smith
Jacob Koser

Cam Caffey earned the #1 seed by winning the US Open in thrilling fashion over Isaac Trumble in the finals. Although Trumble and Aiello have never met in freestyle, Trumble does have a win over Aiello from the collegiate season but more importantly finished higher at the US Open. The rest of the seeds should fall in line with results from the US Open.

Highlights of Caffey's win over Isaac Trumble in the 2022 US Open finals:

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97 kg

Sitting In Final X - Kyle Snyder

Projected Seeds:

Mike Macchiavello
Kollin Moore
Joe Rau
Timothy Dudley
Samuel Mitchell
Ethan Laird
Duncan Lee
Jason Carter

Seeds at 97kg should be fairly simple to sort. Macchiavello won the US Open over Joe Rau in the finals, automatically granting Macchiavello the #1 seed. Because Kollin Moore made the finals of the Olympic Trials and World Team Trials last year, he should slot ahead of Rau for the #2 seed. The rest of the seeds should follow the results from the US Open.

Macchiavello's last-second win over Kollin Moore at the 2020 RTC Cup:

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125 kg

Projected Seeds:

Hayden Zillmer
Nick Gwiazdowski
Tony Cassioppi
Dom Bradley
Ty Walz
Demetrius Thomas
Lucas Davison
Derek White

As the US Open Champ, Hayden Zillmer will earn the #1 seed with the returning world team member Gwiazdowski coming in as the #2 seed. Cassioppi comes in ahead of Dom Bradley falls based on a head-to-head win from the 2021 Senior Nationals. The remaining seeds will follow the results from the US Open. A dark horse in this weight will be Kyven Gadson who is entered at 125kg after spending years as the #2 wrestler behind Kyle Snyder at 97kg. Because Gadson doesn’t have any relevant results against this field, I kept him out of the top 8 seeds.

Gwiazdowski's win over Mason Parris to make the 2021 World Team: